The State of Things

Veterans stationed at Camp Lejeune who were exposed to contaminated drinking water now have a chance to receive additional compensation. The Obama administration will provide more than $2 billion in disability benefits to veterans assigned to Lejeune when the camp's water was tainted between August 1953 and December 1987. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that up to 900,000 service members might have been exposed to the contaminated water. Host Frank Stasio talks with WUNC military

Martin Luther King Jr . is an inimitable cultural icon known for his vast contributions to the advancement of civil rights in the United States. A new play features an intimate portrait of the civil rights figure by putting his inner concerns and vulnerabilities on display. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Ira Knight, playwright and director, and actor John Ivey about the one-man play “Martin Luther King, An Interpretation.” The play begins a six-month performance residency at The ArtsCenter in

"I’ve been to hangings before, but never my own” is a line that came to author Nancy Peacock one day while she was on an early-morning walk.

As a teenager in Jamaica, Tashni Dubroy struggled to understand chemistry. But after a breakthrough moment in her high school chemistry class, she fell in love with the science. She moved to the United States to attend community college, and then to Raleigh to attend Shaw University. After earning a PhD in chemistry at North Carolina State University, Dubroy became a chemist with BASF, the world’s largest chemical producer. She quickly climbed the ladder at BASF. She used her chemistry knowledge

The Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern and the LGBTQ Center of Durham join forces for the second year in a row for a fundraiser cabaret show. This year’s show is set in a dystopian near-future where a fictional character named Zee must fight for sex-positive liberation from the tyranny of an evil empire. The production tells the story of kooky characters set to a soundtrack of rock classics from artists like Joan Jett, The Rolling Stones and George Michael. Host Frank Stasio previews the event

How did one word both lift a white playwright to American fame and condemn a black actor to failure?

In the summer of 2014, writer Susan Rivers was busy researching historical documents in her local library when she came across something interesting. It was an inquest from 1865 about a young woman who was accused of giving birth to a child and murdering the infant while her husband was away fighting for the Confederacy. The story inspired Rivers to write her debut novel, “ The Second Mrs. Hockaday” (Algonquin Books/2017). The book tells the story of Placidia Hockaday , a teenage bride who is

Note: this program is a rebroadcast from August 17, 2016. For years, the Pentagon has partnered with conservation groups to protect hundreds of endangered and threatened species on military bases across the country. The partnership started at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in the early 1990s after a rare woodpecker was found and halted training on parts of the base. Since then, the military and conservationists have worked together to manage the bases' rich ecosystems. Host Frank Stasio talks with

Note: this program is a rebroadcast from December 15, 2016. President Obama signed legislation this week allocating $1 billion dollars to address the nation's worsening opioid crisis. Overdose deaths are on the rise, and current policies are inadequate in addressing the issues. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Louise Vincent, a recovering addict, who lost her child, Selena, to a drug overdose. He also speaks with officer Donnie Varnell about how the law enforcement community is trying to address

Samuel Peterson has battled addiction all of his life. When he was young, it was sugar. In his twenties, he turned to methadone and cocaine. As an adult, he moved to prescription painkillers and later heroin. He eventually found sobriety, and in his 50s, Peterson enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also wrote a play. But underneath these life achievements was the pull of addiction. Peterson speaks with host Frank Stasio about his life and his new book "Trunky: