Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
Conflict on the Menu
The New York Times
New York City’s new rules for menu labels at chain restaurants have set off a food fight among the nation’s obesity experts. …Many of the group’s 1,800 members are “completely mad that a president-elect of the Obesity Society, an organization that cares about obesity and cares about healthy eating, wants to hold back information from people that helps them make healthy choices,” said Dr. Barry M. Popkin, a member of the organization, who is director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Regional Coverage
Start-up says nanotechnology will keep food from spoiling
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Fayetteville)
GuardIN Fresh, one of several start-up companies getting its footing at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park in Fayetteville, is courting investors to pay for third-party safety tests demanded by buyers. …Ted Zoller, director for the Center for Entrepreneurship Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N. C., has worked with hundreds of start-up companies in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
Weighty issue: Money and science
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania)
Call it a scientific food fight. The incoming president of the nation's leading group of obesity researchers has sparked a debate among his colleagues by taking the restaurant industry's side in a court case to limit obesity. …"He's working as an advocate for a company against what I view as the public good," said Barry M. Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina, who filed a brief in support of the health department.
Corporate CEOs reaching out to consumers on Web
The Record Searchlight (Redding, Calif.)
Angry customers swarmed Burt’s Bees last fall as soon as the all-natural cosmetics maker announced plans to sell itself. …That can seem like sanitizing, and it’s also disingenuous and defeats the purpose of starting a dialogue, said Tim Flood, a professor of management communication at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Plans for Gateway urban center aim high
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
Not that long ago, a vast swath of land sat far from the buzz of a growing Valley. …Others are thinking bigger than that. John Kasarda, a professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, is credited with creating the term "aerotropolis," denoting a new type of 21st-century city whose airport is an integral and all but undistinguishable part of the urban core.
Discrepancies in Bible turn scholar into agnostic
The Union-Tribune (San Diego, Calif.)
The more New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman studied the Bible, the less he believed in God. …But then came the problem of suffering. That, says the 52-year-old religion professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, “put me over the top.”
Lawrence native to join KC debate on Christ’s Resurrection
The Journal-World & News (Lawrence, Kan.)
A Lawrence native and theologian has released his latest book. Bart D. Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has released “God’s Problem” ($25.95, HarperSanFrancisco), which explores the Bible’s responses to why there is suffering in the world.
Historic designation for church?
The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
Thedus Mayo did not believe what she was reading. …High Hill Baptist Church was one of many black churches founded throughout the South after the Civil War, said Laurie Maffly-Kipp, a professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill who specializes in American religious history.
State and Local Coverage
Law school moving to Carolina North
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The dean of the UNC School of Law announced Friday the school is getting a new home on the future Carolina North campus planned for two miles north of the main campus. "After thoughtful input from many quarters … and after consideration of many alternative factors — architectural, pedagogical, financial, construction time, among others — I have decided to accept the University's generous offer to build a brand-new, 21st century home for the School of Law," Jack Boger said in an e-mail message.
Chapel Hill, UNC draft development agreement
The Chapel Hill Herald
The last time town and university officials came together to establish land use guidelines for a major piece of real estate, there were disagreements. … The issues upon which Chapel Hill and UNC will negotiate in regard to Carolina North have changed, but those concerned say there still will be issues.
Only best facilities will attract professors (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
I am responding to the claim made in The Chapel Hill News guest column ("Town, university ignore pitfalls of Carolina North," Philip Duchastel, Feb. 6) that UNC's motivation for Carolina North is "needless growth" and "aggrandizement." For the Carolina North debate to get anywhere, citizens must understand the big picture why UNC needs to build Carolina North. (Eric Nelson, Chapel Hill)
UNC nutrition institute offers free programs
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Chapel Hill's Kannapolis institute is rolling out its first program for the community this month at the North Carolina Research Campus. The university's Nutrition Research Institute is offering five lectures free to the public over the next few weeks.
Meet Susan Harbage Page
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
Susan Harbage Page has been described as a photographer who “doesn’t take pretty pictures.” …Her work often focuses on women and themes of identity, spirituality and racism. Susan Harbage Page teaches photography at UNC-Chapel Hill in the studio art department and joins host Frank Stasio to talk about her confrontational and intimate style of photography
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.
A day for firing up girls on fitness
The Chapel Hill Herald
It took several tries, but Anna Gibson volleyed a volleyball for the first time. …After a few minutes, 3-year-old Anna raced to try her hand at another sport at UNC's Youth Health and Fitness Fair, organized by UNC Athletics and UNC Family Medicine.
Wake's poor to get more care
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
More of Wake County's working poor will have access to affordable health care when a Raleigh nonprofit group opens a new, larger medical practice Tuesday. …More than 90,000 people in Wake County do not have medical insurance, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill.
