Skip to main content
 

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

National Coverage

"CNN Newsroom" CNN
Ed Van Wesep, assistant professor of finance in the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was interviewed by CNN's Brooke Baldwin for a piece about Pittsboro, North Carolina printing their own currency. Pittsboro is one of a dozen communities nationwide that are taking a note from the Great Depression and using the Plenty, which is valued at 95 cents per $1. Professor Van Wesep said if the people want to stimulate the local economy they should be doing so by using federal dollars, not the Plenty.

State and Local Coverage

Anoop's Troops rally for votes
The Chapel Hill Herald

At approximately noon on Tuesday, UNC students Megan Ratcliffe and Mackenzie Gibbs made a beeline down the steps of The Pit and straight to a table set up in the middle of the gathering space. After a brief conversation with a volunteer, the two women spun on their heels and left the way they came, only this time each sported a sticker bearing the likeness of Anoop Desai, the former Clef Hanger singer who now carries the hopes of every Carolina blue-wearing "American Idol" viewer.

Desai feels the love from Chapel Hill, Idol judges
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Judging from the comments Anoop Desai received Tuesday during the opening show of this week's "American Idol" competition, that karmic vibe coming from rallies on his behalf Tuesday in Chapel Hill is working. Friends and schoolmates of the former UNC Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill High School student gathered at The Pit on the UNC campus Tuesday afternoon to show their support.

Anoop's disco performance gets mixed reviews
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

This was "Disco Week" on "American Idol," and Chapel Hill's Anoop Desai got a primo performance slot. He closed with Donna Summer's "Dim All the Lights" and drew a wide range of opinions from the judges. Kara DioGuardi told Desai that he had done his best performances of the competition the past two weeks, while mean judge Simon Cowell said this was Desai's "worst by a mile."

Jamestown Family Gets Front-Row Seats to See Anoop Sing
WGHP-TV (Fox/Greensboro)

Mike and Ann McQuaid of Jamestown had front-row seats to American Idol last week, courtesy of the Anoop Desai. The McQuaids have been friends with the Desais ever since their son sang in the Clef Hangers with Anoop at UNC Chapel Hill, so Anoop invited them to see the show live in Hollywood.

Eyes on UNC for speech tonight
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Undeterred by a protest that derailed a planned speech by former congressman Tom Tancredo last week, a UNC student group has invited another conservative former lawmaker to campus tonight. …Randy Young, spokesman for the public safety department, said that incident is under investigation. "We have full hope and expectations that it's going to be civil and met with intelligent discourse," he said of tonight's speech.
Related Links:
http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/608153/unc
-ch-prepares-for-next-quest-speaker/Default.aspx

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/4999623/
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6773676

At UNC, a different sort of protest planned tonight (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

A week after the Tom Tancredo fiasco at UNC Chapel Hill, a conservative student organization is bringing another former legislator to campus to speak. Youth for Western Civilization, the small UNC-CH student group that last week brought the former Colorado congressman to campus for what turned out to be an aborted speaking engagement, will tonight present Virgil Goode, a former Virginia congressman.

Free speech has foes at some colleges (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Record (Greensboro)

UNC-Chapel Hill looked like a world turned upside down one night last week. …It was an ugly, embarrassing spectacle. Chancellor Holden Thorp apologized, reaffirmed Carolina's commitment to free expression and said offenders will be investigated for possible criminal and honor code violations.
Related Link:
http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/042109-editorial-unc-protest

UNC's Western Youth group: Rogue? Racist? (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

A higher education trade journal has parachuted into the UNC Chapel Hill/Tom Tancredo/tuition-for-illegal-immigrants/student protestors brouhaha with a story about Youth for Western Civilization, the student organization that brought the controversial congressman to campus last week. …Youth for Western Civilization is a small student group. It has less than 10 chapters nationally and on the Chapel Hill campus, it has about that many members. But it certainly got people's eye last week bringing Tancredo in.

