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

International Coverage

Future scientists showcase projects at London Health Research Day
CTV News (Canada)

About 350 students and trainees are showing off their research in the second annual London Health Research Day at the London Convention Centre on Tuesday. …Organizers are expecting a better day this year thanks to a $75,000 donation from the Bernard & Norton Wolf Family Foundation to attract high-calibre speakers. One of the speakers is an international expert in pharmacology, Dr. Terry Kenakin of the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine.

National Coverage

An 'Absolute Will To Forget': Iraq Casts Shorter Shadow Than Vietnam
National Public Radio

Sometimes the whole country wants to forget. Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. The last U.S. troops didn't leave that country until the end of 2011. But Iraq, which dominated much of the nation's political discourse over the past decade, already seems largely forgotten. "The Iraq War casts a shadow, but not a very large one," says Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

College Groups Connect to Fight Sexual Assault
The New York Times

Frustrated and angry over the handling of sexual assault cases at Occidental College in Los Angeles, a group of students and faculty members recently decided to take the matter to the federal government as a civil rights case. Few people had explored this legal terrain, so the Occidental group reached out to women at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who had filed a similar complaint — which this month prompted a federal investigation — for insights on how to press their case.

Regional Coverage

The relative costs of education and the lack of it
The Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.)

Two recent items of education news in Georgia involve the front end and the back end, so to speak, of the formal learning process. Happily, there seems to be little question that both are effective and important. How accessible they are to how many Georgians is another matter. A just-released 2011 University of North Carolina study of Georgia's prekindergarten program concludes that children enrolled in those classes are generally progressing faster than might be expected.

Hospitals gain new weapons against deadly bacteria
The Philadelphia Inquirer

…Figuring out what's best is frustrating. There's been no head-to-head scientific comparison of hydrogen peroxide and light, although there is evidence that both can reduce infections. Duke University and the University of North Carolina are partway through a 28-month study that will evaluate standard cleaning, bleach, and UV light.

Sludge: Is It Really Safe for Fields? (Editorial)
The News & Advance (Lynchburg, Va.)

…One of those studies was done by researchers from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. It said that treated municipal sewage sludge may cause illnesses up to a mile away from the spreading site. A news release detailing the study’s findings said that more than half of the residents who lived near fields where sludge is applied reported symptoms such as burning eyes, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

How did this woman die in nursing home shower?
The Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, Fla.)

…Philip D. Sloane, a medical professor at the University of North Carolina, cautioned against judging a facility based on one questionable death. Sloane, who has helped lead a national movement against forcing nursing home residents to take showers against their will, said long-term care facilities are "full of well-intentioned, hard-working people who toil under very difficult circumstances, often with inadequate training and resources, in service of a population that under the best care is still going to have bad things happen."

State and Local Coverage

UNC hires new leader for its athlete tutoring program
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

UNC-Chapel Hill has hired a new leader for its troubled tutoring program for athletes. Michelle Brown, who heads academic support for athletes at Florida Atlantic University, will become director of UNC-CH’s Academic Support Program for Student Athletes. …Brown will oversee academic support services for the university’s 800 student athletes, which has an annual budget of $1.3 million. The program has been removed from the College of Arts and Sciences, and it will have no reporting relationship to the athletics department.
Related Links:
http://chapelboro.com/North-Carolina-Finds-New-Director-Of-Academic-Supp/15842138
http://www.heraldsun.com/news/localnews/x145780382/UNC-hires-new-director-for-athlete-tutoring-program

Study: Community approach effective in fighting diabetes
The Winston-Salem Journal

A hands-on approach to diabetes prevention enabled local overweight or obese residents do a better job with losing and keeping off extra weight, according to a Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center study. …“It is a major advance,” said John Buse of UNC Chapel Hill, a leading diabetes expert who had no role in the studies. Buse said he often recommends surgery to patients who are obese and cannot control their blood sugar through medications, but many are leery of it.

