North Carolina
Duke Energy feeling the heat as public hearings continue this week on carbon plan • NC Newsline
While monthly average carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere reached a record high of 425.4 parts per million last month, Duke Energy’s proposed carbon plan could delay legally required greenhouse gas reductions, rely on the expansion of natural gas, and burden low-income households with higher monthly energy bills — as much as 73%.
Over the next week, the N.C. Utilities Commission is hosting three public hearings — one virtual and two in-person — where people can testify about the plan. The commission is also accepting written public comments. Duke Energy can’t implement the plan until it receives commission approval.
What’s in the carbon plan?
As Newsline previously reported, this version of the carbon plan is a do-over of the utility’s original projections that the Utilities Commission approved last year. North Carolina’s “substantial economic development successes” Duke Energy said, prompted it to reanalyze its forecasts for supply and demand. “Interest over the past year from new large-load customers exploring siting new facilities” in North Carolina “has occurred at a scale and pace that is well beyond the Companies’ historical experience,” utility officials wrote.
Coal
The Allen plants in Gaston County were scheduled to be retired in March; the new plan postpones their mothballing until December. By 2035, coal will be eliminated from the utility’s energy mix.
Natural gas
Natural gas,while emitting less carbon dioxide, is the primary source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, entering the atmosphere. Although carbon dioxide persists in the atmosphere longer than methane, the latter does far more damage in its short lifetime.
The new plan now includes the operation of the controversial and much-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, which runs from West Virginia through Virginia to the North Carolina line. The proposed MVP Southgate extension from Virginia to Rockingham County has not been finalized; Equitrans, the pipeline operator, recently announced major changes to the Southgate line, shortening the route and containing it within Rockingham County instead of proceeding through Alamance County. Equitrans has not yet issued a map of the new route, nor has it received any state environmental permits.
With the availability of the MVP gas, Duke plans to build two new natural gas plants in North Carolina, including Person County. That will add another 2,720 megawatts of natural gas to the electric grid, a third more than previously projected. The additional natural gas plant in Person County coincides with plans for a controversial liquified natural gas storage facility in the southeastern part of the county.
Dominion Energy plans to run a pipeline from Rockingham County to Person County, where it will connect with Duke’s new plants. And Transco plans to expand its existing pipeline that enters North Carolina near Charlotte and traverses northeast through the Triad and into Rockingham County.
Nuclear power
In addition to Duke’s three large nuclear plants — Shearon Harris in Wake County, McGuire in Mecklenburg County, and Brunswick in Brunswick County — the utility is proposing to build new units at its Belews Creek site in Stokes County.
SMRs, as these smaller units are known, are a quarter of the size of a conventional nuclear plant and have more compact, simplified designs. However, SMRs are a nascent technology and have not been commercially deployed. NuScale, which had planned to build several commercially viable SMRs in Utah, canceled the project after costs topped $9 billion. Duke plans to build seven SMRs in the state by mid-century.
Solar
The new plan adds more solar energy than under the previous plan, reaching 17,500 megawatts within 15 years. Additional battery storage paired with solar could boost the resource’s availability at night.
Wind
Duke still plans to build an offshore wind farm off the Brunswick County coast, even after selling the company’s commercial renewable energy arm last year. However, the first pulse of energy won’t arrive until 2033 or 2034, about two years later than originally planned. Duke had not factored on-shore wind into the mix, but now plans to build a farm — somewhere — to be in service by 2033. The two wind power sources are projected to make up a total of 2% of the energy mix in 2033, increasing to 12% by mid-century.
North Carolina
North Carolina fans should embrace the Bill Belichick experience and not worry how long it lasts
Bill Belichick’s longevity at UNC doesn’t matter. He was hired to get the Tar Heels really good, really fast, and he might pull it off.
Bill Belichick introduced as new UNC head football coach
Bill Belichick is officially the new head coach at UNC and addressed the media where he discussed his deep roots in college football.
Sports Pulse
By any measure, Bill Belichick’s first five weeks as North Carolina’s football coach have been unusual.
The way he got the job practically out of nowhere was weird.
The justification for taking the job — largely because he believed NFL teams were no longer interested in him — was weird.
Seeing him on the road recruiting, meeting with kids in high schools and embracing social media has been kinda weird.
Watching him every week on the Pat McAfee Show, where he’s still asked about everything going on in the NFL, is also pretty weird.
And even as he hires assistant coaches and insists North Carolina is where he’s going to be next season, the speculation that he might bail if the right NFL offer comes along — spurred on by his murky contract status — is extremely weird.
You know it has been frustrating for North Carolina and Belichick’s new staff that every day during the NFL’s silly season seems to come with a new report that one team or the other might gauge his interest. Michael Lombardi, Belichick’s right-hand man and general manager, has twice this week gone on social media to shoot down the chatter, going so far as to say, “The NFL isn’t a option so please stop making it one.” And Belichick’s girlfriend posted an Instagram picture of the two of them Thursday with the caption: “Two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball.”
For better or worse, this is going to be the Belichick experience as long as he stays at North Carolina. Every month, maybe even every week, is going to bring a new rumor. Every chatty agent or NFL general manager is going to whisper his name to reporters who know that his potential return to the league would be a massive story. And every mention of his contract, which apparently isn’t signed yet, is going to emphasize how easy it would be for him to abandon college football should he be tempted by one last shot in the NFL.
