The State of Things

North Carolina’s legislature has enacted some of the most stringent requirements in the nation for women seeking abortions. How the bill will affect medical practice in the state? What legal challenges is it likely to face? Host Frank Stasio finds out what's in the bill and how this new state law fits into the convoluted history of family planning in America with WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie; Senator Warren Daniel (R-Burke & Caldwell), who is a primary sponsor of the bill; Dr.

Dolly Parton is an American icon. Her skills as a singer, songwriter, musician, actress, performer and businesswoman are legendary. She brings her rhinestone-studded road show to The Durham Performing Arts Center tonight, so we're taking some time today to sing her praises. Host Frank Stasio is joined by Cecelia Tichi, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. She’s the author of the books “Reading Country Music: Steel Guitars, Opry Stars, and Honky-Tonk Bars" (Duke University Press, 1998) and “High Lonesome: The American Culture of Country Music,” (The University of North Carolina Press,1994.); Also joining us will be Daniel Boner, Director of Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies at East Tennessee State University.

Last month, Peace College announced that, for the first time in its 154-year history, it will begin admitting men to its undergraduate programs. Along with a new approach, the school has a new name: William Peace University. Many alumnae were outraged and caught off guard by the Board of Trustees’ decision. We take a look at the future of Peace and consider the role that single-sex education plays in our increasingly co-ed world. Host Frank Stasio talks with Debbie Cottrrell, Peace University Provost; Omisade “Billie” Burney-Scott, a Peace graduate from the class of 1987; Jane Stancil, higher education reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh; Jo Allen, president of Meredith College, the lone remaining all-women’s college in Raleigh; and Rosemary Salomone, professor of law at St. John’s University and author of the book “Same, Different, Equal: Rethinking Single-Sex Schooling” (Yale University Press, 2003).

Duke University professor Stuart Pimm’s work is more important than ever. That’s because species are going extinct faster than ever. Pimm, the Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, studies endangered species in hopes of curbing accelerated extinction rates. His work as a conservation biologist began in Hawaii in the 1970s – before the field of conservation biology even existed.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ousted two leaders of the school's athletic program this week. Football coach Butch Davis was fired and longtime Athletics Director Dick Baddour announced his resignation. It's all fallout from persistent allegations that football players violated NCAA rules regarding academics and gifts.

While North Carolina State University fans uncovered plagiarism on the part of a football player from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it was the News & Observer that double checked the story and gave it mainstream media play. UNC journalism professor Adam Hochberg says that this combination of citizen and professional journalists has its pros and cons. Hochberg and WUNC reporter Dave DeWitt join guest host Isaac-Davy Aronson to consider whether we are better for it when citizens become journalists and journalists carry on the work of those citizens.