Archive for March, 2006

Freshman Academy

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006

Host Frank Stasio checks in with regular guest Kenneth Dobyns, a teacher at West Johnston High School and one of the directors of the experimental Freshman Academy. The school-within-a-school idea hopes to lower the drop-out rate and foster a love of learning through smaller classes, more personal attention and group projects. New data indicates that it just might be working. (7:00)

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N.C.’s Energy Revolution

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

New and renewable forms of energy are hardly, well, new. For decades, some Americans have tried to kick its addiction to oil. But with new reasons at home and abroad to develop and market energy sources other than oil, is the time for an energy revolution at hand? According to some, that revolution is already happening at the state and local level. Host Frank Stasio looks at the changing energy landscape in North Carolina with: Thomas Meyer, professor of chemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill and former associate director of strategic research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory; Pete Andrews, professor of public policy at UNC-Chapel Hill; Dennis Scanlin, professor of technology at Appalachian State University; Michael Sykes, owner of Enertia Building Systems; and Lyle Estill, vice president of Piedmont Biofuels Industrial. Listener Call-In. (59:00)

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Fear Of Poetry

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006

Today on “The State of Things” a bit of group therapy. It turns out that the only way to overcome a fear of poetry is to expose oneself to more poetry. Host Frank Stasio consults with some experts: Ted Kooser, the Poet Laureate of the United States and winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for “Delights and Shadows” (Copper Canyon Press/2004) and Kay Byer, Poet Laureate of North Carolina whose most recent book is “Catching Light” (Louisiana State University Press/2002.) Also, Graham Hackett, the program director at Poetix Inc., who teaches spoken word to disadvantaged youth weighs in on using the bard to boost self esteem. (40:00)Listener Call-in.

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Legal Scandal in Charlotte

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006

In a series of stories over the past few weeks, the Charlotte Observer has uncovered billing inconsistencies among the lawyers who represent the poorest defendants. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Ames Alexander, investigative reporter with the Charlotte Observer, about the billing scam and how the “honor” system set up to keep these lawyers’ fees under control is broken. (12:00)

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The State of Health Care

Monday, March 20th, 2006

The new North Carolina medicaid guidelines for mental health care roll out today. Five years after the state de-institutionalized its mental health care services, there aren’t enough psychiatrists or tax dollars to go around, according to recent reports. And North Carolina is defending itself in a class action lawsuit demanding equal access to mental health care services. So what is a state’s responsibility to mental health patients? And are those responsibilities being met? Host Frank Stasio talks with Kathy Reiter, mother of a child with mental health care needs and plaintiff in a suit against the state for equal access to mental health care; Phoebe Zerwick, reporter with the Winston-Salem Journal; Marvin Swartz, head of the division of social and community psychiatry at the Duke University School of Medicine; and N.C. Rep. Verla Insko. Listener Call-In. (59:00)

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