For better or worse, that’s what North Carolina signed up for. It’s what Belichick signed up for, too. The narrative that he’s only doing this until something better comes along is mostly the product of his own history and the strangeness of taking on a college program for the first time at age 72.
Belichick almost certainly understood that better than anyone going into this, and it’s not going to change as long as he’s wearing that Carolina baby blue.
At this point, we have to take Belichick’s people at their word that his entire focus right now is building a roster and getting the Tar Heels ready for the 2025 season. Despite the reports and rumors, the odds of him bailing on North Carolina before he even gets started seem remarkably low.
But because of how unconventional all of this is, you have to at least allow for the possibility that North Carolina’s administration will wake up one day and feel used by a coach who never really unpacked his suitcase. Maybe in a year, maybe in a month. Who knows.
Rather than worry about how long Belichick will stay, though, or the potentially devastating circumstances under which he might leave, North Carolina and its fan base should lean into the experimental nature of this pairing. Embrace the uncertainty of how long it might last.
Every athletics director hopes the football coach they hire stays 10 years. But Belichick’s tenure has to be judged by a different standard.
His longevity just doesn’t matter. He was hired to get North Carolina really good, really fast — and when you consider how weak the ACC has been, there’s a chance he might just pull it off.
If SMU and 41-year-old coach Rhett Lashlee can come directly from the American Athletic Conference to the ACC and make the College Football Playoff right away, a similar leap is not outside the capability of a six-time Super Bowl champion.
Maybe Belichick is exactly where he needs to be. Sure, the idea of Belichick working for Jerry Jones or coaching the Raiders is media catnip. The narrative that he longs for 15 more coaching wins to overtake Don Shula as the NFL’s all-time leader is easy and obvious.
But think of it this way. What would actually enhance Belichick’s coaching legacy more: Doing something he’s already done a whole bunch of times or coming into a situation where he has no history or experience and elevating a college program to a place it’s never been before?
The answer is easy. For all Belichick has accomplished in the game of football, even getting North Carolina to the CFP just once would add more to his legend than another Super Bowl ever could.
So why do so many people think he isn’t serious about North Carolina? Why is the NFL rumor mill working overtime to pull him back after rejecting him completely as a coaching candidate last year?
Belichick may not have envisioned himself on a college sideline a few months ago, but he’s there now. And his tenure will be judged by quality, not quantity.
North Carolina had nothing to lose here. It was an underachieving program stuck in the middle of the ACC without the kind of financial backing it needed to compete at the highest level. Even if Belichick bounces back to the NFL next year, the entire mentality of North Carolina has changed. It’s gone all-in on football in a way it never did before.
Sure, every time an NFL job opens, Tar Heel fans are going to be nervous because Belichick’s name is going to get thrown in the mix. Get used to it. It’s better than the comfortable alternative North Carolina had under Mack Brown and most of its previous coaches: Irrelevant and ignored.
As long as Belichick is there, that’s not going to be the case. And even if it doesn’t last a long time, this is still an experiment without a downside — NFL rumors and all.
North Carolina
Registered sex offender facing new charges after escaping in North Carolina, officials say
NEWPORT, N.C. (WBTV) – A registered sex offender is facing more charges after he allegedly escaped while on a work release assignment in North Carolina on Thursday.
State prison officials said 44-year-old Kevin Leonard Worsham Jr. was on work release when he left his assignment in the small town of Teachey in Duplin County.
He returned on his own to the work release location early Friday morning and was arrested, according to officials.
Worsham has a criminal history dating back to 2004, including a past conviction that required him to register as a sex offender.
His current sentence came after he – being a registered sex offender – failed to properly report an address change. Prison records show he was convicted of the offense in Gaston County, and was expected to be released in December 2025.
Now that he is back in custody, Worsham is facing new felony escape charges.
He was being held in the minimum-security Carteret Correctional Center in Newport, but after his escape, he will be housed at Central Prison in Raleigh.
Charlotte man accused of killing teen given bond after it was initially denied, records show
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North Carolina
Lexi Donarski, Alyssa Ustby lead No. 14 North Carolina women to 64-33 romp over SMU
DALLAS — Lexi Donarski had 15 points, Alyssa Ustby scored 12 and matched her career-high with 18 rebounds and No. 14 North Carolina rolled to a 64-33 victory over SMU on Thursday night.
Donarski did her damage from 3-point range, sinking 5 of 6 attempts for the Tar Heels (16-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). Ustby collected her seventh double-double of the season with five of them coming in the last six games.
Indya Nivar had 11 points and Maria Gakdeng totaled 10 points and seven rebounds for North Carolina, which has won three in a row and 6 of 7.
Kaysia Woods scored 12 to lead the Mustangs (10-8, 2-4).
Nivar had nine points in the first half as North Carolina turned a 13-6 first-quarter lead into a 31-14 advantage at halftime. The Tar Heels shot just 39.4% from the floor before the break, but that looked red-hot compared to SMU, which shot 13.8% overall (4 for 29).
Donarski hit her only two shots of the third quarter — both from beyond the arc — and the Tar Heels led 44-22 heading to the fourth.
Woods had five points in the final period to help SMU top the 10-point mark in a quarter for the first time in the game.
SMU allowed the biggest comeback in NCAA women’s basketball history its last time out when the Mustangs saw a 32-point lead with 1:37 left in the first half turn into a 72-59 loss to Pittsburgh. SMU was outscored 28-0 in the third quarter and 26-10 in the fourth.
North Carolina travels to play Pittsburgh on Sunday. SMU travels to play No. 3 Notre Dame on Sunday.
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