The State of Things

Most Biblical scholars recognize that many books of the Bible were not written by the authors commonly attributed to them. But academics often excuse this because they believe writing in the name of another was a commonly accepted practice in the ancient world. In his latest book, "Forged" (HarperOne Publishers/2011), Bart D. Ehrman argues that forgery was not sanctioned in the ancient world.

Each year MerleFest brings some of the best names in traditional music to North Carolina. It began in 1988 as a way to honor the memory of Doc Watson’s son, Eddy Merle Watson, and it raises money for Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro near where the Watson family lives.

Lauren Hodge is an unapologetic fan of the television show “Glee.” She cheers whenever those plucky kids decide to put on a show and she thinks the show's success is based on the sense of community and belonging that kids feel when they work together to stage a performance. Hodge’s enthusiasm for young people working in concert also drives her newest effort called the Community Chorus Project. She and her collaborators, Terry Rhodes and Pat Parker join host Frank Stasio to talk about the magic of group performance.

Raleigh will get a little bit hipper this weekend when the Contemporary Art Museum - CAM Raleigh - opens in the downtown warehouse district. The organization behind the museum has been around for a couple of decades, but their new building marks a new era.

Scientists are predicting up to 16 major storms this hurricane season. But what happens once a hurricane does develop is much more difficult for scientists to predict. Gary M. Lackmann, a professor in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University has found a way to calculate the severity of a hurricane using a sophisticated forecast system that gives more details about the eye of the storm.

Just after midnight on a winter’s day in 1961, an Air Force plane crashed in Faro, North Carolina. Aboard the B-52 were eight military crewmembers and two nuclear weapons, which fell to the ground from thousands of feet in the air. Fortunately, the weapons caused no damage, but some of the nuclear remnants remain buried in the town of Faro, just outside Goldsboro. Michael Rouse was a young reporter for the Goldsboro News-Argus in 1961.

Twenty-five years after the devastating nuclear accident at Chernobyl, the world’s attention is again focused on nuclear energy and the risks associated with nuclear technology. The massive damage to Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is contributing to growing fears over the safety of such facilities. But are those fears misplaced? How safe is nuclear power? Experts remain divided over the risks and benefits.

This morning, longtime Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker announced that he will not be running for re-election. Meeker’s retirement could signal the start of a new political era for North Carolina’s rapidly-growing capital city. In other retirement news, Woody Durham, “The Voice of the Tar Heels,” stepped down as Carolina’s play-by-play announcer after 40 years of calling UNC’s football and basketball games.

Mentally ill residents in North Carolina don't have a lot of housing options if they can't make it on their own. There is a good chance they will end up in an adult care home. These facilities are usually reserved for the elderly, and they don’t offer mentally ill residents much in the way of services or rehabilitation. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating North Carolina to see if its reliance on adult care homes violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

When Joan Didion suddenly lost her husband in 2003, she chronicled the experience in her memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking." Before the book was even published, her daughter, Quintana, died. In Didion's adapted play, "The Year of Magcial Thinking," she takes the audience on a journey through her sometimes surreal grieving process. Chapel Hill’s PlayMakers Repertory Company is staging the production from April 27th -May 1st.