Leaders debate Carolina North school location
The Chapel Hill News

UNC leaders have long promised to limit development at Carolina North to 250 acres for the first 50 years. Now town leaders are trying to nail down exactly what that means. Some members of the Town Council want the 250 acres to include land for a new elementary school, but university officials don't think that land should count against the 250-acre limit.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1495448.html

Jesus, Interrupted
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM

Bart Ehrman's books have ignited an intense debate over the veracity of the Bible and the definition of Christianity. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He joins host Frank Stasio to talk about his new book, "Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible, and Why We Don't Know Them" (HarperOne/2009).
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.

Slime-fighting molecule may rearm antibiotics
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…In initial studies, a test tube of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was untouched by penicillin alone. When the NCSU scientist's molecule was added, however, the MRSA bugs died en masse. Dr. David Weber, an infectious disease specialist at UNC-Chapel Hill, said a substance that prevents biofilms could be especially useful on medical devices, including intravenous lines, prosthetic joints and heart valves that can easily become infected. When MRSA or any other bacteria grows into a biofilm on the surface of a prosthetic joint, for example, it's almost impossible to eradicate.

HAWS plans to branch out
The Winston-Salem Journal

The Housing Authority of Winston-Salem, marked by years of failed inspections and the recent fraud conviction of its former director, is getting into the brokerage business. …Diversification deals such as the one proposed by HAWS have become a buzzword in public-housing offices around the country, said William Rohe, the director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at UNC Chapel Hill.

Renovated Boshamer worth every dime it cost
The Chapel Hill News

The beauty of the day Saturday at the new Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium was matched only by the ballpark's exquisite form. More than an estimated 1,000 people came for the official dedication of the new facility, led by a collection of University of North Carolina alumni, administrators and Coach Mike Fox. "I go to groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings for a living," UNC chancellor Holden Thorp told the crowd. "And I can tell you this is the most spectacular and well-attended one I've ever been to.

Student is UNC's 13th Udall scholar
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald

Marion Boulicault of London, a junior at UNC, was studying abroad in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam when she heard the news. She had been chosen by the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation in Tucson, Ariz., as one of 80 Udall Scholars for 2009. The recipients were chosen recently from among 515 candidates nominated by 233 colleges and universities nationwide.

Get to know your herbs (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

We're a nation of pill-poppers. The nutritional supplement industry estimates that Americans spend more than $6 billion every year on vitamin- and mineral-packed pills, gelcaps, powders and tablets. It's a testament to the allure of the quick-fix, given that little evidence exists to support most of the exaggerated health claims made for nutritional supplements. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

Issues and Trends

UNC Schools Requiring Insurance
WHQR-FM (Wilmington)

Students at every school in the University of North Carolina system will soon be required to purchase health insurance. Health insurance is currently mandatory at 11 UNC schools and will be for all 16 of them, including UNCW, by the fall of 2010. The UNC system is looking for an insurance provider and will start taking bids this fall.

Bill Friday ready for return to TV
WRAL.com

Former University of North Carolina President William Friday will make a return to his weekly show on UNC-TV this week, his assistant said. In his first broadcasts since suffering a minor heart attack and having heart-valve replacement surgery, Friday will interview the doctors who are helping him regain his health.

Duke will offer up to 700 buyouts
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Duke University will soon offer voluntary buyouts to as many as 700 hourly workers as part of a plan to cut $125 million by 2012. Administrators announced the buyouts Tuesday at a forum and question-and-answer session attended by about 200 Duke employees and streamed live to dozens of computers on campus.

Mystery donor keeps giving to woman-run colleges
The Associated Press

The mystery college donor has struck again _ this time at Binghamton University in New York, whose financial aid office phone started ringing off the hook as word of an anonymous $6 million contribution spread across campus. Binghamton is the latest of at least a dozen universities to receive donations totaling more than $60 million in recent weeks. The gifts have arrived with the same, highly unusual stipulation: not only must the donor must remain anonymous, but not even the college can know who it is or try to find out. The recipient colleges seem to have almost nothing in common except this: so far, all are led by women.

Comments are closed.