Morning Roundup: Gov. Perdue 'last hope' for Wilmington 10 pardons

Advocates for the Wilmington 10 are reviving their effort to get pardons of innocence, saying Gov. Bev Perdue’s lame-duck status offers their best chance.

“I personally believe that Gov. Perdue is our last hope,” said Cash Michaels, the coordinator of the pardon effort. “No offense to Gov.-elect McCrory. I don’t see a Republican governor with a Republican legislature looking at this issue with an unbiased eye. They would look at the potential political implications.” Where's McCrory on the issue? No response from his camp.

More political headines:

--Gov. Bev Perdue is expected to present a plan as soon as next week to convert the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus in Raleigh into a major urban park. 

-- Scientists and inventors such as Joe DeSimone will be keeping an eye on the budget deal-making in Washington over the next month because if negotiators fail to steer the nation away from the fiscal cliff, automatic spending cuts will chop back federal support for scientific research.

--AP: Nearly a month after Hurricane Sandy brushed it, the Outer Banks was still digging out and the mess has some on the barrier islands hoping that this is the time for officials to get serious about rebuilding the beaches.