A Coast Guard petty officer who helped save a woman’s life last month in Atlantic Beach, N.C., while he was off duty, will be honored Monday with a medal.

PASQUOTANK COUNTY Charges may be filed as early as today against a couple who authorities say had a marijuana-growing operation in a room that had been converted from a garage.

CURRITUCK A recycled-plastic walkway and sun-powered lighting are some of the features that could make the proposed Currituck mid-county bridge one of the most environmentally friendly structures of its kind.

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. A Pasquotank County elections official did not act improperly by sharing records related to an election protest with a local Republican leader, according to an investigation by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

PASQUOTANK COUNTY

Sheriff’s investigators are interviewing the owners of a house in the Matthews Acres subdivision that apparently housed a marijuana growing room in what was once a garage.

By Frank Roberts, correspondent ELIZABETH CITY There were $5,000 life-insurance policies on each of his girlfriend's four children, and William T. Riddick wanted the money. So on Jan. 12, 1984, Riddick set a fire in the Oak Grove Avenue home he shared with the children and their mother, Ruth Cowell.

IN THE SUN-DAPPLED WOODS of Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Wednesday, there was an unusual amount of activity for the sedate park. Men with big video cameras on their shoulders pointed lenses into dirt pits and at the faces of archaeologists. Nearby, beeping ground-penetrating radar flashed murky images on a small screen.

MOYOCK, N.C. Plans to replace a small wooden bridge here, delayed at least twice since 2000, are on track again despite local opposition. The state highway department is looking to replace the 41-year-old humpback Shingle Landing Bridge with a wider one made of concrete and steel, with bicycle lanes on each side.

ELIZABETH CITY A second challenge to City Councilman Kirk Rivers and his wife's voter registrations was filed Wednesday. Richard Gilbert filed his challenge against Kirk and Nina Rivers with the Pasquotank County Board of Elections, the day after a challenge was filed by Holly Koerber, vice chairwoman of the Republican Party in Pasquotank.

Gov. Mike Easley on Wednesday asked the Small Business Administration to offer low-interest loans to people whose homes were damaged by a tornado Sunday in Bertie County.