In October 2012, the North Carolina Department of Transportation condemned a Concord property and demolished a vacant building to make way for a new parkway extension. Eleven months later, the DOT requested the court's permission. A federal judge has imposed punitive sanctions for the “blatant disregard” for the law shown by DOT attorneys. Host Frank Stasio discusses the controversy with Bruce Siceloff, transportation reporter for the News and Observer.
Laura Lee was the managing editor of The State of Things until mid February 2017. Born and raised in Monroe, North Carolina, Laura returned to the Old North state in 2013 after several years in Washington, DC. She received her B.A. in political science and international studies from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2002 and her J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law in 2007.
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.