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July 6, 2007
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Cheaper biodiesel
Chemical Science (Cambridge, England)
Producing biodiesel from cheap feedstocks could become easier and more environmentally friendly thanks to scientists in the US. ... Wenbin Lin at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and colleagues have come up with a potential solution. ... This technology can be more environmentally friendly than existing technology using liquid acid catalysts,' said Lin.Steroids may improve tendon repair after surgery
The Pakistan Tribune (Islamabad)
Anabolic steroids are against the rules for professional athletes, but preliminary research suggests that steroids may help repair a shoulder injury that affects many professional and weekend athletes. In lab experiments using bioengineered tendons, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that tendons treated with an anabolic steroid were stronger than untreated tendons. "In a highly experimental model, anabolic steroids do appear to improve the quality of rotator cuff tendon tissue," lead author Dr. Spero G. Karas told.National Coverage
Study: Better equipment can cut illness
Associated Press (National)
Fewer children and workers at out-of-home day care centers would get sick if the centers had better equipment for changing diapers, washing hands and preparing food, according to a study. Automatic faucets and foot-activated, rollout bins for diaper disposal can help reduce the spread of infectious diseases. But those and other upgrades are costly: roughly $10,000 per center, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Regional Coverage
Calling all weekend cowboys
Hartford Courant (Conn.)
Hossshuer expertly weaves in and out of the first of two rows of cones, each topped with a balloon. ... During the 1880s, when there were cowboys on the frontier, people were already telling stories about them that were more romantic than factual, said Joy Kasson, a professor of American studies and English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kasson is the author of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Celebrity, Memory and Popular History."Shake-up; Old media meets new realities at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
When the Godfather of Soul died suddenly on Christmas morning in a Midtown hospital suite, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newsroom jumped into action. ... Chris Roush remembers the AJC as something other than a lean operation. ... Now a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina, Roush fondly recalls that the AJC's private bankroll allowed it to spend freely to put reporters on airplanes in pursuit of stories that a publicly owned paper might have let slip away.Technology makes him 'free'
The Republican
Mark Twain once said, "... throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
My parents, Joseph R. and Patricia A. Conway, always say, "Every day is a gift." They always encourage me to do my best and be self-reliant.
These thoughts resonated in my mind as I got off the plane in North Carolina to embark on my dream of attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.State & Local Coverage
Medical flights a fraction of airport traffic
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Doctors fighting to keep Horace Williams Airport open say the university airport helps deliver medical care to rural areas. But less than one in four of the airport's flights are for medical purposes, according to statistics from the UNC-Chapel Hill medical school and the Federal Aviation Administration.Corrections
The Charlotte Observer
The July 2 editorial "Poverty as a prop?" incorrectly described a nonpartisan academic center for poverty created and operated by the School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Neither the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity nor the university is affiliated with John Edwards' "College for Everyone" program, a charity he created to raise scholarship money for poor students in Greene County.Tobacco free day dawns at Duke (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Durham was built largely on the tobacco business, and Duke University was founded with tobacco money. … A tobacco ban was also instituted by the UNC Health Care system at its hospitals and campuses.That's no turtle! It's another alligator
The Charlotte Observer
N.C. wildlife officials on Thursday picked up a 31-inch alligator that was found in a Maiden pond and planned to euthanize it. ... In North Carolina, alligators are native only to coastal areas from Wilmington south, said Alan Feduccia, a professor of biology at UNC Chapel Hill.Locals to launch competing Mount Airy newspaper
The Associated Press (N.C.)
A newspaper set to debut next week will bring this small North Carolina town its second local paper. ... "It also depends on a willing readership," said Jock Lauterer, director of the Carolina Community Media Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "If I was going to do this, I'd start a free newspaper and circulate widely."Regional planning gets homegrown help
The Fayetteville Observer
Training & Development Associates — the firm awarded a $1.1 million contract to develop a BRAC regional plan — is a local company with a national profile. ... The 14 subcontractors who will work on the BRAC study with Freeman include the Center for Urban and Regional Studies and the Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise, both at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Operations Research/Education Laboratory at N.C. State University.Schools receive grants
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Congratulations to Baileywick Elementary School, which was one of 15 elementary schools to receive funds to boost nutritional programs. The funds are part of a $450,000 grant from the John Rex Endowment to support the "Wake to Wellness" Grants Program. ... For more information on the Wake to Wellness Program and the John Rex Endowment, visit www.hpdp.unc.edu/waketowellness and www.rexendowment.org.
Note: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention is responsible for administering the grant funds.Advocacy group pushes Durham officials
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A local civic advocacy group wants Durham officials to be more open in their economic incentives processes and push industry to employ more Bull City residents. ... The group commissioned a team of graduate students with UNC-Chapel Hill's Department of City and Regional Planning to put together the report, which analyzes the way Durham's city and county governments doles out economic incentives and offers case studies from other municipalities.Durham CAN calls for more control of incentives
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A local advocacy group is asking Durham to make its economic incentives process more transparent and demand that companies receiving public money employ Bull City residents. ... Durham officials struck back swiftly, saying the report, commissioned by Durham CAN and written by a group of graduate students with UNC-Chapel Hill's department of city and regional planning, contains inaccuracies.Report piques county manager
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A report prepared by UNC students for a Durham advocacy group left County Manager Mike Ruffin fuming Thursday. ... Much of the report, prepared by students in UNC's department of city and regional planning, focuses on the incentives offered in recent years. It also details incentive programs offered by other local governments.Judy Gantt, director of the Alamance Developmental Center, retiring
The Burlington Times News
Judy Gantt hadn’t put much thought into her life’s work before her last couple of weeks as director of the Alamance Developmental Center. ... The school also became a trend-setter, working with UNC-Chapel Hill to develop teaching materials for disabled children.Owen High’s newspaper receives state honors
The Citizen-Times (Asheville)
The Hoofbeat, the newspaper at Charles D. Owen High School, won 18 awards, including a rating of Distinction, at the recent North Carolina Scholastic Media Association (NCSMA) Summer Institute at UNC Chapel Hill.
UNC News Brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2007/061107.htmlUNC teams up with Rave Wireless for phone plan
WCHL 1360 (Chapel Hill)
Verizon, AT&T, and Nextel will share the local mobile phone market with UNC this fall as the university teams up with Rave Wireless to roll out cell phone plans for students.Issues & Trends
House, Senate make progress in budget, reach salary deal
The Associated Press (N.C.)
A week after a tax and Medicaid deal collapsed, House and Senate negotiators made progress Thursday on a two-year spending plan for state government, including a tentative agreement on pay raises for state workers. ... They included how much to spend on middle school literacy coaches sought by Gov. Mike Easley and whether to transfer agriculture research stations from the Department of Agriculture to the University of North Carolina system.Father fighting for safer campus
The Star-News (Wilmington)
Ask John Faulkner if the state university system has improved the safety of students on campus since his daughter's murder three years ago, and step back. ... University of North Carolina system officials respectfully disagree, saying concrete steps have been taken to enhance safety across the 16-campus system.
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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