A nuclear power plant near Raleigh was shut down Saturday morning after a fire broke out in electrical equipment. Duke Energy said no radioactivity was released in the incident at the Harris Nuclear Plant in Wake County, southwest of Raleigh. Officials issued an alert when fire broke out in an electrical transformer around 10:15am. On site fire crews responded, and the alert was canceled Saturday afternoon. As of Sunday morning, the plant was still offline. Officials say it will return to full power when the equipment is restored. State Public Safety Secretary Frank Perry said there was never a threat to public safety. The Harris plant has been open since 1987.
BOBCATS DRAW BIGGEST CROWD, BUT LOSE IN OT
LeBron James had 34 points and eight rebounds to lead the Miami Heat to a 104-96 win over the Charlotte Bobcats in overtime Saturday. The crowd of 19,631 was the largest ever to see a Bobcats game at Time Warner Cable Arena on a night in which the team began selling its Hornets gear for the first time. The Bobcats will become the Hornets after this season.
NASCAR CONSIDERS BIG CHANGES FOR THE CHASE
NASCAR reportedly is considering big changes for the coming season, including a 16-driver championship field that would be whittled down to create a winner-take-all season finale. NASCAR chairman Brian France has said he wants to place a greater emphasis on winning, and he's never ruled out tinkering with the stock car racing’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format. He says he wants to create more "Game 7 moments" as in professional baseball. The Charlotte Observer first reported the possible changes Friday night, citing anonymous sources. The 16-driver chase reportedly would eliminate in several stages, leaving four drivers to compete in a winner-take-all finale.
MAN CHARGE WITH SHOOTING AT POLICE
A Cornelius man has been charged with shooting at police after they responded to a report of a domestic dispute at his home in the Peninsula neighborhood on Lake Norman. Our news partner CorneliusNews.net reports that police went to the home around 11pm Friday to investigate a report that a man had struck his wife. As the woman met officers outside the home, someone inside fired shots. Police later learned that two children were still in an upstairs bedroom. A Special Response Team was called to the scene, and eventually arrested the man. The 41-year-old man also was charged with assaulting a female, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. He was released on $23,000 bond.
JUDGE OVERTURNS ULTRASOUND RULE
North Carolina’s law requiring women who want an abortion to have an ultrasound and then have a medical provider describe the image to them violates constitutional free-speech rights, a federal judge ruled Friday. The state legislature passed the law in 2011. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles had put the law on hold a few months later, and issued her ruling Friday. The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and other groups had challenge the law. On Friday, the ACLU said the ruling halts what it called an “egregious government intrusion” into the private medical conversations of doctors and their patients.