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Residents in Stanly County spoke passionately Tuesday night about whether Alcoa should receive a water quality permit from the state. The company, which has been in the area 50 miles Northeast of Charlotte for more than 100 years, owns four hydro-electric dams along the Yadkin River. Alcoa needs a water quality permit from the state before it can seek a 50-year federal license to operate the dams. Local residents are divided on Alcoa. Opponents say the company is not a good steward of the river.

  Andy McGowan is making his mark on Durham with the restaurant Geer Street Garden, but by night, he and, sometimes, 15 of his closest friends form D-Town Brass and jam until the early hours. They’ve just released two albums, “UR” and “Golden Belt.”

All the world’s a stage. Or, at least Downtown Raleigh will be for the next two weeks, as six pianos have been placed there outdoors for anyone to play.  The decorated instruments are set up in public locations around the city as a part of Artsplosure, Raleigh’s annual visual and performing arts festival, and passersby of any skill level are encouraged to give them a go.

When we think of the classics of 19th Century literature, names like Melville and Hawthorne come to mind. But what about their contemporaries? What makes ones writer a master and another forgotten? Phillip Gura, professor of American literature and culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, tackles that subject in his newest book, “Truth’s Ragged Edge: The Rise of the American Novel” (FSG/2013).

Joe McHugh says we spend too much time focusing on what information people consume instead of how they consume it. Conservatives may focus on Fox News, and liberals may love MSNBC, but McHugh says that’s not as important as the fact that members of both ideologies are watching television. He says the mediums we use can be as influential as the content they provide.

An invasive plant called hydrilla is spreading from the Piedmont toward lakes near the coast. 

Biologists say the aquatic weed first found in Wake County is now on river banks in northeastern North Carolina and in lakes near Wilmington.  Dr. Rob Richardson is a crop science professor at N.C. State University.  He says the plant grows in thick patches, which can cause problems in drinking water supplies.

"Large mats have, at times, clogged turbines," says Richardson.

Preservationists are welcoming federal approval of a management plan to preserve areas steeped in Gullah Geechee culture.  The U.S. Department of the Interior says the effort to promote cities and towns in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida is ready to be put into action.

A bill that would abolish regional economic development commissions has tentatively passed the state Senate.

The measure would dissolve all seven of the state's commissions. The Department of Commerce would then send at least one employee to work in one of eight newly created economic zones.