The State of Things

One-hundred and fifty-one of North Carolina’s death row inmates say they can prove their sentencing was racially motivated. Starting next month, they’ll get the chance to take their claims to court. Under the Racial Justice Act – a controversial, two-year old law – convicts are allowed to appeal their sentences as a means to counter racial bias in the justice system. The first Racial Justice Act hearing goes to court in September. The convicted is an African-American man from Fayetteville who murdered a white teenager in 1991. Host Frank Stasio talks to Observer staff writer Paul Woolverton about why Marcus Reymond Robinson believes his death sentence should be changed to life without parole and about other Fayetteville headlines.

An intensive law enforcement training program in Durham teaches police officers how to recognize signs of mental illness when responding to emergency calls. The Crisis Intervention Team program works through a partnership between the Durham Police Department and The Durham Center, a county agency that manages a network of private providers who supply mental disability and substance abuse treatment for low income citizens. Host Frank Stasio talks to Sgt.

Some fans know her as Gallagher Gray or Chaz McGhee, but those who grew up with mystery writer Katy Munger in Raleigh knew her as one of six children in a large, eccentric family that lived in Cameron Park. Her father was the longtime books editor at The News & Observer, her mother was a political activist who took her children with her to protests and marches. Munger's lively childhood has helped shaped the characters she creates in three sets of mystery series, The Hubbert and Lil books, the Casey Jones series and her latest, the Dead Detective series. Host Frank Stasio talks with Katy Munger, who now lives in Durham, about her life, her work and how her characters interact with the justice system as “The State of Things” begins its annual Law & Order Week.

When Congress reconvenes after Labor Day, it will have the opportunity to consider a major expansion of online antipiracy law. The Protect-IP Act, which passed unanimously out of a Senate committee in May, would allow the government to seek a court order against a Web site allegedly violating copyright – and that site could then be entirely removed from the Internet. Industry groups including the Motion Picture Association of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support the bill, but consumer rights groups and free speech advocates oppose it as a threat to a free and open Internet.

Charlie Brown and the Peanuts crew have delighted fans for more than half a century. But what happens when those innocent kids become teenagers? In the play “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,” Linus is a pothead, Snoopy is dead, Lucy is imprisoned and Pigpen is a germaphobe. Good grief! Raleigh Ensemble Players will be performing “Dogs Sees God,” which follows the Peanuts gang in high school as they deal with the drama and turbulence of the teen years.

After going it alone for years, the members of Holy Ghost Tent Revival are considering changing their unsigned status and seeking representation from a record label. They’ve been having a blast on the road, but balancing a hectic tour schedule with the responsibility of promoting their music and financing the needs of the seven-member band is overwhelming.

In the wake of the global economic crisis, it seems Americans agree on at least one thing: the middle class is under siege. But who is the middle class? And what is it that's plaguing them?

A new study of primary care in North Carolina suggests that the state's robust network of community health centers is significantly reducing health care costs. Host Frank Stasio finds out what's so special about North Carolina's CHCs with the study's lead author Peter Shin, associate professor of health policy and director of the Geiger Gibson program at The George Washington University, and Brian Toomey, CEO of Piedmont Health Services and Board Chair of the North Carolina Community Health Center Association.

The perinatal psychiatry unit that opened this week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the first of its kind in the nation. It's an inpatient treatment center specifically for women suffering from postpartum depression, and doctors and patients say it's desperately needed. Host Frank Stasio talks with Dr.

Camille and Caleb Fang love to put people in uncomfortable situations. They're performance artists who think nothing of making a scene by stealing candy at a mall or heckling a pair of young street performers. But the Fang’s greatest works are their damaged children who they traumatize in the name of art. For example, they dress their son as a girl and enter him in a beauty pageant. In The Family Fang" (Ecco/2011), first time novelist Kevin Wilson explores the dependent and often twisted relationship between parents and children.