The debate over how much state money legislative budget writers should provide to K-12 education in North Carolina has been fierce, and now a new twist. Wake County Judge Howard Manning has ordered a late June hearing on whether budget cuts meet the state’s requirements for educating children. John Locke Foundation Director of Education Studies Terry Stoops analyzes Manning’s decade-old involvement in education policy, due to the Leandro court decision, and discusses what might satisfy the judge. Stoops also details the multiple players with their hands in our state’s education bureaucracy. Then we turn to election politics. After Democrats won big in the 2008 election and Republicans responded with a major victory in 2010, it’s hard to say what will happen in 2012. Stephen Hayes, senior writer for The Weekly Standard and contributor to Fox News, offers his thoughts about President Obama’s chances for re-election. Next up is a discussion of health care and health insurance. Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a bill this year that would have forced Attorney General Roy Cooper to join a lawsuit with 26 other states challenging the 2010 federal health care law. Perdue and Cooper are Democrats. Republican legislative leaders have responded to the veto by filing their own friend-of-the-court brief in the case. House Majority Leader Paul Stam, R-Wake, recently explained why. That’s followed by talk about the state budget. Gov. Perdue and legislative leaders continue to haggle over the road map. Before top GOP lawmakers announced a budget deal, senators debated their own budget plan. You’ll hear key pieces of that debate, featuring comments from Sens. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, and Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth. And finally, we turn to legislative efforts that appear to target one North Carolina business: Alcoa. Carolina Journal Managing Editor Rick Henderson details three legislative bills that, one way or another, would impact the Stanly County business and potentially imperil its survival if passed. Henderson also updates the state’s efforts to take over hydroelectric dams from Alcoa.