July 8, 2002

Carolina in the News

Current International Coverage

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

Abortion services 'need overhaul'
BBC News (UK)
Abortion services need a radical overhaul if government targets are to be met, experts are 
warning. Under the National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV the government has pledged 
that by 2005, women who are legally entitled to an abortion should get one within three weeks...
...But Professor David Grimes, of the University of North Carolina, warned that offering earlier 
abortions would not rule out the need for later abortions. He said that although the US offered 
abortions within a week of a woman asking for one, there was still a large number of requests 
for second trimester abortions. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1536000/1536898.stm

Kenan-Flagler names MBA dean 
Financial Times (UK)
Kenan-Flagler names MBA dean Management professor Robert Adler is to replace James 
Dean as dean of the MBA programme at Kenan-Flagler business school at the University of 
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prof Adler joined the school in 1987 and teaches courses in 
ethics, negotiation, business law and consumer protection.
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=020708000339&query=Kenan-Flagler&vsc_appId=totalSearch&state=Form

Current National Coverage

University's Quran Reading Stirs Controversy
Fox News
What could be a better way to start a college career than by reading from a Good Book? Plenty, 
if the book in question is the Quran and your country has been attacked by Muslim terrorists, 
according to one pro-family group. Virginia-based Family Policy Network is taking aim at the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for requiring all incoming freshmen this fall to read a 
book about the Quran, the holy book of Islam...
...The students will read the book during orientation week in mid-August and discuss it for "a 
couple of hours" in groups of 20 to 25 led by faculty members, according to UNC Chancellor 
James Moeser. 
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,57093,00.html

RESOURCES: Don't just pop antidepressants
Chicago Tribune
If you're feeling down, you may consider taking one of the quick-fix antidepressants being 
touted on television commercials. Depression affects about 19 million Americans, but in the last 
10 years there has been a quick 79 percent rise in people taking such medications, due in part 
to heavy advertising, notes a feature in the July/August issue of Men's Health...
... These drugs should be prescribed by a psychiatrist who can properly evaluate and monitor 
the patient, says Dr. Robert Golden, chairman of the psychiatry department at the University 
of North Carolina.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0207070355jul07.story

The Awful Truth
The Chronicle Of Higher Education
On a warm June day here at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, currently home 
to a much-discussed exhibit on the history of lynching in America, an elderly man began crying, 
buried his face in his hands, and then rushed out...
...This suggests not just exultant celebration by the lynchers but gross acquiescence on the part 
of the federal government, says Joseph F. Jordan, director of the Sonja Haynes Stone Black 
Cultural Center, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the curator of "Without 
Sanctuary." 
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i44/44a01401.htm
(Note: The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to access articles.)

X Rays to Go: Carbon nanotubes could shrink machines
Science News
Carbon nanotubes have been the darlings of the technology community for a decade. Researchers 
around the world have been touting them as promising components for making products ranging 
from microchips to medicines...
...Unlike conventional machines, the new one doesn't require high temperatures to generate high-
energy electrons for producing X rays. A thin layer of carbon nanotubes operating at room 
temperature does the job, says developer Otto Zhou of the University of North Carolina 
at Chapel Hill.
http://www.sciencenews.org/20020706/fob1.asp
(Note: This story originated as a UNC News Services release 
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul02/zhou062702.htm.)

Pooling blood allows early discovery of HIV 
New Scientist 
Widespread screening for very early HIV infection is both possible and practical, say US researchers. 
Standard antibody tests can fail to detect infection for up to six months. But by pooling blood 
samples from people being screened for HIV, and testing for viral RNA, it is possible to pick up 
infections just a few weeks old, the team says. "The acute stage of the infection is almost never 
diagnosed in clinical practice and is always missed by routine antibody tests," says Christopher 
Pilcher, at the University of North Carolina. 
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992509
(Note: This story originated as a UNC News Services release 
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul02/pilcher070602.htm.)

