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Aug. 3, 2006
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:International Coverage
Nanotube X-rays create faster CT images
United Press International
.S. scientists have used carbon nanotube X-rays to create faster computed tomography images at less power than traditional scanners. Researchers at the University of North Carolina say their work is another step toward developing scanners for medical imaging and homeland security that are smaller, faster and less expensive to operate.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug06/zhounanotube080206.htmNational Coverage
Is New Orleans Having a Mental Health Breakdown?
TIME
Over the past several months, psychiatrist James Barbee has witnessed a disturbing trend among his patients in New Orleans — a noticeable slide from post-Katrina anxiety to more serious, and harder to treat, cases of major depression. ... Barbee and his co-authors — psychiatrists Mark Townsend, also of LSUHSC, and Richard Weisler, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — pull together data that, collectively, provide a bleak snapshot of the city’s mental health condition as it approaches the storm's one-year anniversary.
Low-wage workers looking for a raise
McClatchy Newspapers
Whether from good will or simply politics, boosting the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour would lift the spirits and finances of millions of Americans such as Austraberta Rodriguez. ... "Holding it constant for nearly 10 years just scandalizes me," said Stanley Black, the Lurcy professor of economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Regional Coverage
Column: Fighting the costly epidemic of medical errors (Opinion column)
The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.)
Health care, I'm told, will be a campaign issue. ... "The frequency of medication errors and preventable adverse drug events is cause for serious concern," said Linda R. Cronenwett, a co-chair of the committee. A dean of the highly regarded School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina | Chapel Hill doesn't say "alarming," but that's what I hear.
IOM news release: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11623Colleges have some words for freshmen
The Roanoke Times (Va.)
Ahh. The summer before college. ... Controversy over book choices is not uncommon. The most notable came when the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chose the Quran as its common book in 2002.
State & Local Coverage
Magazine honors UNC professor
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Dr. Etta Pisano, a professor in the departments of radiology and biomedical engineering and vice dean of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, is one of seven recipients of a new award presented by Ladies' Home Journal.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug06/pisano080206.htmTriangle Doctor Honored in National Magazine
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Six doctors and researchers who have made life-changing medical discoveries will be featured in the September issue of Ladies' Home Journal magazine, officials with the publication announced Wednesday. Among them will be Dr. Etta D. Pisano, director of the Biomedical Research Imaging Center at the University of North Carolina.
Medical school plans ribbon cutting
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill's division of radiologic sciences will host a ribbon-cutting reception from 2 to 3 p.m. today at the teaching laboratory of the School of Medicine's Burnett-Womack Building.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2006/080206.htmMaking a good move to help clear the air (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The managers of the Carolina Inn did the right thing when they decided to throw cold water on smoking in all of the inn's rooms. In fact, when the Chapel Hill Herald recently wrote about the decision, it struck us that the change should have been made a while ago.
What might have happened in N.C.
The Charlotte Observer
Ferrell Blount imagines a North Carolina that's decidedly more Republican. ... Said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Southern politics program at UNC Chapel Hill: "Suppose Michael Decker hadn't accepted that money. Was there another Republican waiting in line? Who knows?
Democrats hold their breath over Black's future
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Democrats kept a wait-and-see attitude about the political future of House Speaker Jim Black yesterday, a day after a former political ally admitted taking $50,000 to switch parties three years ago in a move that allowed Black to stay in power. ... But the GOP now has a new reason to focus their campaign rhetoric on Black, said Thad Beyle, a political-science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Decker case not as scandalous as it could be
The Winston-Salem Journal
Maybe it's too soon to try to place the Mike Decker affair among the all-time greatest North Carolina scandals. ... "In terms of scandals, Mike Decker's plea is fairly modest, in my opinion," said Ferrell Guillory, a longtime observer of state politics and the director of the Program for Southern Life, Media and Politics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Appeals court backs Wilkes paper in public-records suit
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a Wilkes County newspaper had the right to review the local public hospital's contract to buy the practice of the county's only gastroenterologist. ... The bodies remained in closed session throughout the day and the night while each body sent one member to meet with a mediator from the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hillbilly musician to be honored at Ashe festival
The Winston-Salem Journal
Ola Belle Reed was a hillbilly who embraced that word with the same zeal as she did her banjo, far from the high mountains she always remembered. ... "I prefer to be known as a hillbilly because that is where I come from - the hills," Reed wrote in an unpublished autobiography housed in a collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Issues & Trends
'Common Sense Online 101'
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Incoming college students are hearing the usual warnings this summer about the dangers of everything from alcohol to credit card debt. But many are also getting lectured on a new topic -- the risks of Internet postings, particularly on popular social networking sites like Facebook.com.
Biotech campus plan could shrink
The Charlotte Observer
California billionaire David Murdock will scale down the North Carolina Research Campus if Cabarrus County doesn't help pay for about $160 million in improvements to the project, Kannapolis officials and a Murdock spokeswoman say. ... "I certainly think people would find interesting that you do have these actors playing these roles," said Fleming Bell II, a professor at the Institute of Government at UNC Chapel Hill.
Bowles to cut UNC staff positions
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
In a move he says will leave more money for educating students, UNC President Erskine Bowles is eliminating 15.5 staff positions -- about half of which are currently filled -- in the university system's General Administration.
Related link: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/15185661.htm
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.
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