The State of Things

Activist Bree Newsome gained national attention in the summer of 2015 when she was arrested for scaling the flagpole at the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, and removing the Confederate flag. The act of civil disobedience took place in the wake of the killing of nine African-American people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. While Newsome continues to engage in political activism in Charlotte, N.C., her roots are in the creative arts. As a kid growing up in

For more than 70 years, programs around the United States forcibly sterilized tens of thousands of American citizens.

Bluegrass singer and songwriter Sierra Hull has been playing music professionally since she was just a kid. Now, at 25, Sierra has released a new album that is a departure from her previous work. "Weighted Mind" features a more stripped down version of Sierra Hull's sound- a departure from her earlier works. “Weighted Mind” is nominated for a Grammy. Host Frank Stasio talks with Hull about her life and career, and she performs songs from her new album. Hull performs Thursday, March 23 at

Members of the Senate Armed Services committee met this morning to address cybersecurity and threats to the United States. President-elect Donald Trump denies any interference by Russians in his election. And new members of Congress took their oaths. What are the legislative goals for 2017? Host Frank Stasio talks with Time Warner Cable News Washington Reporter Geoff Bennett talks about the inquiry and the latest political news from Capitol Hill.

A new report from the Electoral Integrity Project , based at Harvard University and the University of Sydney, indicates that North Carolina can no longer be considered a functioning democracy.

Entomologist by training, Holly Menninger has spent much of her life bridging the gap between the science happening in labs across the country, and the general public. As a high school student she was responsible for explaining the Ice Age to visitors at a local museum. In her current role as the Director of Public Science for the College of Sciences at NC State, she helps scientists turn their work into compelling stories and also contributes to citizen science projects, where the public can

Whether it was action blockbusters like “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” or sci-fi thrillers like “Arrival,” Hollywood offered a dynamic mix for audiences in 2016. For this month’s Movies on the Radio, listeners picked their favorite films from the past year, including critically-acclaimed movies like “La La Land” and “Moonlight." Host Frank Stasio talks with film experts Marsha Gordon , film professor at North Carolina State University, and Laura Boyes , film curator at the North Carolina Museum

Note: This program is a rebroadcast from November 14, 2016. Food and storytelling have gone hand in hand for Sheri Castle since she was a little girl. At the age of four, she wrote her first original recipe: a smoothie she called “Hawaiian Tropic Sunset Delight.”

For the final episode of our annual "Producer Picks" series, veteran producer Katy Barron, and a rookie, The State of Things' newest producer, Laura Pellicer reflect on the stand-out stories from 2016. Barron and Pellicer are the behind the scenes actors that find fresh voices, make editorial decisions, and get the show to air every weekday. For this segment they step in front of the microphone to share their favorite segments they had a hand in producing. Barron's picks run the gamut from