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NC's AG Sues Over Duke Energy Consumer Charges For Coal Ash
North Carolina's attorney general is challenging regulators for allowing Duke Energy to start charging consumers hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up coal ash dumps, and add to a potential profit margin.
State Attorney General Josh Stein's office on Wednesday said he considers the decision by the North Carolina Utilities Commission to be "unlawful, unjust, unreasonable, or unwarranted." Stein is appealing the February decision to the state Supreme Court.
The commission allowed the company's Duke Energy Progress operating subsidiary to charge customers $232 million over five years for coal ash clean-up costs racked up already.
Researchers Study Poultry Waste In North Carolina
Two new studies are taking a closer look at the impacts of poultry waste in North Carolina.
As the poultry industry surges in North Carolina, environmental groups and state regulators are trying to get a handle on the waste that's produced. Local environmental groups are working with researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to find out more.
Specifically, they're trying to identify poultry waste in water by pinpointing it at the genetic level.
Will Hendrick of the Waterkeeper Alliance, says researchers are also looking at the use of antibiotics in poultry.
Hendrick says the results of the studies are expected to be released later this year.
Guilford Co. Teachers Plan Press Conference To Demand Higher Pay, Money For Students
A group of Guilford County educators will hold a press conference to ask for more money for teachers and students, and they're tying their demands to the recent tornado that wreaked havoc in Greensboro.
According to the Guilford County Association of Educators, the underfunding of schools helped exacerbate the damage from the recent storms.
Teachers have now scheduled a press conference ahead of the Guilford County School Board meeting to air their concerns.
The teachers are asking for an increase in per student spending and for educators, and for a moratorium on charter schools.
Authorities Probe Allegations Man Was Beaten By Officers
State authorities are investigating after a homeless North Carolina man says he was brutally beaten by law officers while he was unarmed and crossing a street.
Twenty-nine-year-old Kyron Dwain Hinton says he suffered a fractured eye socket and broken nose and was bitten more than 20 times by a K9 during an April 4 encounter with Raleigh police officers and Wake County sheriff's deputies.
Hinton says he didn't know why he was being arrested or why officers hit him.
The Wake County Sheriff's Office charged Hinton with three misdemeanors including resisting a public officer. Arrest warrants accuse him of implying he had a gun and hitting the officers' dog.
Transgender Inmate Sues Prison Over Witchcraft Rights
A transgender inmate is suing a North Carolina prison, saying it's blocking her from practicing witchcraft.
The Charlotte Observer reports 40-year-old Jennifer Ann Jasmaine says in the lawsuit that chaplains at the all-male Lanesboro Correctional Institution have violated her constitutional rights by restricting when, where and how she can practice Wicca, the religion based on ancient pagan beliefs.
Jasmaine also says Lanesboro refused to provide her with the foods Wiccans are supposed to eat.
Lanesboro is a maximum-security prison about 45 miles southeast of Charlotte.
The lawsuit, filed this month, seeks a jury trial and $1 in damages from each of the chaplains.
Western North Carolina Zoo To Get Red Pandas This Fall
A zoo in western North Carolina will be getting some red pandas this fall.
Asheville City Council this week approved about $185,000 to build a red panda exhibit and breeding project area at the Western North Carolina Nature Center.
Nature Center Director Chris Gentile concedes that red pandas are not native to western North Carolina like the bears and coyotes and some other animals at the compound. But Gentile says animals similar to the red panda lived in the Southern Appalachians millions of years ago.
The exhibit will include a den and breeding area, as well as an interpretive exhibit and viewing area.