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

National Coverage

To Fix Student Aid, First Try to Understand It
The Chronicle of Higher Education

…The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill uses a comparison group of students who would have qualified for its Carolina Covenant aid program but enrolled before the program began, as a way to measure its effectiveness. But while such investigations can pinpoint real results, it's not always clear what they mean for the wider world. Smaller studies "give us clues at best," says Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of scholarships and student aid at North Carolina. The question, then, is "what among those clues might we want to try?" says Ms. Ort, who helped with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' report.

Owners of energy-efficient homes less likely to default on loans
The Los Angeles Times

If you buy or own an energy-efficient house, does this make you less likely to default on your mortgage? Is there a connection between the monthly savings on utility costs and the probability that you'll pay your loan on time? A new study by the University of North Carolina suggests that the answer to both questions is a resounding yes.
Related Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/energy-efficient-homes-are-less-likely-than-
others-to-have-problem-loans/2013/03/28/0c49856c-9580-11e2-b6f0-a5150a247b6a_story.html

UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5933/107/

Why Asia's elite is signing up for American MBAs
CNN Money

Why would Ning Zhai fly more than 7,300 miles to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for business classes? The 37-year-old already has an MBA and a successful career as the general manager for EasyWay Electronics, a high-tech manufacturer in Shanghai. But Zhai, who also goes by Amy, recognized that Asia's business climate was changing. She believes she needs fresh knowledge about manufacturing, global supply chains, and international markets to stay competitive. So she enrolled in the Global Supply Chain Leaders Program, a dual-degree executive MBA program at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Plagued by mystery strokes, little boy will 'never give up'
"Today Show" NBC

Caelon Arthur and his family are not giving up. At just 4 years old, the North Carolina boy has suffered so many strokes in his short life that his doctors have lost count. …“Every test we’ve done to try to identify a cause of stroke has come up normal,” Dr. Tim Gershon, a pediatric neurologist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said on TODAY Monday.

Industrial giants paying lower tax rates, keeping earnings abroad
The Washington Post

Procter & Gamble, the Cincinnati-based company behind Pampers diapers and Tide detergent, reported a federal tax burden in 1969 that was 40 percent of its total profits, a typical rate in those days. …"When you get U.S. businesses coming to Washington and talking about, 'We need to do this and that for the U.S. economy,' what does that even mean?" said Doug Shackelford, a professor of taxes at the University of North Carolina. "Who are they referring to? Is it U.S. workers? Is it U.S. shareholders?"

Smaller Size? No Thanks to This Pledge
The Wall Street Journal

…And the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a Princeton, N.J.-based body focusing on health issues, has tapped researchers at the University of North Carolina Food Research Program to independently monitor the bottom-line goal and to dive deeper into the data—seeing whether, for instance, the food makers should get credit for a cut in Americans' consumption, or whether Americans were making healthier eating choices across the board, not just in their purchases from firms involved in the pledge.
Related Link:
http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/calorie-cutters-1227/

Multiple Vaccinations on Same Day Does Not Raise Autism Risk
Time

…“The concern around vaccines has been a very significant issue. Many parents are now deciding to wait or space out vaccines. There has been a concern that when parents are worried about whether vaccines are associated with autism that they are going to choose not to vaccinate their child,” says Geraldine Dawson, the chief science officer for Autism Speaks. “That’s one of the reasons we see this as very good news, because we hope this will reassure parents that the number of vaccines your child received during the first couple years of life is not associated with a risk in developing autism.” Dawson, who is a professor of psychiatry at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, was not affiliated with the study.

Maybe You Should Have a Baby
The Chronicle of Higher Education

…A forthcoming paper, “What Mary Can’t Expect When She Is Expecting,” by L.A. Paul, a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is stirring conversation even before it has appeared in the journal Res Philosophica. The paper is a 30-page knowing chuckle with footnotes, and it doesn’t do justice to what we’ve learned from the (admittedly imperfect and sometimes contradictory) social science about parental happiness.

