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Aug. 23, 2006Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:National Coverage
Positing New Planets Divides Astronomers
The Associated Press (National)
It's a cosmic clash, a space squabble. Leading astronomers are bitterly divided over new galactic guidelines that for the first time would define what is and isn't a planet, all but dooming a proposal to expand the solar system to 12 planets from the traditional nine. ... "What were they thinking? The reaction in the geologic community was rolling of eyes," said Allen F. Glazner, a geologist at the University of North Carolina.
Debate grows on out-of-wedlock laws
Christian Science Monitor
In Black Jack, Mo., (pop. 6,792), the city council wrangled last week over precisely how to define a family. ... "These are archaic laws which are hardly ever enforced, but they are ... often used as a weapon to degrade someone else," says Dan Pollitt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
"Healthy Life," ABC News Now
Dr. Peter Leone, associate professor of medicine at UNC, was featured on today's edition of "Healthy Life" commenting on study published in JAMA this week that found a reduction in the prevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2.
Regional Coverage
How does your child grow?
The Kansas City Star (Mo.)
Have your child’s jeans suddenly turned into waders? Welcome to the wonderful and unpredictable world of growth spurts. “They don’t follow any particular pattern before puberty, so there’s no sure way you can know when a child is going to have one,” says Rob Benjamin, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Hospital intensifies its search for a cure
The Daily Record (Parsippany, N.J.)
It is a procedure that almost every woman over the age of 35 has experienced ... and dreaded: the mammogram. ... According to a recent study done by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, digital mammograms are 15 to 28 percent more effective than those using film at detecting breast tumors in women under the age of 50, those with dense breast tissue and women entering menopause.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep05/acrin091605.htmState & Local Coverage
UNC reports record $593M in fiscal 2006 research grants
The Triangle Business Journal
Research grants and contracts won by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reached record levels in fiscal 2006, university officials announced Tuesday. UNC's research grants and contracts for the year that ended June 30, 2006 totaled $593 million, an increase of 2.4 percent over the $579 million the university won in fiscal 2005 and more than double what UNC landed in 1997.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug06/researchfunding082206.htmLocal news briefs: UNC research funds hit $593M
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC grew its total amount of research grants and contracts in the 2006 fiscal year to a new high of $593 million.
Related link: http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=1558UNC poverty center gets $2 million pledge
The Associated Press (N.C.)
A Chapel Hill couple has pledged $2 million to the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina School of Law, the school said Wednesday. ... "This wonderful example of generosity and philanthropy will allow the center to continue exploring the many facets of poverty and keep these important issues in the public eye for the decades to come," Edwards, a 1977 UNC Chapel Hill law school graduate, said in a statement.
UNC news release: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/15342389.htmUNC officials not surprised by evolution omission
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
“Surprised” isn’t how some UNC faculty describe their reaction to evolutionary biology’s absence from a list of sciences eligible for a new federal grant. Biology professor David Pfennig says evolution always seems to generate controversy at the federal level.
Officials work hard to keep UNC's lights on
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
With 27 thousand people’s laptops and electronics, the power grid at UNC stands up well, until they all want to stay cool. Phil Barner from UNC’s energy services says the campus demand averages between 50 and 60 megawatts, but when ribbon cuttings take the place of construction zones, it may double.
Back in schools' court (Editorial)
The Greensboro News & Record
When Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. issued his threat in March to close the state's 17 lowest-performing high schools, he said it was "just a warning shot." ... Earlier this month, at a UNC-Chapel Hill leadership conference for principals and associate principals, Manning aimed much of his message at those from the 17 targeted schools. Improving performance, including state test scores, under challenging circumstances can be done, he said.
Achievement gap grant
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
UNC-Chapel Hill professor Oscar Barbarin explains how he plans to use a new $6.2 million grant to study the achievement gap in minority boys.
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and 6 a.m. on Saturdays
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug06/kellogg081606.htmGeologists fight for their plutons
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When astronomers made public their plans to reclassify our solar system, they said Pluto and other faraway planets needed a new name: plutons. ... Allen Glazner, a UNC-Chapel Hill geologist, studies plutons. Recently he helped revise long-held ideas about the speed with which they form, refining understanding of Earth's crust.
Lining up for a bargain
The Chapel Hill News
Lauren Milstead had to get a picture of this: After dropping $15 for 5.7 gallons of gas at the Flying J Travel Plaza, she pulled out a few feet from the pump, grabbed her camera phone and aimed it at the sign advertising gas prices. ... James F. Smith, director of the Center for Business Forecasting at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, said the stations dotting that area can afford to offer gas at a more discounted price because they sell a lot of it, so they can "make it up on volume."
Eating green is healthy for you -- and for the Earth (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
Do environmental concerns affect your food choices? Last week I examined how ethical and moral issues inform some people's food decisions. For some people, environmental issues also play a part. ... Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC.
Carolina North panel seeks input
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Leadership Advisory Committee for Carolina North will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Redbud Room of the William and Ida Friday Continuing Education Center, off N.C. 54.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug06/cnorthadvance081706.htmIssues & Trends
Tuition hikes smaller than in past years
Stateline.org
With state revenues on an upswing, public college and university students saw an average tuition and fee increase of 7.1 percent during the 2005-06 academic year, a College Board survey showed. This was an improvement over the double-digit increases in the recent past, but still faster than the rate of inflation.
Get in the game (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
Here's a statistic you don't hear sports fans in North Carolina readily recite: Since 1953, seven of 16 state universities have been sanctioned for major infractions of National Collegiate Athletic Association bylaws. ... That's reason enough for the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to rein in big-time, big-money collegiate athletics.
The campus 'wag' (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It is astounding that so many college administrators display a lack of gumption when it comes to the management of college sports. A report on the issue is part of a larger review of the University of North Carolina system by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Public Policy Research, and the report is disheartening in its hard truth.
Murdock to buy mega-magnet for biopolis
The Triangle Business Journal
California financier David Murdock is purchasing the world's first 950-megahertz superconducting magnet, which he will donate to the David H. Murdock Research Institute at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. ... North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill all are signed up as participants in the public-private partnership.
Unintended Sunshine
Inside Higher Education
“A keyboard cover will need to be installed on the computer.” That doesn’t sound like a state secret. But when East Carolina University turned over documents recently to a group seeking to investigate how universities are dealing with biosafety issues, the university redacted that phrase.
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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