Regulators: Coal Ash To Be Moved From North Carolina Pits
North Carolina environmental regulators say all coal-ash pits at 14 Duke Energy power plants should be excavated and moved.
Wednesday's announcement by the state Department of Environmental Quality means 25 pits storing the residue left after decades of burning coal for electricity would be dug up and closed by 2024. Eight other pits must be excavated by 2019.
Regulators said in December that elements were leaking from unlined coal-ash pits at 14 Duke power plants.
Duke Energy says its coal ash pits aren't polluting water supplies.
Former Solicitor General To Join Opposition To LGBT Law
A former solicitor general for the George W. Bush administration will help North Carolina businesses in their opposition to the state's new law limiting discrimination claims against the state.
The Human Rights Campaign announced Wednesday that Theodore B. Olson of the Washington, D.C., firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher will write legal documents on behalf of businesses who support the U.S. Department of Justice's challenge of the law.
Olson was solicitor general of the United States from 2001-2004 and has argued 62 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, including the federal lawsuit successfully challenging California's ban on same-sex marriages.
Cooper, McCrory Set For At Least 2 Candidate Debates
Gov. Pat McCrory and Democratic challenger Roy Cooper will participate together in at least two debates in the coming months before the November election.
The campaigns of the leading gubernatorial candidates said separately Wednesday they'll participate in a debate-style forum sponsored by the North Carolina Bar Association next month and a debate by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters.
The Bar Association forum is June 24 in Charlotte. Cooper's campaign says the broadcasters' debate has yet to be determined.
State Republicans Press Cooper On Obama Bathroom Directive
The state Republican Party is pressing Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper to say what he thinks about a federal directive to let transgender students use their preferred restroom in public schools.
At a news conference Wednesday, GOP Chairman Robin Hayes called on Cooper to voice an opinion. He said it's the attorney general's job to advise school officials confused about whether to follow federal instruction or state law.
NC Auditors Say Agency Let Employee Investigate Herself
State auditors say the North Carolina Cemetery Commission improperly let a former administrative assistant investigate herself after she used agency money for personal expenses.
According to the Charlotte Observer, state auditors reported the commission interim director said because the agency had only one full-time employee, it allowed her to investigate herself.
The state auditor's report says the former employee acknowledged using nearly $12,000 for personal purchases. The former employee's name was not in the report.
Agency officials say the employee resigned last year and has repaid the money.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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