Press Releases
To provide more resources for Hurricane Florence response, state government agencies have dramatically reduced the personnel previously scheduled to support public safety, transportation and health-related matters at the World Equestrian Games taking place in western North Carolina. This international sporting event was anticipated to bring thousands of people to the state. The State Highway Patrol had already decreased its troop numbers deployed for the sporting event by more than half (60 percent) prior to the State of Emergency in expectation of Hurricane Florence.
With the latest forecast showing Florence likely to grow in strength and threaten the East Coast, Governor Roy Cooper today urged all North Carolina residents, businesses and visitors to prepare for the storm. The latest forecast from National Hurricane Center shows Florence becoming a major hurricane by early in the week and tracking toward the southeastern United States by later in the week.
While the track of Tropical Storm Florence remains uncertain, state and local emergency management officials are already taking steps to prepare for potential impacts to North Carolina. Governor Roy Cooper today encouraged North Carolinians to use the weekend to update their own emergency plans and supplies.
A North Carolina State Trooper and a few Good Samaritans are to be held as heroes for saving the life of a woman caught in rapids while tubing in the Tuckasegee River near Bryson City.
As students return to school and the peak of hurricane season arrives, Governor Roy Cooper declared September as North Carolina Preparedness Month to encourage individuals, families, schools and businesses to review their emergency plans and update their emergency supply kits.
ReBuild North Carolina has awarded over $286,000 to 22 families whose homes were damaged in Hurricane Matthew. The grants come through North Carolina’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding. The families are located in Cumberland, Edgecombe, Robeson and Wayne counties, and funding will be used to repair damaged homes and to reimburse homeowners for work that is already completed.
What: Convocation for the start of the second year of the N.C. Field Minister Program
When: Sept. 5, 2018
Time: 1 p.m.
Where: Nash Correctional Institution
2869 U.S. 64 Alt., Nashville, NC 27856
Inmate Larry Bowman (#0752098) died Thursday at Maury Correctional Institution after an apparent suicide. He was found unresponsive in his cell at approximately 4:48 a.m. Prison medical staff and local paramedics responded and worked to resuscitate the inmate. He was pronounced dead at 5:50 a.m. at the facility
Bowman, 38, was convicted for first degree murder in McDowell County in 2004 and was serving a life sentence.
At approximately 2:48 p.m. on Aug. 28 at Scotland Correctional Institution, two inmates suffered injuries during an inmate-on-inmate assault in a housing unit. Both inmates were transported to outside medical facilities for treatment. Their conditions are unknown at this time.
No staff or other offenders were injured during this incident.
The incident is under internal investigation and local law enforcement was contacted. DPS is cooperating with local law enforcement and will seek criminal prosecution against any inmate involved in the assaults.
A combined effort from the Department of Public Safety Special Ops team (including K-9 units), county and local law enforcement aided in the capture of Gaston Correctional Center inmate Thomas Philbeck (#1211238) at approximately 5:30 a.m. Monday.
Philbeck was located in a mobile home rented by his father and has been returned to the Gaston Correctional Center, where he will face escape charges, in addition to being demoted from minimum custody.