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

International Coverage

Genes that make people tall or short ‘identified’
The Times of India

For the first time, scientists claim to have identified the genes which decide human height. About 80% of normal variation in human height is said to be down to genetic factors. …Nearly 300 researchers from 100 different institutions pooled their resources for the study, which looked at the genes of 180,000 people. "These investigators had once been competing with each other to find height genes, but then realized that the next step was to combine their samples and see what else could be found," said Karen Mohlke of the University of North Carolina, who worked on the study.

National Coverage

Attorneys for ex-UNC coach: Financial transactions from agent were loans to help a friend
The Associated Press

Attorneys for former North Carolina assistant coach John Blake say there was nothing seedy about loans their client received from longtime friend and sports agent Gary Wichard, and there was never an arrangement to direct players to Wichard once they left for the NFL. …In a statement, athletic director Dick Baddour said that the financial transactions weren't a violation or cause for the school to fire Blake in and of themselves. "Nevertheless, we weren't comfortable with what we learned," said Baddour, and Blake resigned less than a week later while saying he had become a distraction.
Related Link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5634736

It's Not Un-American To Vote 'Against' Things
National Public Radio

…Voters are far more swayed by bad news, like unemployment going up, than by subsequent good news, such as unemployment going down, says Mac McCorkle, who teaches the politics of public policy at Duke University and the University of North Carolina. A common concept among political thinkers, McCorkle says, "is that many independents and those who are not ideological or partisan die-hards vote by rendering a judgment on the performance of incumbents rather than making a straight-up choice between the candidates. That's the problem for Obama and the Democrats in 2010, and it was the problem for Republicans in 2006 and 2008."

Cyberbully Is Found Guilty on Multiple Counts in Dead Sea Scrolls Case
The Chronicle of Higher Education

A professor's adult son was convicted in a New York State court of 30 criminal charges on Thursday for using online aliases to try to harass and discredit scholars whom his father opposed in a bitter debate over the Dead Sea Scrolls. …Jodi Magness, a professor of early Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was also among Raphael Golb's victims, said on Thursday, "I think that justice has been served, and I think the decision sends a signal that this kind of cyberbullying will not be tolerated."

8 College Fees You Didn't Plan For
Smart Money.com

Parents of college-bound students may be prepared to pay for tuition, books and room and board. But when the bill for the first semester arrives, many parents find themselves surprised by extra charges for technology services, orientation – even the library. …Call it Phi Kappa Cash Cow. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, new member dues average up to $1,753, and for a student living in a fraternity or sorority house the average cost is up to $2,987 each year, including meal plans.

Regional Coverage

Concussions being taken seriously in high school these days
The Indianapolis Star (Indiana)

…There were 32 high school and youth football players suffering permanent brain damage and nine deaths from head injuries from 2006 to 2009, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, approximately double the total from the previous four years.

Have a Cow: Heart Association Lines Up With Producers to Support Healthy Beef-Eating (Blog)
The Dallas Observer (Texas)

…Beef and healthy hearts aren't exactly natural bedfellows. Numerous studies have shown the outlook for regular red meat eaters is grim: According to research released last year, daily red meat eaters are 30 percent more likely to die early than their counterparts who lay off the beef. "This is a slam-dunk to say that, 'Yes, indeed, if people want to be healthy and live longer, consume less red and processed meat'," University of North Carolina professor of global nutrition Barry M. Popkin told the Washington Post.

State and Local Coverage

Ex-UNC coach took money from agent
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Lawyers for former UNC associate head football coach John Blake acknowledged Thursday that Blake has received money from sports agent Gary Wichard, payments that the university said led to Blake's departure earlier this month. …In a statement Thursday, North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said that the school didn't learn of payments until Blake was interviewed Aug. 31 in the NCAA investigation.

UNC stands by Davis
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

North Carolina's Butch Davis said Thursday he isn't resigning. And UNC chancellor Holden Thorp said he isn't firing the head football coach, either. Amid the latest turn of events in the double-barreled investigation into the Tar Heels football program – this time, that former associate coach John Blake received multiple payments, and a credit card issued by agent Gary Wichard's company – Davis, the chancellor and athletic director Dick Baddour all agreed that there need to be "corrections" in the football program.

