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Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

 

National Coverage

South America's Constitutional Battles
The Washington Post

Movements to rewrite national constitutions are dramatically changing the political paths of several South American countries, triggering bitter debates over whether new charters will benefit future generations or simply serve the political ambitions of current presidents. …"Large-scale constitutional reforms are extremely popular with citizens," said Jonathan Hartlyn, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina who has studied constitutional politics throughout Latin America.

More cities get on board with hybrid buses
USA Today

Mass-transit systems across the USA are accelerating orders for diesel-electric hybrid buses, despite an extra cost of more than $100,000 per bus. …On a recent Friday, when University of North Carolina students boarded a sleek, Carolina-blue bus in Chapel Hill, most didn't immediately know they were riding a hybrid. But the differences soon caught their eyes — and ears.

Rising health care costs put focus on illegal immigrants
USA Today

Juan Perez had stomach pains for a month before deciding to visit a health clinic here that is open Thursday nights so migrant farmworkers don't miss a day working in the fields. …In an effort to help local health officials better understand the immigrants who are inundating their area, the University of North Carolina's Center for International Understanding sponsors week-long immersion programs in Mexico. Janet Hadar, director of clinical care management for UNC Hospitals, recently returned from a trip that exposed her to residents' unsanitary living conditions. "It made me much more sympathetic to this population," she says.

High Blood Sugar Boosts Women's Heart Disease Risk
HealthDay

Increased blood sugar levels signal a heightened risk of heart disease, especially among women, a new study finds. …Dr. John B. Buse, president for medicine & science at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), said this study confirms what other studies have found. "Women who don't have diabetes usually don't have heart attacks," said Buse, who is director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina. "Women with diabetes, basically, all have heart attacks."

Girl, you'll be a woman sooner than expected
The Los Angeles Times

…The first visible sign of puberty, breast budding, is arriving ever earlier in American girls. …Then a landmark study in the April 1997 journal Pediatrics written by Marcia Herman-Giddens, adjunct professor at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, found that among 17,000 girls in North Carolina, almost half of African Americans and 15% of whites had begun breast development by age 8.

Analysis: Momentum Shifts to Clinton
The Associated Press

Momentum moving her way, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton must change focus to the tough battle in South Carolina where rival Barack Obama hopes to rejuvenate his candidacy. …Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics at the University of North Carolina, said the former first lady needs to compete hard in South Carolina in part to address lingering questions of electability.

Native Son: Polls show Edwards behind in state where he was born
Media General News Service

John Edwards may be a native son of South Carolina, but polls show that Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, has a better chance of a strong showing in Nevada on Saturday than in his birth state next week. …Although Obama earned the crucial endorsement of the Culinary Workers Union, which represents 60,000 casino and hotel workers, Edwards “has been working hard to appeal to other service-industry workers,” said Ferrel Guillory, a political scientist at UNC Chapel Hill, who has closely followed Edwards’ campaign.

The Global Engineer
The Conde Nast Portfolio

Lazard’s brilliant and well-connected deputy chairman, Gary Parr, is the man at the center of helping to fix many of the financial institutions hammered by the subprime lending crisis. …Away from work, Parr serves as chairman of the Parr Center for Ethics at the University of North Carolina, which sponsors research, teaching, and discussion of ethical issues important to the university and the communities it serves. Parr attended college at UNC, and he established the Parr Center in 2004 with a grant from his family foundation.

Regional Coverage

Using and sharing our databases online
The Dallas Morning News

From property assessments to restaurant inspections, most government agencies keep their information in databases. … This type of reporting is known as "computer-assisted reporting." One of the pioneers in this type of reporting, Philip Meyer, often points out that "computer-assisted reporting" is a silly term. Accountants who use computers in their work don't call themselves computer-assisted accountants, says Mr. Meyer, who is a professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Albemarle weather station making waves by monitoring them
The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)

On a cold, cloudy day last week, two boats sped through the Albemarle Sound toward the mouth of the Alligator River. …That will be a first for this body of water, said Mike Muglia, field research coordinator for the University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute in Nags Head, N.C.

Social networking sites aiding grieving process
The News & Advance (Lynchburg, Va.)

Leslie Kidd wrote to Randy Beaty Jr. at 5:23 p.m. on Dec. 8:
“I miss you Randy! So glad that you are in a better place though … but it’s sad down here :(” …“It’s a new form of grieving,” said Fred Stutzman, a Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science who specializes in social technology and online social networks.

First defense
The Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, N.J.)

When the conversation turns to handwashing, Michele Samarya-Timm likes to get up on her soapbox. …A study by the University of North Carolina School of Public Health shows that nothing works better in getting rid of disease-causing viruses than the simple washing of one's hands with soap and water. Handwashing technique is more important than the type of soap used. It's the lathering action that loosens dirt and germs, the study said.

