Moore County

It's been a year since shooting attacks on two Moore County electrical substations left thousands of residents without power for days in freezing weather. Investigators have made no arrests, but the effects still reverberate in the county and across the power industry.

Alcohol and parks were among the winners in several North Carolina towns in Tuesday’s elections.

The recently approved state budget includes about $2 billion to improve water and sewer systems. The money will help about 200 mostly rural counties and towns across North Carolina.

Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed three different bills Monday that had passed the legislature with bipartisan support.

Increased punishments for intentionally damaging utility equipment have received final legislative approval in North Carolina.

The bill would create a new felony charge for people who attack an energy facility. They’d face a $250,000 fine and up to eight years in prison.

Advocates say the policy could harm transgender students who are not out to their parents.

The proposal would create a statute making it a high-grade felony to purposefully damage or attempt to damage an energy facility, including those that transmit or distribute electricity or fuel. Senators on Tuesday opted to tack on cybersecurity safeguards before sending the bill to the House.

Current state law only makes it a misdemeanor to vandalize equipment that interrupts the transmission of electricity. A perpetrator also would face a $250,000 fine and potential lawsuits.

Attacks last month in Moore County, North Carolina, knocked out power to more than 45,000 customers for several days. Those attacks, and others in Washington, Oregon, South Carolina and Nevada, have underscored the vulnerability of the nation’s far-flung electrical grid, which security experts have long warned could be a target for domestic extremists.