Eric Hodge

The Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or "NEST", is running out of money. The group relies on donations to rescue sea turtles along  the North Carolina coast, and they are struggling to deal with a large number of turtles that became hypothermic when a cold snap cooled shallow water quickly.

Chris Stamey has been a fixture on the local music scene for decades. He grew up with Mitch Easter and played with the likes of Alex Chilton, The Sneakers and the DBs. He's a sought after producer, and he even studied classical music and composition at UNC-Chapel Hill. But through it all, he's also been writing songs.

Chris Stamey has a new album of his own music out Wednesday called "Love Sick Blues."

A consortium of universities and municipalities are working to bring ultrafast Internet access to central North Carolina.  North Carolina State, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Duke will submit a request for proposals Friday to Internet providers.

For the first time since 2006, fishermen along North Carolina's southeastern coast can go after bay scallops in Bogue Sound.  A moratorium on the mollusks has been lifted in that area and the inner coastal waters to the South Carolina line.  The state imposed the ban because of declining populations seven years ago.

The problems plaguing Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks were the focus of an emergency meeting in Dare County last night.  The waterway has been closed to large boat traffic since Hurricane Sandy and a series of other storms in November made it too shallow to safely pass.  Local officials say the annual economic impact of the inlet is nearly seven-hundred-million dollars.  Warren Judge is the chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners.  He says the General Assembly and the area's Congressional delegation are well aware of the problem:

New research from Duke University may help make an effective vaccine for HIV-AIDS. Four years ago a potential vaccine showed some protection for about a third of recipients, but was not an overall success. Barton Haynes is a senior author on the latest study and the director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. He says the research looks at how that original vaccine achieved limited success.

North Carolina could be doing a better job of preventing tooth decay in children. A new Pew Center report gives the state an "F" for taking care of kids teeth. Doctor Bill Maas is a public health dentist and a policy advisor for the Pew Children's Dental Campaign. He says painting a clear plastic sealant coating on the permanent molars of second graders is an efficient way to prevent cavities.

WUNC's Back Porch Music hosts, Keith Weston and Freddy Jenkins, join Eric Hodge to chat about this past year's memorable acoustic and roots music releases and to remember some of the important musicians who left us this year.

Picks mentioned in the conversation:

Artist - Album Title
I Draw Slow - Redhills
Midtown Dickens - Home
Darrell Scott & Tim O'Brien - Live: We're Usually A Lot Better Than This
The Grass Cats - The Mountains My Baby and Me
Matt Flinner Trio - Winter Harvest