NCAA returns to UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

The NCAA was back on North Carolina's campus Wednesday and Thursday, this time to take part in the school's investigation into possible academic misconduct in the athletics program. Athletic director Dick Baddour said Thursday that the investigator isn't looking into the individual cases of football players who allegedly got inappropriate help from a tutor who once worked for both the school and head coach Butch Davis.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/9722608/article-Official–UNC-will-be
-the-better-for-football-probes?instance=main_article

UNC's Searcy cleared to play
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

North Carolina senior safety Da'Norris Searcy, one of 12 Tar Heels football players held out of the previous three games, has been cleared to play, the university announced this afternoon. Searcy was among 13 players held out as the university and the NCAA determined their eligibility status in the midst of an investigation into potential cases of academic misconduct and reports of improper contact with sports agents.

Carolina North is dealt a setback
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

The deal to build a technology-transfer incubator that would kick off the Carolina North campus is off. The project would have provided laboratory space for UNC researchers to try to turn their findings into business ventures. Carolina North's executive director, Jack Evans, announced this month, how ever, that the university was unable to negotiate a deal with Alexandria Real Estate Properties, the lab-space developer that had been planning the 80,000-square-foot Innovation Center at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Municipal Drive.
Related Links:
http://wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=16031
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/9722466/article-Innovation-
Center-plans-fall-apart?instance=main_article

UNC sees less demand for study abroad programs
The Triangle Business Journal

Despite greater emphasis on gaining a global education, it appears fewer students are spending time studying abroad, another likely casualty of the down economy. At UNC-Chapel Hill, the number of students studying abroad has fallen 15.9 percent over the past two years, from 1,307 in the 2007-08 school year to 1,127 during the recently completed year.

Homeland security expert Flynn to speak at UNC Wednesday
The Chapel Hill Herald

Homeland security expert Stephen Flynn, president of the Center for National Policy, will speak at UNC at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Flynn will deliver a lecture titled "Katrina, Haiti, Deepwater Horizon: Building a More Resilient World" in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium at the FedEx Global Education Center. A reception will be held in the Global Center's atrium following the event.
UNC Release
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3943/73/

Collage artist to speak at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald

Atlanta collage artist Radcliffe Bailey will speak Tuesday at UNC. Bailey, who comes to UNC for the Hanes Visiting Artist Lecture Series, will give a free talk at 5:30 p.m. in the Hanes Art Center auditorium. He also will be the fall artist-in-residence in the art department in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3942/66/

Ackland to host reception
The Chapel Hill Herald

Ackland Art Museum is hosting an opening reception from 6-8:30 p.m. today for Counterlives/Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids/Enduring Likeness. Best known as a painter and filmmaker, Warhol also was a prolific photographer. Bringing together moments of his art, work, and life, the new exhibition opens Saturday at the Ackland. It will include about 250 Polaroids and 70 gelatin silver black-and-white prints that Warhol took between 1970 and 1987.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3933/107/

UNC Jazz Band to perform
The Chapel Hill Herald

The UNC Jazz Band, under the direction of Jim Ketch, will be in concert, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Hill Hall Auditorium on the UNC campus, playing big band music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Wayne Shorter, Slide Hampton/Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Tadd Dameron/Maria Schneider, Oliver Nelson, John Fedchock and others.

Event features UNC greats
The Chapel Hill Herald

Two-time national champion and Hall of Fame Coach Roy Williams and former UNC basketball star, NBA great and current NASCAR analyst Brad Daugherty will headline the sixth annual Fast Break Against Cancer. The breakfast event, kicking off the 2010-2011 men's basketball season, will be held Oct. 15 from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Center Court in the Dean E. Smith Center. Williams has raised more than $1 million over the past five years for UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Botanical Garden's Annual Sale a Success
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)

About 300 people turned out to the North Carolina Botanical Garden’s annual plant sale. Publicity coordinator for the gardens, Laura Cotterman, says the event went well. Friday night was for members only, and she said many people signed up or renewed at the door. Saturday was open to the public. Cotterman says the sale is the garden’s biggest fundraiser, but it's about more than the money. The official numbers have not yet been calculated, but Cotterman says they measure it as a success.

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