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The NPR affiliate plans to host an open house on Aug. 19, and all are invited (just be sure to RSVP). Here's the press release, which will fill you in on the station's history:

In 1981 WFAE 90.7fm hit the Charlotte airwaves with Morning Edition, All Things Considered, jazz and classical music from basement studios at UNC Charlotte. To commemorate this milestone, the station is hosting an open house at its studios in the University area on Fri., Aug. 19, 4-8 p.m.

“This is an opportunity to thank members, listeners and businesses who have been so generous with their support,” said Roger Sarow, WFAE president and general manager. “We're privileged to be part of this community and look forward to serving for another 30 years.”

One of the evening's highlights is a recording of Charlotte Talks for future broadcast. At 6 p.m. Host Mike Collins will talk about the art of grilling with Peter Reinhart, Chef-on-Assignment at Johnson & Wales University, Scott Graf, WFAE Morning Edition host and amateur griller, and others. They'll discuss grilling equipment, what to grill, tried and true methods, and the latest grilling techniques.

The party will also feature tours, in-studio demonstrations, the music of Gena Chambers, hors d'oeuvres and cash bar. Admission is free. RSVP is requested at wfae.org/openhouse.

Although the station has evolved over the years, WFAE’s mission to provide Charlotte-area listeners with quality radio programming has remained the same.

WFAE 90.7fm Highlights 1981-2011:

When WFAE went on the air in 1981, the station was licensed to UNC Charlotte. By 1986, WFAE traded its campus basement studios for bigger basement studios in the newly-built One University Place. A state budget crisis and record revenue shortfall ultimately reduced state support for the station, and in 1993 WFAE separated from the university to become a community-licensed station. University Radio Foundation Inc., a volunteer board comprised of members from the community, became the stewards of the station. In 1995 WFHE 90.3fm signed on the air to better serve Hickory-area listeners.

In 1996 WFAE changed its daytime format of contemporary jazz to include news and information programming, such as The Diane Rehm Show, Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Talk of the Nation. The station launched its own local call-in program, Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins, in 1998.

As the 21st century began, WFAE embarked on technical projects to improve its signal coverage over Lake Norman and to become the first radio station in Charlotte to broadcast its signal using HD Radio technology. This cutting-edge technology allows WFAE to divide its signal into multiple streams. Jazz returned to the station on WFAE HD2 and an eclectic blend of rock, blues and more is available on WFAE HD3 .

In the midst of the Great Recession, demand for social agencies' services was soaring and budgets were slashed. To help Charlotte residents understand the charitable needs in the community, WFAE joined a coalition of media outlets called Charlotte: Mission Possible.

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But, the answer to their "wonderings" is YES.

Here's part the deal: Antibacterial soaps only kill most bacteria — which, by the way, isn't all bad. Then, the bacteria that is left becomes stronger and more resistant to the substance. As bacteria becomes stronger and more resistant, people become more susceptible to antibiotic-resistant, and often deadly, diseases like MRSA.

But, that's only one reason why triclosan should be considered poisonous:

Health and environmental groups have mounted a campaign against Bath & Body Works, urging the retailer to stop selling its line of “Summertime Scent” soaps that contain triclosan, a chemical categorized as a pesticide.

Scientific studies have linked triclosan to hormone disruption, which could be hazardous to teenagers whose bodies are still developing.

"A chemical like triclosan that can disrupt hormones and may affect fetal growth and development does not belong in our soap," said Lisa Archer, director of the San Francisco-based Campaign for Safe Cosmetics at the Breast Cancer Fund. "Studies show that triclosan is no more effective at preventing illness or removing germs than soap and water."

The line, which includes products with names like "Tangelo Orange Twist" and "Sugar Lemon Fizz," is marketed to teenagers using the slogan "spread love, not germs."

According to the Breast Cancer Fund, major companies, including Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, The Body Shop, and Staples, are either no longer using the chemical or are phasing it out of products. Colgate-Palmolive has eliminated triclosan from its dishwashing liquids and Softsoap hand soaps, but continues to use the chemical in Total brand toothpaste.

Read the entire article here.

In WOW! WTF?! news from Grist.org:

Babies born in areas with mountaintop-removal mining have higher rates of birth defects -- we know that from a study that came out last month. But, say coal companies, that doesn't mean the mining CAUSES the birth defects! They could easily be caused by something else -- like, say, rampant inbreeding.

A letter from law firm Crowell & Moring, representing the National Mining Association, rebutted the study's findings by saying they failed to account for "consanquinity." That is not a thing, but "consanguinity" is inbreeding. And inbreeding is a nasty (and false) rumor about West Virginia, where a lot of mountaintop-removal mining takes place.

Read the entire post here.

I bring this up because here in Charlotte there's a good chance that every time you turn on your lights you're burning a piece of the Appalachian Mountains and, apparently, contributing to birth defects in the communities immediately surrounding those mountains.

That's your coal FYI for the day. Now, take a minute to find out where the electricity in your home and office comes from with this handy database from iLoveMountains.org.

