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

International Coverage

Obama urges hold on student loan interest
The United Press International

U.S. President Barack Obama will visit three universities next week, and urge Congress not to allow student loan interest rates to double, the White House said. Press secretary Jay Carney said the president will visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Colorado at Boulder Tuesday, and he'll go to the University of Iowa Wednesday.

National Coverage

Interest high for President Obama's speech at the University of North Carolina
The Associated Press

Supporters in Chapel Hill sought shelter from the rain under tents, blankets and umbrellas Sunday as they lined up for tickets to see President Obama speak about student debt this week at the flagship public university in a state at the heart of this year's presidential election. Obama visits the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday and similar colleges in Colorado and Iowa as he woos young voters by taking about student loans and the rising cost of education.

Obama to Address Student-Loan Rates (Blog)
The Wall Street Journal

Latching on to rising concern over student-loan debt, President Barack Obama will spend much of the next week urging Congress to stop interest rates on the loans from doubling. The effort will kick off Friday with remarks by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and continue into next week with speeches by Mr. Obama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Iowa.
Related Links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/obama-heads-to-nc-colorado-iowa
-to-push-for-low-student-loan-rates/2012/04/20/gIQAEG6aVT_blog.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/20/obama-gary-peters-house-democrats
-student-loan-rates_n_1440249.html

Georgia rolls out child care rating system
The Associated Press

…A 2010 study by the Uni­ver­sity of North Carolina at Cha­pel Hill showed more than three-quarters of in-home child care programs in Georgia and at least one-third of all private preschool programs were of low quality. Since then, the state has begun inspecting in-home day cares before granting licenses and requiring all employees to have 20 hours of training before the program opens.

Missing child case 'awakened America'
CNN.com

…Barbara Friedman, associate professor of University of North Carolina's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said such "heinous crimes are always newsworthy" and "have been reported in the press for as long as there has been a press." "As media became more plentiful and visual in the 1980s, child abductions and child murders allowed for the kinds of images that are at once intimate and universal — like school photos and grieving families," Friedman said.

Businessman's View: Elite Public Research Universities Should Charge More
The Chronicle of Higher Education

…Other participants included Todd S. Hutton, president of Utica College; Sidney A. Ribeau, president of Howard University; Holden Thorp, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; James W. Wagner, president of Emory University; and Jane V. Wellman, executive director of the National Association of System Heads. Mr. Thorp, who leads an institution not unlike the kind Mr. Ligon considers underpriced, called the businessman's ideas "dangerous." Lower tuition is key to ensuring that students of more modest means can attend Chapel Hill, he said, and it would be unwise to assume a "governing bureaucracy" would preserve access for those same students if tuition skyrocketed.

For Gay Athletes, It's Getting Better
Inside Higher Ed

College athletics is gradually becoming more inclusive for gay students. But if athletes are ever able to participate openly without fear of discrimination, it will require coaches and administrators to foster a holistically welcoming environment, from initial meetings with recruits to the halftime pep talks in the locker room. "If" is the operative word. On Saturday, here at the annual meeting of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's College Sport Research Institute, a panel of gay athletes, administrators and researchers agreed that this progress is imminent.

Doris Betts, 79, wrote Southern novels
The Associated Press

Doris Betts, who wrote novels set in her native South and taught creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has died, her son said Sunday. She was 79.

Regional Coverage

Longer testing period raises security risk for FCAT
The Miami Herald (Florida)

…“These testing windows are the Achilles’ heel of computer-based tests,” said Gregory Cizek, a test security expert and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “When there’s not enough computers for every kid, we have to widen the time frame to have kids cycle in and out of the test. I refer to it as a gaping door. It’s far too much time to allow a secure test to be exposed to the entire state full of students and educators.”

Build strong legs to prevent injury.
The Record (Woodland Park, N.J.)

It's time to pay attention to your quad, calf and hamstring muscles. Sure your motivation may be to strut across the beach this summer in shorts, but there's even a more important reason: having strong and limber legs prevents injuries, such as "runner's knee," which afflicts one in four active people, according to the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

State and Local Coverage

President Obama to visit UNC-CH Tuesday for student loan effort
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

President Barack Obama will visit UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday as part of a nationwide tour to promote lower interest rates on student loans, the White House announced Friday. The president also will appear on a broadcast of NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” that will be taped on campus Tuesday and air that night. Dave Matthews is the musical guest. UNC-CH, the state university system’s flagship school, is the first of three colleges on a two-day tour the White House hopes will pressure Congress to stop a student loan interest rate increase this summer.
Related Links:
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/18310567/article-Obama-to-visit-UNC-campus
http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/11005285/
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2012/04/president-obama-to-speak-at-unc.html

