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

International Coverage

A new obesity drug target is possible
United Press International

U.S. medical researchers say they have discovered a possible new obesity drug target that doesn't involve altering brain function. The researchers, led by University of North Carolina School of Medicine Professor Yi Zhang, said they discovered the gene Jhdm2a, when mutated, causes obesity by dampening the body's ability to burn energy while leaving appetite unaffected.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/possible-drug-target
-for-obesity-treatment-a-no-brainer-unc-study.html

National Coverage

Grameen Bank founder Yunus scouts US expansion
The Associated Press

Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for pioneering a micro-lending model for the world's poorest to engage in business, said Thursday his formula can also help recession-racked American families escape poverty. …Yunus met at The Carolina Inn on the University of North Carolina campus with Blain, Smith, and representatives of the North Carolina Bankers Association and Durham-based Self-Help, a similar community development organization.
UNC Media Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/nobel-
peace-prize-winner-to-speak-thursday-feb.-5.htm
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Computer Program Wants to Free Scholars From Computer Distractions
The Chronicle of Higher Education

In order to be free, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau claimed, humans must sometimes surrender a measure of freedom. Fred Stutzman, a Ph.D. student and teaching fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, may not have had Rousseau in mind when he created the “Freedom” application.

Don't criticize the king
"The World" American Public Media

It's against the law to criticize the monarchy in Thailand. And an increasing number of people are in trouble for just that, as The World's Jason Margolis reports.
Note: Kevin Hewison, the director of the Carolina Asia Center and professor of Asian studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was a featured expert in this broadcast.

Regional Coverage

Justice Ginsburg has cancer surgery
The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.)

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court's only woman and one of its most liberal members, is battling the early stages of a particularly deadly form of cancer. …"I think Justice Ginsburg's has been pioneering in bringing a strong commitment to issues surrounding women," said William Marshall, a law professor at the University of North Carolina.

Green education offered from Calif. to Europe
The Times (Shreveport, La.)

If the growing number of schools offering courses in sustainability and environmental issues is any indication, the market for green jobs is looking rosy. …The Center for Sustainable Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School is ranked highly by The Wall Street Journal. It offers an incubator program and has a Net Impact club, a global network of MBA students taking the lead in social entrepreneurship and sustainability.

State and Local Coverage

Micro-Lending In NC
WUNC-FM

The father of micro-lending is trying to bring his model for success to North Carolina. The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and Muhammad Yunus have been credited with improving the standard of living of poor people worldwide. …Yunus told students at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School yesterday that Grameen America – with its first pilot project in Queens, New York – could also work in North Carolina.
UNC Media Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/nobel
-peace-prize-winner-to-speak-thursday-feb.-5.html

Nobel laureate touts 'non-loss' sustainable businesses
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Muhammad Yunus received standing ovations at both UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. Central University on Thursday, where outsized crowds heard the Bangladeshi banker's thoughts on reducing world poverty and the global economic crisis. Yunus, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for groundbreaking work in microcredit, said the economic crisis is an opportunity to implement real change in financial systems. …At UNC, Yunus stayed to sign copies of his new book, "Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism."
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1395702.html

State workers worry about job cuts, health plan woes
The Carrboro Citizen

As legislators gathered in Raleigh for a gloomy set of economic briefings, university employees continue to worry about possible furloughs and job cuts and are seeking more information on how individual departments will trim budgets. …Brenda Denzler, vice chair of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Employee Forum, said the feedback she’s hearing from workers indicates a need for more information about how individual departments are planning for budget cuts.

Report: Traffic deaths down in N.C. but up in Wake
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)

America's roads appear to be getting safer, but Wake County's roads are among those in the state that were deadlier last year than in the past. …According to unofficial statistics from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, fatalities in 2008 were down 320 in 2008 from 2007.

UNC to present 'Greenolicious'
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Hybrid performance, a genre that mixes multiple types of art, will come to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill today and Saturday with "Greenolicious: And the Dragon Goes Ding." …The shows, free to the public, will be the fourth installment of the 2008-09 Process Series at UNC, which presents works in progress to illuminate ways in which artistic ideas take form, and to follow artists and performers as they bring new works to the public.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/multiple-artworks-fuel-chinese
-new-year-tale-greenolicious.html

UNC doctor-rockers score record deal
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)

Each member of a new rock band in town has hands steady as a surgeon's – because they are surgeons, treating women with gynecological cancers. The members of the band N.E.D. combine their musical hobbies with their real-life, life-saving jobs. And the musicians say their band has a mission they take seriously. "It's not a gimmick. It's not a joke," said Dr. John Boggess, a gynecological surgeon at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill.

Issues and Trends

Triad UNC campuses await tuition decision
The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area

The four University of North Carolina campuses in the Triad, which like their students are feeling the financial squeeze of recession, will learn next week what tuition and fee increases will be set for the 2009-10 academic year. …Tuition increases have been capped at 6.5 percent by Board of Governors policy, but UNC President Erskine Bowles urged ahead of the budget committee meeting that the cap be lowered to 4.5 percent for 2009-10.

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