Have a look at the people who are being accused of being inbred and learn a little bit about the history of coal protests at Blair Mountain. I think you'll agree that these people aren't simpletons. No, they're citizens standing up for themselves and exercising their rights.

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• Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy

Since Duke Energy is one of Charlotte's darlings, I thought our CLog readers might be interested in hearing what CEO Jim Rogers has to say about the next 50 years in the energy biz. Here's a snippet:

What do you believe the energy mix will look like in the coming decades?

Over the last 20 years we have started using coal in a cleaner way. But there needs to be more technological development to use it in a low carbon world. Is this carbon capture and storage (CCS)? Is it a system to use algae to capture carbon and accelerate the growth of algae and then use it as a biofuel? I think CCS will play a role particularly if utilities are in a region where the geography works, but that's predominantly in the Midwest. The ultimate solution to [make coal more sustainable] is to recycle the carbon. We have relationships with a number of Chinese companies, and they're actually more focused on how you recycle the carbon rather than storing it. On some level, it seems like a more sustainable practice to take it and reuse it rather than store it in the ground.

Read the entire interview, with Ariel Schwartz, here.

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This is great news ... hopefully Duke Energy will keep up this type of thing once it gobbles Progress Energy up so Charlotte can become the green energy hub it longs to be. (Do not hold your breath ... or, do, since coal is the fall back and using it to create electricity mucks up our air quality.)

Solar developers in the Charlotte region are welcoming the news that Progress Energy Inc. is seeking bids to buy power from relatively large 1- to 3-megawatt solar projects to be built in the state.

Erik Lensch, founder of Argand Energy Solutions, says his company intends to submit a bid for a project it has been considering for some time with a municipality in eastern North Carolina. He calls the request for proposals Progress issued in late June a significant move for a solar industry that hasn’t had a lot of good news in North Carolina lately.

Michael Byrnes, chief executive of NxGen Power, says his company is “thrilled” and hopes to participate, though he declines to say more about any plans for a bid. He says it’s clear Progress has listened to solar developers who have had trouble finding larger projects — in the 1- to 5-megawatt range — in the Carolinas.

“More is always better,” he says. “This is a strong statement by Progress on solar power, and Progress is an outstanding partner.”

There has been concern about rough times for North Carolina’s fledgling solar industry. An initial burst of activity followed the General Assembly’s 2007 law requiring utilities to produce some of the energy they sell from renewable sources. But as the major utilities and the electric cooperatives began meeting the phased-in requirements ahead of schedule, companies feared the job pipeline would dry up.

Read more from The Charlotte Business Journal here.

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Did you hear? Time Warner is hiring in Charlotte.

We like jobs, don't we?

Now maybe the company's customer service can stop sucking so bad.

Time Warner Cable said Monday it would add hundreds of jobs in Charlotte over the next three years and build its second U.S. data center to better handle video, data and voice traffic.

The country's second-largest cable operator said it will hire 225 new accounting, finance, engineering, IT and human resources workers by 2014 to qualify for up to almost $3 million in state grants linked to hiring and investment targets. The company must hire at least 64 workers by the end of 2012 under terms of its state incentives deal. Charlotte, the city's chamber of commerce and the state community college system are also adding sweeteners.

The new jobs will pay an average of $61,044, more than the Mecklenburg County average of $51,584. The company now employs nearly 2,800 people in the Charlotte area and more than 6,400 statewide.

Read more from Forbes and the Associated Press here.

Charlotte-based Duke Energy is asking our government — which has mandated that the company keep rates as low as possible — to raise its rates for electricity by about 15 percent.

I think this is a good idea. Here's why:

For most people, the rate increase will amount to less than $20 per month. Many of us waste that much money on much less important things every day. My hope is that a $20 rate increase will help encourage people to pay attention to their energy consumption and, hopefully, learn to make their homes more energy efficient and to think twice before plugging in one of their gadgets, and leaving it plugged in and on when not in use.

Another reason why this rate hike is good: It's time to update the fleet. Duke Energy's energy production fleet, that is. Some of the coal plants are way past their prime, some need to be retrofitted with better equipment, etc. And, some new plants will need to be built to adjust for the population influx that Charlotte continues to draw. All of that takes money, and this is money we want Duke Energy to spend on their infrastructure.

Why? Because updated plants are less likely to be environmentally dangerous and they're less likely to spew toxins that negatively impact our health.

You think $20 a month is expensive? Wait until you see your bills for the asthma doctor or the cancer doctor. And be glad there will be less strain on our environmental resources — which tax payers will ultimately have to pay to clean up, too.

And, I know: Not everyone can pay an extra $20 per month. I hate that, but I have a proposal: Those of us who can afford to pay more than $20 per month could sign up to do so to help offset the rate increase for those who can't. I will gladly pay an extra $5 per month to help my community, and I'm willing to bet many of you would be happy to do the same.

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• Duke's 81-year-old Riverbend plant, just a few miles from Uptown.

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• Photo credit: Colin Dunn

Folks in south Charlotte recently made it clear that they don't want the Foxhole Landfill expanded, nor do they want ReVenture's proposed incinerator/gasification plant's leftovers. But, they're not the only ones pushing back against the government's and developer's trashy plans in this state.

