Politics & Government
5:07 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

House Lawmakers Pass Toll Roads Bill

Credit Jessica Jones

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.

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Politics & Government
4:42 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

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

Credit Sgt. 1st Class Kendall James, OK National Guard
Oklahoma National Guard soldiers and airmen respond to a devastating tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., May 20, 2013.

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.

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Frannie Kelley is an Editor for NPR Music.

In this position, Kelley is responsible for editing, producing and reporting NPR Music's coverage of hip-hop, R&B and the ways the music industry affects the music we hear, on the radio and online. She is co-editor of NPR's music news blog, The Record, and co-host of NPR's rap stream Microphone Check, with Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

Since joining NPR in September of 2007, Kelley has worked on a variety of projects including running a series on hip-hop in 1993 and overseeing a project on women musicians. She also ran another series on the end of the decade in music and web-produced the Arts Desk's series on vocalists, called 50 Great Voices. Most recently, her piece on Why You Should Listen to Odd Future was selected to be a part of the Best Music Writing 2012 Anthology.

Prior to joining NPR, Kelley worked in book publishing at Grove/Atlantic in a variety of positions from 2004 to 2007. She has a B.A. in Music Criticism from New York University.

The Story
3:40 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

For IRA Prisoner, Hunger Strike Was Last Resort

Credit Republican Movement
A poster in support of the hunger strike in the H-blocks of Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison
The State of Things
12:18 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

'Big Fish' Author Pens Fifth Novel

Credit Amazon.com
Daniel Wallace's new book, The Kings and Queens of Roam.

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.

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The State of Things
12:07 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

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

Credit yesyesbooks.com
The cover of Boyishly, a new book by Tanya Olson.

  • English professor Tanya Olson discusses her first book of poems, 'Boyishly'

  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.

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The State of Things
11:41 am
Tue May 21, 2013

UNC Professor Educates Maya Descendants

Credit cjuneau via flickr
Patricia McAnany researched Mayan ruins in Belize. The Xunantunich ruins of western Belize are pictured above.

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.

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Education
5:26 am
Tue May 21, 2013

Proposed Board Splits Charter Advocates

Credit Dave DeWitt
A bill to create a new Charter School Board has passed the State Senate.

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.

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Politics & Government
5:46 pm
Mon May 20, 2013

State Senate Budget Plan Ups Medicaid Spending, Moves SBI

Credit Dave DeWitt
State Senate chamber

  • Jessica Jones reports on the State Senate budget plan.

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.

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