The state Senate last week rewrote the Racial Justice Act, a 2-year-old law that allowed death-row inmates to use statistical evidence of racial bias to challenge their sentences.

On a 27-17 vote, senators approved Senate Bill 9, titled No Discriminatory Purpose in the Death Penalty. It now goes to Gov. Bev Perdue. There was no immediate word on whether the governor would sign the bill.

Perdue did sign the Racial Justice Act into law in 2009, saying it would ensure death sentences were imposed "based on the facts and the law, not racial prejudice."

Republican lawmakers and the state's prosecutors tried to minimize the impact of the new law, insisting it was only a fix.

"This is not a repeal of the Racial Justice Act," Sen. Thom Goolsby, a Republican from Wilmington, said on the Senate floor. "It's a reform, a modification."

But earlier in the day, in response to a question from Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, the Senate staff acknowledged that passing the bill, SB9, returned the law to what it was before the Racial Justice Act went into effect.

Gas tax increase blocked, for now

RALEIGH The House of Representatives voted 96-23 last week to block a state gas and diesel fuel tax increase scheduled for Jan. 1, holding the tax until July at its current rate of 35 cents a gallon.

But the Senate hit the road without addressing the bill.

A formula in state law has the tax rise or fall every six months with changes in wholesale fuel prices, and state revenue officials have estimated that the tax will climb in January to a record-high 38.8 or 38.9 cents. That would make North Carolina's gas tax higher than all but five other states.

A final House vote was expected Tuesday and would have then gone to the Senate. But the Senate decided to adjourn their session at 12:01 a.m., meeting the requirement for the three-day session without addressing either the gas tax or a gambling compact with the Cherokee tribe.

Time to enroll kids in schools

Enrollment has begun for children who will be entering kindergarten or who are new to the Wake County school system for the 2012-13 school year.

Enrollment started last week, months earlier than normal, because of the new choice-based student assignment plan going into effect for next school year.

Parents of new students will need to enroll before they can participate in the magnet school selection process that starts tomorrow and the application period for nonmagnet schools that opens Jan. 17.

Parents should enroll their children at the nearest grade-appropriate school for their child, such as at an elementary school for a student entering kindergarten. Families can also enroll at the Central Administration Building at 5625 Dillard Drive in Cary.

More school days likely this year

North Carolina public school systems shouldn't count on another exemption from a longer school year.

This school year, the State Board of Education allowed nearly all of the state's 115 school districts to ignore a new legislative requirement that extends the school year by five days. But the response is expected to be less positive when the state board discusses requests from 69 school districts and four charter schools to again exempt them from adding five days to the 2012-13 school year.

But rejection of the waiver requests, school officials say, would put them in a bind. They say that it will cost them money to run buses for five additional days. Also, many school districts want to use the days to train teachers on the new state curriculum being introduced in the 2012-13 school year.

Wake County, the state's largest school district, is asking for a partial waiver. It wants to add only three more days of classes. But 58 districts requesting waivers, including Johnston and Orange counties, hope to use the time for teacher training.