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Heather Williams experienced racism for the first time when she moved to Brooklyn from Jamaica at 11 years old. That’s when she discovered that black was considered bad in the United States, though she didn't know why. Her high school library’s Black Studies section began her education in racial history. Her fascination with the subject would lead her to one day become a civil rights lawyer, and later, a teacher of history.

Governor Bev Perdue has vetoed the budget sent to her by the North Carolina General Assembly. The decision comes a week after the Republican-led House and Senate passed the bill, sending it to Perdue's desk. It's the first time in state history that a governor has vetoed a budget passed by the Legislature. Speaking from the Capitol's old Senate chamber yesterday, Perdue said the bill would hurt public education, the environment and health care.

The first public school in North Carolina was created in 1840. Before the Civil War, those schools were reserved only for Whites. And then, four years after the war ended, the system was revived.

Segregated schools were the law in the state for much of the 20th century. And as you might imagine, the Civil War was taught much differently depending on the color of the students’ skin.

President Barack Obama has been making the rounds across the country looking for ways to help spur economic growth and job creation.  Today he is scheduled to stop in Durham.

The North Carolina baseball team is heading to the College World Series for the fifth time in six years. The Tar Heels grabbed an early lead Saturday against Stanford and hung on through lousy weather to sweep the best of three series in the NCAA super regional. Head coach Mike Fox says his team earned another trip to Nebraska.

  The budget on Governor Bev Perdue's desk would eliminate the Health and Wellness Trust Fund. And that has some public health experts worried. 

One of the Fund's best known programs is an aggressive teen anti-smoking campaign called Tobacco Reality Unfiltered, or T-R-U. The budget would allow for some of the fund's money to go to the department of health and human services which could create a similar program. 
But Doctor Adam Goldstein, from the tobacco prevention and evaluation program at UNC Chapel Hill says their research shows T-R-U has reached most of the kids in the state and makes a difference. 

There's been a flurry of activity at the legislature this week as lawmakers work to get their measures approved in time to be considered. The Republicans control both the House and the Senate, and they are taking significant steps toward shifting North Carolina policy to the right. Meanwhile, Gov. Bev Perdue considers the budget, which calls for steep cuts to public education.

When artist Jane Lillian Vance went to Nepal and met Tsampa Ngawang, she entered an ancient world. Ngawang is a kind of doctor and mind healer called Amchi and is the repository of Tibetan medical knowledge passed down through the ages. Vance decided to make Ngawang a lineage painting: a work of art meant to honor the achievements of a prominent person in Tibetan culture.

Tom Maxwell is best known for his time spent with the Chapel Hill ‘90s group the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but a lot has happened since then. His then 3-year-old son Esten was diagnosed with Leukemia and has completed treatment.  Maxwell is writing a memoir about that experience and about his time with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. He's started a Kickstarter project to help pay for that project.  And now he’s releasing his second solo record, “Kingdom Come.” The CD release party is at Motorco in Durham tonight at 8 p.m.

Lawmakers have approved a controversial bill that would limit the amount of monetary damages for patients harmed by emergency room doctors' malpractice.

In most cases, the bill would cap a physician's malpractice responsibility at five hundred thousand dollars for death, disfigurement, permanent injury or loss of a body part. Republican sponsor Johnathan Rhyne says the measure is the result of a bipartisan effort between lawmakers.