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Jan. 31, 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
US schools continue to dominate
Financial Times (United Kingdom)
The year 2002 was one of the worst in living memory for graduating MBA students. ...Many of the big name schools, such as Kellogg at Northwestern, the Fuqua school at Duke and the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler school were badly hit, according to respondents from the Financial Times survey.
Related Links: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham%5C4-695768.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2006/01/30/daily2.htmlNational Coverage
The Confused Policies of Medicare's Drug Plan
"Fresh Air," National Public Radio
Jonathan Oberlander, associate professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina and co-editor of the book "The Social Medicine Reader, Volume III: Health Policy, Markets and Medicine," was featured on today's (Jan. 30) edition of "Fresh Air." The new Medicare prescription drug plan is complex, confusing, and irrational, according to health policy expert Jonathan Oberlander. A month after the rollout of the new Medicare Prescription drug plan, many seniors are finding it difficult to get the drugs they need. Oberlander teaches about the politics of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Supersized in the NFL: Many ex-players dying young
Scripps Howard News Service (National Wire Service)
The amazing athletes of the National Football League - bigger and stronger than ever before - are dying young at a rate experts find alarming, and many of the players are succumbing to ailments typically related to weight. ...The NFL also criticized a 2003 study by University of North Carolina endocrinologist Joyce Harp. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study found that 56 percent of NFL players were obese according to their body-mass indexes _ the government standard based on height and weight.
Regional Coverage
Saving a Tooth
KPHO-TV (CBS, Phoenix)
According to the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation, 3 million teeth are knocked out yearly in the United States. If you suddenly see your child’s permanent tooth on the ground, hold it by the crown and briefly rinse it under cool running water, says Martin Trope, professor of endodontics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Don’t scrub the tooth or touch its root.
State & Local Coverage
A needed, measured tuition increase (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Regarding your Jan. 27 editorial "Steady on tuition," I write to clarify the position of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. We have the utmost respect for President Erskine Bowles and the process set by the UNC Board of Governors to review campus-based tuition proposals. I was pleased to serve on the Board of Governors Tuition Task Force, which set a ceiling for tuition and fee increases at each campus. For UNC-Chapel Hill, that was $451 for resident undergraduates. The moderate increases the Board of Trustees just approved fall $30 below that ceiling, making us only one of six campuses to come in below the threshold. Furthermore, we were the last campus board to act on tuition proposals for next year. ...Nelson Schwab, Chair, UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.
BBC's 'Newshour' broadcasts in Durham
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Radio may not be a visual medium, but that didn't stop a few hundred avid listeners from stopping by the WUNC studios in downtown Durham's American Tobacco Campus Monday morning for two live broadcasts of the BBC World Service Newshour. "I can never understand what people expect when they watch a radio program," said presenter Robin Lustig. "It's like watching paint dry."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/bbc012606.htmFacebook becoming a college norm
The Chapel Hill Herald
Devin Rooney, a UNC freshman, says he logs onto facebook.com "all the time" to learn about campus happenings or his classmates. He isn't alone. ..."Certainly we have concerns when students are putting tremendous amounts of personal information on the Web in such a way that is not necessarily as secure as they think it is," said Winston Crisp, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC.
Biz Features
The Triangle Business Journal
It's time for the whiners over in Chapel Hill to zip their lips. North Carolina is doing plenty to support the UNC System, says research conducted by the respected Chronicle of Higher Education. The magazine found that the North Carolina General Assembly boosted appropriations for the University of North Carolina System by 9.7 percent for the 2005-2006 budget.
Patients' health goes mobile
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Cary's 2ThumbZ Entertainment is getting serious. The company, which built its business on the lighter side of cell-phone software, today will begin offering health-care products that allow people to count and track calories, log their workouts and try to stop smoking using programs on their mobile phones or personal digital assistants. The products 2ThumbZ has developed with UNC Health Care are the beginning of a trend toward more serious mobile-device software, 2ThumbZ CEO Mark Baric said.
President Bush to target health insurance costs during speech
The Fayetteville Observer
Jimmy Kizer says finding affordable health insurance for his employees is a complicated juggling act. ...Last year, 52,482 Cumberland County residents, or 18.6 percent of the population, did not have health insurance, up from 16.4 percent in 2000, according to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lottery commission awards contracts
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The state lottery commission chose GTECH Holdings Corp. on Monday to run the state's first-ever instant-win and lotto-style games, a selection that's likely to ease criticism tied to the company's primary rival. ..."It may relieve a little bit of the tension that's circling around the speaker and his various relationships with people," said Thad Beyle, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He called the commission's choice of GTECH a "very, very good strategy."