Check out what's going on in Eden, N.C., and how Charlotte-based Duke Energy's coal ash is mixed up in the mess:

Opposition to a proposed landfill outside of Eden is growing, just days before the developer is scheduled to meet with area residents.

A Facebook page titled "Residents Against a Landfill on the Dan River near Eden" had nearly 150 members on Wednesday evening , and Will of the People, a local conservative activist group, launched a petition campaign last week to oppose the project.

"We're just suspicious of an undertaking this massive by people with no experience in the field," said Thomas Harrington, an Eden attorney and Will of the People founder. "We're pro-business and pro-jobs, but we feel this will not be a plus in the eyes of anybody."

The petition drive will close at the end of the month, and the petition will be sent to a group of officials, including the Rockingham County commissioners, the EPA and local legislators.

Oak Ridge developer Kevan Combs requested a special-use permit to open a landfill on 1,700 acres just south of the Eden city limits off Harrington Highway . Combs has not bought the land yet.

Combs would use about 350 acres of the property for a landfill and recycling operation. He does not intend to collect residential waste from Rockingham County but is interested in disposing of coal ash from Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station as well as material from mining efforts outside of the state. The landfill also would dispose of and recycle other residential and commercial waste.

Read the rest of this Waste Management News/News & Observer article, by J. Brian Ewing, here.

Of course, one side of the argument says the dump will be good for jobs and the economy — while the other fears for their health and their property values.

Doesn't this sound familiar, y'all?

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• Photo Credit: Aparna E.

In case you missed this article in Sunday's New York Times, I thought you'd like to hear about this innovative Charlotte company.

Edison Nation takes all of those good ideas people come up with and makes them a reality. Cool, eh?

Check out this snip from the article:

“We focus on the people who have great ideas but want to keep their day job,” says Louis Foreman, the chief executive of Edison Nation, the company in Charlotte, N.C., that teamed up with Ms. Kaufman. “We’ll never compete with the people who are hard-wired to go out and start their own business — and we don’t want to.” But risk-averse people have eureka moments, too, he says. And that’s Edison Nation’s sweet spot.

“We have lots of fuel to turn a spark into a fire. But sometimes that spark is elusive,” says Mr. Foreman, who says his company splits all revenue with its inventors. “There’s no hold-back. If a dollar comes in, 50 cents goes to the inventor, 50 cents to us. It’s a transparent process.”

Read the entire article, by Amy Wallace, here. (Subscription may be required.)

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• Photo credit: Clive Darr

What is iCloud, from Apple? Check it out:

iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices — automatically. It’s the easiest way to manage your content. Because now you don’t have to.

OK, that's still vague, but after poking around on the company's iCloud page, I've learned that it is, essentially, a virtual hard drive. So, instead of saving electronic files to your computer or an external memory device (like a CD or thumb drive), you'll save it to the cloud, which you can access from any device with internet access, like your smart phone.

Personally, with the prevalence of hackers and my general distrust for anyone else managing my stuff, this isn't something I'm interested in, but apparently a lot of other people are, and thanks to that interest, Apple has built a giant facility in Maiden, N.C.

You may ask yourselves, "Why Maiden?", as Jeremy Markovich did in this MSNBC.com/ NewsChannel36 article (below). The answer? Cheap electricity from one of Charlotte's darlings, Duke Energy.

Though, while it's cheap it is not free, and the energy giant stands to make some serious coin from the iCloud.

Duke Energy, for one, welcomes our new Apple overlords. Executives gushed about it in a release shortly after the company announced it was coming to Catawba County. “The great thing about a data center is that they run full?out, 24?7, with no shifts and no seasonality," said Clark Gillespy, vice president of Economic Development, Business Development and Territorial Strategies for Duke Energy Carolinas. "It's the type of customer where the meter spins and spins at an exponential pace. It may be the most ideal customer we could have."

"We fully expect Apple to be one of our top ten customers in the Carolinas," said Stu Heishman, Duke's director of Business Development. Duke also lobbied to get the Google and Facebook server farms, and supplies power to them both.

How much power would the data center use? Duke won’t say. According to an April report from Greenpeace, the place has the potential to suck down 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power roughly 80,000 homes (Millar is skeptical. “That’s crazy,” he says). Greenpeace isn’t happy. As they point out, much of that power is generated by coal and nuclear fission. Jobs says the the Maiden facility is “as eco-friendly as you can make a modern data center,” although he didn’t elaborate. Calls to Apple were not returned.

Read the entire article here.

Of course, more energy demands mean the company will have to produce more energy to satisfy their big corporate customers. That means more coal will be harvested from our mountains and burned in the plants that pollute our air and water. It also means that our current, aging nuclear plants will be busy creating more toxic waste.

What would be great is a news report that Apple, Google and Facebook all fill their properties with wind turbines and solar panels instead of taxing our state's electricity grid and polluting our environment with their energy-hungry products. Though, it's important to note that it's our demand for those products that sparks the whole deal.