North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources has begun collecting opinions from the public on the subject of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The process is used to extract natural gas from shale, and geologists have determined that large deposits of natural gas reside in the shale of central North Carolina, especially in Lee, Chatham and Moore counties. The North Carolina General Assembly is considering changes to the laws that govern fracking in the state. Host Frank Stasio talks with Kirk Ross, a columnist for The Independent Weekly and the Carrboro Citizen about the proposed legislation.
Amber Nimocks came to The State of Things in January 2009. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a survivor of 15 years in the newspaper business. As a reporter and editor, her posts have included such exotic locales as her hometown of Fayetteville, Robeson County, Wilmington, Raleigh and Fort Worth, Texas.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.