North Carolina
Iced-over North Carolina faces grid preparedness questions after other states enact stricter laws
North Carolinians scrambled to find generators ahead of this weekend’s ice and snow.
Now questions are resurfacing about whether the state should adopt laws to better protect the power grid. The answers may lie in other states, such as Texas, which also dealt with winter storms this weekend.
Winter Storm Uri in 2021 left at least 200 people dead and more than 4 million homes and businesses without power when it hit Texas five years ago.
The crisis caused Texas lawmakers to pass laws requiring public utilities to better prepare power infrastructure for extreme weather. The law also created penalties for noncompliance and allowed funding for backup power at hospitals and other critical facilities.
The new requirements appear to be working: As of Monday, there were few to no power outages reported in nearly all Texas counties, according to KDFW-TV, a Dallas news station, even though this weekend’s storm brought record-breaking snowfall to the state.
North Carolina, which faces winter storms occasionally, still relies primarily on emergency response and voluntary utility measures, raising the question: Should the state wait for disaster before taking certain proactive actions?
“This storm reaffirmed that preparation is key and can make a real difference in saving lives,” Gov. Josh Stein told WRAL Monday.
Duke Energy, which provides power to nearly all North Carolina businesses and residents, says that even without mandates it still regularly takes voluntary action to prepare and improve the state’s power grid.
North Carolina has had more power outages than all but three other states since 2000, according to U.S. Department of Energy data.
“The Texas situation should have sprung us into action, to think about this in advance,” North Carolina state Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, said, adding that she’s not aware of any rules here similar to what Texas instituted.
Measures in North Carolina
Harrison said there were some measures she believed were beneficial but they are no longer laws. There is weatherization funding available for individual homeowners under the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. “Unfortunately, that funding has been cut pretty dramatically at the federal level,” Harrison told WRAL.
WRAL asked Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, whether the state should adopt new laws to better protect the power grid from future storms. Neither indicated they’d support new requirements on utilities.
A spokesperson for Hall says he’s focused on “maintaining a strong rainy-day fund to ensure we are prepared to weather future natural disasters if necessary.”
Berger said he’s been in touch with emergency officials and that “since we’re still in the middle of the storm and do not have damage estimates, it is premature to discuss details of potential legislative action.”
When storms approach the state, state and federal officials routinely declare states of emergency, have state transportation crews treat icy roads, activate the National Guard, and provide temporary Medicaid flexibilities such as early prescription refills.
Duke Energy says its emergency response strategy doesn’t only consist of sending crews out after a storm to repair downed lines. “We have a very robust multi-year grid improvement strategy that we’ve worked with our regulators to establish that helps us to strengthen the grid, to make it more resistant to outages from severe weather,” Jeff Brooks, a Duke Energy spokesman, said in an interview Monday.
The company plans its spending five years out.
“Roughly half of what we’re spending in our current five-year plan is for modernizing and improving the electric grid. And that would include reliability and resiliency improvements,” Brooks said.
Money spent on improving the state’s power grid might simply be passed onto customers in the form of higher power bills. Texas, unlike North Carolina, requires utilities to weatherize generation, transmission and natural gas facilities for extreme weather. And Texans also have higher power bills.
According to the website Choose Energy, which analyzes electricity costs nationwide, Texans pay more for their power than North Carolinians do, although both states are below the national average.
Other states have taken different approaches to power-outage worries. Virginia has a state program — the Emergency Shelter Upgrade Assistance Grant Fund — that provides matching funds to localities to install or repair backup energy generation infrastructure at emergency shelters.
Brooks said Duke Energy takes it upon itself to make sure it is cost effective for customers. Duke has what it calls self-healing technology across the state that can help automatically detect power outages and reroute power to restore service faster, Brooks added.
The energy giant has also buried some of its power lines, another strategy that comes with added expense but has been proven to lessen power outages.
These are voluntary measures since North Carolina doesn’t require utilities to do the work.
Substation vulnerabilities
Extreme weather isn’t the only risk to power infrastructure. Lawmakers considered new measures after a December 2022 incident in which Duke Energy substations in Moore County were shot at, knocking out power for thousands for several days and contributing to at least one death, according to authorities.
The state legislature responded by raising criminal penalties for damaging utility equipment. But lawmakers did nothing to take proactive measures to prevent similar attacks in the future. A bipartisan bill that would have required Duke to put in place security upgrades at its facilities — potentially cameras, fences, sensors or guards — wasn’t allowed up for a vote at the state legislature, where Duke spends substantial amounts of money on lobbying and campaign contributions.