Left Off The Path: Latinos And High School Graduation
WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)

…A 2011 study out of UNC-Chapel Hill compared states with policies like North Carolina’s to others – like California and Texas – that allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. It showed that states with the out-of-state tuition policy had a seven percent lower high-school graduation rate for Latino students than states with in-state tuition policies.

NC House OKs limits on residential standards
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…If the bill becomes law, municipalities might be able to implement some design aspects through voluntary zoning conditions, according to Adam Lovelady, an assistant professor at UNC’s School of Government. But municipalities would have to walk a thin line. “If it is clearly understood by everyone that (additional aesthetic rules) was quietly required, that could run into trouble,” Lovelady said. Still, it’s a “gray area, and often depends on case-by-case evaluation.”

UNC Hosting Forum To Reduce Violence
WCHL-FM (Chapel Hill)

In the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, the UNC campus and community are coming together with a goal to reduce violence. “Our schools are pretty safe places but we have a steady flow of these mass-casualty events,” said UNC Professor Stephen Marshall. Marshall is the director of the Injury Prevention Research Center at UNC.

Immigrants denied mental health services
The Independent Weekly (Durham)

…Agreed, says Mimi Chapman, a social work professor at UNC-Chapel Hill with a focus in mental health and immigration. "When you deny treatment to one group, you're really creating difficult situations for many groups in society," Chapman says. "It's like a chain of dominos." The public cost is unclear. UNC Health Care spokesman Tom Hughes says the organization, which operates hospitals in Orange and Chatham, does not track statistics on the number of undocumented immigrants who visit emergency rooms.

N.C. Central ranks among U.S. News’ most popular law schools
The News & Record (Greensboro)

N.C. Central’s law school in Durham has made the top 10 of the U.S. News list of most popular law schools. N.C. Central was No. 6 on the list, which ranks U.S. law schools by student yield, or the percentage of accepted students who choose to enroll. …UNC-Chapel Hill was 31st.

SIRF achieves non-profit status (Blog)
The Star News (Wilmington)

…SIRF boasts an impressive board of directors, inclduing Christopher Rousch, director of the business journalism program at UNC-Chapel Hill, Bloomberg News columnist William D. Cohan (“House of Cards”) and former Fortune editor Bethany McLean (“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”). At the moment, though, the staff consists primarily of Boyd, along with some freelance researchers.

Powwow to honor UNC's Hedgepeth on Saturday
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

An annual powwow on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus Saturday will honor Faith Hedgepeth, the 19-year-old student whose slaying in September remains a mystery. Close to 1,800 people are expected at the 26th annual Carolina Indian Circle Powwow. The free public celebration, “Keeping The Faith, Through Honoring Our Traditions,” will be hosted by the Carolina Indian Circle to which Hedgepeth belonged.

Roses and Raspberries (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News

Roses from reader Amy Fowler and the board of the Autism Society of North Carolina-Orange Chatham Chapter (ASNC-OC) to UNC Pediatrics residents who spent January growing beards (some hypoplastic, particularly in the case of the female participants) for a great cause: ASNC-OC.

Limits and labels are an ongoing food fight (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Making food policy is a messy business. The skirmishes over nutrition labels, school lunches, sugary cereal advertising and a hundred other topics never cease. (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

Degrees Matter (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Record (Greensboro)

Last month, the UNC Board of Governors took a critical step toward ensuring that our state’s workforce is prepared for the 21st century. One of the primary goals of the UNC system’s five-year strategic plan, unanimously approved by the board Feb. 8 in Chapel Hill, is to boost the percentage of North Carolina adults with four-year college degrees from 29 percent to 32 percent. (Linda Brady is chancellor of UNCG.)

McCrory’s budget: hires 1,800 more teachers, gives state workers a pay raise
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Gov. Pat McCrory proposed a modest $20.6 billion state budget Wednesday that includes a 1 percent pay hike for state employees but limits spending growth to 2 percent. The Republican governor emphasized spending on education and economic development, two campaign priorities in the plan, by including money to hire 1,800 additional classroom teachers and $2.7 million to craft a new branding strategy to lure companies to the state.

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