Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Obama has fundraising edge in 36 states
United Press International
U.S. President Barack Obama has raised more money than his Republican rivals in 36 states and Washington, D.C., a campaign-finance report analysis indicates. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is ahead in 11 states, including Colorado, Florida and Nevada, three so-called swing states where Romney staged a one-day, fundraising call-a-thon in May, the USA Today analysis indicates. …"Incumbency has advantages, and one of them is money," University of North Carolina political researcher Ferrel Guillory told the newspaper.
National Coverage
Epidemic of Obesity in U.S. Kids Began in Late '90s
HealthDay News
The epidemic of excess weight gain and obesity among young Americans began about 15 years ago, a new study finds. "Our research documents the emergence of the obesity epidemic among adolescents in the later half of the 1990s, and among young adults in 2000," said Hedwig Lee, who led the study while at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Is America suffering from “Texas fatigue” or “Bush fatigue”? And what could it mean
to a Rick Perry campaign? (Blog)
The Houston Chronicle
As Rick Perry decides whether to seek the presidency in 2012, one of the challenges his nascent campaign faces is to define the relationship between himself and the other Texas Republican who dominated the U.S. political stage for the first decade of the 21st century. …To University of North Carolina political scientist Thomas Carsey, the similarity starts with their political pedigrees. “As conservative governors of Texas, they come from a similar political background,” he said. “It obviously connects them in people’s minds.”
Regional Coverage
Romney tops fundraising list in Michigan
The Lansing State Journal (Michigan)
Michigan is one of only 14 states where President Barack Obama has been outraised by a GOP rival so far, according to recent campaign disclosure reports. …Ferrel Guillory, an expert on politics at the University of North Carolina, said it's no surprise Obama would dominate fundraising. "Incumbency has advantages, and one of them is money," he said.
State and Local Coverage
DNA finding credited to UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For decades, biology students have learned their ATGCs – a four-letter alphabet that spells out the four chemical building blocks of DNA: adenosine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. But DNA's alphabet expanded years ago. A fifth chemical building block was discovered in 1948, and a sixth in 2009. Now, researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill have discovered two new building blocks, for a total of eight. Their discovery was published Thursday in the journal Science.
Hagan on the debt (Under the Dome)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who has been trying to burnish her credential as a fiscal moderate, will help host a panel discussion at UNC's Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise about "The Debt Crisis & Saving our Fiscal Future" at 10 a.m. Monday. …TV journalist and Tar Heel native Charlie Rose will moderate the panel. Other participants including Mark Yusko, CEO of Chapel Hill's Morgan Creek Capital Management; Maceo Sloan, head of NCM Capital in Durham; John Weinberg, director of research with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; and UNC professor of finance Gregory Brown.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4624/67/
Mellon Foundation awards UNC group $750,00 grant
The Chapel Hill Herald
Creating and presenting new works by and for artists including Bill T. Jones, Anne Bogart, Magdalena Ko?ená, Yefim Bronfman and Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble will be part of Carolina Performing Arts' (CPA) 2012-13 celebration of a landmark ballet. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York has awarded CPA, the performing arts presenter at UNC Chapel Hill, a $750,000 grant for the classical music portion of "The Rite of Spring at 100," a project marking the centennial of the 1913 Paris premiere of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring."
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4640/66/
Merger unites aerotropolis, logistics boards
The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area
Two boards that handle projects designed to raise the Triad’s profile as a transportation and logistics hub will merge. The Piedmont Triad Partnership recently approved plans to combine the “Aerotropolis” Leadership Board with the board of the N.C. Center for Global Logistics. … “Aerotropolis” is a term coined by UNC-Chapel Hill professor John Kasarda.
Millions Going to UNC Med School
The Triangle Business School
UNC Health Care has kept operating margins below 2007 levels – a year when an uproar erupted over CEO Bill Roper’s drive for higher profits – in part by transferring millions of dollars each year to the UNC School of Medicine. Since 2006, UNC Health Care has increased its transfer by nearly eight fold, from $9.8 million that year to $87.9 million in 2011. Karen McCall, UNC Health Care vice president of public affairs for both entities, explains the increases as evidence of a growing integration between the hospital system and the medical school.
Teaching hospitals face loss of millions in Medicare cuts
The Triangle Business Journal
Teaching hospitals could suffer significant revenue losses if a federal deficit reduction plan ends up cutting Medicare payments. …“To take away this very vital sou
rce of funding for teaching physicians, I think, is going to have large consequences in the years ahead,” says Karen McCall, University of North Carolina Health Care vice president of public affairs. “Not just for UNC but for the nation.”
Roper could win some, lose some
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For William Roper, CEO of the UNC Health Care System, the mega-merger of Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions announced Thursday could mean a $3 million payday. Roper, who has been a Medco board member for nearly four years, will receive cash and Express Scripts stock worth as much as $3 million for Medco shares and options he owns. But he also may lose his Medco board seat.
Butch Davis will release cell phone records
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina football coach Butch Davis said Thursday that he will release records of the business calls he made on his personal cellphone in response to a media public records request. Media outlets have sought to review Davis' personal cellphone records in hopes of shedding light on an investigation that has resulted in NCAA allegations of major violations against the Tar Heels' program.
Issues and Trends
School of the Arts announces layoffs, budget reductions
The News & Record (Greensboro)
The UNC School of the Arts will lay off seven staff members, eliminate several vacant teaching and staff positions and cut costs to meet a 10.8 percent budget reduction, school officials announced this afternoon. In addition to the layoffs, the school will not fill 6.5 vacant staff positions and six faculty positions. Two other faculty positions will become empty when those teachers retire.