David Boraks

For years, guides at the Fort Dobbs historic site in Statesville have tried to tell the fort's story without an actual fort. This weekend, a replica of the 18th century structure opens to the public, after three years of construction and an even longer campaign of preservation and fundraising.

Duke Energy is rolling out a new program that clears the way for large customers to buy solar or wind energy from independent power producers.

Thousands of visitors will be uptown this weekend for the annual Charlotte Pride LGBT festival and parade. Organizers say they expect to match or top last year, when 165,000 people attended the Saturday-Sunday event.

It's hurricane season and government forecasters last week said they're now expecting above-normal activity, with five to nine Atlantic hurricanes, including two to four major storms with winds over 110 miles an hour. A conference at Duke University Wednesday looked at North Carolina's ongoing recovery from past hurricanes and what needs to happen to make the state more resilient in the face of stronger and slower moving storms. 

One day in the not-too-distant future, drivers of electric cars could pick charging stations the same way owners of gas guzzlers choose pumps now - by price. New rules being adopted around the country, including North Carolina, are clearing the way.

The Carolinas have not been hit by a hurricane so far this year, but researchers at N.C. State University are predicting a normal year with five to seven big storms in the Atlantic.

Back in March, students at UNC Charlotte began organizing a chapter of the nationwide youth movement March for Our Lives. On Friday, they held their first rally against gun violence, prompted by something none of them expected - a deadly shooting on their own campus.

Updated: Friday at 2:45 p.m.

Friends and family members remembered the two students killed in Tuesday’s shooting UNC Charlotte – 19-year-old Ellis Reed Parlier of Midland, and 21-year-old Riley Howell of Waynesville.

Early voting begins next Wednesday, April 24, in the Republican primary for the 9th Congressional District seat. The seat remains unfilled after state elections officials invalidated last November's results because of absentee ballot fraud. Mark Harris, the Republican who led unofficial results in that race, isn't running. But 10 other Republicans are - and eight showed up at a candidate forum Tuesday in south Charlotte.

Updated: 6:49 p.m.

The state Department of Environmental Quality has ordered Duke Energy to excavate coal ash from six remaining coal-fired power plants in North Carolina that don't already have closure plans. 

Duke Energy is proposing a $76 million program to add more than 2,500 public and private electric vehicle charging stations statewide and to promote the use of electric vehicles.

Duke Energy says it eliminated 1,900 jobs across the company last year. In a securities filing Thursday, the Charlotte-based company says it paid out $187 million in severance to those employees.

Charlotte's reputation as a major banking center is getting a big boost. Southeastern regional banks BB&T of Winston-Salem and SunTrust of Atlanta are merging to create the nation's sixth largest bank. The combined company will have a new name, yet to be announced. And it will be headquartered in Charlotte.

Updated Thursday at 3:20 p.m.

Southeastern regional banks BB&T and SunTrust plan to merge in a $66 billion deal that will create the nation's sixth-largest bank, to be headquartered in Charlotte and with a new name.

Residents around some Duke Energy coal ash dumps have been urging North Carolina regulators this month to require Duke to dig up the ash and move it to new, lined landfills. The last in a series of public meetings is Tuesday night, this time focusing on the Allen Steam Station on Lake Wylie.

For the second year in a row, North Carolina homeowners quickly snapped up all of Duke Energy's rebates for installing solar panels.

Research led by UNC’s school of medicine has led to a new treatment for peanut allergies that could be available next year.

North Carolina lost a lot of old trees this year to storms, like hurricanes Florence and Michael. Those made the headlines along with storm coverage. But hundreds more didn’t, like the two-century-old granddaddy of a tree cut down this week at The Duke Mansion in Charlotte.

Duke Energy says it expects rebates for rooftop solar panels in North Carolina to total about $10 million this year. Applications for the second year of the five-year program will be available beginning Jan. 2. 

The company building the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline says it has halted construction after a federal appeals court put on hold a key environmental permit.