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PAC MONEY INCREASING

North Carolina members of Congress are raising more money than ever before, mostly due to the increasing prevalence of donations from political action committees or PACs. The North Carolina Congressional delegation received over $17 million during the 2006 election, with 40 percent of the funds coming from PACs. In addition, fundraising efforts are bringing in about four times as much as in 1980, even when adjusted for inflation. Josh Ellis has more.

UNC SURVEY SHOWS MANY UNAFFECTED BY LOSS OF PAYDAY LOANS
A survey from the N.C. Office of the Commissioner of Banks asserts that three-quarters of low and middle-income familes surveyed were unaffected by the essential ban on payday lenders in North Carolina since 2005. SGR.com's Scott Carr looks into what benefits the loans - which can carry an A.P.R. as high as around 400-percent - may have held for those 12-percent of respondents who said they do miss the service.

BARLOW HERGET'S MONDAY EXCLUSIVE
Tom Vitaglione, a senior fellow at the non-profit Action for Children is Barlow Herget's guest. Vitaglione helped establish the Health Choice program in North Carolina and points out there are 250,000 children who have no medical insurance whatsoever, including Medicaid or Health Choice program benefits. He argues uninsured children are the ones who often suffer the consequences from a lack of political consensus in Washington and Raleigh on issuse concerning healthcare for the poor.