Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
Kinship caregivers: More support needed, study says
The Associated Press
…"They're trying to navigate this system on their own, and there's not a lot of knowledge about what benefits they're eligible for," said Mark Testa, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Social Work. "They're actually doing a heroic job in keeping these kids part of the family, and they deserve our gratitude," he said. "Without them, our foster care system would be overwhelmed."
Parents weigh risks of youth football amid concussion debate
USA Today
Kevin Guskiewicz is a researcher at the University of North Carolina and a member of the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee. He is testing whether sensors in helmets or mouth guards can reliably measure head impacts and help improve helmets and rules. He stresses teaching youngsters how to block and tackle with their shoulders — not their heads. "Just banning them from playing, that's not a solution," said Guskiewicz, who will have a son playing in high school next season and another playing in middle school.
At CUNY, Stricter Admissions Bring Ethnic Shift
The New York Times
…Across the country, the most selective public colleges have been growing more so for decades, with many of them seeing a notable shift in the past few years. The share of entering freshmen who were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes rose to 73 percent last fall from 69 percent in 2007 at the University of Texas at Austin, to 57 percent from 49 percent at Binghamton University and to 80 percent from 76 percent at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to name a few.
Visible Life
Slate Magazine
…"I bet a lot of politicians have never stepped into an IVF clinic," said Dr. Silvia Ramos, senior embryologist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, when I asked her about the personhood debate Gingrich was referencing. Born in Brazil, Dr. Ramos speaks with an accent that becomes more pronounced when she gets excited, and nearly everything about her work—from treating and interacting with patients to performing research on mouse ovaries and embryos—excites her.
Roger Ailes’s turn to answer some questions (Blog)
The Washington Post
In an appearance last month at the University of North Carolina, Fox News boss Roger Ailes made news with this line, among others: In “15 years we have never taken a story down because it was wrong. You can’t say that about CNN, CBS or the New York Times.” Critics pounced with examples of Fox stories that didn’t bear out, including my favorite: The report that the Washington Monument was “tilting” in the aftermath of last August’s earthquake.
Regional Coverage
Are diet sodas good or bad for you?
The Sun Chronicle (Attleboro, Mass.)
…A recent study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who consumed diet beverages tended to be less healthy than people who did not consume them. The researchers studied data collected over 20 years from more than 4,000 young adults who participated in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.
State and Local Coverage
Rex, WakeMed reach deal; Wake County to get mental hospital
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Legislators announced Tuesday a cease-fire between Wake County’s two largest hospitals, WakeMed Hospital and Rex, owned by the University of North Carolina Health Care. Tuesday’s agreement brings a civil end to an unseemly public battle between the cross-town rivals, and also halts WakeMed’s effort to buy Rex from UNC.
Related Links:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2012/05/22/wakemed-ending-bid-for-rex-healthcare.html
http://www.reflector.com/ap/staten/unc-wakemed-hospitals-end-raleigh-turf-battle-1075793
http://www.chapelboro.com/UNC-Health-Care–WakeMed-Reach-Truce-Over-Rex-Hosp/13204197
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/may/agreement
WakeMed, UNC announce new working relationship
WTVD-TV (ABC/Raleigh)
Merger talks between WakeMed and UNC Health Care are officially dead. Instead, two of the Triangle's largest hospital systems are forming a new partnership. The deal includes a new $30 million facility UNC will build for mental health. It will be a psychiatric hospital intended to take some of the strain off WakeMed.
Related Links:
http://wunc.org/programs/news/archive/tba052212.mp3/view
http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/11129825/
http://www2.nbc17.com/news/2012/may/22/wakemed-unc-health-care-make
-announcement-afternoo-ar-2300405/
UNC Health to build psychiatric facility in Wake
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC Health Care and WakeMed buried the hatchet Tuesday, announcing a $40 million collaborative effort to improve mental health care in Wake County. Under the agreement, UNC Health Care pledged $30 million to develop and operate a 28-bed, inpatient psychiatric facility in Wake County to address crisis and emergency demand, which has increased since the closure of Dorothea Dix Hospital.
The Rite of Spring at 100
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
The Carolina Performing Arts presented a sneak peek of their 2012-2013 schedule to a gathering of their most ardent supporters last Wednesday evening May 16, 2012 at Memorial Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Executive Director, Emil Kang, took us all on a historical journey to 100 years ago.
Syria’s Revolution and Egypt’s Elections
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
The United Nations estimates that 9,000 people have died in Syria since the revolution began in March of 2011 and the conflict spilled into Lebanon this week. …As the humanitarian crisis on the ground in Syria grows more desperate, host Frank Stasio is joined by three guests with unique insight into the situation in Syria and how other Arab countries are moving forward into new political eras: Audrey Anne Lavallee-Berlanger, a rising senior at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who spent this past school year at Damascus University and working in refugee camps on Syria’s borders…
Does Old Map Hold a Secret? (Column)
The Pilot (Southern Pines)
…This clue resulted from the curiosity of Brent Lane, adjunct professor of heritage economics at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. Lane noticed two small parts of the map were covered with paper patches. He wondered what was under the patches, thinking that perhaps John White had been persuaded to make a correction or two to his map after it had been completed.
Panel discusses ideas for riverfront
The Star News (Wilmington)
…A panel of experts sat down Tuesday evening to give theirs, and there was general agreement that a vision must enhance quality of life – making people want to move here and stay – and create wealth in the real world of a tough economy. "We have limited money," said Brent Lane, moderator and director for the University of North Carolina Center for Competitive Economics. Wealth, he said, will be created from innovation and entrepreneurship.
UK food revolution begun (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Maybe you should think of yourself as a revolutionary. That’s how Jamie Oliver and Chris Bianco see themselves. You probably know Jamie Oliver, the British celebrity chef and healthy food crusader. Bianco is an award-winning pizza chef and Oliver’s American business partner. They have created Union Jacks, a restaurant serving foods that live up to their vision of healthy eating: whole foods made with locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical associate professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Issues and Trends
Worthy of study (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A May 19 letter-writer claimed that “black studies” are a “politically correct sop” in colleges and universities. To make this claim, the writer would need significantly more evidence than he demonstrates. In fact, even to make such a claim demonstrates serious ignorance of world history and especially of American history. (Sharon L. James, Chapel Hill)