“Our objective was appreciating people wanting to help and trying to find good solutions, but making sure that we could find the right solution that met our unique needs as a utility,” Brooks said.
Technologies and Costs
Duke Energy has deployed self-healing grid technology in pilot areas to automatically reroute electricity around outages. The technology prevented millions of hours of power outages for people and businesses statewide in 2025, Duke told WRAL last week.
Burying power lines is another option, but Duke says it’s expensive and can take longer to repair. Burying lines might also be difficult in places with rocky terrain or other difficult soil or topography.
Do Proactive Measures Make Sense?
Duke energy said mandates could raise costs for customers, and that current technology and emergency response may suffice.
The current measures appeared to be enough for this weekend’s storm. At its height Sunday, 31,000 utility customers across the state lost power, which is a small percentage of the state’s 11 million residents and thousands of businesses.
Duke Energy says it is evaluating more advanced grid resilience technologies. The company is also a financial backer of a public-private push to boost university research, called NC Innovation, whose projects include research from UNC-Charlotte on improving power grid efficiency.
But without legal requirements, large-scale infrastructure investments are left to the utility’s discretion.
Stein said last week, ahead of the storm, that he was confident in Duke’s ability to respond quickly to power outages.
“They are taking this storm very seriously, and they are bringing in assets from other states that are not as threatened as North Carolina is,” Stein said.
North Carolina
Oklahoma a win away from national title after roughing up North Carolina ace in Game 1 of CWS finals
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — His team one win away from the national championship, Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson won’t mess with success.
The Sooners’ offense is producing at a level higher than any team to play in the College World Series since the event moved to Charles Schwab Field 15 years ago.
When it looked as though OU’s pitching could implode after being nothing short of magnificent the last week, Cord Rager settled in after a rocky first inning and combined with two relievers to shut down North Carolina the rest of the way in a 9-3 victory in Game 1 of the CWS finals Saturday.
“I’m just going to stay out of their way,” Johnson said. “I don’t know any other way to do it. You think we’re going to go out and hit tonight and take 100 groundballs somewhere? We’re not going to do that. I can promise you that. Just stay out of their way.”
Deiten Lachance homered twice off North Carolina ace Jason DeCaro early and the Sooners (42-22) used a four-run fourth inning to pull away for their ninth straight win. Rager, Gavyn Jones and LJ Mercurius allowed only two runners to reach second base after the Tar Heels (53-12-1) struck for three runs in the first.
Oklahoma won national titles in baseball in 1951 and 1994 and will go for its third on Sunday. North Carolina, looking for its first, will try to force a deciding Game 3 on Monday.
“North Carolina’s a really good team,” Johnson said, “and we picked a fight today. They’ll be ready for us tomorrow.”
OU ended DeCaro’s uncharacteristic bad day in the fourth inning. The Sooners scored all four runs that inning with two outs starting when Kyle Branch broke a 3-all tie with a two-run single. Branch came home on Jason Walk’s base hit and Camden Johnson singled off Walker McDuffie to make it 7-3.
DeCaro (11-3), who came in with a 2.31 ERA, was charged with all seven runs after having not allowed more than three in any of his previous starts.
“I think they just really punished the mistakes,” DeCaro said. “I feel like for the most part I made some pitches, and then whenever I did leave a ball over the plate, especially with two strikes, they capitalized.”
Lachance homered for a 2-0 lead in the first inning and again in the third to tie it at 3. The 6-foot-5, 231-pound Canadian known as “Big Maple” has hit all 18 of his homers in the last 32 games, including six in the last eight.
“I’m just trying to catch barrel at the plate right now and just help the team, just pass the baton,” Lachance said. “That’s a big thing for us.”
Oklahoma has hit 45 of its 93 home runs in the last 17 games. OU has connected 28 times in 11 NCAA Tournament games, and its 10 homers in four CWS games are the most by a team since the event moved to Charles Schwab Field in 2011. The Sooners are batting .331 and averaging better than eight runs per game in the CWS.
“Their approach is to get an ‘A’ swing off. That’s clear,” Carolina coach Scott Forbes said. “They’re not afraid to strike out.”
Rager (7-3), who threw 15 2/3 shutout innings over his previous three outings, steadied himself in the second inning and lasted through the fifth.
“After the first inning, I stopped playing for myself,” Rager said. “I just started playing for the guys around me, for the team. I really had to try to really be a pitcher today because I didn’t have my best stuff.”
