Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
Obama Tells Students, Let's Go Change the World (Blog)
CBS News.com
President Obama on Thursday traveled to the University of Maryland in College Park to rally some of his most ardent supporters – young people – and explain to them why they should feel obliged to participate in a health care system that largely pays for the care of the elderly. …He told students to listen to the doctors and nurses supporting health care reform. The nonprofit group Health Reform USA published on Thursday an open letter to Congress asking for reform. The letter is signed by 400 medical leaders, such as William Roper, the dean of the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine; Charles Kahn, the president of the Federation of American Hospitals; and James Block, the former president of John Hopkins Hospital.
Regional Coverage
Students Hold Toothbrush Drive for Malawi
The Gouverneur Times (New York)
…The toothbrush drive is an offshoot of the University of North Carolina Malawi Dental Project, the brainchild of Dr. Ronald Strauss, former chair of the dental school at UNC-Chapel Hill, who is now the UNC System provost. The Malawi Project is a student-driven initiative that deploys select students from the UNC School of Dentistry to provide free oral healthcare services and oral HIV/AIDS education to the people of Malawi.
District Court seminar in Providence to focus on judicial appointments
The Providence Journal (Rhode Island)
Judges decide whether a person heads to jail, how divorce settlements play out and estates are distributed. In Rhode Island, they hold lifetime posts, with generous pensions at retirement. …U.S. District Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi will moderate next week’s discussion, which will feature three panelists, each specializing in an aspect of judicial selection. Prof. Michael J. Gerhardt, of the University of North Carolina School of Law, will focus on the federal courts. He plans to speak about the U.S. Supreme Court selection and the myths it generates, as well as ways the confirmation process might be improved, he said.
State and Local Coverage
Many factors fuel skyrocketing health care costs
The Triangle Business Journal
…Dr. Tim Carey, director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says there is evidence that market forces have not brought down the cost of technology. Because the equipment proves so profitable and because hospitals lose money running operations such as emergency departments and obstetrics units, there is no incentive for providers to lower the costs associated with the equipment.
Related Links:
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/09/21/story2.html
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/09/21/story3.html
Tyler, Time Out together in TV commercial
The Chapel Hill Herald
On Wednesday, word hit the Internet and soon everyone was talking about it — Tyler Hansbrough found a little girl's lost dog. Well, in real life he didn't, but in a new AT&T 3G Network television commercial, he did. He found a cute little white dog and returned it to its happy owner in a sweet reunion at a house on Franklin Street. It's a commercial so cute that a few people even said they cried a tear or two when they watched it.
UNC plans to test sirens
The Chapel Hill Herald
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will test its emergency sirens on Tuesday between noon and 1 p.m. as part of Alert Carolina, a safety awareness campaign. Anyone on or near campus, including downtown Chapel Hill, is likely to hear the sirens during the test, which reminds students, faculty and staff what to do in an emergency. No action is needed.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2864/1/
Students, graduates to study, work abroad on Fulbrights
The Chapel Hill Herald
Eleven University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students and recent graduates have received 2009-10 Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards to study, teach or conduct research in other countries. …The Fulbright program is sponsored by the U.S. department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. At UNC, it is administered by the Center for Global Initiatives.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2880/75/
The Last Cargo Cult
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
Actor Mike Daisey has earned a reputation as a master of theatrical monologues. In the past, he's written and performed work about the New York subway system, Scientology's origins, and American fear in the wake of 9/11. His latest work documents the phenomenon of cargo cults, religious groups that give spiritual or holy value to manufactured goods. Daisey visited a cargo cult in the South Pacific on an island called Tanna. His observations of the natives inspired him to think about religion and America's financial system and to reevaluate what capitalistic societies take for granted.
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2803/66/
For most, sex starts at at least 17 or 18, Web survey finds
The Chapel Hill Herald
Even in a society permeated by sexual messages, most Americans still choose to wait at least until 17 or 18 years old for their first sexual experience, according to an Adam & Eve survey. …Jane Brown, professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC and a Carolina Population Center fellow, said she worries most about the consequences of unprotected sex. "Seventeen- and 18-year-olds are still teenagers," she said. "And it's still too early to be raising children."
Study to focus on work sites
The Chapel Hill Herald
NC Prevention Partners is launching the next phase of an innovative comprehensive work site wellness study with the N.C. Department of Transportation that integrates the assessment of policies and environments with individually targeted wellness campaigns. …"We are excited to have Dr. Laura Linnan, a national expert on worksite wellness, and Dr. Michael Bowling, an expert in public health statistics and evaluation design, from the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health join the study. They bring a level of scientific rigor that will benefit NCDOT and its employees, and will allow us to think about implications for employers throughout the state."