Changes coming to The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register (California)

The Orange County Register is moving most of its business news into the main section of the newspaper at the end of January as part of a series of initiatives announced by the company this month. …The Register, with a daily circulation of 284,613 as of Sept. 30, will be the largest U.S. newspaper to eliminate its stand-alone business section, said Chris Roush, a University of North Carolina journalism professor who follows the newspaper industry.

Setting Record Straight On Mosaic's Proposal (Opinion Editorial Column)
The Tampa Tribune (Florida)

First and foremost, phosphate mines and phosphate fertilizer manufacturing plants are distinct, physically separate operations and should not be confused, as they were throughout Griffiths' column. …Long-standing studies by the University of North Carolina and the state-sponsored Florida Institute for Phosphate Research (FIPR) have found no evidence of heightened disease incidence among phosphate employees – people who work at phosphate mines and manufacturing facilities every day, many for their entire careers. (David Townsend is assistant vice president-public affairs for Mosaic.)

State and Local Coverage

Who needs the innovation center? We do (Opinion Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill News

On Wednesday, the Chapel Hill Town Council will get its first look at UNC's proposed Innovation Center, the first building for Carolina North. The university and towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been working together on Carolina North for several years. (Etta Pisano is Kenan professor of radiology and biomedical engineering and vice dean for academic affairs at the UNC School of Medicine.)

Chancellor wins citizenship award for diversity efforts
The Daily Tar Heel

Chancellor James Moeser has been awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Citizenship Award by the Martin Luther King University/Community Planning Corp. …Moeser's contributions to the state and the county in promoting diversity and access to higher education were cited as reasons for his receiving this honor.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/mlk-university/
community-planning-corp.-honors-moeser-for-uncs-accessibility-diversity-achievement.html

UNC Ranks High In Peace Corps Volunteers
NBC 17 (Raleigh)

…The University of North Carolina has moved into the top five in the Peace Corps' rankings of schools producing the most volunteers. Liz Kane, UNC Peace Corps Recruiter, said it's that sense of adventure and desire to help that has more UNC graduates joining. Currently, the university has 81 volunteers in service which puts it in fourth place.

Crumbling infrastructure can be valuable
The Chapel Hill Herald

Thousands of obsolete dams and thousands of miles of abandoned roads in America's aging and crumbling infrastructure could still be valuable — to the environment, according to a policy forum paper in the journal Science by UNC researchers. …"There are ways to combine the decommissioning of some of our infrastructure with ecosystem restoration that would result in multiple benefits," said (Martin) Doyle, an associate professor of geography in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences and the director of the Center for Landscape Change and Health at UNC's Institute for the Environment.
UNC News Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/science-and-technology/
obsolete-u.s.-infrastructure-holds-benefits-for-environment.html

Rural Poverty & Childhood Development
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM

…Five years ago, a team of investigators at UNC embarked on the Family Life Project, a study that has been following over 1200 children from birth, to determine poverty’s effect on a child’s development. Earlier this month, the study received a $12.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue research. The study's principal investigator, Lynne Vernon-Feagans, joins host Frank Stasio to discuss the ground-breaking study and its initial findings.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/humanities-and-social-sciences/
fpg-child-development-institute-receives-12.8-million-grant-to-continue-rural-life-study.html

Note: “The State of Things” is a statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.

Shaken Babies
The Winston-Salem Journal

…A crying baby who won’t be quiet is frustrating for a parent. …A massive education campaign that is aimed at ending the practice will soon be started by the medical schools at both UNC Chapel Hill and Duke.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/
unc-duke-lead-first-statewide-shaken-baby-prevention-research-project-in-u.s..html

Cancer patient says UNC hospital saved his life
WTVD-TV (ABC/Raleigh)

…Healthcare workers at UNC are used to getting a few thank you's, but Tuesday they listened to the grateful words penned by former patient Kenneth Rahal. …"We care about people and that's why we're nurses and just love to take care of people," UNC Nurse Paula Brown said.

Faculty members facilitate family medicine clerkship
The Rocky Mount Telegram

As clinical assistant professors, Dr. Broderick Bello, Dr. Ted Wilson and Dr. Nadine Skinner are taking on the role of faculty for Area L AHEC/University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine family medicine clerkship. For four weeks, each third-year student from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine is taught in a community setting as a required part of their medical training, to be completed Jan. 25.

Money flows to health centers
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was in the Triangle on Friday, making stops in Raleigh and Chapel Hill to tout her work to secure funding for health care services and scientific research. …Later in the day, Dole visited UNC Hospitals' Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She announced nearly $4 million in federal funding for three research initiatives at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Related Link:
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20080120/NEWS/801200372

UNC student's death nets charges
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Two New Jersey men face serious charges after authorities say they lied to cover up their roles in a car accident that killed a UNC student at last year's NCAA tournament in the Meadowlands. Jason Ray, 21, who dressed as the school mascot, died when he was hit by a sport utility vehicle while walking back to a hotel from a convenience store last March.
Related Links:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2325300/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22736995/
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/
ny-bc-nj–northcarolinamasc0118jan18,0,7274663.story

King center proposed
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Pioneering civil rights journalist Chuck Stone called Friday for the creation in North Carolina of a center to honor Martin Luther King Jr. …"A holiday is just one day," said Stone, who is now a professor emeritus at UNC-Chapel Hill's journalism school. "He deserves more than a day. He deserves a center to honor him every day."

