Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Thai Rifts May Spur More Turmoil in ‘Land of Smiles’
Bloomberg News
Whether Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva stays or goes, the result is likely to be the same: more street protests and more political turmoil in his country. …There now doesn’t seem to be anyone who can transcend the polarization and negotiate a compromise, a prospect that may lead to a “war of attrition,” said Kevin Hewison, a professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina.
Regional Coverage
HealthFirst-High-tech diabetes management
The Associated Press
Technology is finally catching up to Diabetes. …New technology that allows meters and pumps to communicate wirelessly with each other may make the process easier. After patients prick their fingers and the glucose meter reads blood sugar levels, it sends that reading wirelessly to the pump. A calculator figures the correct dose, the patient approves it and the pump delivers the right amount of insulin. "The number already gets sent to the pump, so you don't have to enter it in the pump," explained Dr. Thomas O'Connell, an endocrinologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
State and Local Coverage
Jackson to Desai: Congrats, dude!
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
If Anoop Desai gets as many votes as he did positive comments Tuesday night after he performed on TV's "American Idol," then he should sail through to the next round. …With some of his Chapel Hill-based a capella group Clef Hanger friends in the front row of the audience, Desai performed a soulful take on the song.
Anoop Desai does it for you (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For the second week in a row, Chapel Hill contestant Anoop Desai delivered the goods on performance night. Now we'll see if the "American Idol" viewing audience agrees, or if he has to suffer through another close call. …Desai covered Bryan Adams "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" (from 1991's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves"), and Tarantino advised him to "rough it up." Desai took his advice and delivered a masterful performance, perhaps his best of the competition.
Hospital plan stirs optimism (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
With the much-anticipated Waterstone development gathering cobwebs during this time of economic despair, Hillsborough officials must have been ecstatic to learn that UNC Health Care has hastened its timetable for building ancillary hospitals, and one facility is proposed for that dormant development at the southernmost tip of the town bordering Interstate 40. …Jobs are, indeed, a welcome aspect of this plan. But — working from the assumption there will be improvements — delivery of needed services is the healthiest reason to like this plan.
Protest at UNC stops anti-immigration speech by Tancredo
The Associated Press
Campus police used pepper spray on student protesters angry over immigration issues who disrupted a speech by former Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo at UNC Chapel Hill. …Chancellor Holden Thorp issued a statement that he was sorry Tancredo wasn't able to speak. "We pride ourselves on being a place where all points of view can be expressed and heard, so I'm disappointed that didn't happen tonight," Thorp said.
Related Link:
http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1139209.cfm
Furious protest stops Tancredo's UNC speech
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-CH police released pepper spray and threatened to use a Taser on student protesters Tuesday evening when a crowd disrupted a speech by former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo opposing in-state tuition benefits to unauthorized immigrants.
Related Links:
http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/607812/police
–students-reportedly-clash-at-event/Default.aspx
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6761633
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/4954946/
Chambers sign on as 'Green Plus' partners
The Chapel Hill Herald
Aaron Nelson, president and CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, began stirring up buzz among colleagues last year for a new sustainability program that he said would benefit small businesses. …"We believe this academic-business partnership between Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and chambers of commerce is a model that can make green and sustainable practices more accessible to Main Street businesses across the country," said Anne McKune, director of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber's Institute for Sustainable Development.
Related Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/04/13/daily35.html
UNC Health Care to start asking for payments from uninsured
The Triangle Business Journal
UNC Health Care, suffering from growing losses for uncompensated care, is going to start seeking co-payments from patients qualifying for charity care and requiring deposits from uninsured patients. …“We have a tidal wave of indigent patients coming to us these days as a result of the economic turmoil and rising unemployment rate in North Carolina,” says CEO Bill Roper. “It’s unsustainable. We can’t continue in this mode for long.”
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1486121.html
Roses & Raspberries (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
Raspberries to young people who think they or their peers are invincible. …For the facts on bonfire risk go to www.youtube.com/user/UNCChapelHill and watch a video with Dr. Bruce Cairns, director of the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center. "The injuries associated with these bonfires are tragic not only because they can be so devastating," he says, "but also because they are so completely preventable."
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2402/107/
Green, Perko added to panel
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Danny Green, a senior member of the 2009 national champion UNC Chapel Hill basketball team, and Amy Perko, executive director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, have been added to the ESPNification of College Sport panel, which will take place from 10:15 to 11:55 a.m. Thursday at the William and Ida Friday Center.
Lecturer to speak in RTP
The Chapel Hill Herald
Bennie H. Reynolds III, a lecturer in Biblical Hebrew in the Religious Studies department at UNC, will speak on "The figure of Daniel in the Second Temple Jewish Literature" at 7:30 p.m. April 27 at the National Humanities Center in RTP.
NC Literary Festival hits the road: 6 authors to visit 6 cities to read their work, meet fans
The Associated Press
The North Carolina Literary Festival is hitting the road. The festival will be held Sept. 10-13 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But six North Carolina writers will start early, reading from their work and answering questions in six cities in August and September. …The festival is held every other year, with the location rotating among the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University and Duke University.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2431/107/
Kitchen Sisters reveal secrets
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
If you are an avid NPR listener, you have likely heard a story by The Kitchen Sisters, otherwise known as Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, a pair of radio producers who have chronicled the country's hidden kitchens. …Last week, Silva and Nelson were in Chapel Hill for a public radio fundraiser and agreed to sit down for an interview after speaking at UNC's the Center for the Study of the American South.
The chef of Alpha Chi
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The soulful sounds of gospel music fill the kitchen as a middle-age man in a starched white chef jacket, checkered pants, Nike tennis shoes and Tar Heel baseball cap tends to five occupied burners on the stainless steel Garland stove. …Feeding 160 sorority sisters is no small task, but Mark Snyder, the 45-year-old chef at Alpha Chi Omega sorority on UNC-Chapel Hill's campus, does it five days a week.
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/at-unc-a-sorority-chef
Orchestra to perform
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The UNC Symphony Orchestra will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Concerto for Flute and Harp" and Sergei Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2" on April 27 at UNC Chapel Hill. Soloists for the concerto will be flutist Brooks de Wetter-Smith and harpist Laura Smithburg Byrne. The 100-member orchestra, conducted by Tonu Kalam, will present "Romeo and Juliet" in the second half of the program. The three are faculty members in the music department in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences.
UNC News Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/concert-to-feature-flute-
harp-concerto-and-romeo-and-juliet.html
Issues and Trends
State Health Plan Bailout
WUNC-FM
State employees will soon be paying a lot more for family health insurance. House lawmakers have approved a 20 percent rate increase. On a strict party-line vote, the state House okayed a measure to reform the state health plan by raising premiums and co-pays and cutting benefits. Supporters say the change is necessary to keep the health plan solvent. The proposal raises premiums 10 percent for each of the next two years. That adds up to 100 dollars more per month for family coverage by 2011. Orange Democrat Verla Insko says it takes the plan in the wrong direction. But she voted for it anyway.
House passes fix to health plan
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The state House passed a major fix to the State Health Plan on Tuesday that will cost taxpayers roughly $710 million, reduce benefits for state employees and teachers, and spare North Carolina pharmacists from cuts in their reimbursements for filling many prescriptions. …The plan serves 676,000 state workers, teachers and retirees. A combination of rising health care costs and inaccurate financial projections put the plan in danger of running out of money. The legislation would immediately draw $250 million from the state's rainy day fund to keep the plan from becoming insolvent this month.