Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Report finds decrease in cases of US Muslims accused of homegrown terror in 2010
The Canadian Press
…Charles Kurzman, a sociologist who wrote the study that was released Wednesday, said that given the widespread terrorist recruitment on the Internet and elsewhere, he considered the number of domestic terror cases relatively small. …"Terrorism is a significant problem and Muslim-Americans are more susceptible to terrorist recruitment than other Americans. Fortunately, their level of recruitment is extremely low," said Kurzman, who teaches at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Related Link:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/psychology+revolution/4207548/story.html
National Coverage
Study: Fewer US Muslims in domestic terror cases
The Associated Press
A new report says the number of U.S. Muslims accused in terror plots dropped by more than half in 2010. The study was released Wednesday by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which includes experts from Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
The Paradox of Corporate Taxes
The New York Times
Arguably, the United States now has a corporate tax code that’s the worst of all worlds. The official rate is higher than in almost any other country, which forces companies to devote enormous time and effort to finding loopholes. Yet the government raises less money in corporate taxes than it once did, because of all the loopholes that have been added in recent decades. …But in a 2008 academic paper, three accounting professors — Scott Dyreng of Duke, Michelle Hanlon of M.I.T. and Edward Maydew of the University of North Carolina — suggested a new method for analyzing corporate tax avoidance.
Related Link:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/the-details-on-corporate-taxes/?src=busln
Phys Ed: More Bone (and Less Fat) Through Exercise (Blog)
The New York Times
For those requiring additional reasons to show up at the running path or at the gym in the dreary heart of winter, science has come up with a compelling new motivation. Exercise can, it appears, keep your bone marrow from becoming too flabby. This idea is the focus of a series of intriguing recent experiments by Janet Rubin, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and other researchers.
The Big Idea: Brain Trauma
National Geographic
…At the University of North Carolina, where football players receive an average of 950 hits to the head each season, neuroscientist Kevin Guskiewicz and colleagues have spent six years analyzing impact data from video recordings and helmets equipped with accelerometers. …Guskiewicz envisions databases that track all the hits athletes take throughout their playing years to help explain neurologic changes later in life. But, he says, "it'll probably be my grandchildren who are analyzing that data."
Regional Coverage
Deal proposes cuts to pre-k funding
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (Georgia)
…In the 2010-2011 school year, Georgia is spending $4,226 per child, or $90 a year more than in 1995, when pre-k opened to any 4-year-old and had an enrollment of about 44,000. With adjustments for inflation, those 1995 per-child costs of $4,136 equate to $5,917 in today’s dollars. That doesn’t approach the $7,882 per-student funding that a study, commissioned by Bright From the Start and conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009, says is needed for the program to be of high quality.
State and Local Coverage
The rise of Thom Tillis
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…His ascension came amid the seismic shift that put 68 Republicans in the 120-member House. Now only 27 have more seniority than Tillis. Some say it signals a more fundamental change as legislative power shifts to urban areas and driven, well-funded candidates. "The old legislative politics of biding your time and climbing the ladder just doesn't hold as much anymore," says Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Cairo ramps up evacuations, 18,000 still stuck
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
…Two University of North Carolina students were studying abroad at the American University in Cairo at the time of the uprising, school officials said. One of the students decided to follow the state department's evacuation procedure and with support from AUC was in Istanbul on Tuesday with a reservations to fly back to North Carolina on Wednesday.
Cardinal Mahony to speak on immigration reform
The Chapel Hill Herald
Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, an advocate of immigration reform, will discuss what he thinks should be done to change U.S. immigration policy at 5:30 p.m. today at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The free public talk will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the FedEx Global Education Center at McCauley and Pittsboro streets.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4266/73/
Weather disrupts talk by climate change expert (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Talk about irony. Some significant change in climate out in the Midwest – in the form of a massive winter storm – has nixed a talk at UNC-Chapel Hill by an Indiana University professor. Elinor Ostrom was to speak on climate change. But the massive storm has ruined her travel plans. She was to appear Friday at 2 p.m. at the FedEx Global Education Center.
Minority Health Conference Coming Back To UNC
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
The Minority Health Conference, the largest and
oldest health conference of its kind, is coming back to UNC for the 32nd time next month. Felicia Mebane, assistant dean for students at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC, says this year’s conference will focus on inequality in health care.
Waste not, want not: towns get creative with sewage disposal
The Cary News
More than a half-million gallons of brackish brown sewer water gurgle and swirl into Fuquay-Varina's largest sewer plant each day. …"The loop is shortening," said Dr. Michael Aitken, chair of the environmental sciences and engineering department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Kenan-Flagler business school dips to 62nd, Fuqua holds at 20th
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC Chapel Hill has fallen in the rankings — and that's not the coaches' basketball poll. According to the new 2011 Global MBA rankings, released this week by the Financial Times of London, Carolina's Kenan-Flagler business school now is now the 62nd best in the world — a precipitous fall from its previous year's ranking of 42nd.
Our first fitness coach gave lessons for the ages (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Willpower. Discipline. Perseverance. The ability to muster the mettle to stick with your diet and fitness plan is a challenge that gets less attention than the amounts and types of foods you eat. It's equally important, of course. (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.)
Offensive to Catholics (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
I can't believe that the Ackland is showing the disgusting Wojnarowicz film in which ants are shown crawling over a crucifix. This is offensive to Catholics and I believe all Christians. (Vincent M. DiSandro Sr, Hillsborough)
Heels don't expect much backlash from 2010 troubles on signing day
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
An NCAA investigation almost derailed the 2010 North Carolina football season, as 14 players missed at least one game and the program still is waiting to find out about possible NCAA sanctions. But the Tar Heels still areexpected to sign a top-20 recruiting class today.
Issues and Trends
Perdue slices budget; GOP says go deeper
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Legislators will begin debating a proposal today that would give Gov. Bev Perdue more power to cut this year's budget by at least $400 million – even as their leaders are pressing her to do more. They want Perdue to agree to cut $700 million before June 30, producing additional savings that would help close next year's projected $3.7 billion budget gap.
Berger: 'Everything's on the table'
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
…(Phil) Berger also talked about S13, the bill that would give Governor Bev Perdue the power to hold back spending in state agencies she doesn’t control, including the Department of Public Instruction, the UNC system, and the Dept. of Agriculture. Perdue has already imposed a 2.5 percent reversion, or hold-back, for this fiscal year in the agencies she controls. She’s seeking the power to impose the same cuts throughout state government – but at this point, halfway through the fiscal year, they’d need to cut 5 percent to catch up.
Firing line? (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Budgeting is a bottom-line business, and the bottom line from an in-depth exploration of the pluses and minuses of laying off state employees in Sunday's N&O is that mass layoffs are an expensive, inefficient way to fill the $3.7 billion hole in North Carolina's budget. Why? Because the cost to the state of laying off an employee – particularly the first-year cost – is so high. And though longer-term personnel-cost savings are, arguably at least, desirable, it's a "first-year" crisis that stares the General Assembly in the face.
Budget cuts threaten UT's 'first class' status, officials say
The American-Statesman (Austin, Texas)
…But UT has struggled in its years-long quest to plant itself among the very best public institutions of higher learning, which include the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina. Now, with a 5 percent budget cut imposed by state officials and double-digit reductions proposed on top of that, the question arises: