Gary D. Robinson/Associated Press

Legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy is becoming law in North Carolina after the state's Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor's veto. The House completed the second and final part of the override Tuesday night after a similar three-fifths majority voted for the override earlier Tuesday in the Senate. The outcome represents a major victory for Republican legislative leaders who needed every GOP member on board to enact the law over Gov. Roy Cooper's opposition. The vote comes as abortion rights in the U.S. faced another tectonic shift with lawmakers also debating laws to sharply limit abortion in South Carolina and Nebraska.

Duke Energy Corp. executives are blaming a convergence of widespread extreme cold, higher than projected demand, malfunctioning plant equipment and the inability to buy power elsewhere for rolling blackouts on Christmas Eve. They spoke about the matter Tuesday to the state Utilities Commission. It was the first time the Charlotte-based utility used rolling outages in the Carolinas. About 500,000 customers in North and South Carolina were affected. The company said power generation at three North Carolina plants were essentially cut in half when insulated instrumentation lines still froze.

North Carolina's attorney general says former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows won't face voter fraud charges related to his 2020 registration and absentee vote in the state. Attorney General Josh Stein told The Associated Press on Friday that there isn't sufficient evidence to warrant the prosecution of the former Donald Trump aide or his wife, Debra. At issue is the address that Meadows used in Macon County to register to vote. He later cast a mail-in ballot. Meadows is a former western North Carolina congressman.