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Filmmaker Julie Dash made history with her movie, “Daughters of the Dust.” In 1991, it became the first full-length feature by an African-American woman to receive a general theatrical release. The critically acclaimed movie tells the story of the Peazant family, a clan of Gullah Island dwellers who are divided by the decision to leave their isolated life and move to the mainland. “Daughters of the Dust” will be screened at The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University on Thursday as part of the new “Seeing Black” film series.

The city of Greensboro is taking a lesson from Atlanta on how to help spur job growth in its community. 

Deborah Hooper is president of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce.  And she says the feed-back has been positive since announcing the new initiative – "One Job For Greensboro.”  The idea is for all 16-thousand employers in the city to add at least one full-time worker to their rolls in the next year.

The Democratic National Committee will hold a kick-off rally in Charlotte tomorrow to prepare for its national convention in 2012.

The convention is a year away, but organizers say this event will help get things started in Charlotte. Steve Kerrigan heads the group's convention committee. He says it will be great to hold the gathering in a state that helped President Obama win the White House in 2008.

Residents of Hatteras Island will be allowed to return home today.

North Carolina's electric cooperatives want you to get rid of that old refrigerator or freezer that's in your basement or garage. The Fridge and Freezer Farewell Program is meant to get secondary, older and inefficient models out of circulation. Valerie Woods works for GreenCo Solutions which helps the electric coops reach their energy efficiency and renewable energy goals. She says nothing goes to waste.

Valerie Woods: "They break out the insulating foam, they recycle the refrigerants, all the plastics and metals are recycled as well as the capacitors."

Everyone knows there's a high school dropout problem in the United States, but the college dropout rate is worse. Nearly a quarter of American adults started college but didn't finish - about 37 million people. Now they're being left behind in an economy increasingly focused on workers with degrees. American RadioWorks producer (and former WUNC News Director) Emily Hanford examines why so many people start college but don't graduate, what's being done to bring them back, and whether a college degree is the answer for everyone.

UNC Chapel Hill researchers have found that most Mexican immigrants to the United States adopt a more "American" diet despite the abundance of Hispanic food options. Carolina Batis is a P-h-D candidate in nutrition at UNC and author of the study. She says some of the changes include more healthy items like fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk, and fish.

State officials plan to install a temporary bridge on Hatteras Island's North Carolina Highway 12. Hurricane Irene caused a number of breaches along the road, and the structure will be erected across the largest such impasse. Greer Beatty is a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Greer Beatty: "We're bringing in a temporary bridge, we've already ordered it. It's being shipped right now in trucks, it'll take about 35 truckloads to get all of it here, and we'll get it assembled and put it into place."

There’s a company in the Triangle that’s fighting for leverage in the big wide world of social couponing.  Twongo – based in Cary – began competing in the “daily deal” game early last year.   Today – the company considers its main competitors Groupon and Living Social. Twongo says there’s room for everybody – but in the Raleigh – Durham-area – they want to be number one.

While a young Phonte Coleman was growing up listening to the soulful sounds of artists like Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan in Greensboro, NC, Nicolay Rook was being reared on a similar catalog of musicians in the Netherlands. That musical kinship drew Coleman and Rook to each other on okayplayer.com, an online hip-hop message board, in 2002. The two never met in-person until after they’d put the finishing touches on their critically-acclaimed first album, “Connected.” Today, their band, The Foreign Exchange, boasts three albums, a record label imprint and a Grammy nomination. Rook has since relocated to Wilmington, NC to be closer to his bandmate, but he and Coleman continue to work through a long-distance relationship.