State integrity news for North Carolina, from the Winston-Salem Journal:

Defenders of the Florida trip say it fits into an exception that was inserted into the law that allows public officials to accept gifts (like travel and meals) from lobby groups in connection with their attendance at certain "educational meetings."

This is by any fair assessment a terrible and unnecessary exception. There is simply no good reason that lobbyists or lobby groups of any kind should be allowed to pay for lawmakers to attend meetings anywhere ("educational" or not) — much less in some luxurious, far-off resort.

Read the rest of the story at the Winston-Salem Journal.