Avery Kleinman

This weekend, bidders will have the opportunity to take home a piece of North Carolina history when hundreds of items from Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans' estate go up for auction.

Semans was a longtime Durham philanthropist and the great-granddaughter of Washington Duke, who helped to create Duke University and founded the American Tobacco Company. She passed away in early 2012, and left a lifetime's collection of art, jewelry, furniture and household items behind.

The International Bluegrass Music Association's 2013 award ceremony isn't coming to Raleigh until mid-September, but the excitement has already made it to town. Fans gathered at three viewing parties Wednesday night for live announcements of the IMBA Award nominees. 

Researchers at North Carolina State University are searching for Salmonella in North Carolina's tomato crops.  The bacteria causes salmonellosis, a disease that can range from uncomfortable to deadly, and tomatoes in Florida and Virginia have been the sources of outbreaks. Despite North Carolina's close proximity and similar climate, local tomatoes have been safe from the pathogen. A team of scientists from N.C. State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is investigating why.

You may not have heard of it, but it's a skill you probably use everyday, like when choosing the shortest line at the grocery store or the toll booth with the fewest number of cars. Approximate number math, or 'guesstimating,' is the ability to instinctively estimate quantities without counting. Researchers at Duke University set out to discover whether practicing this ability would improve symbolic math skills, like addition and subtraction.

Duke researchers have thought up a creative way to fill in missing details about Hawaii's wild fish population: restaurant menus.  

The colorful artifacts that tourists often save as souvenirs are filled with tiki-men, surfers and luau girls. But they also contain valuable information that a trio of scientists used to fill in a 45-year gap in Hawaii's official records during the mid-20th century. 

It's not uncommon for women from developing countries to migrate to richer nations looking for jobs and better living conditions. They often find jobs as domestic workers, but all too often, these women experience abuse, illness, mental health problems and limited access to medical care once they arrive at their new homes.

The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, known as NCShakes, has announced that it is suspending all operations, effective immediately. NCShakes, one of High Point's main cultural attractions, has brought theater lovers to the city for 36 years.

Baby gorillas Bomassa and Apollo, who were born at the North Carolina Zoo, have reached a milestone: their first birthdays. 

Twelve-year-old Chapel Hill resident Vijay Dey took a special trip to the White House last week after being selected as one of 54 nationwide winners of the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, a program sponsored by food website Epicurious and Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative. The Challenge asked young chefs to submit a healthy recipe that meets the USDA’s MyPlate standards, meaning half of the dish is comprised of fruits and vegetables. They also were encouraged to submit the story behind the dish.

Dey’s winning recipe was for Spring Rolls, a dish he said was inspired by his grandfather. “My grandpa makes that recipe and I thought it tasted really good,” Dey said. “And it fit with the MyPlate food group categories.”

A new survey will gather information about coastal residents' attitudes and behaviors regarding hurricane evacuations. For the next month, local and state emergency officials will be conducting phone interviews to find out how residents react to evacuations and how to better implement emergency practices, like transportation and sheltering decisions. The study is being conducted for North Carolina Emergency Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District. 

One thousand Marines and sailors based at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville are deploying to Afghanistan this week.   Combat Logistics Batallion Six will be providing support to a larger unit already in place as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom.  Captain Emma Frowine, one of the Marines deploying, says the Batallion found out about the deployment about six months ago.

A new tool on the US Department of Energy’s website allows users in each state to compare the price of power for an electric car to the cost of driving the same distance using gasoline. In North Carolina, a gallon of regular, unleaded fuel costs an average of $3.41. The equivalent amount of electricity costs about a third of that- an average of $1.02. That’s 12 cents less than the national average.

Safety officials on the coast are trying to make beachgoers more aware of rip currents. Those are the narrow channels of waves that can pull swimmers dangerously far offshore. Signs along North Carolina’s coastline advise visitors to ‘Break the Grip of the Rip.’

Spencer Rogers is with the governmental research organization North Carolina Sea Grant. He estimates that rip currents account for 80 percent of drowning and says the currents happen almost every day on North Carolina beaches, but are not always dangerous.