Drought returns, but worries don’t
The Carrboro Citizen
…But the key reason the utility is more comfortable heading into this drought is an impressive drop in water use by the University of North Carolina. “University consumption is down across the board,” Holland said. UNC is using about the same amount of water it used 10 years ago, he said. Ray DuBose, UNC’s director of Energy Services, said even though he’s been focused on the campus-wide efforts aimed at saving water, the numbers are still pretty jaw dropping, especially considering the school’s rapid growth over the past decade.
Legendary UNC Journalist Passes Away
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Legendary journalist and Carolina journalism alumnus, Horace Carter has died at the age of 88. Jean Folkerts, dean of the school of journalism and mass communication at UNC, says Carter, who passed away Wednesday in Tabor City, has had and will continue to have a lasting impact on the school and its students.
Wind farm deemed practical in waters off Southport
The Star-News (Wilmington)
Renewable energy, in the form of wind-generated electricity, could be flowing through Southport in as little as five years, according to UNC Chapel Hill professor John Bane Jr. He’s also the principal scientific adviser at Outer Banks Offshore Energy, a privately funded company created a year and a half ago to tap the wind energy in federal waters off the North Carolina coast. …Commercially viable wind resources are about 40 miles south of Southport and 50 miles east of Pleasure Island, according to Coastal Wind, a nine-month study of the feasibility of wind resources off the N.C. coast by colleagues of Bane at UNC.
Related Link:
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090918/ARTICLES/909189986/
1004?Title=Offshore-energy-to-be-subject-of-public-meeting
Issues and Trends
Triangle to lose 430 UNC jobs
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Public universities in the Triangle will eliminate about 430 positions this year as part of a massive UNC system budget cut. N.C. State University is eliminating 205 administrative jobs, and UNC-Chapel Hill is cutting 202 positions, according to a report released Thursday that gave the most detail to date on how the system will slash its operating budget 10 percent. N.C. Central University in Durham is cutting 21.5, including four at its law school.
Related Links:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6022474/
http://www.wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=11856
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+loses+203+positions
-+NCCU+21%20&id=3631158-UNC+loses+203+positions-+NCCU+21
UNC system officials weigh hate-crimes policy
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
The UNC Board of Governors got their first look Thursday at a proposal for handling hate crimes on the University of North Carolina system's 16 campuses. A panel appointed by UNC President Erskine Bowles recommended in March adopting a uniform code of conduct should prohibit actions defined by federal and state laws as hate crimes. The panel said any policy also should support free speech on campus.
Sierra Club Helps Organize Protests Against Coal-Fired Plants on Campuses (Blog)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Sierra Club and student activists have generated news lately through their protests against coal power on campuses. …The article says a Sierra Club report has identified more than 60 institutions that have their own coal-burning plants or that rely heavily on coal, like Indiana University, Pennsylvania State University's main campus, Oregon State University, the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Virginia.
Check-out time (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The practice of college football teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference checking into local hotels on the nights before home games is a waste of money and an unnecessary indulgence at a time when the universities these teams represent are laying off people. …In 2008, NCSU spent roughly $86,000 in lodging and transportation to and from local hotels. UNC-Chapel Hill spent approximately $79,000. Clemson University in South Carolina, also an ACC member, spent over $100,000.
Campbell law school tops Wake Forest, UNC, Duke on state bar exam
The Triangle Business Journal
…The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill posted an 87 percent passage rate, while Duke’s clocked in at 85.3 percent. Nearly 77 percent of North Carolina Central University’s law school grads passed the bar this summer.
Media wants video in student shooting
WTVD-TV (ABC/Raleigh)
A judge listened to arguments Friday in a media request for the police dash cam video from a shooting that left a University of North Carolina fraternity president dead. …(Courtland) Smith was the chapter president of the UNC-Chapel Hill Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity chapter.
Debutante accused of dealing cocaine
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A Nag's Head debutante is facing criminal drug charges after police found about $15,000 to $20,000 worth of cocaine at her apartment Tuesday. Eliza McQuail Vaughan, 21, a UNC-Chapel Hill student chosen from among 227 young women in North Carolina for the Terpsichorean Club of Raleigh's Debutante Ball in 2007, is charged with conspiracy, cocaine trafficking, possession with intent to sell, maintaining a dwelling for drug sales and possession of drug paraphernalia.