Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
To Basel’s Defenses, the Fed Adds a To-Do List
The New York Times (Blog)
After overlooking so many excesses before the financial crisis, bank regulators have spent the last five years trying to regain credibility. …“There is ample evidence that lenders can extend mortgage credit to low-wealth households in a safe and sound manner, even with low-down-payment mortgages,” Roberto G. Quercia, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said. “It is good to see a regulator recognizing the risks of overcorrection.”
Can We Be Tricked into Not Eating So Much? (Blog)
Smithsonian Magazine
…Another approach is to make calorie consumption personal. Two recent studies, one at Texas Christian University and another at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found that telling people how much they would need to walk to burn off the meal they were about to order got their attention. When you read that it could take two hours of “brisk walking” to get rid of the calories in a quarter-pound double cheeseburger, well, that’s hard to ignore. People using menus providing that information ordered meals with an average of 100 to 200 fewer calories than those without it.
Regional Coverage
Voting law's invalidation by faulty reasoning (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Montgomery Advertiser (Alabama)
Last week, a majority of the Supreme Court voted to effectively invalidate a significant portion of the Voting Rights Act in the case Shelby County v. Holder. In its reasoning, five justices claimed that they could see no logical relationship between the original formula (devised in 1965) and the current conditions in the states identified by the law as habitual offenders of the 15th Amendment. (Kareem U. Crayton is an associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.)
Surge in U.S. oil production holding down prices
The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.)
…“Yes, Virginia, U.S. oil production can influence world oil prices,” said Karl Smith, economics professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, noting that this is the first evidence that the jump in U.S. production from shale deposits in the last few years is having an effect on global prices. The decline in pump prices since February closely tracks the decline in London’s Brent crude price, which has become the worldwide benchmark for premium crude and directly impacts the price of gasoline, he said.
State and Local Coverage
In N.C., 40 counties are no longer governed by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
The Independent Weekly (Durham)
…The Supreme Court's ruling comes despite a widely-cited legal brief by election research scholars—including UNC-Chapel Hill associate law professor Kareem Crayton—that urged the court to uphold the act. According to the brief, persistently discriminatory attitudes, racially polarized voting, voting disqualification efforts and socioeconomic data in the covered regions justify the act's preclearance requirement.
UNC changes: As chancellor leaves, we hope for better luck (Editorial)
The Winston-Salem Journal
The dawn of July has brought major change at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, change that most of us wish had not been necessary. Holden Thorp’s long association with UNC-CH ended last week when he emptied his office and moved out of the chancellor’s mansion. He’s headed to St. Louis to serve as provost on one of this nation’s foremost private campuses, Washington University.
NC Senate approves latest tax plan, still differs with McCrory and House
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said the Democrats were engaging in “class warfare.” Along with other Republican supporters, Berger emphasized the need to shrink the state’s high personal and corporate income tax rates to spur economic development, even though a UNC economist recently suggested such claims were exaggerated.
Excavations reveal ancient mosaics
The Chapel Hill News
Excavations in the Late Roman (fifth century) synagogue at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village in Israel’s Lower Galilee, have brought to light stunning mosaics that decorated the floor. The excavations are directed by Jodi Magness of UNC and co-directed by Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Students from UNC and other sponsoring schools are participating in the dig.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/6087/73/
Law schools expect fewer students in August
The Triangle Business Journal
The Triangle's four law schools are on track for a fourth consecutive year of smaller incoming classes. …The apparent decline is not across the board. Campbell University's law school in Raleigh and N.C. Central University are on track for 10 to 20 fewer first-year students, while Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill expect small increases.
Schools will have less junk food (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Score one for school snacks. A big one. New rules that go into effect this time next year call for a makeover for snacks served in vending machines and school stores. It’s the first major change to snack rules in 30 years and comes after decades of effort by child nutrition advocates to bring more of what kids eat at school into compliance with current recommendations for diet and health. (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.)