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April 15, 2005
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:National Coverage
Schools try to alleviate students' standardized-test stress
The Associated Press (National)
On a breezy spring day, Asia Pearson and her fifth-grade classmates recently enjoyed a taste of summer in exchange for surviving a battery of state math and reading tests....Gregory J. Cizek, an education professor at the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus, said although techniques that provide physical relaxation can help take the edge off students' test anxiety, other activities could worsen it by drawing extra attention to the test.
Surveys: Young adults searching spiritually
The Associated Press (National)
They are often tarnished with labels like "self-absorbed" and "materialistic."....Chris Smith, a University of North Carolina sociologist who has studied religious attitudes among people under 18 and was a technical adviser to the survey, said one difficulty is that spirituality means different things to different people.
Survey: 4 of 5 teens say religion is important
Religion News Service
The most comprehensive survey ever done on faith and adolescence finds a teen nation where more than four in five youths say religion is important in their lives.....The result is growing numbers of teens replacing traditional faith with an "alternative religious vision of divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness," said Christian Smith, the University of North Carolina sociologist who led the study.
Tift Merritt: A Heel Of a Singer
The Washington Post
The Tift Merritt fan club -- mom and dad, her brother and his fiancee, her manager, as well as boyfriend and band drummer Zeke Hutchins -- all traveled to Los Angeles' Staples Center for February's Grammy Awards....Though Texas-born, Merritt has been in and around Raleigh, N.C., for 28 of her 30 years and graduated from the University of North Carolina at nearby Chapel Hill.
Q&A: Michael Jordan on high school and the Jordan Classic
USA Today
I think school is very important and I personally had a great experience at North Carolina, which helped shape me as a basketball player and a person. Every once in a while, you will have a player who can make the jump and have an immediate impact on the professional level, but most of the players who come out would absolutely benefit from going to college.
Regional Coverage
Students snag cigarettes on the Web
Oneida Dispatch (N.Y.)
They are not yet 18, but they can buy cigarettes. Four high school students from local schools recently conducted the first part of a study designed to determine the proportion of Internet cigarette vendors that will sell cigarettes to minors that reside in New York.....The study was modeled after a study done at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003, "Internet Sales of Cigarettes to Minors."
State & Local Coverage
UNC-CH to break ground for projects
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill will break ground today on a $35 million information technology services building and on $5 million in renovations to the historic Campus Y building.
UNC media advisories: http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2005/its041405.html
http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2005/campusy041405.html
We're willing to help (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As reported in your April 8 article "Road delay called suspect," regarding the state Department of Transportation's updated plan for the Triangle, Chapel Hill Town Council member Bill Strom alleges that UNC-Chapel Hill has not kept its promise on South Columbia Street. This is simply untrue. The university endorsed that project and urged the DOT to move it forward, just as we had agreed to do....Nancy D. Suttenfield,Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, UNC-Chapel Hill
Food and Poverty
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
Chronic hunger has been all but eliminated in the United States. Experts instead measure "food insecurity," and it afflicts about eleven percent of people in North Carolina, according to the USDA. Many people living with food insecurity are also overweight. Host Melinda Penkava leads a conversation about hunger, food stamps, and obesity. Guest Barbara Laraia, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will be on for the full hour.
Note: This program airs live at noon and will rebroadcast tonight at 9.North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty: Empty Cupboards, Empty Calories
WUNC-FM
In Raleigh, families are lining up at emergency food pantries in increasing numbers. Meanwhile, the same poor families are being hit hard by our nationwide obesity epidemic.consequences.
Note: Barbara Laraia, professor of nutrition, was interviewed for this story.Orange confronts school funding
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Equalizing school funding between Orange County's two school districts is not likely to happen by the start of the next fiscal year, most county commissioners agreed at a work session Thursday night....Thursday's school funding equity discussion was the first for commissioners since receiving the Educational Excellence report in March. The report, written by professors and graduate students at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education, highlighted a lack of resources available to the county schools compared with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
Triangle hospitals destroy flu virus
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Labs at Duke, Durham Regional and UNC hospitals were among 3,747 sites that had to destroy improperly distributed vials of potentially dangerous flu virus this week.
Related link: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/ncwire_news/story/2313784p-8692161c.htmlN.C. Senate panel examines proposed "innocence commission"
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Felons who want a proposed independent panel to review their innocence claims must be willing to give up some of their legal rights in the process, the Supreme Court's chief justice told a Senate panel Thursday....Mumma also runs a Durham center where Duke and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law students examine wrongful-conviction cases.
Ackland's 'New Currents' show energizes
The Chapel Hill Herald
From painting and sculpture to video installation and digital photography, "New Currents in Contemporary Art," opening this evening at the Ackland Art Museum, offers visual and conceptual challenges and rewards.
The author's motives
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
"White People" is the curious title of the current production by StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Players have the right to pursue dreams (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Don't begrudge Rashad McCants his decision. Don't begrudge him the money, either. And don't resent what a number of his teammates may do, too.
Issues & Trends
$245 million in education cuts loom
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Even with the possibility of a state lottery generating as much as $400 million for education, legislators are looking at cutting about $245 million next year from the state's universities, community colleges and public schools.
UNC president search may be more open
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The UNC Board of Governors is expected to name a search committee next week to begin the process of finding a successor to retiring UNC President Molly Broad.
Officials map rules to pick UNC chief
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The select few chosen as finalists to fill Molly Broad's shoes as the next president of the UNC system would have their identities revealed toward the end of the search process under a plan put forth Thursday.
Tar Heel tuition (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
No sooner had a bill allowing in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants hit the legislative hopper this week than a wave of righteous indignation was unleashed. Much of the anger was directed at the perceived unfairness of providing a valuable benefit to people who are in violation of the law.
Related links: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/living/education/11399490.htm
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/2314120p-8692179c.htmlWest Virginia expels 11 for rowdiness
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
West Virginia University expelled 11 students Thursday for their behavior following the school's games versus Texas Tech and Louisville in last month's NCAA basketball tournament....Duke University and the University of North Carolina, among others, provided party areas for students during their respective teams' NCAA Tournament runs. Police and fire squads heavily flanked the area, and there were very few arrests or problems.
Produced by News Services, Carolina in the News is an e-mail sampling of current news media coverage about Carolina people and programs, as well as issues and trends that affect the university. Stories usually will be online and available free for a limited time - often one to two weeks. Expiration dates before stories move to archives vary by media outlet. Some outlets require free user registration or a subscription.
Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/news/clips/index.shtml.
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