It could have been a very unhappy new year for a North Carolina man.

Ramin Farro almost missed out on a 200-grand Powerball jackpot.

His winning ticket would have turned into a pumpkin at 5 p.m. yesterday.

But he claimed his cash Friday, less than two business days before the Powerball ticket expired.

Spotted here

Progress Energy has signed a $7.65 billion contract for the construction of two planned nuclear power plants in Florida.

Under terms of the contract, Westinghouse Electric Co. and Stone & Webster Inc. will provide design, engineering, procurement, and construction services for the reactors.

The Westinghouse contract represents less than half of what Raleigh-based Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN) expects to ultimately pay for the nuclear units. The company says that the costs to build the reactors should run $14 billion, and Progress will pay another $3 billion to build the necessary transmission infrastructure.

If regulatory approvals stay on schedule, current plans would be for the Florida units to be complete in the 2016 to 2018 time frame

Spotted here