Lowe's Home Improvement has set Sept. 8 as the grand opening of its new Sanford store, which will replace the one totaled by the April 16 tornado.

The rebuilt, $10 million store will provide another sign of rebirth for the Lee County community, which was hit hard by the tornado.

The store will employ 160 people. All of the damaged store's employees were shifted to other Lowe's nearby. The store will have 103,000 square feet of sales space, plus a 34,000-square-foot garden center.

Officials broke ground on the replacement store in May.

The reopening festivities will include food, entertainment and more.

State road crews are continuing to pick up debris from the April storms and tornados in Wake and five other counties, but the roadside cleanup will end soon.

The state Department of Transportation says the final pickup for debris stacked beside state-maintained roads in Johnston County will be Tuesday.

In four other counties, residents are asked to put debris on the roadside for final pickups that will begin Tuesday:  Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett and Robeson counties.

In Wake County, DOT says its crews will make their second sweep of state roads late this week and early next week.  June 15 is the deadline for roadside debris removal in Wake County.

Residents are asked to make two piles for building materials and tree limbs or other vegetation, and to keep travel lanes clear.

On the heels of the Hardee's in Sanford reopening, another tornado-damaged business is also hard at work putting things back to normal.

The Ferguson plumbing and waterworks wholesaler will open a temporary location for its Raleigh branch on Monday. The company's office on Yonkers Road sustained heavy damage (pictured here) in the April 16 tornado. Customers and employees in the building at the time huddled together in a bathroom, and no one was injured.

"All in all, we were lucky," said store manager Sharon Cooper. "We had no loss of life. We lost our roof, not our talent."

The company says the building on Yonkers Road will have to be rebuilt. It anticipates reopening there in November. Until then, the company will operate out of its temporary space at 2728 Capital Blvd. Showroom customers are currently being serviced by the company's Chapel Hill location.

On Friday, a Sanford Hardee's restaurant that was severely damaged by the April 16 tornadoes in North Carolina will reopen to the public.

The building at 3002 S. Horner Blvd. in the Southside Plaza shopping center sustained severe damage. The tornado blew out all of the restaurant's windows and ruined the air conditioning units attached to the roof. The store is directly across the street from the Lowe's Home Improvement store that was nearly demolished in the storm and sits between the Lowe's and other businesses like Big Lots and Tractor Supply Co. that sustained the heaviest damage.

Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the Rocky Mount-based Hardee's franchisee for the area, has had crews working around the clock since the day after the tornado to repair the damage and reopen the store.

“We want the community and our customers to know that we stand with them as many people and businesses are still hurting,” said Mike Boddie, president of Boddie-Noell’s restaurant division.

The restaurant will reopen at 11 a.m. on Friday. Boddie-Noell will donate 10 percent of the store's sales through May 15 to the Red Cross.

Martha Quillin, one of our reporters, is going to cover the opening of the new Contemporary Art Museum, a much-celebrated addition to the downtown arts scene. Here are some photos John Rottet took the other day. If you want to read more about it, here's a story that staff writer Stacy Chandler wrote.  Staff photojournalist Robert Willett will shooting the opening. I expect we'll have a short story and photos online by mid-afternoon.

Over at Bicentennial Mall, state workers will be holding a rally around noon to urge lawmakers to hold the line on budget cuts affecting public services.  Reporter Matt Garfield will be covering, with Willett taking pics. Yep, Robert will be busy Saturday. Look for story and photos online sometime tomorrow afternoon, too.  Here's something that reporter Craig Jarvis wrote about the rally on our Under the Dome blog.

In Fuquay-Varina, we will be photographing Teen Day Fuquay at the FV Community Center. Hundreds of teens will be learning about the dangers of drinking and driving (and texting while driving) using simulators and "drunk goggles."

And it's pretty likely our sports writers will be updating the Russell Wilson story. Here is Luke DeCock's take that just went online.

We will also be updating the NFL draft. Cowboys just picked linebacker Bruce Carter from UNC. (I just added an 8:10 p.m. update for the heck of it). 

UPDATE:  Chuck Liddy, another of our stellar photojournalists, took some aerial shots today of some areas hit by the tornados that ripped through here Saturday, March 16. There are two aerial galleries, one a First Look with 65 pics, the other with eight pics. There's a third gallery with 43 images by photojournalist Shawn Rocco documenting the experience of a family whose home was damaged by the storm.

Less than two weeks after hundreds of utility workers streamed to this area to help with tornado recovery efforts, hundreds from this region are now returning the favor in storm-stricken Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

In all, Progress Energy and Duke Energy have sent more than 1,000 utility workers to help with power restoration efforts in the wake of monster storms that killed about 300 people in the South. Those workers have been sent from both utilities' service areas in Carolinas as well as Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

Additionally, rural cooperatives and municipal power agencies in this state have sent more than 150 linemen and technicians to provide emergency assistance.

Some could remain more than a week as they work long days and live out of hotels or emergency staging areas. In exchange for putting up with hardship conditions, long days and sore muscles, the workers are paid overtime pay from the get-go, without having to log 40 hours before qualifying for their 150 percent overtime rate.

Royal nuptials aren't the only thing kicking off tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. That's also when Time Warner Cable and News 14 Carolina begin their telethon to raise money for American Red Cross tornado recovery efforts in North Carolina.

Who needs Will and Kate when you can call and maybe chat with NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson, or retired Tar Heel announcer Woody Durham? All while helping an extremely good cause.

Put your competitive spirit and need for speed to work on May 20.

That's the day Rush Hour Karting in Garner will conduct a fundraising event to support American Red Cross relief efforts in the wake of the April 16 tornado outbreak across North Carolina.

The Carolina Mudcats will partner with WTVD, The Salvation Army, and the Food Bank of Central & Eastern Carolina to hold a product drive at Five County Stadium this Saturday for items to provide relief to victims of the storms that struck North Carolina last Saturday. The Mudcats encourage fans to bring canned food, new or gently used clothing, and other essential living items to the game on Saturday.

Lowe's Home Improvement will rebuild its Sanford store that was severely damaged by a tornado Saturday evening. The Mooresville-based home improvement company had previously said it was not sure if the store would be rebuilt.

The Sanford store, which opened in 1998, has been condemned by the city, said Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb. Demolition of the remaining structure will start soon, she said, possibly as early as this weekend. The company hopes to reopen the store before the end of the year.

The store's 160 employees, many of whom were heralded as heroes after ushering customers to safety in the back of the store during the storm, were all moved to other nearby Lowe's stores.