Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
Free Lunch Please (Blog)
National Public Radio
The other week we asked the question, is Denmark the awesomest economy on earth? Denmark has a huge welfare state so everyone is taken care of, but it also has some of the world's highest taxes which would tend to slow economic growth. Andy Pennock a grad student at the University of North Carolina wrote in: In this week's podcast you guys talked a lot about the tradeoff between taxes and growth in welfare states and asserted that the tradeoff built up over time. Students of the welfare state would challenge the assertion that this tradeoff empirically exists, not just in Denmark but as an overall trend.
State and Local Coverage
Theater student returns as stage veteran
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The last time actor Max von Essen was in North Carolina, he was a UNC student scrambling to get a student-run theater off the ground. This time, he'll be rolling around, when the national tour of the roller-skating musical "Xanadu" hits Memorial Auditorium for a six-show run starting Thursday. …At UNC-CH, von Essen helped found Company Carolina to fill the gap between his music education and his love of musical theater. Company Carolina still exists, working out of an old campus TV studio the company renovated into a black box theater while von Essen was in charge.
Pornographer Larry Flynt to lead free-speech symposium
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Porn purveyor and free-speech advocate Larry Flynt will kick off a First Amendment symposium next month at UNC-Chapel Hill. The Hustler magazine publisher will give the keynote speech at the Feb. 18-19 symposium, "Sexually Explicit Speech and the First Amendment."
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/orangechat/hustler-founder
-flynt-to-speak-at-unc-next-month
Economic trauma focus for speakers
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The effects of economic hardship and trauma during early childhood are the focus of speakers for the 2010 Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Series at Duke University. …Glen Elder, a research professor at the Carolina Population Center at UNC Chapel Hill, begins the series Feb. 2. His talk, “Overcoming Disadvantage: From Great Depression to Great Recession,” will explore the relevance of his longitudinal studies of children affected by the Great Depression for understanding the impact of the current economic crisis on young lives.
Issues and Trends
NCSSM chancellor to resign from post in July
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
After 10 years marked by significant change, growth and occasional controversy, Gerald Boarman will leave his post as leader of the North Carolina School of Science and Math. In a letter to faculty and staff Monday, Boarman said he made the “difficult decision” to step down as chancellor of NCSSM July 31 “to spend more time with my family.” …During his tenure at the school, NCSSM became the 17th official campus of the UNC system and made plans for a new, $82 million campus building that would include more labs, classrooms and dormitory space.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/counties/durham_county/story/304188.html
Board: Funds OK for local groups
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
County Commissioners have given state regulators the green light to allow the Research Triangle Institute and another Durham nonprofit to take advantage of tax-exempt financing for a combined $32.5 million in construction. …The institute — founded in 1959 by UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University and N.C. State University — is in a growth mode and appears likely to add about 60 people a year to its staff over the next 2½ to three years, Sax said.
Lawyers await decision on tips
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, who previously indicated he would issue a decision last week about whether Crime Stopper tips should be turned over to the defense in the Eve Carson case, has not yet issued a decision.
Atwater attorneys ask to shift site of trial
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A federal judge is expected to hear arguments Wednesday about whether the trial of Demario James Atwater should be moved out of state. Atwater is charged with crimes associated with the death of Eve Carson. …Atwater, 23, and Laurence Lovette Jr., 19, also face murder and kidnapping charges in state court in Orange County in the death of Carson, the UNC student body president found shot to death in a residential neighborhood in Chapel Hill on March 5, 2008.