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August 12, 2003
Current National Coverage
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:Annual Physical Checkup May Be an Empty Ritual
The New York Times
To the growing numbers of medical experts who preach evidence-based medicine
- the discipline that insists on proof that time-honored medical practices and
procedures are actually effective - there is no more inviting target than the annual
physical. ... "When we're spending time doing things that don't potentially benefit
people and skipping things that may be of benefit, that's a sign not only of waste
but of misplaced priorities," said Dr. Russell Harris, an associate professor of
medicine at the University of North Carolina and co-director of the
prevention program there.
(Note: This article was accompanied by a photo of Harris. The New York Times
requires free user registration to access articles.)Phones driving us to distraction (Commentary)
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Not long ago, I was a cell-phone virgin. I didn't own one and didn't want one. I had
a phone at work and a phone at home, and that was as in touch with the world as
I wanted to be. ... A first-ever study of driving habits by the University of North
Carolina paints a sobering picture of how distracted motorists have become.
Cell phones aren't biggest distraction (Commentary)
The Rocky Mountain News
If you think of the cell phone user as the poster child for distracted driving,
you're setting your sights low. ... The AAA's Foundation for Traffic Safety commiss-
ioned the study. The group hired the Highway Safety Research Center at the
University of North Carolina to place small cameras in the cars of willing partici-
pants and record their driving habits on videotape.
NCAA rules help players handle heat
The News Journal (Del.)
Justin Mitchell just sat, watched and wondered. While flipping channels on
television last week, he saw the images of football players, victims of heat-related
illness, being rushed off the field on gurneys at the Jacksonville Jaguars' NFL training
camp. ... According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury
Research at the University of North Carolina, three college football players have
died of heat-related illness since 2000.
Hoedowns a hit with gay groups
San Jose Mercury News
With a deep voice and Southern twang, the man wearing a flannel shirt crooned
into a microphone: "Do-si-do your corner, once around you go.'' ... "Particularly
with the gay dancing groups, it's all about interacting with people, not just your
own husband or partner,'' said Patricia Sawin, an anthropology professor
specializing in folklore and gender at the University of North Carolina.
Air Sickness
Science News
On Oct. 26, 1948, a temperature inversion laid a blanket of cold, stagnant air
over Donora, Pa., a tiny mill town on the Monongahela River. ... Lilian Calderón-
Garcidueñas of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says she
knows what Bates will find. At the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego last
April, she documented mildly obstructed breathing in 10 percent of the 174
ostensibly healthy Mexico City children she examined.
State and Local Coverage
Ideas for better child protection
The Charlotte Observer
In 1997, the deaths of four children left the Rowan County Department of Social
Services stunned and searching for answers. ... It doesn't reach colleges in many
of the far western and eastern counties -- "some of the neediest parts of the state,"
said Nancy Dickinson, director of the Jordan Institute for Families at UNC
Chapel Hill, which helps oversee the program.
Mars moves in for rare close-up
Charlotte Observer
This month, Mars will come closer to Earth than it has in 60,000 years. Consider
ita once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity. ... "This is the brightest I've seen Mars
in a long time," said Professor Bruce Carney, chairman of physics at UNC
Chapel Hill.
Managing money (Letter to the Editor)
The News and Observer
Regarding your Aug. 5 Business section article "UNC could manage other schools'
money," I can only voice wholehearted support for the idea.
(Note: Philip Carter is chairman of the Faculty Senate at N.C. State University.)Spring dedication planned for Wellstone monument
The Chapel Hill News
An effort to rise funds to build a memorial dedicated to the late U.S. Sen. Paul
Wellstone and his wife, Sheila, on the UNC campus has succeeded, and plans for
the monument are moving forward. A dedication ceremony is tentatively scheduled
for some time in spring 2004.
Nonstop to Munich: Charlotte wants in
The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte and Pittsburgh, both US Airways hubs that have long competed for a
favorable allocation of the airline's jobs, find themselves locked in a competition
of a different sort. ... John Kasarda, a management professor at the Kenan-
Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill, maintains that international airline
connections are crucial to cities that want to grow as business centers.
Most house hunters shop on the Internet
The Charlotte Observer
The Snyders, who moved to the Charlotte region just 18 days ago from Tennessee,
did their house-shopping via the Internet before setting foot in North Carolina. ...
But a UNC Chapel Hill study of those using the Web found they actually visit
more houses in person than those who don't use the Internet.
Police say toddler was a victim of homicide
The Charlotte Observer
A 14-month-old boy who was critically injured while in Mecklenburg Department
of Social Services' legal custody and died this week was the victim of a homicide,
police said Friday. ... "With a subdural injury it does indeed sound like shaken
baby syndrome," said Dr. Desmond Runyan, professor and chairman of
social medicine and professor of pediatrics at the UNC School of Medicine.
Apartments offer more frills to draw students
The Herald-Sun
UNC senior C.J. Langley likes being able to play air hockey, pool, foosball,
pinball or shuffleboard in his apartment's game room anytime he wants. ... "It is a
very competitive market and we continue to have to try to be better, to provide
better services and the types of connections that students expect in order to be
competitive with the off-campus apartments," UNC housing director Christopher
Payne said.
Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina
U. of Maryland Gets Probation for NCAA Violations Involving Payments to a Recruit
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The University of Maryland at College Park will be on probation for a year but
will face no other penalties from the National Collegiate Athletic Association,
after university officials discovered that an assistant football coach had given
$335 to a star prospect last year.
(Note: The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to accessarticles.)A service agenda... (Editorial)
The News and Observer
The chairman of the University of North Carolina system's Board of Governors
makes an important point when he notes the changing "economic landscape" in
the state and the impact those changes could have on the university's mission.
...without strings (Editorial)
The News and Observer
One of the issues to be studied by the UNC system's Board of Governors at
the direction of its chairman, Brad Wilson, is whether to give contracts to the
system president or to chancellors of the campuses.
UNC system leader makes it clear (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Bradley Wilson cut to the heart of the matter. It's about time someone did.
Wilson is the chairman of the UNC system's Board of Governors. He's a
political appointee, elected by the General Assembly, but he was anything but
political last week.
Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services, (919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu
Note: Web links on this page are time-sensitive, so stories might not be available after the day they first appeared.
