Julie Rose

Hail causes about $1 billion in damage to U.S. property and crops each year. Insurers would like to minimize those losses. That's where the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety comes in. Earlier this month, the Institute created a full-scale hailstorm inside a laboratory. The idea is to study why the damage can be so bad.

In Charlotte, N.C., a secret bunker rests quietly below a radio station. Built in 1963, it was part of a federal network designed to provide emergency communications in case of a nuclear attack. With a new slew of potential threats to contend with, FEMA has revived the idea.

Many airports send their discarded french fries, burgers and Cinnabons to the landfill. But Charlotte Douglas International plans to transform that garbage into fertilizer for flower beds. All it needed was a couple of million red wiggler worms.

In a world of Facebook and TMZ, mug shots are as popular as ever. There are entire tabloids dedicated to the latest arrest snapshots. But in one North Carolina county, mugging too much for a mug shot can get you locked in a cell indefinitely.

Bank of America will release quarterly earnings on Wednesday, and once again, foreclosures will be part of the equation. The Charlotte-based bank's handling of the housing crash upset a lot of people. And yet, some of those closest to the foreclosure mess are softening toward the bank.

The Democratic National Convention begins this week in Charlotte, N.C. WFAE's Julie Rose looks at what this city's boosters want visitors and TV viewers to know about Charlotte and what they're trying to paper over.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will take center stage at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday night. Haley was an early backer of presidential candidate Mitt Romney, to the displeasure of the Tea Party.

When the summer sun sets in Charlotte, N.C., urban fishers make for the manmade pond in Freedom Park. They often bring their kids and grandkids for a taste of the country life they knew when Charlotte was a sleepier town.

With the national convention just three months away, state Democrats are reeling from a series of setbacks, including passage of a gay marriage ban and a sex scandal within the organization. But party leaders say they're committed to making the convention a success and keeping the state "blue" in November.

A violin maker in Israel has spent more than two decades painstakingly amassing a tragic collection: instruments played by Jews during the Holocaust. He calls them "Violins of Hope," and they will be displayed for the first time in the United States, and featured in a series of upcoming concerts.