Dec. 29, 2005

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

U.S. sprawl takes toll on environment
United Press International
U.S. suburban sprawl with its increased use of septic tanks and its watering and fertilizing of lawns is taking a toll on the environment. ..."Nitrogen causes algae blooms, fishery declines and low water quality," Lawrence Band, a professor of geography at the University of North Carolina, told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

National Coverage

Expect more from Tiger on and off course as he turns 30
USA Today
There's a big birthday in sports Friday. The best-paid, best-known and most-discussed athlete in the country turns 30. ..."Not a bad decade to look back on," said John Sweeney, professor of sports communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Here's a guy who had everything young, who's now happily married, who has gone through swing coaches, and now he's on top of everything. More power to him. He's stayed likable through his 20s. He hasn't gotten into any bar fights. And what's so scary is he has not peaked."

Resolutions: Less is more
The Chicago Tribune
Tired of sloppy scribbles, Richie B., 12, of Darien, Ill., pledged to perfect his penmanship last January. And though the year progressed, his writing didn't. "The penmanship just got worse," he says. "I get tired of trying to write neat." ...Like Richie, many Americans make resolutions at the beginning of each new year. More than half of Americans say they make a New Year's resolution but only one-third of those resolvers are successful, reports the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Big five notebook family ties
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By 7:30 a.m., Pearl Stanton, a great-grandmother, is dressed and downstairs looking out her window, waiting for Pooh. ...At the same time, the number of multigenerational families is increasing: In 1900, nearly 20 percent of U.S. children were orphaned by 18. In 2000, 68 percent of children, by their 18th birthday, had four grandparents living, according to Peter Uhlenberg, a researcher with the University of North Carolina.

Safe bet: Prez candidates face grueling battle (Editorial column)
The Boston Herald
When it comes to the 2008 presidential election, Mitt Romney’s current standing in the opinion polls fits the old joke about the campaign adviser determined to cheer up the candidate. ...According to professors Paul W. Rhode and Koleman S. Strumpf at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, betting on elections was huge in this country from the mid-19th century until the Second World War. And, they’ve found, the betting usually proved remarkably accurate in predicting the outcome.

Where The Boys Aren't
The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.)
Here's a thought that's unlikely to occur to twelfth--grade girls as their college acceptances begin to trickle in: After they get to campus in the fall, one in four of them will be mathematically unable to find a male peer to go out with. ...Consider the view of Stephen Farmer, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill, where this year's enrollment is only 41.6 percent male. "We really have made no attempt to balance the class. We are gender blind in applications, very scrupulously so."

Hammond ankles as PlayMakers a.d.
Variety (Los Angeles)
David Hammond has ankled PlayMakers Repertory Company after 21 years, 14 as artistic director, although he will return in the fall with emeritus status and as a prof in the U. of North Carolina Dept. of Dramatic Art. Hammond, 57, on a year's leave from the UNC-based PlayMakers while teaching at the university for the fall semester, will take an academic sabbatical in the spring to teach Shakespeare at the American RepRep Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard U.
Related Link: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/96942.html

Regional Coverage

Out With An Injury (Editorial)
The Hartford Courant (Conn.)
We thrilled at their athletic brilliance - their moves, speed and toughness - on Sunday. But on the long Monday of their lives after football, many former National Football League players suffer from the effects of serious injuries and have great difficulty getting NFL disability benefits. ...The Journal cited a University of North Carolina study which found that nearly a quarter of former players suffered three or more concussions in their careers. Other research indicates 22 percent of former players had knee surgery after their careers ended, and 10 percent had back or disk surgery.

High-risk stunts lead to more injuries on cheerleading squads
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Tumbling once intimidated Aaron Williams, but the Arlington High School cheerleader wanted to add extra pizzazz to his team's routines. ...According to the research center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: "If these cheerleading activities are not taught by a competent coach and keep increasing in difficulty, catastrophic injuries will continue to be a part of cheerleading."

Premature Births May Be Linked To Dental Health
CBS2 (Chicago)
In medicine today, every year nearly a half million babies are born prematurely. Experts say some of those premature births may be linked to the mother's poor dental health. Medical editor Mary Ann Childers looks at whether simple brushing, flossing and dental visits could slash this risk. ...The current study is taking place at the University of Texas - San Antonio, the University of Alabama, and the University of North Carolina.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep05/whiter091605.htm

State & Local Coverage

The local news en español
The Charlotte Observer
Sit outside Taqueria Mexico restaurant on South Boulevard and you'll hear Latino ballads crooning from trucks rolling into the parking lot. By the door are news racks filled with papers titled La Noticia and Qué Pasa. Inside, three televisions broadcast Univision. ..."It's like our opinions are not valued, or they're not wanted, or not important enough to be part of the conversation," said Lisa Paulin, a UNC Chapel Hill doctoral candidate studying how English-language and Spanish-language media cover the Latino community.

