January 4, 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

Gene Variants Influence Sensitivity to Pain
Reuters International Wire Service
Researchers have identified three variations of a gene called COMT that influence sensitivity to pain and the risk of developing a chronic pain condition...."This is the first demonstration that a genetic variation influences both human pain perception and the risk for developing a chronic pain condition," lead investigator Dr. Luda Diatchenko, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a statement.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec04/maix122904.html

National Coverage

Gonzales Nomination Draws Military Criticism
The Washington Post
A dozen high-ranking retired military officers took the unusual step yesterday of signing a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing "deep concern" over the nomination of White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales as attorney general, marking a rare military foray into the debate over a civilian post....Richard H. Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in military-civilian affairs, said the letter is extremely rare, if not unprecedented.
Registration required.

Conception of a Question: Who's Your Daddy?
The Washington Post
It's not really a question, even with that punctuation mark appended to the end....This kind of scrubbing of the crudest kind of slang goes on all the time, says Connie Eble, a professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of "Slang and Sociability: In-Group Language Among College Students."
Registration required.

N.C. expert joins critics of claims in 'Da Vinci Code'
The Associated Press (National)
Dan Brown's historical thriller "The Da Vinci Code" continues to be a sales smash, with a movie version to follow....The leader of this second wave is Bart Ehrman, religion chairman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in "Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code".

State & Local Coverage

Heels' classy season (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
As a reward for a come-back-from-the-dead season, the UNC Tar Heels got a slot in this year's Continental Tire Bowl against Boston College. And although BC won 37-24 in Thursday's game in Charlotte, in a larger sense the Heels came away victors, too.

State OKs UNC grievance prep time extension
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC employees will continue to receive 12 hours of work time each year with which they can put together complaints against their bosses.

Issues & Trends

Tuition aid takes toll on many colleges
Boston Globe
Until this year, the Smith College students living in Wilder House used to eat dinner like an old-fashioned family, gathering in their dorm's quaint dining room at the same time every night and lingering in conversation long after the food was gone.

Think you can't afford college in 2005? Think again, experts urge
The Christian Science Monitor
Hundreds of thousands of college students will have a little less money coming their way next year from Uncle Sam. For low- and moderate-income families who already feel like they're in the grips of the college-costs vise, it's yet another round of tightening.

Dean of UC-Berkeley's Law School Calls for Partial Privatization as Answer to Budget Woes
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Frustrated with the level of public support for his institution, the new dean of the University of California at Berkeley's law school says he would like to partly privatize the school to allow it to raise more money and to control how that money is spent.
Subscription required.

State's 2005 outlook OK
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina employers will continue to add jobs this year, but at a slower pace than last year.

Paxton assumes ownership of The Herald-Sun, names new execs
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The new owner of The Herald-Sun in Durham took control of the 50,000-circulation newspaper Monday morning and promptly dismissed the publisher and the top
editor -- and began letting go scores of other employees.

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.