Jan. 4, 2006

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Candidates: Crisscrossing Paths
Newsweek
With no government salary or special stationery, former vice presidential candidates have only each other. As co-chairs of a Council on Foreign Relations task force on Russia, Jack Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1996, and John Edwards, the Democratic candidate in 2004, have forged a friendship in the past six months—traveling halfway around the world, coauthoring an op-ed and appearing in public forums together. ...In October, they led a forum at the University of North Carolina on solutions to poverty in America—the favorite cause of both men. Their ideologies don't exactly dovetail ("He thinks the market will cure everything, which I just don't agree with," Edwards says), but each was energized by the other's enthusiasm.

Make that XXL: NFL faces weighty issues with super-sized players
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Stockar McDougle, son of a chef, is the largest Miami Dolphin at 6-4, 348 pounds. He wears size 16 cleats, size 46 pants, a size 62 suit jacket and a size 15 ring. He is a mountain of a man, but a mountain who can run the 40-yard dash in 5.2 seconds and bench press 450 pounds. ...A University of North Carolina endocrinologist's study categorizing 56 percent of NFL players as fat was widely criticized for not taking into account their lean muscle, but inside NFL locker rooms, shirtless linemen can't hide the fact that many of them could use girdles or bras. They are built like oak trees, with thick trunks and limbs, but have all-too-human bellies hanging over their waistbands.

What If Life Were Logical? (Letter to the editor)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Carlin Romano has some fun showing that when we reason about hypothetical situations, the rules of the game "remain cloudy" ("The Trouble With Hypotheticals," The Chronicle Review, October 21). He gives an example where a simple sort of transitivity in reasoning fails. Imagine, he says, that Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney are the presidential contenders in 2008. ...Marc Lange, Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Note: Subscription required.

Regional Coverage

Family center can't cure all of area's ills
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In August, months before the near-fatal mob beating of Samuel McClain, an infusion of cash and services all geared toward families held the keys to a brighter future for residents living in the neighborhood surrounding Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ. ...No one knows how to deal effectively because no one has ever tried, which is the crux of the problem in Milwaukee, said Walter C. Farrell Jr., a professor of social welfare and associate director of urban investment strategies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Slicing Hearts Into 64 Images
The Hartford Courant (Conn.)
Sue, a 48-year-old South Windsor woman, has a family history of heart disease. Last spring, she was rushed to the hospital after a disabling vertigo episode that she feared was a heart attack. ..."The test can find things, but whether what they find is important or should change management - it's something that's been mentioned as a potential downside," says Dr. Michael Pignone, associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and director of UNC's Center for Excellence in Chronic Illness Care.

Fraternities and role model (Letter to the editor)
The Houston Chronicle
A similar story from Chapel Hill REGARDING the tragic death of the University of Texas freshman Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath during a fraternity hazing event and in response to the plea made in the last paragraph of the editorial "In a haze / Abusing pledges to college fraternities is not just harmless fun" (Dec. 23), which urged adults to "own up to the dangers of hazing and binge drinking" so that "immature, sometimes foolish young people will be encouraged to do so" as well: This event reminded me of an incident that occurred in the fall of 1978 during my senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

State & Local Coverage

Report: N.C. Hispanics contribute billions
The Charlotte Observer
North Carolina's fast-growing Hispanic community is almost 20 percent larger than government estimates, nearly half illegal and contributes billions to the state's economy, according to research released today. Researchers at UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan Institute also said the state spent $61 million -- $102 per Hispanic -- more than it received in taxes to provide key social services. That net taxpayer cost has to be viewed in the context of the much larger economic contribution Hispanics make as they buy goods, create demand for services and fill low-wage jobs, said John Kasarda, Kenan Institute director and one of two lead researchers on the eight-month project.
Related Links: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/13544255.htms
http://www.newsobserver.com/724/story/384673.html
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htm

Study says Hispanic population no drag on state's coffers
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The state's burgeoning Hispanic population contributes nearly $9.2 billion to North Carolina's economy annually but cost state tax coffers about $61 million in 2004, according to a study conducted by UNC researchers and released Tuesday. ...It was conducted by the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School. Professor James H. Johnson Jr., one of the study's authors, said he expects the findings to debunk some popular myths surrounding North Carolina's immigrant population, including the belief that Hispanics are a burden to the state and are here mostly illegally.
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/384424.html

Study: Hispanics add billions to N.C. economy
The Winston-Salem Journal
In the first study of its kind, researchers found that Hispanics added $9.2 billion to North Carolina's economy in 2004, and it cost the state $61 million for schools, health care and prisons to accommodate the rapidly growing immigrant population. "That's adult money. That's a really significant impact that this population is having," said John Kasarda, the director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which conducted the 13-month study. "They have a major, major impact on this state and its businesses and its revenues."
Related Links: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060104/NEWS01/60103031/1001
http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=110288

UNC study pegs Hispanic economic impact in N.C. at $9B
The Triangle Business Journal
North Carolina's growing Hispanic population contributes more than $9 billion each year to the state's economy, a figure that could double by 2009 if current trends continue, according to results of a recent study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The state's Hispanic population had a total, after-tax income of roughly $8.3 billion in 2004. With about 20 percent of that total sent home to Latin America, saved or used for interest payments, the remaining spending had a total economic impact of $9.2 billion in North Carolina, according to the UNC study.