One job undone as Lake retires
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Beverly Lake Jr. has known for months that he had little time left to leave his mark on North Carolina's legal system. ..."It has become the issue in North Carolina in large part because of the leadership he has shown," said UNC-Chapel Hill law professor Rich Rosen. "The law enforcement people would not have come if not for him."
City ready to talk water with residents
The Asheville-Citizen Times
On the first day in their new Swannanoa home, Thomas and Jane Bailey had no water. ...Jeff Hughes, director of the Environmental Finance Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, said each municipal water system is operated differently, but they are often handled as businesses. He said it’s not uncommon for cities to use money earned from the water system in their budgets, but “I don’t think a majority of folks do it anymore.”
Attention justifiably turns to women (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
There were no bonfires on Franklin Street Sunday night. There was no huge face-painted crowd watching TV monitors at the Smith Center. There were no intense throngs jammed into bars throughout the downtown, ready to erupt as the final seconds ticked down. Nevertheless, Sunday night was a signal moment, a moment to celebrate, in that hundred-year war called Duke-Carolina. Yes, this was another basketball game between two old rivals, but this one was different.
Musical mentor Hannay dies
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Roger Durham Hannay, a prolific composer and a mentor to young musicians during his three decades at UNC-Chapel Hill, died Friday following complications from open-heart surgery. He was 75. Hannay wrote more than 120 pieces of music -- including 10 symphonies and five operas -- and his works were performed by orchestras throughout North Carolina and in other states. He founded and directed the New Music Ensemble, the composer-concert series and the electronic music studio at UNC, and was chairman of the division of fine arts.
Related Link: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/13752491.htmIssues & Trends
Budget Outlook for 2007? Bleak
Inside Higher Ed
Feeling battered and bruised by the treatment of student aid and research programs in the federal government’s budget setting process last year, college leaders have more than a little trepidation about the process set to unfold this year, which begins informally with tonight’s State of the Union address and kicks into gear with the release of President Bush’s budget next week.
Time's up (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
One doesn't have to be an economist to see the link between two recent stories about the UNC system. First, you reported that UNC is trying to raise tuition to a level comparable to that of peer institutions, still far below the cost of producing that education. Second, you reported that students are increasingly spending five and even six years in college.
Not uncommon for private money to augment state salaries in N.C.
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The head of the North Carolina Museum of Art - singled out in a state audit last week for having his salary supplemented by a private foundation - isn't alone among the ranks of state workers. ...UNC-Chapel Hill men's basketball coach Roy Williams got an eight-year contract three years ago worth an average of about $1.6 million a year. The state pays less than $300,000 of that, with the rest coming from shoe company Nike, his television and radio show producer, and a private booster club.
Even in Chapel Hill, cyclists are at risk
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Harry Alston's death last week was a reminder of the risks that arise -- even in a bike-savvy town such as Chapel Hill -- when motorists and bicycle riders share dark, busy roads. ...When transportation engineers measure traffic volume every couple of years, they don't just count cars. In recent 12-hour counts they recorded more than 300 cyclists on Carrboro's Main Street and more than 1,000 on Cameron Avenue in Chapel Hill. A lot of them are students at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Watt criticizes Bush in own state of the union
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Modern presidents are in the habit of telling us "the state of the union is strong" in their annual addresses to Congress and the nation. ...The audience chuckled when a college student suggested Bush be impeached, and recently retired UNC journalism professor Chuck Stone tried to rally the crowd in favor of impeachment. Watt was more cautious, saying impeachment should be saved for illegal acts and not be applied over political or policy disagreements.
Related Link: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham%5C4-695775.htmlHistoric site used for teen partying
The Chapel Hill Herald
When walking along the quiet, tree-lined banks of Bolin Creek on the north side of town, it's hard to think of this set-back swath of nature as anything other than a peaceful retreat. ...Otto has contacted the police, but he reported they said they couldn't help him because the area is outside the town limits. He then turned to UNC, which owns the land. Otto said university officials are looking into the problem, but have not yet dedicated any resources to the restoration or preservation of the site.
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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