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Drivers can start buying electronic transponders for the Triangle Expressway Tuesday, October 11th. The transponders are a means of paying tolls easily. They come in time for the opening of the first section of the Triangle Expressway in mid-December. That's an extension of the Durham Freeway into Research Triangle Park. There will be two transponders to choose from. One is for North Carolina travel. That one will cost $5. The other includes states up and down the coast and is $20. David Joyner is Executive Director of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority.

Voters in Raleigh will help choose a new mayor at the polls tomorrow.

Some voters in Wake County did not receive voter cards this year showing new boundaries for local school districts. Residents head to the polls tomorrow to vote for five seats on the county school board among other offices. Wake Board of Elections director Cherie Poucher says county commissioners denied the funds needed to send voter cards with the new districts. Despite that, Poucher says she expects a higher turnout than normal.

Joe and Terry Graedon, hosts of the nationally-syndicated radio show “The People’s Pharmacy,” have worked to make holistic health information available to the public since the late 1970s, but this long-standing alliance came about somewhat by accident. In a pinch to meet deadlines, Joe asked Terry for some help with his book and his newspaper column. This initial collaboration over thirty years ago grew into a full-fledged partnership, and between the two of them, Joe and Terry have now written 19 books. Their latest, “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them” (Crown Archetype/2011), is a guide that empowers patients to take control of their own medical destiny. The Graedons join host Frank Stasio in the studio to talk about their work together in the field of alternative medicine.

Piedmont-based PSNC Energy will begin selling compressed natural gas at two locations in Raleigh with plans for a third in Gastonia. State regulators approved the $1.70-per-gallon price tag. That's about half the cost of gasoline. But you'd have to have a vehicle that uses CNG or to have converted your vehicle to be able to use it. PSNC spokeswoman Angie Townsend says they've had a handful of CNG customers since the early 90's but interest is growing.

Mt. Airy is now the site of a 1.2 megawatt solar farm capable of producing power to the equivalent of about 150 homes per year. John Morrison is Chief Operating Oficer for Chapel Hill-based Strata Solar.

The Wake County School Board campaign season is entering its final few days. It’s also a crucial time for the district’s long-awaited student assignment plan.

Wake Schools superintendent Tony Tata has worked for about 7 months on the specifics of the plan. He presented it to the school board earlier this week. A public hearing is scheduled for next Thursday.

Starting tomorrow, visitors to the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science in Durham are going to get an education on race. A traveling exhibit called, "RACE: Are We So Different," seeks to highlight a simple truth: Race is really only skin deep. The exhibit is broken down into three sections that examine the history of race, the everyday experience of it and the science behind it. Host Frank Stasio talks to Yolanda Moses, professor of Anthropology at the University of California Riverside and Chair of the National Advisory Board on the RACE Project; Alan Goodman, a professor of Biological Anthropology at Hampshire College in Massachusetts and the co-director of the RACE project; and Taneka Bennett, the director of Marketing and Public Relations at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science in Durham.

When Diali Cissokho met Hillary Stewart in his native Senegal he didn't know he'd soon be moving to North Carolina with her to play his kora and start a band. But his life in North Carolina has been fruitful musically and personally. His band Kairaba plays the Shakori Hills festival this weekend, but first they play live in our studio. Kairaba is Diali Cissokho on the kora, John Westmoreland on the guitar, Jonathan Henderson on the bass, and Will Ridenour and Austin McCall on percussion.

If you've listened to music any time since the '80s, then you may be familiar with Weird Al Yankovic's wacky parodies of popular music. He rose to fame with his send-ups of such hits as "My Sharona," and "Another One Bites the Dust," and he's stayed current by poking fun at modern stars such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. He's coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center Sunday. Frank Stasio talks to him about his concert, his album, "Alpocalypse" and more.