Redistricting Lawsuit Proceeds

Tuesday, February 07 2012 by Dave DeWitt

Eric Hodge: A three-judge panel is allowing two lawsuits against the Republican-drawn redistricting maps to go forward. Dave DeWitt reports.

Dave DeWitt: The Superior Court judges threw out some of the arguments made by voting rights advocates and the NAACP, among others. But they're letting the main arguments go on to a trial. Those arguments include a claim that some voting precincts are split excessively and pack African-American voters into too-few districts. Republicans who drew the maps say the are legal. Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice pre-cleared the maps. The May primary will continue, using the new voting maps. The redistricting case will likely be heard in the next few months.

Digital Humanities Conference Opens at Duke

Monday, February 06 2012 by Isaac-Davy Aronson

A conference opening today at Duke explores the ways in which the digital is transforming the humanities. It's called the CHAT Festival - short for Collaborations: Humanities, Art and Technology. Festival director Victoria Szabo says it will include exhibits in which art and technology come together in ways that challenge traditional distinctions.

Victoria Szabo: On the opening night we're having a big projection on the outside of the Nasher Museum. One of the pieces - "A China of Many Senses" - is an algorithmic art piece that also uses architectural metaphors. It'll be projected on two faces of the Nasher. And then on the other side of the building there will be an interactive piece that patrons can walk by and actually change the way that the image appears.

There will also be discussion panels and art walks. Szabo says the goal is to promote collaboration across disciplines and universities - the festival is a joint effort between Duke, UNC and NC State.

Emerging Issues Forum Takes on "Gen Z"

Monday, February 06 2012 by Leoneda Inge

Eric Hodge:  This year’s Emerging Issues Forum in Raleigh is taking a close-up look at the so-called Generation “Z.”  The conference sets out to better understand and prepare this age group.  Leoneda Inge reports.

Leoneda Inge:  Those in Generation “Z” were born in the1990s and many will be in college soon.   They’re the first generation born into a digital world.  But there are real obstacles like rising school debt.  Anita Brown- Graham is the director of N-C State’s Institute for Emerging Issues.   She says there is a lot of interest in these young people. 

Anita Brown-Graham:  And I think as we have branded them, Gen Z people have really come to look at us for insights into who they are, what they want and how a state might be able to rally around them.

More than one thousand participants are expected at the forum including hundreds of Gen-Zers, the C-E-O of REI, the editor of Fast Company Magazine and more.  Leoneda Inge – NC Public Radio – WUNC.

Watch the Forum live

Mild Winter May Mean Better Roads

Friday, February 03 2012 by Jessica Jones

A warm, mild winter so far may help driving conditions later in the year. The state has put aside about 50 million dollars to take care of winter weather conditions. But the Department of Transportation has only spent about eight million on maintaining roads so far this winter. Steve Abbott is a spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Steve Abbott: Let's say we have money left over, whether it be the 42 million or so we have now, or 20 or 10 million dollars, that money gets reallocated later in the year once we know no more winter weather's coming and that gets put to the local counties, for them to do their maintenance work, to help pay for potholes, mowing, litter cleanup.

But Abbott says the state has had big storms late in February before. He says the road salt the state has already bought for the winter can be stockpiled for next year.

HUD Secretary Touts Mortgage Proposal

Friday, February 03 2012 by Isaac-Davy Aronson

The Obama administration says thousands of North Carolina families could benefit from a proposed home-refinancing program. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan came to Raleigh to tout the proposal. He told WUNC that ten percent of North Carolina homeowners owe more on their home than the home is worth...and the national average is twice that.

Shaun Donovan: While North Carolina has survived this crisis better than many places, still for those almost 200,000 families this is an enormous challenge for them. And frankly, with the lowest interest rates in half a century, this is a great opportunity to help those families at no cost to the taxpayer.

The program would allow underwater homeowners to refinance their mortgages with a federally-backed loan. It would be paid for with a fee on large financial institutions. Congress is almost certain to reject that, but Donovan said the mortgage-refinancing program is just one part of the administration's efforts to help struggling homeowners.

Shaun Donovan: We need to permanently reduce the balances of loans for folks that are having a hard time paying. And I've been working very closely with the attorney general here, Roy Cooper, to reach a settlement of all the egregious robosigning abuses. There's about $35 billion of principal reduction that would come through that settlement.

State attorneys general are expected to sign on to that settlement as early as today. It would also require the nation's five largest mortgage lenders, including Charlotte-based Bank of America, to overhaul their mortgage practices. Those include "robo-signing," in which employees used fake signatures or signed off on foreclosure documents they hadn't read.

Isaac-Davy Aronson spoke with Donovan ahead of a Thursday event in Raleigh. Click "Listen Now" to hear the whole interview.

New Clinic to Treat Rare Disorder

Friday, February 03 2012 by Catherine Brand

UNC Chapel Hill this afternoon will officially mark the opening of its new Comprehensive Angelman Syndrome Clinic at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. Anne Wheeler is a psychologist at CIDD; she's also co-coordinator for the new clinic. She says Angelman Syndrome is a rare congenital disorder that occurs in about 1 in 15-thousand births.

Anne Wheeler: And it's associated with a whole host of lifelong challenges and disorders, autistic-like behaviors, significant intellectual and behavioral disabilities... language disorders, lack of speech for a lot of them, frequent seizures, motor imbalance probs, so it's pretty significant.

Wheeler says treatment of the disorder is integrative and complex. The clinic will bring together specialists from fields including neurology, speech therapy, genetics, and physical therapy. Wheeler says the clinic is the first of its kind in the country to provide all of these resources under one roof.