Business Doings
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Kudos: Dr. AnnaMarie Connolly, a physician and assistant professor at UNC-CH medical school, won the H. Fleming Fuller Award. The award recognizes doctors who demonstrate compassionate patient care and excellence in teaching and community service.

County workers take early retirement
The Greensboro News & Record
At 65, public-health worker Pat Sappenfield was planning her retirement. She'd do some quilting, continue her volunteer efforts and perhaps work part time at local nursing schools. ..."It's a reasonable way of eliminating personnel costs and reorganizing without having to go to involuntary layoffs," said Diane Juffras, an assistant professor of public law and government at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Government. "So, properly structured, this can be a win-win solution for everybody."

Companies will get federal windfalls to keep drug plans for retirees
The Triangle Business Journal
Once the new Medicare prescription drug program goes live Jan. 1, some Triangle employers will receive a federal, tax-free windfall - in most cases worth millions - for doing absolutely nothing. ..."This (subsidy) is like trying to keep the Titanic afloat by sending out one row boat," says Jon Oberlander, an expert in Medicare and a professor of public health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "You may have stopped it in the short run, but over the long run there's no doubt that people are going to drop their retiree health benefits."

UNC Hospitals' usual access route to ER closes for now
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
People trying to reach the Emergency Room at UNC Hospitals off Manning Drive now have to do some extra maneuvering. ... The usual access route -- aptly named Emergency Room Drive -- was closed a week ago, thanks to a couple of the current and planned construction projects along Manning Drive. It will take until the end of 2006 or early 2007 to get far enough along on the projects to reopen Emergency Room Drive, said Bruce Runberg, UNC's associate vice chancellor for planning and construction.
UNC News Brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2005/120805.htm

Split in works at high-profile tech law firm
The Triangle Business Journal
Hutchison + Mason, a Triangle law firm synonymous with advising technology and life sciences startups, is witnessing a rift at the helm that could result in one of its co-founders leaving. ...Legal profession experts say smaller firms face challenges as they expand. "It is very difficult to go from a niche firm to a full-service firm," says John Conley, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law school. "I think (law firms) struggle with it."

WakeMed tops in charity care, but new measurements on deck
The Triangle Business Journal
...Coming in second in charity care for fiscal year 2005 was Duke University Health System at $107.3 million. UNC Hospitals placed third with $44.4 million, and Rex Healthcare, a UNC Hospitals holding, came in fourth with $17 million.

Issues & Trends

Lake makes way for Kannapolis research campus
The Charlotte Observer
Another fixture of Kannapolis' past has nearly gone down the drain. ...UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State will also be based in the Core Lab building until their own structures are built at the campus: the Dole-N.C. State Institute for Advanced Fruit and Vegetable Science and the UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Institute.

Basnight suggests new tuition policy
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Public universities in North Carolina should charge tuition on a sliding scale based on ability to pay, Senate leader Marc Basnight said. "Like your income tax schedule that you pay based on your ability, this is the amount you pay based on your ability," Basnight said in an interview aired Wednesday on State Government Radio.

Bitten by a good watchdog (Editorial column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
There are a lot of people on the list of "folks you do not want knocking on your door." A sheriff's deputy, if he's holding papers and the handcuffs have been removed from the locked position on the belt. The Internal Revenue Service. The neighbor who has just been called out of town on work and needs you to look after his two Dobermans and four cats for a few days. ...And then there was the embarrassing push from UNC-Chapel Hill boosters, who contributed over $300,000 to candidates through a political action committee.

'Rasslin', food, the guv's boy make '05 tick
The Triangle Business Journal
A good 50 yards from the well-publicized bonfire jumpers on Chapel Hill's Franklin Street, a young UNC student shuffled his feet as he tried to balance a plastic cup of beer on his nose. It lasted there perhaps a second before crashing to the littered pavement. In a town accustomed to handling large street demonstrations, the latest edition was about average - smaller than Halloween and, though typically raucous, perhaps not as pushy as the one that greeted UNC's national championship win in 1993.

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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