Michelle Obama Joins Clinton At North Carolina Rally
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama are hitting the same stage for the first time this campaign season in North Carolina as early in-person voting begins its second full week in the state.
The two women will headline the early-vote rally Thursday afternoon at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem. Clinton just visited the battleground state last Sunday with rallies on the campuses of St. Augustine's College in Raleigh and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
NC NAACP Convention Held As Early-Voting Continues
The North Carolina state NAACP is holding its state convention even as the civil rights organization and its allies are involved in encouraging turnout during early in-person voting.
The group's 73rd annual convention set for Thursday through Saturday in Raleigh had been scheduled for earlier this month, but it got postponed as Hurricane Matthew approached the Atlantic coast.
The convention's theme focuses on voting in the presidential election year.
Study: Coal Ash Not Culprit For Cancer-Causing Contaminant
University researchers say a cancer-causing heavy metal found in water wells near coal ash pits and other industrial sites is much more widespread and naturally occurring than previously thought.
Duke University geochemistry professor Avner Vengosh said Wednesday the presence of hexavalent chromium is more related to a kind of volcanic rock found in North Carolina and nearby states than the pits used to store the waste left after burning coal.
Vengosh says the findings mean it's urgent that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set safety limits for hexavalent chromium in drinking water.
Duke Energy Gets Permit To Bury Coal Ash Near Spill Site
North Carolina's environmental department is telling Duke Energy to go ahead with building a lined landfill at its Dan River power plant so it can move coal ash away from the river that saw a massive spill two years ago.
The state Department of Environmental Quality issued the permit on Wednesday. The step was needed for the country's largest electric company to build and operate the landfill to take coal ash moved from two unlined pits now on the plant site.
Wildfire Danger In Carolinas At 10-Year High
The growing drought in western North Carolina also means a growing threat of wildfires in the rugged mountains.
The U.S. Forest Service says about 70 firefighters are near Sylva making sure a 375 acre fire doesn't spread to homes along Dicks Creek. Another fire is burning in the Linville Gorge.
Forest Service spokesman Steve Little says usually in the fall small debris, like fallen leaves and twigs, burn and are easier to contain. But he says a dry summer has left larger branches and dead trees drier than they have been in a decade or more.
Little says without a heavy rain, the fire danger will remain high at least through November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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