In 2009, Wilkes County in the northwestern part of the state had the 4th highest rate of prescription drug overdose deaths in the country. Two years later, those numbers dropped by 68 percent. That's because of a program called Project Lazarus, which is now going to be implemented statewide.

Some residents in Greensboro are eagerly awaiting the details of a proposed tree ordinance. A city council subcommittee finished the draft for the ordinance this week, but it has not yet been made public.

The new measure comes in response to a dispute between property owners and Duke Energy over the company’s practice of cutting trees.  Nancy Vaughan is an at-large City Council member who helped write the ordinance draft.

"We were able to protect private property as well as public right of way," says  Vaughan.

Who says bigger is always better? It seems that the smallest things hold our world together. If you unscrewed the back of your watch, you would see a whole world of washers and gears and screws that held together your concept of time. The Carrack recently opened the exhibit "TINY: Attention, Exploded." The exhibit works to explore how we relate to the small.

Last Friday, Gov. Pat McCrory appointed an entirely new staff to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Earlier that week the board was set to begin an investigation into contributions to McCrory's campaign. A one-hundred percent turnover is unusual and leaves many speculating whether or not it has to do with this investigation.

John Frank is a political reporter for the News and Observer and joined Host Frank Stasio today to talk about the turnover.

Many photographers in this day and age seek to capture as many worlds as they can in their lifetime. Paul Kwilecki did all of this while staying in Decatur County, Georgia for over four decades.

President Obama has nominated Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx to be the nation's next secretary of transportation. He would replace outgoing secretary Ray LaHood if confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  Foxx -- who turns 42 years old today -- is considered a "rising star" among Democrats. 

A Camp Lejeune Marine receives the Silver Star Tuesday for his actions of valor in Afghanistan. 

Staff Sgt. Daniel Ridgeway will the get the award during a ceremony on the base.  Ridgeway says he and his men were walking in line toward a stockpile of enemy weapons, which they had been ordered to clear out, when a blast knocked him over.

"My teammate ended up stepping on an IED," Ridgeway says.

Police at the General Assembly in Raleigh arrested 17 protesters Monday evening who were protesting inside the building.

The group, which included state NAACP head Rev. William Barber, was speaking out against a series of Republican-led bills that have been passed recently. Barber says that includes a measure that would require residents to bring photo identification with them to the polls.

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project has donated its collection of extremist literature – pamphlets and flyers issued by the KKK, neo-nazis, racist skinheads, border vigilantes, and neo-Confederates – to Duke’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The nearly 90-box collection will be housed there to allow scholarly research on the histories of extremist groups in the U.S.