The State of Things

Journalist and first-time author Holly Kays calls herself a “place writer” – someone who anchors her work in vivid details about a particular corner of the world. In her debut novel “Shadows Of Flowers (The Smoky Mountain News/2017),” Kays takes readers to a small town in Wyoming that sits among vast and isolated wilderness.

The vast majority of lemur species are under threat, according to a new review from a group of international conservationists. The group convened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature found that of 111 known species and subspecies of lemur, 105 of them, or 95 percent, face a high risk of extinction.

Stateline ’s annual legislative review analyzes how political trends affect policy questions in legislatures around the country. This year’s findings examine decisions about Medicaid expansion, the impact of the #MeToo movement on policy and behavior, the changing power of unions, gun control legislation in the wake of the Las Vegas and Parkland shootings, and the ongoing fight over sanctuary cities and immigration policy.

Alongside the wide-sweeping social and political upheaval of the 1960s, a new form of glass art was born that gave artists more freedom to explore political and artistic ideas. While glass had long been available to artists, new technology developed in 1962 allowed them to work with it in smaller studio spaces, which paved the way for artists to take glass art in a new direction.

Jesse Hamilton McCoy II was raised by a single mother in low-income neighborhoods in Vance and Durham Counties. Growing up in the late 1980s and 1990s, he witnessed the drug epidemic firsthand and remembers not being able to trust some adults in the community because of their addiction. He always thought becoming a doctor would be his ticket to a different life, but a run-in with police in middle school set him on a new course. An officer accused him of throwing rocks, despite McCoy’s hands

On Thursday, State Board of Education Chair Bill Cobey submitted his resignation. His resignation will go into effect in September, six months before his term as chair was set to end. This move comes after State Schools Superintendent Mark Johnson shared his reorganization of the State Department of Public Instruction.

Many cultures mark the end of childhood with a rite of passage. And for many Latinas, the transition from girlhood to womanhood often includes a giant party – the quinceanera. A growing number of Mexican families in the Triangle are keeping that tradition alive despite how costly these lavish events can be for low-wage workers. And for the teenagers being feted, the whole experience can make them feel both connected to their heritage and extended family, and like helpless victims of their

Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist Kaoru Ishibashi began classical violin training at around seven-years-old. After a brief stint as a metalhead in high school, Ishibashi tried his hand at electrical engineering at Cornell University, but found himself dedicating more time to his rock band than his textbooks. He ended up graduating from the Berklee College of Music with a degree in film scoring.

Public hearings on environmental issues are often publicized in the back of the newspaper and roundly ignored. But amidst alarm over GenX and other contaminants in the Cape Fear River, Columbus County residents showed up in droves to two public meetings on the proposed use of methyl bromide in a local logging operation.

Many people credit the feminist movement with the striking shift in gender dynamics in the United States over the second half of the 20th century. Women earn college degrees at higher rates than men, and they have also made large political and socioeconomic strides.