Students line up for tickets to see Obama
WNCN-TV (NBC/Raleigh)

Hundreds of students hoping to attend President Barack Obama’s speech at UNC-Chapel Hill waited outside Carmichael Arena to receive tickets Sunday. Obama will speak Tuesday at Carmichael Arena. The president will visit the university to speak out against raising interest rates on student loans.
Related Links:
http://www2.nbc17.com/news/2012/apr/20/11/obama-visit-chapel-hill-tuesday-ar-2187098/
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/politics&id=8629342
http://ncnn.com/edit-news/7857-pres-obama-set-to-pitch-affordable-student-loans-during-unc-speech

NC governor hopefuls weigh in on Alcoa dam dispute
The Associated Press

…Candidates in the May 8 primary told The Associated Press how they would handle the dispute over money, economic development and water supplies from the state's second-largest river basin. The next governor could be a determining factor, said Richard Whisnant, a professor of public law and government at the UNC School of Government and a former attorney for the state environmental agency.

Constitutional amendment on marriage sparks theological dialogue across faiths
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

…Maxine Eichner, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies family and employment law, said that courts could interpret “domestic legal union” in a way that bars all unmarried couples from rights and protections related to health care, domestic violence and child custody. “The problem is we can’t predict what interpretation courts will adopt,” Eichner said.
Related Link:
http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2012/apr/21/marriage-amendment-
question-state-policy-or-test-f-ar-2191549/

Senior connection
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

…Cherie Rosemond, a fellow with the UNC Chapel Hill’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, said the study is looking into the feasibility of disseminating a product like Connected for Life. They’re also trying to determine how much technical support it takes for people to become functional users of the software, she said.

Triangle law school graduates face tough job market
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…James R. Lawrence III, 27, a Raleigh native who is poised to graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill’s law school next month, is grateful that he has lined up a job with Coats & Bennett, a Raleigh intellectual property firm with 11 lawyers. “I have friends of mine at UNC who are still looking for positions (even though they have) fantastic resumes and great work experience,” he said.

Gov. Perdue, legislators still at odds over ferry tolls
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…Some of that clear language might have helped lawyers and political leaders avoid this standoff over new ferry tolls, said Norma Houston, who lectures on public law and government at the UNC School of Government in Chapel Hill. “If they wanted to make their intentions crystal clear,” Houston said, legislators could have removed DOT’s discretion over toll collection when it ordered the new tolls.

Town Council To Examine Project Next To Carolina North
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)

The Chapel Hill Town Council will get its first look at a plan to build a new student housing project right on the doorstep of Carolina North. The project known as Carolina Flats would be located on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North Estes Drive, just across the road from the Carolina North campus.

UNC budget cuts mean crumbling buildings
WNCN-TV (NBC/Raleigh)

The campus of UNC Chapel Hill continues to struggle with crippling budget cuts. And NBC-17 has learned, so are the buildings themselves. The university tells us, there is a whopping $670 million dollars in facility improvements on their wish list.

Doris Betts, acclaimed Southern writer and longtime UNC professor, dies
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Doris Betts, the celebrated Southern writer who for decades nurtured others as a creative writing professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, died Saturday at the age of 79. Betts passed away at her home, Araby Farm, near Pittsboro, more than a year after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Related Links:
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/11011008/
http://www.chapelboro.com/Accomplished-UNC-Writing-Professor-Dies-At-79/12908862

North Carolina’s urban hospitals pile up the cash
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…It has been a good decade for Triangle hospital systems. Duke University Health System and UNC Health Care, which owns Rex Hospital in Raleigh, have seen profits march higher for the past five years, even during a recession.
Related Links:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/23/2018195/north-carolinas-hospitals-
get.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/22/2016931/in-nc-hospitals-rack-rate-
hits.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/21/2014023/drescher-these-stories-
might-make.html#storylink=misearch

Issues and Trends

Quintiles founder Gillings stepping down as CEO
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Dennis Gillings, the Quintiles founder who built the company into the world’s largest pharmaceutical services company, is stepping down as CEO. …The company said (Tom) Pike’s appointment was part of the company’s "long-term succession planning." Gillings, who has been the company’s chief executive since he co-founded the business when he was a statistics professor at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1982, will remain as executive chairman of the board of directors.

Vote early and … well, vote early (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News

…You don’t have to wait until May 8 to vote. The early voting period opened Thursday and continues until May 5. Early voting sites are Carrboro Town Hall, the Seymour Senior Center on Homestead Road, the Ram’s Head Dining Hall on the UNC campus, Mount Zion AME Church in Cedar Grove and the Orange County Board of Elections office in Hillsborough.

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