Microbes Buried Deep in Ocean Crust May Form World’s Largest Ecosystem
Smithsonian Magazine

…It’s not just the number of microbes that vary depending on location–it’s possible that different microbial species are found in different types of crust. “Different types of rock and different types of chemistry should result in different types of microbes,” says Andreas Teske, a deep-sea microbial ecologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-author on Lever’s paper

Regional Coverage

Google Glass: Why it scares academics and lawmakers
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah)

…University of North Carolina psychology professor Barbara Fredrickson penned an op-ed piece in Sunday’s New York Times that, although it did not mention Google Glass by name, examined the biological costs of people becoming more attuned to their digital devices at the expense of old-fashioned interaction with their fellow humans. “Most of us are well aware of the convenience that instant electronic access provides,” Fredrickson wrote.

Doctors firing back at patients’ online critiques
The Boston Globe

…David Ardia, codirector of the Center for Media Law and Policy at the University of North Carolina, said the Internet “has realigned the power structure that existed between doctors and patients,’’ giving patients far more influence than they have ever had. “The Web is just chock-full of people commenting on their experiences. Doctors have reacted with a great deal of hostility toward this.’’

Cuba: A fresh approach (Commentary)
The Savannah Morning News (Georgia)

The United States needs to change its policy toward Cuba. For nearly 55 years, over the course of 11 successive U.S. presidential administrations, Washington has treated Havana with hostility — from the Bay of Pigs invasion and the assassination attempts on Fidel Castro to the economic embargo that remains in place to this very day. (Louis A. Perez Jr. is J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor in the Department of History and director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of North Carolina.)

Two new shops signal that interest in cycling is on the rise
The Tampa Bay Times (Florida)

…"There are plenty of people with potbellies who cycle," said John Pucher, professor of urban planning and transportation at Rutgers University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "These are not super athletes," he said. "These are average, everyday people." Pucher has spent years researching cycling trends and recently co-authored a book, City Cycling, published by the MIT Press. He sees the ability to walk and bike safely as a human right, one many of Florida's retirees should demand.

State and Local Coverage

Losing wives, raising kids: UNC support group helps widowed dads
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)

An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 men lose their wives to cancer each year in the U.S., leaving them widowed and taking care of their children alone, often with few places to turn for help. A program at the UNC Cancer Hospital is the first of its kind in the nation to reach out to the grieving fathers. Dr. Don Rosenstein, director of the UNC Comprehensive Cancer Support Program, started the Single Fathers Due to Cancer support group with his team two years ago after recognizing the challenges and lack of resources for single fathers whose wives had died.

Consultant suggests improvements for UNC in dealing with sexual assault issue
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

After weeks of conducting a campus dialogue about sexual assault, a consultant hired by UNC-Chapel Hill told trustees Thursday that the university can improve in four areas – climate, policies, training and implementation of federal guidelines. Gina Smith, a nationally known expert on sexual misconduct, has met with student groups, faculty and staff for weeks to discuss the dynamics of the issue as federal officials look into UNC-CH’s handling of sexual assault cases and its compliance with crime reporting laws.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/news/x145784664/UNC-trustees-hear-
from-expert-on-sexual-assault-issues

Rape? Call the police (Editorial)
The News & Record (Greensboro)

UNC-Chapel Hill has put itself in the middle of an uproar, and an “ongoing conversation” won’t get it out. Student Landen Gambill says she was raped by a fellow student and wasn’t given justice after she lodged charges through campus authorities. Her story drew national media attention when she participated in a public demonstration against sexual assault on campus and added her name to a complaint filed with the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education.
Related Link:
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/opinion/our-views/sexual-assault-cases
-too-serious-honor-court-1913153

Concord couple keep son's memory alive by encouraging others to become organ donors
News 14 Carolina

The parents of Jason Ray, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill student and university mascot, who was struck and killed by a car in 2007, are working to keep their son's memory alive and encourage Americans to become organ donors. Charlotte and Emmitt Ray formed the Jason Ray Foundation shortly after their son's death and are now working to raise $1,000,000 to benefit transplant patients at UNC's hospitals.

