Eric Hodge

The tents that have been at Peace and Justice Plaza in downtown Chapel Hill since mid-October will be packed up today. Occupy Chapel Hill-Carrboro organizers say a press conference, potluck dinner and dance party will mark the end of this phase of the occupation. Katya Roytburd is involved with planning today's activities. She says the Occupy Chapel Hill-Carrboro movement has a busy agenda.

The boom of shale gas extraction in the US and elsewhere has prompted Duke University to organize a two day conference on the topic. Organizers say the controversial process of gas extraction called fracking will be one of the main focuses of the gathering. Rob Jackson is a professor of environmental sciences at Duke and one of the event's organizers. He says his department is ready to monitor water supplies if fracking is allowed to take place in this state.

Be sure to tune in Christmas night at 6 for a special edition of the program Last Motel when host Eric Hodge and will be joined by the band Chatham County Line. They're a bluegrass-inspired band that has spent the last couple weeks criss-crossing North Carolina and Georgia with a holiday concert series.

North Carolina's first modern-era toll road opens later this morning in the Research Triangle Park. The first leg of the Triangle Expressway connects highway 147 to North Carolina 540. Officials say they'll cut the ribbon at about 10:30 a.m. with the road open for traffic around noon. David Joyner is the executive director of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority. He says drivers will not have to pay until January 3rd.

Hurricane damaged Highway 12 on Hatteras Island is the subject of two public workshops this week. The only road along parts of the Outer Banks was breached in several places by Hurricane Irene in August. Traffic is rolling again on temporary fixes, but state officials want to move forward with permanent repairs. Greer Beatty works for North Carolina's Department of Transportation.

Recent warm weather has not stopped ice skaters from hitting a rink in Graham. The synthetic surface at the Children's Museum of Alamance County does not rely on cold weather or freezing water. Carlyn Sautter works for Graham Parks and Recreation.

Carlyn Sautter: "It is not ice, its actually a very dense polymer. But it skates like ice, it actually looks like ice, so you kind of feel like you're on ice when you're out there. You do use real ice skates so it gives it that added effect as well."

The health of the bodies of water that surround coastal North Carolina is being discussed today in New Bern. The state's eight sounds are managed by a program through the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Jim Hawhee works for DENR. He says what happens in Raleigh and Durham effects the water in the sounds.

People who live in the Raleigh area and want to use alternative fuels for their cars or trucks have a new choice. A station on New Bern Avenue opens today with both E-85 ethanol blend and bio-diesel available. It's the first of its kind in the state capital. Anne Tazewell is the transportation manager for the North Carolina Solar Center at N-C State. She says alternative fuel stations are slowly spreading across the state.

A new study from Duke University sheds more light on teen drug use. Researchers found Native American youths have the highest rate of drug use followed by whites, Latinos, African Americans and Asians. Dan Blazer is a professor of psychiatry at Duke and senior author on the study. He says drugs are a serious problem among 12 to 17 year-olds.

A new study from Duke University points to tough times ahead for some tree species. Researchers examined data on climate change and the effect rising temperatures are having on tree populations in the eastern U.S. James Clark is a professor of biology and statistics at Duke. He says models that predicted trees would move with the climate were wrong.