August 5, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Wider use of heart failure drug resulted in dozens of deaths, study finds
National Associated Press
A drug used for congestive heart failure that was supposed to save lives also caused dozens of deaths from a side effect when doctors began prescribing it more widely, Canadian researchers report.....Even so, Dr. Sidney Smith, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and a former president of the American Heart Association, believes the drug offers significant benefits to heart failure patients.

Archaeopteryx indeed flew into history
The Baltimore Sun
It's one of the great mysteries of evolution: When and how did birds first take to the skies?...."What the study shows is that the problem of bird origins is far more difficult than anyone could have imagined," said Alan Feduccia, an evolutionary biologist at the University of North Carolina.

Regional Coverage

Commissioners approve funds to begin strategic plan to enhance county's competitiveness
The Courier-Times (Lexington, KY)
"Time's a wasting. There's no time like the present."...Holler, along with Person County Manager Steve Carpenter, met last month with Dr. Jim Johnson at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School to discuss a strategic plan for Person County.

State & Local Coverage

Easley to sign university bonds bill
The News & Observer
Gov. Mike Easley will sign the university bonds bill today with some fanfare -- and with trips to Chapel Hill and Greenville, where two of the largest projects will be built.

Deciding for N.C.'s students (Point of View)
The News & Observer
"Spiderman 2," "Shrek 2" and "The Princess Diaries 2" may capture the imaginations of North Carolina's youth, but "Leandro 2" will change their lives....Professor John Charles "Jack" Boger is deputy director of the Center for Civil Rights at the UNC Law School.

Newborn screening becomes crusade for mother
The News & Observer
Griffin Ritchie, the victim of a rare genetic disorder that left him with virtually no immune system, has spent half his life in a germ-free room at Duke Hospital....Don Bailey, director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill, has studied newborn screening through the lens of fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

Statewide teen tobacco prevention initiative has good results
News 14 (Time-Warner, Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill researchers said a state initiative aimed at preventing and reducing tobacco use among teens has achieved positive results after one year.
Note: WUNC-FM interviewed Dr. Adam Goldstein for a piece that aired during local news breaks.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug04/teen080404.html

Campus parking permits to be cut
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC will issue nearly 900 fewer parking permits to employees this fall, a significant reduction resulting from construction around campus....Derek Poarch, UNC's director of public safety, delivered the bad news Wednesday morning at a meeting of the university's Employee Forum.

Giving it up
The Independent Weekly
Taylor Doggett was painting houses in Greensboro's black neighborhoods when the music first got to him....Rather than let it just gather dust, he decided to donate it to his alma mater. Stephen Weiss, head of the Southern Folk Art Collection at the Wilson Library at UNC, was happy to accept the offer.

Issues & Trends

Why Higher Learning Gets the Ax (Commentary)
The New York Times
To economists, higher education is like motherhood or apple pie. It will cure just about anything, from globalization and outsourcing to technological change and income inequality. Nothing could be quite as good as all that, of course. No matter how well Americans are educated, global competition and rapidly changing technology will take some toll on American labor markets.
Registration required.

Universities could do better screening (Editorial)
The Wilmington Star-News
It's understandable why a University of North Carolina committee has ruled out checking the criminal backgrounds of every student admitted to the 16-campus system. Understandable, but unsatisfying.

Campus safety first (Editorial)
The News & Observer
Looking back at the slayings of two North Carolina college students this year, one way to prevent campus violence has occurred to many. The suspects in the killings of both women, students at UNC-Wilmington, were themselves students. They had lied about their criminal histories to win admission. Blanket background checks on all students admitted would have caught their lies, as many people have contended.

Campus background checks unneeded (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The rapid-fire news this summer from the campus of UNC Wilmington was shocking....These are all reasonable efforts that eschew draconian methods but that would help make all the campuses safer. We hope the university system will proceed as quickly as possible to implement them.

Town seeks feedback on striped bike lanes
The Chapel Hill Herald
The town is gathering feedback from residents and businesses in the Cameron Avenue area about possible changes aimed at making that street more bicycle-friendly....A key factor was the connection that Cameron provided between Carrboro, Chapel Hill and the UNC campus via the Libba Cotton bike path, which runs from Carrboro to Merritt Mill Road near the railroad tracks.

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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.