In NC, teacher tenure doesn’t mean a guaranteed job
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…If school leaders move to fire a teacher, the teacher is entitled to a hearing before a hearing officer. After a decision from the school superintendent, the teacher can request a hearing before the local school board. A final appeal would go to superior court. “The standard is high and the procedure is exacting,” said Robert Joyce, professor of public law and government at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government.

New NC legislature targets ‘arrogant’ cities
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…It’s not just municipalities that have felt the sting. Senate bills would redraw school board districts in Wake and Guilford counties and change the way members in each are elected. “It has been an amazing array of bills that add up to more restrictions on cities and on urban counties to govern themselves,” says Ferrel Guillory, a political analyst at UNC Chapel Hill.

Planners ready for cell-tower debate
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

… UNC School of Government professor David Owens on a school blog noted that Congress only last year further restricted local-level regulatory rights by saying cities, counties and states must approve many types of potential modifications to an existing tower. Federal Communications Commission regulators are interpreting that to mean it’s OK to raise a tower’s height slightly, even if that means breaking local heights limits, Owens said.

Speaker Ban after 50 years – the legislature at its worst? (Under the Dome)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…Former UNC student body president Robert Spearman, now a prominent Raleigh lawyer, will give a lecture on “The Rise and Fall of the North Carolina Speaker Ban Law” at the Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill at 5:30 on April 11. At 5 p.m. there will be a viewing of “A Right to Speak and Hear: Academic Freedom and Free Expression at UNC.’’

123 West Franklin could bring grocer
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

… “The changing demographics with more people living downtown makes this appealing,” said Gordon Merklein, executive director of Real Estate development for UNC. “It’s an opportunity to capture that market share.” Merklein, in an interview shortly after he gave the UNC Board of Trustees an update on the project last week, stressed that no grocer has yet been identified to fill the space, even though it’s being designed to accommodate one.

The shocking burden of $800 light bills (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

The poorest citizens in the poorest communities in North Carolina often pay the highest rates for electricity. They are required, in the process, to subsidize the services of others much wealthier than themselves. (Gene Nichol is Boyd Tinsley distinguished professor at the UNC School of Law and director of the school’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity.)

Art Exhibition Making A Difference In Global Water Crisis
WCHL-FM (Chapel Hill)

The Global Education Center is hosting an exhibition called The Water of Life: Artistic Expressions, and proceeds from the project will make a difference in the global water crisis. It’s a part of the UNC campus-wide theme for this year, Water in Our World.

HB 217 poses dire consequences for young offenders (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Since the far-right takeover of our General Assembly and election of Gov. Pat McCrory, we’ve witnessed Republicans sacrifice good governance in favor of rigid ideology. Work to pass bills in defiance of research and expert opinion. Defend decisions to dismantle or refuse to expand public systems on the grounds that they are irrevocably “broken.” Write legislation that disproportionately hurts people of color. (Barbara Fedders is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.)

Is the Rex-WakeMed feud over? (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

OK, it may not be the Hatfields and McCoys, but WakeMed and Rex Healthcare, two Wake County medical giants, have had a few tussles over the years. Things really came to a head a couple of years ago when at one point, WakeMed tried to buy Rex for $750 million in a hostile takeover that had state legislators involved and WakeMed CEO Bill Atkinson and UNC Hospitals chief Bill Roper trading barbs in the media. That was settled.

UNC campus cyclists pose hazards for some
News 14 Carolina

…UNC Department of Public Safety spokesperson Randy Young says the problem is that most college students riding bikes on campus are in a hurry. Despite the risk, Young says the UNC Department of Public Safety doesn’t get a lot of complaints about bike traffic. “If we receive a complaint, it’s a priority for us. We act on any complaint. I don’t think for the campus, it’s something we see a lot of complaints from. I don’t think folks rush over here to complain,” said Young.

