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NC Declares State Of Emergency For Irma
Gov. Roy Cooper is declaring a state of emergency so state and local officials can better prepare for Hurricane Irma.
Cooper said Wednesday that the storm has the potential to cause trouble for all of North Carolina's 100 counties.
Cooper said the emergency declaration takes effect at 8 a.m. Thursday. He said at a media briefing residents should also listen to emergency officials and get ready themselves for a storm with a still uncertain track.
The governor says the state is in a somewhat better position compared to Hurricane Matthew last October, when rains from an earlier storm swelled inland waterways by the time the center of the storm arrived.
Greensboro Swift Water Rescue Team Returns From Texas
Members of the Greensboro Fire Department's swift water rescue team have returned from Texas.
The News and Record of Greensboro reports the team arrived Wednesday night after being deployed to Texas last week to help after Hurricane Harvey.
The firefighters did not actually go on any rescues, but were able to train with other water rescue teams from around the country.
Half of the department's 36-member swift water rescue unit had been deployed.
There are 30 swift water teams throughout North Carolina.
The Greensboro team returned ahead of schedule, and is now preparing for Hurricane Irma.
Year Later, Corpses Hurricane Unearthed Still Not Reinterred
About half of the corpses that floated out of their graves in a North Carolina cemetery during Hurricane Matthew and its subsequent flooding have not been reburied after more than a year.
The Goldsboro News-Argus reports that 18 of the three dozen bodies have not been positively identified since the storm hit last October.
Goldsboro Public Works Director Rick Fletcher said the process has taken longer than expected. DNA samples are expected to be collected from the deceased later this month.
Election Chief Reaffirms Giving Out Only Public Voting Data
North Carolina's elections agency has followed through on previous plans to give President Donald Trump's commission investigating voter fraud access only to publicly available data.
The state's chief elections regulator wrote a letter to a top leader of the Trump advisory panel Wednesday.
It included a link to election data already accessible by the public that leave out voters' birth dates and Social Security and driver's license numbers, which are confidential. The public information does include voters' names, addresses, political affiliations, demographic data and participation in past elections.
Great Smoky Mountains Superintendent Heads To Washington
The superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is heading to Washington temporarily as acting superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks.
Great Smoky Mountains said in a news release that Cassius Cash will serve 120 days in the post starting Sept. 18.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Cash has been Great Smoky Mountains superintendent for nearly three years and previously was superintendent at Boston National Historical Park and Boston African American National Historic Site.
Great Smoky Mountains Deputy Superintendent Clayton Jordan will serve as superintendent during Cash's assignment.