Frank Stasio

WUNC Greensboro Bureau Chief Jeff Tiberii joins host Frank Stasio with an update on some headlines in the Triad, including news on Greensboro's new mayor and city council members and what a newly opened school of nanoscience could mean for education and employment opportunities in North Carolina.

Gary Grant's family has owned land in eastern North Carolina since just after the Civil War when his great-grandfather, a former slave, bought a farm. That is one reason Grant has made his life's work defending the rights of African-American land owners in rural North Carolina. Grant is the executive director of the Concerned Citizens of Tillery and founding president of the National Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association. Both groups have fought the federal Department of Agriculture to undo the wrongs of racial discrimination that have cost black farmers their land.

Dr. Gary Kueber first came to Durham, NC as a student at Duke University. After graduating, then moving back many years later, he started looking into the history of physical Durham. His discoveries inspired the blog Endangered Durham that detailed which buildings in the city were at risk of demolition. Recently he launched Open Durham, an interactive website that maps Durham's past and present with an eye toward informing the future.

Downtown Raleigh's historic Oakwood neighborhood puts on its annual candlelight tour this weekend. It's a chance for curious strangers to poke around in some of the city's grandest and oldest homes. What few people realize is that the tour began some 40 years ago as a last-ditch effort to keep a freeway from demolishing the historic area. Neighbors have recently begun collecting one another's oral histories, to help preserve the neighborhood's fascinating story.

2011 was a stellar year for bass player John Brown. He had the opportunity to travel the state hosting educational workshops and performing community concerts for jazz lovers. His ensemble, the John Brown Jazz Orchestra, was featured in a documentary called “One Night in Kernersville,” a short film that won the Jury Award at this year’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Now Brown and his big band are jazzing up the holidays with a series of concerts that celebrate the music and spirit of the Christmas season. They join host Frank Stasio to share some musical merriment live in the studio.

Inbreeeding is nothing new in the world of insects, but researchers at North Carolina State University have found that when it comes to mating, bedbugs seem to have a genetic advantage over other creepy crawlies. Incest eventually depletes most populations, but the number of bedbugs has somehow managed to increase, even in infestations where forensic tests show evidence of inbreeding.

In 2003, Mayor Charles Worley of Asheville, NC proclaimed December 18th "Warren Haynes Day." Haynes is a revered singer, songwriter and guitarist. He plays with The Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule and is a Grammy-nominated solo artist, but it’s not just his virtuosity that got a day named for him. Haynes has used his skills and connections to improve life for his hometown’s most vulnerable citizens. He has hosted a Christmas Jam concert in Asheville for the past 23 years, sending the proceeds to the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

When Carolina Ballet Artistic Director Robert Weiss set out to reinvigorate the company's annual chestnut, “The Nutcracker,” his thoughts immediately turned to Las Vegas. That's where the best magicians are, after all. His quest led him to employ the services of magician Rick Thomas. Together they have added Vegas-style magic to the first act of the 1891 work of art. Host Frank Stasio talks with Weiss about retooling "The Nutcracker" for the new millennium.

Jade City’s hero Herald MF Jones comes to the rescue when an apartment building catches on fire. But was the fire an accident…or the work of The Beef Cooka?

Documentary producers have sunk their teeth into the growing sustainable food revolution over and over in recent years. In the crowded field of food films, this year's "American Meat" stands out for its digestible portrayal of the many aspects of our nation's flawed food system. The film will screen at the Haw River Ballroom on Thursday, followed by a panel discussion. In advance of the screening, host Frank Stasio talks with filmmaker Graham Meriwether and a group of local farmers: Suzanne Nelson of Cozi Farms; Eliza MacLean of Cane Creek Farms and Jeff Barney, chef of the Saxapahaw General Store and The Eddy.