Helmets save lives, money (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

House Bill 109 seeks to repeal our state’s universal motorcycle helmet law. Before proceeding, the House should consider a scientific report from the Department of Transportation that evaluated the effect of an almost-identical law change in Florida. (Stephen Marshall, Director, UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, Chapel Hill)

UNC’s medical office nearly complete in Hillsborough
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

A new office building that will contain UNC Hospital clinics in Hillsborough is expected to be completed in July. The outside of the three-story physicians’ building is almost finished, along with parking lots, driveways and landscaping for the full facility, which eventually will include a 68-bed hospital.

15% of Wake, Orange county residents delayed medical care because of costs
The Triangle Business Journal

…North Carolina has one of the more restrictive Medicaid programs in the nation. The program is typically associated with providing health coverage to the poor, however that doesn’t apply to all groups. Men must have a disability, for example, in addition to having a low income. “It’s not enough simply to be poor,” Dr. Bill Roper, CEO of UNC Health Care has said. “If you are 40 (and male) and poor, you are not covered under Medicaid.”

N.C. Science Festival features 300 events, from astronomy to zoology
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

There was a time when science fairs were the sole way to tickle the fancies of students and steer them toward careers in science and technology. When Jonathan Frederick was a kid in Harrisburg, Pa., he won an award for his project. …Now 39, this former owner of a right-pawed cat – and former in-tank speaker at a Florida aquarium, and most recently a staffer at UNC’s Morehead Planetarium – is director of the North Carolina Science Festival. The event is a 16-day educational blitz that this month fields roughly 300 events statewide.

Life Stories: Dr. Bill Cromartie had a vision for health care’s future
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…He joined the faculty at the UNC School of Medicine in 1951 as the program went from two to four years and the North Carolina Memorial Hospital was opening. In the 1960s he helped begin a statewide community training system that sought to bring medical care to rural areas short on primary care physicians. It would become the foundation for North Carolina Area Health Education Centers system, his family said.

UNC failed to protect housekeeper who claimed harassment
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

A judge ruled Friday that UNC-Chapel Hill did not violate the state whistleblower act but did fail to protect a housekeeper from sexual harassment and retaliation. Administrative Judge Melissa Lassiter also said UNC-CH should amend and simplify its reporting procedures to comply with state and federal requirements.

Issues and Trends

Combination of cuts and tuition hikes bode ill for UNC (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

A fiscal triple-whammy lurks ahead on the calendar for the UNC system. Gov. Pat McCrory’s first budget proposal has called for cuts in state appropriations by $138.5 million, would only partially fund the Board of Governors’ five-year strategic plan projects and would saddle out-of-state students with yet another tuition hike. Those cuts in state money come after $400 million in previous reductions during the past two years. And, as The Chapel Hill Herald’s Gregory Childress reported last week, revenues from the tuition increase that would normally go back to campuses to provide financial aid instead would be destined for the state’s General Fund.
Related Links:
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2013/03/27/1246249
http://www.news-record.com/opinion/982460-94/editorial-march-30-seeing-is
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/27/2784298/eager-beavers-knaw-at-the-core.html
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20130329/ARTICLES/130329779?tc=ar
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/opinion/our-views/closing-unc-campus
-should-be-limits-1911525

NC scholars speak out against 'destructive' GOP policies
The Associated Press

Educators from colleges and universities across the state gathered in Durham Thursday evening to speak out against Republican-backed policy changes and decisions made by the General Assembly that they say could hurt North Carolina.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/28/2786492/angela-crumpler-unc-lost-its-way.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/28/2786944/scholars-decry-legislatures-new.html

Hospital legislation would help inform public about prices (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

…And meanwhile, giant nonprofit hospitals systems such as Duke and UNC continue to build empires by buying hospitals and doctors’ practices, leaving patients (and their primary care doctors) with fewer and fewer choices. Information is power. The senators deserve credit for doing something to give average citizens more of it with regard to health care.

Lovette returning to Orange County for April resentencing
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Laurence Lovette, Jr., convicted of first-degree murder for killing Eve Carson in 2008, returns to the Orange County Courthouse in April to be resentenced for the crime. The resentencing hearing has been scheduled for April 26, said District Attorney Jim Woodall.

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