Meet Iris Carlton-LaNey
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM

Iris Carlton-LaNey grew up in a small, African-American community of farmers. As a youngster, she decided that rural farm life wasn't for her so she left, went to college, and pursued a career as a professor of social work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But, her profession has repeatedly led her back to her roots as she works to help rural farmers in their struggle for social and economic justice.
Note: “The State of Things” is a statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.

Retire at 75? Not these folks
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…In recent years, the number of people 75 and older with jobs has grown. …A variety of factors — some, but not all financial — comes into play when people consider whether to keep working, said Victor W. Marshall, director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute on Aging.

Ties to Parton theater paid couple well
The Charlotte Observer

Husband and wife consultants Mike and Cathy Scott don't have the family connections of Randy Parton. …The Scotts probably did not run afoul of any laws because they were independent contractors, not government employees, said A. Fleming Bell II, a government professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who studies ethics issues. The question is whether everybody involved knew of all the connections.

Saving water may push rates up
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

If Triangle water customers were expecting a financial reward for taking shorter showers and embracing brown lawns, they should think again. …"It's a paradox," said Jeff Hughes, director of the UNC School of Government Environmental Finance Center.

Theatrical triptych
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

It's a rare season when Triangle audiences see regional premieres of three Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas. …PlayMakers, the resident professional company in UNC-CH's Department of Dramatic Art, has staged regional premieres of four other Pulitzer winners of the past 10 years.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/playmakers-to-present-pulitzer-winners-in-rotating-repertory.html

DJ Spooky to demonstrate his art at UNC
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Turntables, technology and music theory will collide when Paul D. Miller, better known as DJ Spooky, "That Subliminal Kid," presents a lecture-demonstration at 3 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Great Hall of UNC's Frank Porter Graham Student Union.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/dj-spooky-to-demonstrate-his-art-at-unc.html

It's an artful winter in Rock Hill
The Charlotte Observer

The weather outside might be frightful, but winter is a wonderful season for art in Rock Hill. …Painter and sculptor Juan Logan grew up in Belmont in Gaston County and is now an art professor at UNC Chapel Hill.

We were there (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Regarding the Jan. 15 article "Cash, apology settle UNC-CH soccer suit": I am a former soccer player at UNC-Chapel Hill and am delighted to see an end to years of stress and aggravation to Anson Dorrance and his family. (Lisa Duffy Blalock, 1987 UNC graduate, Laurinburg)
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/print/tuesday/opinion/story/894173.html

It isn't over 'til it's over (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News

I'm writing in response to a piece W.E. Warnock wrote ("Let there be an end," Jan. 16) in the online Chapel Hill News advocating that we all forget about Anson Dorrance's conduct in the Melissa Jennings case. It strikes me as a bit unseemly to be asking us to forget about the case only one day after Mr. Dorrance admitted in legal documents that he participated in "inappropriate and unacceptable" (his words) conduct yet denied for 10 years that he did anything wrong, and that he and the University of North Carolina continue to downplay in their press releases. (Larry Geib, Portland, Ore.)

Issues & Trends

Ivy-League Letdown (Opinion Editorial Column)
The New York Times

Last month, Harvard reached into its deep pockets — its endowment is $35 billion — and changed the way it calculates student financial aid. …The problem is that most colleges will feel compelled to follow Harvard and Yale’s lead in price-discounting. Yet few have enough money to give more aid to relatively wealthy students without taking it away from relatively poor ones.

No paupers to be found in UNC System
The Triangle Business Journal

Next time you hear somebody in Chapel Hill complain about state spending for higher education, show them this: With more than $3.7 billion in 2007-08 appropriations to higher education from the state, not including capital improvements, North Carolina ranked fifth nationally in money given to its colleges and universities – even though it's No. 10 in terms of population.

Center failing its mission to add nurses, study concludes
The Triangle Business Journal

The North Carolina Center for Nursing is not living up to its mandate to address the nursing shortage in the state, concludes a report submitted to the University of North Carolina System.

UNCC told to set football sights high
The Charlotte Observer

If UNC Charlotte goes forward with football, the university needs an all-or-nothing attitude, Mac Everett, chairman of the UNCC football feasibility committee, told university trustees during their annual retreat this week. …UNCC should strive to compete with teams like Wake and N.C. State, UNC Chapel Hill and East Carolina University, Everett said.

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