News

House Lawmakers Pass Toll Roads Bill

Jessica Jones — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:07:17 +0000

Lawmakers in the House have approved a bill that would allow the Department of Transportation to add new toll lanes to interstate highways, but only if some of the old lanes are kept toll-free.

The new toll lanes would essentially be express lanes, with less congestion and higher speed limits. Republican representative John Faircloth says North Carolina's roads are desperately in need of funding. Faircloth says he agrees with Representative Jeff Collins, who is the bill's sponsor.

In Wake Of Tornado, NC Attorney General Warns Of Donation Scams

Gurnal Scott — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:42:27 +0000

North Carolina's Attorney General is warning state residents to not be swindled in the wake of the Oklahoma tornado tragedy. Roy Cooper says he understands that there are many North Carolinians who want to help the people of Oklahoma, but he urges people to do their homework because there are scammers who see the Midwestern tragedy as an opportunity to take your money.

For IRA Prisoner, Hunger Strike Was Last Resort

Dick Gordon — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:40:13 +0000

In the fall of 1980, imprisoned members of the Irish Republican Army demanded to be recognized as more than common criminals by the British government. They refused to wear the prison uniform, refused to do prisoner work, and, eventually, refused to leave their cells.

But they were making little progress. So IRA members at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland decided to refuse to eat.

'Big Fish' Author Pens Fifth Novel

Alex Granados and Frank Stasio — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:18:41 +0000

Daniel Wallace is best known for his debut novel “Big Fish,” which became a Hollywood movie. which became a Hollywood movie and is soon debuting as a musical. But he's written four more novels since then. His latest is called "The Kings and Queens of Roam," and it follows two sisters as they grow up in an imaginary former textile town.

Poet Explores How Childlike "Boyishness" Exists Where You'd Least Expect It

Nicole Campbell and Frank Stasio — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:07:04 +0000

Tanya Olson will tell you that being an eight-year-old child in the world allows you a lot of room to be whoever and whatever you want. You can be a whale, a man, a spaceship, and few will tell you otherwise. After that age though, the feeling doesn't necessarily go away. She explores that desire to transform in her first book of poems, "Boyishly" (YesYes Books, 2013). Tanya Olson is a poet and an English professor at Vance-Granville Community College.

UNC Professor Educates Maya Descendants

Frank Stasio and Alex Granados — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:41:25 +0000

Patricia McAnany had a moment of clarity when a young girl of Maya descent asked her why all the Maya people had to die. McAnany knew that the ancient Maya civilization collapsed in the 8th and 9th centuries, but she also knew that the Maya people continued to exist right up until the modern day.

Proposed Board Splits Charter Advocates

Dave DeWitt — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:26:00 +0000

Charter schools have been around in North Carolina for about a decade and a half, and for most of that time, the relationship between charters and traditional public schools has alternated between frosty and hostile.

State Senate Budget Plan Ups Medicaid Spending, Moves SBI

Jessica Jones — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:46:57 +0000

Lawmakers in the State Senate have presented a $20.6 billion budget proposal. It would spend slightly less than Governor McCrory’s plan and offers no raises for state employees. The plan would also increase state Medicaid spending by about $300 million and make big changes to the State Bureau of Investigation.

Republican budget writer Senator Pete Brunstetter told reporters earlier today that he knows this is a tough budget plan. He says its purpose is to make sure the state lives within its means.

VIDEO: Gwen Ifill Delivers Address To Wake Forest Graduates

Gurnal Scott — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:31:59 +0000

About 1,000 undergraduates and 600 graduate students received degrees at Wake Forest University's commencement exercises today. The school's Class of 2013 includes 11 recipients of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. Those students will be taking on post-graduate work ranging from researching regenerative medicine in Sweden to teaching Vietnamese children.

PBS journalist Gwen Ifill delivered the commencement address and urged the graduates to keep several promises.

UNC Researchers Map American Eating Habits

Will Michaels — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:55:23 +0000

Researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill are gathering massive amounts of nutritional information to create a better picture of what Americans are eating.

Scientists are looking at caloric data for every packaged food on the shelves and comparing that to food sales in order to see how they work into Americans' diets. Professor Meghan Slining says the research will show how quickly manufacturers change ingredients in each product and how that changes nutrition.