NC Has Lowest Union Membership in Nation
WHQR-FM (Wilmington)
New numbers out of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics find North Carolina has the lowest union membership rate in the nation. …One reason is North Carolina's right-to-work status. Another, says UNC-Chapel Hill Professor Arne Kalleberg, is its location in the south, which has a rich history of refusing to unionized unlike the mid-west and northeast.
Diabetes control is harder for Hispanics
The Winston-Salem Journal
Lack of access to health care is making it harder for Hispanics to control diabetes than non-Hispanics, according to a study released yesterday by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. …A 2006 study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill found that about 45 percent of Hispanics living in North Carolina in 2004 were not authorized to be here.
Pender again seeks qualified manager
The Star-News (Wilmington)
David Williams read dozens of resumes two years ago from job seekers hoping to become Pender County's next county manager. …Bill Rivenbark, associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government, said the declining pool of county managers has made competition for qualified candidates stiff for counties around the state.
Clients and testimony (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
I understand that it can be difficult to summarize the substance of a petition to the N.C. Supreme Court in a short column. However, Steve Ford's Feb. 10 column "Years in prison — but is he a killer?" oversimplified what was being asked of the court in the petition for review filed by UNC law professors Rich Rosen and Ken Broun and former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. on behalf of Lee Wayne Hunt. (Christine Mumma, Durham, executive director of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence.)
Hail to the chiefs we claim as Tar Heel born
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Three U.S. presidents sit sculpted in bronze on the state Capitol grounds, practically bursting out of their waistcoats with Tar Heel pride. …So on Presidents Day, the question arises: How much claim to these guys does North Carolina really have? "It's a bit of a stretch," said William Barney, a history professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Double standard on celebrations? (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
You're not allowed to run around in the middle of Franklin Street, and you certainly aren't allowed to build a bonfire there. …Unless the Carolina men's basketball team has just won an especially big game.
Abortion remark angers students
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A professor's comments on Down syndrome and abortion angered some students on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus this week. …Holden Thorp, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said if a complaint comes to administrators from a student it will be thoroughly investigated.
Related Link:
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/498530.html
Another perspective on UNC's class (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
Eddy Landreth's Viewpoint ("A closer look at UNC's class," Feb. 10) focuses on player skills as the metric for evaluating UNC's incoming football recruits and praises coach Butch Davis and his staff for their acumen. Naysayers who wallow in scouting-report rankings should also keep in mind that the incoming class is shaped by UNC's commitment to academic success. (Steve Reznick, Chapel Hill)
Ban not stopping smokers
The Chapel Hill Herald
Chicks don't dig smokers. Cigarette butts scattered among the few legal campus smoking areas are being used by birds as nesting materials, according to the February issue of InTouch, a newsletter for UNC's Employee Forum. Forum Vice Chair David Brannigan, a grounds technician, reported that the refuse is killing chicks.
Related Link:
http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=5872
Former deputy AG to speak at UNC
The Chapel Hill News
James Comey, a former deputy attorney general and current chief counsel to Lockheed Martin, will deliver a speech at an event sponsored by the Center on Law and Government at the UNC School of Law.
UNC Event Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/government-and-law/former-bush-administration-
member-to-speak-at-unc-school-of-law-feb.-21.html
Issues and Trends
College Paper Vows to Fight a Takeover by Gannett
The New York Times
J. David McSwane, the student editor of The Rocky Mountain Collegian, was looking forward to a quiet spring semester at the Colorado State University after drawing global attention last fall for a four-word editorial criticizing President Bush. …“College communities are fairly healthy economic engines. There’s a constant influx of students coming in with cash,” said Kevin Schwartz, the general manager of The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Higher Education: A system out of cash and short of options
The St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
What good is admission to one of Florida's 11 public universities if, once you get there, the education is mediocre? …The extra tuition was supposed to provide the resources to help elevate the three research institutions into a higher class, closer to the likes of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Triangle Groups Aid Victims of Chinese Blizzards
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
Local Chinese community groups have banded together to offer a helping hand to a southern Chinese province wracked by the country's worst blizzards in 50 years. …Also helping in the disaster relief efforts are the China Star, Triangle Area Chinese American Society, Duke Chinese Student and Scholar Association, Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at UNC Chapel Hill and Chinese Student and Scholar Friendship Association at NC State University.
N.C. State's 'WolfAlert' System to Take Its First Test
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
…Last year, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper formed a task force to look at crisis communication plans at colleges and universities. The task now is to make sure those plans work. …Three campuses in the University of North Carolina system – in Chapel Hill, Charlotte and Wilmington – have sirens or other audible alert systems. A number of other campuses are pricing siren systems. Fourteen UNC campuses have also implemented the PIER system used by N.C. State.