Today's "The State of Things" on WUNC radio will have some sharp minds discussing the economy and where it's headed.

Scheduled guests include Well Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner, N.C. State labor historian David Zonderman and Latino Community Credit Union executive Erika Bell.

Oh, and they're even considering letting me on, to offer some perspective of the Triangle's economy and business climate. The conversation will explore jobs, housing and other issues.

The broadcast starts at Noon on 91.5 FM, and will be available online here.

To participate, you can call 1.877.962.9862 or email comments to sot@wunc.org.

The State of Things will tackle the Wake County school board's hiring of Anthony Tata as superintendent on today's radio show.

Among the guests expected on the show will be N&O reporter Thomas Goldsmith, Kathleen Brennan of Wake CARES, former school board member Beverley Clark of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition and Steve Parrott of the Wake Education Partnership.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

CORRECTED TO SAY THAT STEVE PARROTT WILL APPEAR FROM THE WAKE ED PARTNERSHIP

CORRECTED TO SAY THAT BEVERLEY CLARK AND NOT YEVONNE BRANNON IS REPRESENTING GREAT SCHOOLS IN WAKE

The Wake County school diversity fight will be the focus of today's State of Things show on WUNC.

Supporters of the old diversity policy will make up the majority of guests on today's show. Host Frank Stasio will talk with the Rev. Nancy Petty, senior pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; Gerald Grant, author of ""Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh;" and Marie Garlock, a former Wake student who was among those arrested at the July 20 school board meeting.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST, INCLUDING SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SHOW

You guys may want to say hello to Gerald Grant, who viewed the blog Thursday before speaking at Quail Ridge Books & Music on his new book "Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh."

In front of around 100 people, Grant forcefully articulated his support for Wake's diversity policy. Citing a February article, he took Dana Cope, leader of the Children's PAC, to task for saying, "how dare they use my children for a social experiment that has gone wrong and needs replacing."

"The experiment has not gone wrong as Dana Cope says," Grant said. "It doesn't need to be replaced. It needs to be replicated."

This week, N&O cartoonist Dwane Powell participated in a panel discussion at Duke on the art and craft of poking fun at
power. Beforehand, he chatted with NPR host Frank Stasio and Kevin Bleyer and Adam Chodikoff of "The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart." You can listen to the interview here.