Archive for May, 2005

Senate Budget/Jefferson’s Vendetta

Tuesday, May 10th, 2005

Senate Budget: The North Carolina Legislature is working its way through a budget that may or may not include tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy, a modest salary increase for state employees, and a 35-cent tax increase on cigarettes. What’s likely to stay in, and what’s on the chopping block? Host Melinda Penkava looks at the latest from Raleigh with Jack Betts, associate editor with the Charlotte Observer; and Rob Christensen, political columnist with the Raleigh News & Observer. Listener Call-In. (40:00)

Jefferson’s Vendetta: Thomas Jefferson is often portrayed as an architectural genius, a progressive advocate of democracy and dedicated founding father. Author Joseph Wheelan paints a different picture of the third president in his new book, “Jefferson’s Vendetta: The Pursuit of Aaron Burr and the Judiciary” (Carroll & Graf, 2005). Host Melinda Penkava talks to Wheelan about the strange career of Aaron Burr and how his antagonism of Jefferson changed the judiciary. (17:30)

Budget Update
Jefferson

Signs of Spring

Monday, May 9th, 2005

If you ask a state government employee in Raleigh whether or not spring has sprung, she may show you battle wounds she picked up on her way into work. The mockingbirds are out in full force at the capitol building and across the state, defending their spring nests. From the coastal plains to the Piedmont to the mountains, what other signs in the North Carolina wild tell us that spring is here? Host Melinda Penkava talks with Audubon North Carolina biologists Andy Wood and Curtis Smalling. Listener Call-In. (59:00)

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Teaching/NIMBYism/Percy Heath

Friday, May 6th, 2005

Teacher of the Year: North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction has selected this year’s Teacher of the Year…and it is Wendy Miller of Cove City, a teacher at James W. Smith Elementary in Cove City. Host Melinda Penkava talks with Mrs. Miller about her tricks of the trade, and how she keeps her passion for teaching alive. (12:00)

Teacher Burn-Out: Melinda Penkava talks with Alton Ballance of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. Ballance leads teacher retreats on Ocracoke Island. He believes fishing trips and visits to lighthouses provide much needed rejeuvenation for teachers burned out by the demands of their profession. Listener Call-In. (20:00)

NIMBYism: One of Chapel Hill’s major thoroughfares gets a new name this weekend. Airport Road will become Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard on Sunday. State of Things producer Cori Princell has an address on Airport Road, and she was surprised at her reaction to the change. (4:00)

Percy Heath: Wilmington-born jazz great Percy Health passed away last Thursday. Melinda Penkava talks with Maurice Martinez, professor of education at UNC-Wilmington, about Percy Heath’s life and work. (17:30)

Teaching
NIMBYism
Percy Heath

Jerry Wayne Conner/Midnight Assassin/John Dee Holeman

Thursday, May 5th, 2005

Jerry Wayne Conner: In 1991, a jury found Jerry Wayne Conner guilt of killing two people in a convenience store in Gates County. He was sentenced to death by two different juries, but attorneys for Conner appealed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals after it was revealed that one of the members on the second sentencing jury, Helene Knight, was a reporter who had covered the first trial. On Tuesday, the death penalty was reinstated by a 2-1 vote of the 4th Circuit. Host Melinda Penkava speaks with defense attorney Mark Kleinschmidt aboout the case, as well as Phil Meyer, professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (12:00)

“Midnight Assassin”: Host Melinda Penkava speaks with Patricia Bryan and Thomas Wolf, authors of “Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America’s Heartland” (Algonguin Books/2005). The husband-wife team from Chapel Hill tell the story of Margaret Hossack, an Iowa farm-wife who murdered her husband 105 years ago in Iowa. (20:00)

Poverty Letters: Host Melinda Penkava reads some of the listener letters from our series North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty.

Carolina Blues Festival: Host Melinda Penkava speaks with blues man John Dee Holman. Holman will perform at the 19th Annual Carolina Blues Festival on Saturday, May 7th in Greensboro.

Jerry Wayne Conner
Midnight Assassin
Letters
John Dee Holman

Water Quality

Wednesday, May 4th, 2005

It’s been ten years since massive fish kills in the Neuse River drew public attention to the issue of water quality in North Carolina. In those years, the state has seen rapid development and the growth of hog farms. Several major hurricanes have come through. And North Carolina’s General Assembly has passed bills to regulate and protect some of the state’s watersheds. Melinda Penkava hosts a discussion about how all of these developments have affected the water quality in North Carolina’s rivers. Guests include: Bill Holman, executive director of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund; JoAnn Burkholder, director of the Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology at NC State University; Forest Westall, environmental consultant for McGill and Associates; and Kate Ardizone, water quality planning specialist in Morehead City. Listener Call-In. (59:00)

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