The State of Things

Back in the mid-1990s, singer/songwriter Elizabeth Haddix had just entered law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she realized academics should not be the only thing in her life. On the first day of class, she went to the local music store and bought herself an acoustic guitar to fill her passion for a creative outlet. Haddix taught herself how to play the instrument and over the years bounced around playing with an assortment of local musicians. Now she has released

For many veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, treatment options are limited to medication and therapy. But head and neck injections, a new treatment option, is being hailed as a "miracle" method. A Triangle-based organization, RTI International, received a $2 million grant from the Department of Defense to operate trials of the technique at three Army hospitals. Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina is one of the facilities using the new treatment on

In the eight years since founding The Monti , a North Carolina-based storytelling organization, Jeff Polish has chosen a variety of topics for storytellers. Participants on The Monti stage have talked about their experiences around themes like "Fear," "The End of the Road," and "Humility." But one topic stayed off the list: God. When Polish eventually decided to broach the difficult subject of a higher power, the response was off-the-charts. Host Frank Stasio talks with Polish and hears

T his year marks the 15 th anniversary of 9/11, an event that sparked dramatic shifts in global policy and international relations.

Horticulturist J.C. Raulston died in 1996, but his legacy lives on at the North Carolina State University arboretum that bears his name, the nine plants named in his honor, and all over the backyards and nurseries of North Carolina.

Incumbent Governor Pat McCrory conceded in his reelection bid after several weeks of disputing the results. The governor congratulated Governor-Elect Roy Cooper in a video message. McCrory said there are still questions about the election process, but he respects the democratic process that elected Cooper as the state’s new governor. McCrory also called for a legislative special session to address funding for Hurricane Matthew and wildfire victims. Critics fear lawmakers could use the session to

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their supporters are celebrating after the Army Corps of Engineers announced it will block a pipeline from being built under a dammed off portion of the Missouri River. Host Frank Stasio speaks with NPR Reporter Nathan Rott who is in North Dakota. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians member Gilliam Jackson, and Keith Richotte , Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa member and UNC law professor, give their perspectives on the news from Standing Rock.

Poet Robert Frost once said, "An idea is a feat of association, and the height of it is a good metaphor." Dr. Mardy Grothe , author and retired psychologist, has channeled the words of Frost into a new anthology of metaphors called " Metaphors Be With You : An A-to-z Dictionary of History's Greatest Metaphorical Quotations" ( HarperCollins /2016). Grothe examines the figure of speech by curating thousands of metaphors spanning 250 topics. Host Frank Stasio talks with Grothe about what makes an

Malinda Maynor Lowery is a Lumbee Indian whose family goes back more than 10 generations in Robeson County. Lowery was born in Lumberton, N.C. but raised in Durham, where from an early age, she often fielded the question, “what are you?” Although she grew up in a family with a strong sense of Native identity, this question stayed with her much of her life, and eventually became the subject of much of her academic and documentary work. Lowery earned a masters in documentary film from Stanford

Thousands of protesters have spent months at the site of the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline under a lake near Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. The protesters say it threatens the safety of the water and undermines a sacred native site.