Federal prosecutors have filed a response to a motion for dismissal by attorneys representing former U.S. Sen. John Edwards on campaign finance violations.

But the public does not have access to the content of the response, because the new motion has been sealed, according to The Associated Press.

Edwards, who grew up in Robbins, is charged with misusing $1 million in campaign funds to cover up an affair he was having with a campaign videographer who later bore his child. The alleged violations occurred in 2008 when Edwards was making a second unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

His defense attorneys have filed motions seeking dismissal of the charges on the grounds that the prosecution's case is flawed and prosecutors did not screen the federal grand jury for possible bias. Their motion for a later trial date was allowed, and the trial has been moved from October to January.

COBLE - Congressman Howard Coble will spend much of Friday in Moore County.

His schedule includes a meeting with Pat Corso, executive director of Partners in Progress, and an address to the Southern Pines Rotary Club. Coble will then attend the Communities in Schools program at Pinehurst Elementary School.

FRACKING - Shale gas exploration will be the subject of a public meeting scheduled for Oct. 10 in Sanford by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

A news release from the agency says the department will spend coming months on a study of potential environmental and economic effects of shale oil exploration and development in North Carolina. A small area in northern Moore County is among the places thought to contain shale oil that could be mined.

The study is required through a law passed by the 2011 session of the General Assembly. It will focus on the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas, a process known as "fracking."

The Oct. 10 meeting will be held from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. at the McSwain Extension Education and Agriculture Center, 2420 Tramway Road, Sanford. A draft plan of the study will be presented at that time.

A second public meeting will be announced later.

FORUM - Pinehurst voters are reminded that a candidates' forum will not be held Thursday night as originally announced by the sponsoring League of Women Voters.

Because of a conflict caused by a change in the Ruth Pauley Lectures schedule, the forum has been rescheduled for Oct. 18.

No change has been made in forums planned Oct. 4 in Whispering Pines and Oct. 6 in Southern Pines, which begin at 7 p.m.

Contact Florence Gilkeson at florence@the- pilot.com.