State and Local Coverage

UNC trying to keep special trees alive
Rising high above the construction consuming Murphy Hall, two towering cedar trees are fighting 
for survival. Planted so close to the 78-year-old classroom building that they brush up against it, 
the two trees look just a little bit out of place on this idyllic campus dominated by poplars and 
pines. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-244548.html

Bridging language gap 
When the patient doesn't speak much English, a trip to the hospital can resemble the children's 
game "Telephone." The patient describes her problem to a translator, and the translator speaks 
to the doctor. Then the doctor asks a question, and the translator steps in again. But it's no game 
for patients who have trouble communicating their needs directly to health-care providers. "We're 
taught as nurses and doctors that the relationship with our patient is sacrosanct ... , " said Chris
Harlan, a public health nurse and an instructor at the UNC School of Public Health. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/News/story/1519315p-1549242c.html
(Note: This story originated as a UNC News Services release 
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun02/lorch062102.htm. Other coverage includes the North 
Carolina News Network, which reaches more than 90 radio stations statewide.)

A loan less onerous 
Marc Mathis has every reason to be optimistic about his future. The 34-year-old student at ECPI 
Technical College in Raleigh has made the dean's list for three consecutive quarters and has a 3.73 
grade point average. When he graduates next spring, he will have two college degrees and more 
than 10 years of work experience under his belt. However, Mathis also has $36,000 in student 
loans. Often he lies awake at night wondering how he will erase all the red ink.
http://newsobserver.com/front/Business/story/1517899p-1547841c.html

Court flunks; N.C. doesn't have to follow (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The last day of the U.S. Supreme Court's term was a difficult one for the Constitution in the public 
schools. First, a bare majority of the justices voted to uphold a public school drug-testing program 
aimed at students engaged in extracurricular activities. Although the court had previously accepted 
the testing of athletes, Justice Clarence Thomas' opinion in Board of Education vs. Earls much 
more aggressively embraced suspicionless testing. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1507241p-1537454c.html
(Note: Gene R. Nichol is dean and Burton Craige professor of law at the School of Law.)

Some HIV patients can delay taking AIDS drugs, guidelines suggest 
New treatment guidelines suggest symptom-free HIV patients can wait longer than previously 
recommended to begin taking AIDS drugs...
...Using the more sophisticated screening technique on 8,155 patients diagnosed four additional 
HIV cases, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
http://www.nandotimes.com/healthscience/story/458194p-3666936c.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

Thankless jobs (Editorial)
When Hurricane Fran turned the Triangle topsy-turvy six years ago, people with storm-damaged 
wells and septic tanks called Malcolm Blalock at the state Division of Environmental Health for 
answers. Folks who encounter such problems during the next storm won't find Blalock at his phone. 
He has decided to retire and take with him 30-plus years of experience in environmental hazards to 
human health. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/Editorials/story/1517968p-1547802c.html

Taxes on table pinch the poor 
When the dust settles on the state's second stormy budget season in a row, North Carolinians could 
pay more taxes than they did before -- and the state's lower- and middle-income families could fare 
the worst. To help close a projected $1.5 billion shortfall this year, lawmakers are considering allowing 
local governments to raise the sales tax by a half-cent per dollar. 
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1517841p-1547785c.html

State nears lottery vote 
Is North Carolina ready to gamble on a lottery? The question is one the state House of Representatives 
may finally be ready to ask -- if not answer. House Speaker Jim Black, a Matthews Democrat, said 
he plans for the House to vote as early as Wednesday on scheduling an advisory referendum on a 
lottery. 
http://newsobserver.com/news/nc/story/1517918p-1547818c.html

Ancestor-approved (Opinion-Editorial Column)
I strongly support a lottery in North Carolina, provided that its proceeds do not go into the general 
fund, but are earmarked to strengthen public education by the enactment of Gov. Mike Easley's 
proposals or substantially similar enhancements. North Carolina is now surrounded by lottery states. 
The majority of our citizens evidently want a lottery. If opponents are correct in assuming that mainly 
less-affluent North Carolinians will play the lottery, those good citizens already have access to lotteries 
in neighboring states and myriad other means of gambling that are not designed to strengthen North 
Carolina's public schools.
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1519252p-1549210c.html
(Note: Paul Hardin is chancellor emeritus.)

Legislators snub state employees (Letter to the Editor)
As a 12-year state employee (UNC faculty member) I must say I am hugely disappointed in how poorly 
our legislators seem to regard us state employees. There are many different viewpoints concerning the 
degree of commitment exhibited by the state to its employees, and those views depend on which side 
of the fence you stand. From where I have stood for 12 years, I can come to no other conclusion but 
that our legislators have relatively little regard for us. 
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/07/07/opinion04.html

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, 
please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services, 
(919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu