ECU football: Pirates headed to Birmingham Bowl, will play Coastal Carolina

Two power substations in a North Carolina county were damaged by gunfire in what is being investigated as a criminal act. A spokesman for Duke Energy said at a news conference with local officials on Sunday that the damage caused the night before could take days to repair. Power was out for roughly 37,000 customers Sunday. In response, officials announced a state of emergency that included a curfew from 9 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday. County schools will be closed Monday. Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields says authorities have not determined a motivation.

The nation’s largest public utility is recommending replacing an aging coal burning power plant with natural gas, ignoring calls for the Tennessee Valley Authority to speed its transition to renewable energy. TVA on Friday announced the completion of its environmental impact statement for replacing the Cumberland Fossil Plant near Cumberland City, Tennessee. TVA says in a news release that solar and battery storage would be more costly and time-consuming than gas. The recommendation still needs the approval of TVA President and CEO Jeff Lyash. He has previously spoken in favor of gas. The announcement drew immediate backlash from groups that include the Center for Biological Diversity, which calls the plan “reckless.”

Eight years into a U.S. program to control damage from feral pigs, the invasive animals are still a multibillion-dollar plague on farmers, wildlife and the environment. They've been wiped out in 11 of the 41 states where they were reported in 2014 or 2015. And there are fewer in parts of the other 30. But in spite of more than $100 million in federal money, officials estimate there are still 6 million to 9 million hogs gone wild nationwide and in three U.S. territories, doing at least $2.5 billion a year in U.S. damages. Estimates in 2014 were 5 million hogs and $1.5 billion in damages. Experts say the bigger figures are due to better estimates, not increases.

Since the recovery of sunken treasure began decades ago from an 1857 shipwreck off the coast of South Carolina, tens of millions of dollars worth of gold has been sold. But scientists, historians and collectors say that the real fortunes will begin to hit the auction block on Saturday in Reno. For the first time, hundreds of Gold Rush-era artifacts entombed in the S.S. Central America, known as the “Ship of Gold,” will go on public sale. A few of the items from the pre-Civil War steamship, which sank in a hurricane on its way from Panama to New York City, could fetch as much as $1 million.

U.S. futures were essentially flat one day after markets tumbled on surprisingly strong economic reports that highlighted the challenges the Federal Reserve faces in battling inflation. Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrials shifted between small gains and losses before the bell Tuesday. With growing concern about a coming recession, Fitch Ratings revised its forecasts for world economic growth downward on Tuesday to reflect the Fed’s and other central banks’ interest rate hikes. Major airline stocks got a nudge after an airline trade group forecast the industry would return to annual profitability in 2023 for the first time since 2019.

Schools contending with soaring student mental health needs and other challenges have been struggling to determine just how much the pandemic is to blame. Are emotional struggles the sign of a disability that will impair their learning, or something more temporary? For students who don’t qualify for special education, where should they go for help? It all adds to desperation for parents trying to figure out how best to help their children. To qualify for special education services, a child’s school performance must be suffering because of a disability in one of 13 categories, according to federal law.

The suspect accused of entering a Colorado gay nightclub clad in body armor and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and wounding 17 others, is set to appear in court again Tuesday. Anderson Lee Aldrich is expected to learn what charges prosecutors will pursue in the attack, including possible hate crime counts. Investigators say Aldrich entered Club Q just before midnight on Nov. 19 and began shooting during a drag queen’s birthday celebration. They say the killing stopped after patrons wrestled the suspect to the ground, beating Aldrich into submission. The club had long been a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community in mostly conservative Colorado Springs.