Carolina’s Carter French made the defensive play of the CWS in the third when Walk sent a drive to deep right. As French went back to make the play, his glove got lodged under the padding running across the top of the fence. His glove was a bit crumpled as the ball landed in it. He held onto it and displayed it to the umpire.
“The great thing about baseball when you’re playing in a weekend series is you move on quickly,” Forbes said. “That’s what our team will do. They just beat us today.”
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This version corrects the spelling of Oklahoma pitcher Gavyn Jones’ first name.
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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
It was an eventful offseason in Chapel Hill, but the North Carolina Tar Heels recovered quite nicely, incorporating a formidable coaching staff and roster in just a few months.
Upon his arrival, head coach Michael Malone was faced with an uphill battle to revamp a roster, but he passed that test with flying colors. North Carolina’s style of play will look vastly different from last season, based on the players it acquired this offseason.
With that in mind, here are predictions for the five most efficient scorers on the Tar Heels’ 2026-27 roster. It is important to note that efficient scoring doesn’t necessarily mean each and every player on this list will also lead the team in scoring.
1. Matt Able
The 6-foot-6, 211-pound forward shot 41.6 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from three-point range last season at North Carolina State. That efficiency is a high baseline, as Able will be surrounded by more talent and placed in more advantageous spots in Malone’s system.
At North Carolina, Able could eclipse 40 percent from three-point range and near 50 percent from the field. Able doesn’t require a high volume of shot attempts to produce, which is why he is one of the most exciting players for me to watch next season.
2. Sayon Keita
Again, this doesn’t mean I expect Keita to emerge as one of the leading scorers on the roster. That being said, the former Barcelona center should be operating exclusively near the basket, and the majority of his shot attempts should come from close proximity.
Keita’s offensive production, for the most part, will generate from lobs, put-back dunks, and layups. There will be times Keita will be asked to create his own points in the post, but he will predominantly operate in the paint.
3. Jarin Stevenson
Malone prioritized retaining Stevenson, and the Alabama transfer’s role will expand in 2026. The 6-foot-9, 216-pound forward was an afterthought at the beginning of last season, but in ACC play, Stevenson’s production and efficiency took a major leap.
In the final nine games of the season, with Caleb Wilson out of the lineup, Stevenson averaged 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field. When Stevenson officially re-signed with North Carolina, Malone stated that he envisions the senior forward fulfilling a role similar to Aaron Gordon when Malone coached in Denver. With a potentially elite backcourt, Stevenson will have ample space to drift into, providing manageable looks at the basket.
4. Terrence Brown
Last season at Utah, the 6-foot-3, 174-pound guard shot 45.3 percent from the field, which is very impressive considering that he was a ball-dominant guard in the Big 12. However, Brown struggled from three-point range, shooting 32.7 percent from beyond the arc.
While I expect that to improve under Malone, Brown still expects to be shooting a handful of low-percentage shots along the perimeter. This is not to say that Brown will struggle; rather, it reflects where his shots will come from on the floor.
5. Neoklis Avdalas
The Virginia Tech transfer possesses a versatile skill set and can play both backcourt positions and on the wing. The 6-foot-9, 216-pound guard is a legitimate point guard option, according to his former coaches, and Malone is obviously aware of that.
Last season, Avdalas shot 38.6 percent from the field and 31.4 percent from three-point range, which was a disappointing output. However, those percentages should improve at North Carolina.
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RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Waste Management is providing up to $18 million in grants to help clean up additional debris from Hurricane Helene in the western region, state officials said Friday.
According to NCDEQ, applications are being accepted for the Debris Recovery & Disposal grant program, which is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the American Relief Act of 2025.
The program provides up to $18 million in grants to local governments, councils of government, and nongovernment organizations, according to NCDEQ.
State officials said applications are being accepted through Sept. 14. The maximum award is $3 million. The grants may be used for up to three years.
Counties, municipalities, councils of government, and nongovernmental organizations in FEMA-declared disaster areas due to Helene are eligible for the grants, according to NCDEQ.
According to NCDEQ, eligible projects include collecting and disposing of non-hazardous debris from private or public properties, clearing and managing debris at streambanks, floodplains, farmland, and local park lands, and removing debris to improve solid waste and recycling infrastructure.
Applications may be emailed to Chris Hollinger with the Division of Waste Management at chris.hollinger@deq.nc.gov.
State officials advise applicants to email or call Hollinger at 919-707-8284 or contact Jason Watkins at jason.watkins@deq.nc.gov or 336-776-9674 to discuss the eligibility of their project before applying.
More information about applying can be found on the NCDEQ website.
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