Reaching Out (Editorial)
The Winston-Salem Journal
To baby boomers and their elders, e-mailing might at first seem like an impersonal way to reach out to those struggling with depression. But boomers also know that their children live on their laptops. So the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill should continue its efforts to reach troubled students via computer and other methods, because such efforts can be a matter of life and death.

Key to a healthy New Year is to simplify food, fitness (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
A new year is here. Time for fresh starts and a big push to eat well, lose weight and get fit. This year, may I propose a theme for your efforts? Simplify. ...Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC.

Taking on a devastating disease
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Like cooks in a kitchen, Eisai scientists in Research Triangle Park are working on a recipe to commercially manufacture a drug that promises hope for breast cancer patients who have run out of treatment options. ..."We still haven't found a cure," said Dr. Jeff Peppercorn, an oncologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The more weapons we have, the better for some patients."

Metropolis now
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
If you have any doubts about how fast technology is advancing, look at the world from Nancy Buirski's point of view. ..."Five years ago, the word 'podcasting' didn't even exist," says Paul Jones, director of the ibiblio online archive at UNC-Chapel Hill. "Now, podcasting is a major part of the business plan of Apple, Microsoft and everybody else. There's no content provider -- public, private or individual -- that doesn't have a nearly free way of reaching a specific niche with their message, whether it's music, theater, a newscast or some guy rambling over breakfast."

Torpedo the dams!
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Three blasts of dynamite turned the 10-foot-thick Lowell Dam into a crazed wall of concrete rubble that backhoes began scooping away this week. ..."Just a simple thing like changing the speed at which a river flows changes the aquatic habitat," said Adam Riggsbee, a graduate student in environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is doing research on the dam removals.

'Protecting Intelligent Design (Opinion-editorial column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Because of overwhelming evidence that Dover, Pa., was seeking to indoctrinate students with as much religiosity as it could get away with, federal District Judge John Jones III was probably correct in holding that town's Intelligent Design program unconstitutional. But the more significant question is whether Intelligent Design can be taught at all in public schools. The answer ought to be yes. ...Arnold H. Loewy is Graham Kenan professor at the UNC School of Law.

What it means to be black and gay (Commentary)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Last February, when the debate over gay marriage had reached a particularly ugly juncture, the Rev. Gregory Daniels, a prominent black minister from Chicago, announced from his pulpit: "If the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them." ...Thankfully, the book's other editor, Mae G. Henderson, who teaches at UNC-Chapel Hill, conveys equally important ideas with much more clarity. Her essay, examining James Baldwin's gay-themed novel, "Giovanni's Room," is a straightforward piece of literary criticism that serves as a pretty good reminder that Baldwin is one topic that never grows old.

Project donors seeking refunds
The Fayetteville Observer
Several residents who donated money for a community center have asked the town to return their money because the center has not been built. ...An official with the North Carolina Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill informed the town that since it had intended to build the center, it did not have to give back the money, Mayor Charles Kemp said.

Issues & Trends

UNC official: I'll follow meetings law
The Charlotte Observer
The chairman of the University of North Carolina's governing board pledged Tuesday to comply with the state's open meetings law after the N.C. Press Association decried its "arrogant refusal" to acknowledge violations in the selection of a new president. And in what the media group called a sign of his commitment to openness, President Erskine Bowles said he'd withdraw university support for a bill that would allow UNC to conceal what is now public information.
Related Links: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/13539868.htm
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/384696.html

SAT no longer stands alone
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In a region where college dreams rise and fall on SAT scores, the ACT is hardly a blip on most parents' radar screens. ..."We will use the score that gives the students the best chance of being admitted," said Steve Farmer, the admissions director at UNC-Chapel Hill. "We wouldn't weigh one or the other more heavily."

Nonprofit raises $1M
Triangle Business Journal
The Triangle Land Conservancy has raised nearly $1 million in the quiet phase of a campaign to raise $5.5 million. ... Another $1 million from the campaign will be used for a stewardship program for land preserves the conservancy owns and manages. Co-chairing the campaign are Jonathan Howes, special assistant to the chancellor for local government relations at UNC-Chapel Hill, and Mary Mac Bradshaw, a community volunteer.

Chatham growth rules get scrutiny
The Chapel Hill Herald
The county commissioners attempted Tuesday to set the parameters for all future growth in fast-developing Chatham County. ...The UNC park-and-ride lot on U.S. 15-501 needs to expand, and cannot without a rule that would allow a larger lot. Hicks said that if the county allows UNC to expand the lot, the university might, in turn, extend bus service farther south.

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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