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July 29, 2003
Current National Coverage
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:
Families Ask Why
Newsweek
The women—wives of officers with the Third Infantry Division on duty in Baghdad
—listened impatiently to the speeches at a “redeployment meeting” at the base. ...
The very ubiquity of electronic communications can have a surprising downside, notes
Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina: a wife
becomes accustomed to frequent e-mail from her husband, until he can’t get to a
computer. And then her anxiety increases.
Real Objects Impact Virtual Scene
Technology Review
One reason flight simulators are more compelling than other virtual environments is
that only the scenery is virtual. The cockpits are often exact replicas of the real things.
... Researchers from the University of North Carolina and Disney Corporation have
devised a way to allow real and virtual objects to interact in a shared virtual space.
(Note: This placement reflects ongoing media relations collaboration involving News
Services and a Duke-based colleague.)
Kids' battle of bulge on a new tack
The Arizona Republic
With government statistics showing that 15 percent of kids, or about 9 million, are
overweight - triple the number in 1980 - it's clear that the United States has a
children's health epidemic on its hands. ... Get Kids In Action, the $4 million program
directed by researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and under-
written by Gatorade, targets physicians, community organizations and families in a
drive to make kids more physically active
(Note: This article originally appeared in USA Today.)
Fat doesn't necessarily mean unfit
The Chicago Tribune
To turn "fat" to "fit," all it takes is swapping an "a" with an "i." ... A study published
last year from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill found that overweight
women--whether fit or not--were more likely to die earlier than fit, thin women.
(Note: This Knight-Ridder article originally appeared in The Houston Chronicle
and was also featured in The Myrtle Beach Sun News. The Chicago Tribune requires
free user registration to access articles. )
Why cesarean section is so popular
The Miami Herald
When it came time to give birth last year, Miami obstetrician Celia Grande chose to
have a cesarean section. ... With conflicting studies, ''the data is not out there for short
-term and long-term consequences,'' said Robert Cefalo, an OB-GYN at the
University of North Carolina.
A woman's secret shame: urinary incontinence
The Dallas Morning News
Of all the experiences Lorna Scott has shared with her husband since they took up
motorcycle riding, the most embarrassing may be the time she wet her pants at a
motorcycle rally they attended in Arkansas. ... Indeed, incontinence often can be
a workplace issue for women, says Mary H. Palmer of the University of North
Carolina Chapel Hill School of Nursing.
(Note: The Dallas Morning News requires free user registration to access articles.)
State and Local Coverage
UNC research tracks exotic disease, dengue, to U.S.
The Herald-Sun
Just as the threat of SARS settles down around the globe, wet weather and other
conditions are putting mosquito-borne viruses into the minds and back yards of more
Americans. ... William Messer, a UNC doctoral graduate in ecology who is now a
student in the university's School of Medicine, was lead author of the study by a
research team tracing the movement of one strain of a dangerous dengue virus.
(Note: This research was the subject of a UNC news release.)
That was then; this is worse (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News and Observer
The controversy about UNC-Chapel Hill's summer book misses a crucial point: "Nickel
and Dimed" was set in the good old days in 1998. We still had 18 months to go in the
Clinton administration's climb to increasing prosperity.
Families' plight (Letter to the Editor)
The News and Observer
It is telling that the self-described "conservatives" criticizing UNC's summer reading
selection spend an entire page of paid advertising in ad hominem attacks on the author's
attitudes and politics yet say not a word about the central facts she documents: that for
many hard-working, wage-earning Americans today, it is impossible to earn enough to
support their families and to find decent, affordable housing within range of a job.
(Note: Richard Andrews is a professor of public policy and former chair of the
faculty. The News and Observer published a related letter today.)
Recruitment fund nearly tapped out
The Charlotte Observer
With North Carolina facing its tightest budget in decades, the state's smallest and
oldest corporate-recruiting tool is running out of money. ... As states compete for jobs,
they are caught in a spiral of escalating incentives, said Ferrel Guillory, UNC Chapel
Hill professor and the director of a program on politics and Southern life.
What's right, what's wrong? It's debatable
The Charlotte Observer
Federal investigators must grapple with the innately murky world of accounting as
they dig into Duke Power's books and decide whether to press any criminal charges.
... "What happens is: You write a rule," said Wayne Landsman, an accounting
professor at UNC Chapel Hill. "And people find ways around it."
Benefit or burden?
The News and Observer
To Dexter Joyner's way of thinking, the much-anticipated gift that Congress is offering
him and other seniors -- a Medicare prescription drug benefit -- might actually be one
of those sucker deals. ... "Our experience with Medicare HMOs in the last decade is
that they really haven't operated in rural areas," said Jonathan B. Oberlander, an
assistant professor of social medicine at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of
Medicine.
Law standing in grant's way
The News and Observer
North Carolina education leaders sounded a note of victory last week when the U.S.
Department of Education announced that the state would receive up to $154 million
during the next six years to improve reading instruction. ... Donna Bryant, associate
director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC
Chapel Hill, said she questions the value of standardized tests given to groups of
young children, as opposed to one-on-one assessments.
Bad drinking water linked to leukemia in town near Boston
The Jacksonville Daily News
As federal researchers begin looking at possible connections between drinking water
contamination at some Camp Lejeune housing areas between 1968 and 1985, one
study in another area suggests a link between similar drinking water contamination and
leukemia. ... David Savitz, chair and professor of epidemiology at UNC-Chapel
Hill, warned against drawing too many conclusions from the study.
Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina
Top Colleges' Change on Aid Could Help the Middle Class
The New York Times
Eager to bring some uniformity to the otherwise unruly field of financial aid, more than
two dozen of the nation's most selective universities have started looking at home
equity in a new light, a change that could significantly benefit middle-income families.
(Note: The New York Times requires free user registration to access articles.)
Diversity poll finds hurdles for NCSU
The News and Observer
When blond-haired Brette Brooks tells peers at N.C. State University that she's from
Robeson County, the Lumbee jokes are sure to follow. ... Across the Triangle, UNC-
Chapel Hill administrators are preparing to conduct a similar diversity study this fall that
will measure students' opinions about interactions in the classroom and across campus.
"This kind of research never gives you answers," said Archie Ervin , assistant to the
chancellor and director for minority affairs in Chapel Hill.
Web links on this page are time-sensitive, so stories might not be
available after the day they first appeared.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
