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

National Coverage

Democrats Encounter Bumps On The Road To Charlotte
The Associated Press

…While liberal voters in cities such as Charlotte or Chapel Hill can be expected to turn out for Obama, many registered Democrats in smaller towns such as Greenville and Goldsboro felt the national party left them behind years ago. "There's a loyalty to the Democratic Party," said Kareem Crayton, a University of North Carolina law professor who studies issues of politics and race, "but that loyalty doesn't necessarily extend to the national party."

Mitt Romney Mormon Peers Praise Presidential Hopeful As Caring Friend
The Associated Press

…"He's trying to find the right register, and those around him who advise him are trying to find the right register. Now, it seems, the push is to make him look human, that means emphasizing the admittedly wonderful things he has done in the church to help people," said Laurie Maffly-Kipp, a religion scholar at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who writes frequently about the LDS church. "The trick is to do that without bringing up the parts of Mormonism that might sound odd to others."

Persuadable Voters (Blog)
ABC News

…This evaluation uses a method of identifying persuadable voters based on a model of anxiety and information-gathering developed by George Marcus, a political science professor at Williams College, and his colleagues Michael MacKuen of the University of North Carolina and W. Russell Neuman of the University of Michigan. Their work indicates that voters who are anxious about the candidate they support, and who are seeking information about the candidates’ positions, are more open to changing their position – in a word, persuadable. The candidate who makes the best argument has a shot at winning their vote.

The Secret of the Sauce: What Democrats Need to Know About North Carolina's Kick-Ass Populism
The Huffington Post

… The University of North Carolina blossomed into a major intellectual center, as historian Frank Porter Graham and others encouraged the first stirrings of a revived labor movement. Fearful of another populist upsurge, major East Coast institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation lent support to these islands of enlightenment. Their graduates sprang onto the national literary scene heaping scorn on southern backwardness — Thomas Wolfe in Look Homeward Angel and Wilber J. Cash in his classic The Mind of the South.

Football at a Crossroads
"Outside the Lines" ESPN

…"It's really important that we get on the field so that we can do this [study], said Kevin Guskiewicz, a researcher at the University of North Carolina.
It's not about pulling players from games because of a certain threshold because we don't know what that threshold for injury is just yet. It's about trying to improve the rules of the game and improve safety and I think we need to be able to get out on the field and be able to do this in a systematic way."
Note: This interview was broadcast live from the Carolina News Studio, but only the audio clip is currently available online
Related Link:
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8311371/significant-advances
-being-made-concussion-research-universities-nationwide

Turning on the Zap: New York City Readies World's Largest UV Drinking-Water Disinfection Plant
Scientific American

…Although adenovirus is not typically found in surface water repositories, New York's watersheds are not entirely free of risk because of the growing population and increased development in those areas, says Mark Sobsey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor of environmental sciences and engineering and director of the school's Environmental Microbiology Laboratory.

Sure Beats Bunking in a Barn
The New York Times

… Part of the department of dramatic art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Playmakers houses its performers in a large home that was built in the 1920s. Furniture from past shows has a way of finding its way inside; a couch now in use came from a recent production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ”The house “has an accumulated quality,” said Hannah Grannemann, the managing director. “It gives it a character and a connection to the theater that’s not glamorous, but comfortable.” Actors hang out in nearby Battle Park, a 93-acre tract overseen by the North Carolina Botanical Garden.

Regional Coverage

Mitt Romney promises to restore economic health
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)

Mitt Romney formally accepted the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, making the case that he can rebuild the economy, rein in government spending and succeed where President Barack Obama has failed. …"The kind of thing that's going to sort of get him kind of a tailwind is people being able to look at him and say, 'You know what? I can see that guy as president. And I know what I'm getting when I vote for him,'" said Kareem Crayton, a political scientist and associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Isaac's surge would have created a Betsy-like flood without post-Katrina levee improvements
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.)

…Though it lacked the power of Katrina, Isaac followed just the right path to create a worst-case surge event, said Rick Luettich, a storm surge researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the flood protection authority's board. Luettich also is one of the developers of a surge model used by the corps to help local emergency managers understand where waters would be rising in the New Orleans area.

State and Local Coverage

UNC promises major changes in wake of academic scandal
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

UNC-Chapel Hill leaders on Thursday promised different ways of doing business to prevent academic misconduct related to student athletes, including a new name for the beleaguered African and Afro-American Studies department.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/31/2304496/how-julius-peppers-transcript.html

Holden Thorp – UNC on right track (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Star News (Wilmington)

When we learned about possible irregularities in some African and Afro-American Studies department courses at UNC-Chapel Hill, we investigated. We asked hard questions, and we found answers that are painful for a university built on a commitment to academic excellence. What happened was wrong and completely contrary to what our university stands for, and we've taken numerous steps to make sure it never happens again. (Holden Thorp is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

Ahead Of DNC, UNC Journalism Students Head To Charlotte
WCHL-FM (Chapel Hill)

The GOP convention in Tampa has the national spotlight this week, but next week the Democratic Party takes center stage—along with the city of Charlotte, which is playing host to the DNC. And with the Democratic convention just a couple hours away, numerous local residents are seizing the chance to attend. Some are attending as spectators, a few are serving as delegates—and seven UNC journalism students will be covering it all on behalf of the Charlotte Observer.

Hospitalized NC children test green thumb on cart
The Associated Press

A small grant is helping hospitalized North Carolina children get in contact with nature in ways they're otherwise not allowed to do because of their compromised immune systems. The North Carolina Botanical Garden at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is using the $25,000 grant to create a hands-on nature exhibit. The idea is to lift the spirits of children at UNC Hospitals by loading a pushcart with a sealed greenhouse-type structure with built-in gloves that allow hospitalized kids to reach inside to plant seeds and eventually watch their seeds sprout.

Carolina Parakeet
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM

Today, parakeets are creatures of the tropics, but one breed in particular was native to the forests of the Eastern United States, including North Carolina. The Carolina Parakeet went extinct in the early 20th century, but continues to fascinate the public. The Wilson Library on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has an exhibit on the bird running through September 30th. Host Frank Stasio talks about the Carolina Parakeet with John Gerwin, a research scientist and curator of birds at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5426/66/

Pop-Tarts to feature UNC logo
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

UNC’s fans can show school spirit this weekend by attending the football team’s season opener against Elon. Or, fans can simply pop into a regional Walmart, grocery store or the local college bookstore to buy a package of limited edition UNC Pop-Tarts that are scheduled to go on sale either today or early next week, depending on whether delivery trucks make their connections. The flavor? Tar Heel Berry, of course.

Hospitals vie for lucrative rehab beds
The Triangle Business Journal

Four area hospitals have filed bids to add inpatient rehabilitation services, ratcheting up competition in an especially lucrative market niche. Three hospital systems have applied for 12 new rehab beds each in recent weeks: Duke Raleigh Hospital for its campus off Wake Forest Road, UNC Hospitals for its university campus in Chapel Hill, and WakeMed Health & Hospitals for its main campus on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh.

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