July 12, 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

Bugs no longer drug-resistant
The Times of India
Bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections and can develop ways to survive medicines meant to kill or weaken them are a growing threat. ... Lead researcher professor Matt Redinbo, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said: "Our discoveries may lead to the ability to selectively kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria in patients, and to halt the spread of resistance in clinical settings."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul07/redinbo070907.html

National Coverage

Sleight of handwriting lifts 'Sebastian'
USA Today
Good novelists are magicians. They play with the imaginations of readers. They conjure up worlds out of nothing but words on paper. ...Wallace, who teaches at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, writes with a heartbreaking kind of razzle-dazzle.

Regional Coverage

State seeks new way to gauge Sound health
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Washington's fleet of island-hopping ferries thrill legions of tourists, haul thousands of commuters and now -- they're being eyed as future guardians of Puget Sound. ...Duke University and the University of North Carolina installed monitors in 2000 on ferries crossing Pamlico Sound at the mouth of the Neuse River. With data streaming in every three minutes, researchers have been able to connect pollution coming down the Neuse with fish kills that otherwise would have been left unexplained.

Play It Again, Uncle Sam
The Memphis Daily News
A high-profile visitor next week will bring further proof that several economic trend lines are threatening to choke off lush opportunities that otherwise might blossom for some Memphians. ...No wonder Edwards, who in 2005 founded a think tank about poverty issues at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, added Memphis to the itinerary for his coming trip.

State & Local Coverage

The classroom matters (Editorial)
The Greensboro News & Record
When it comes to how well children learn, it matters where they live and with whom. ...That's an important conclusion drawn from a new study by UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education researchers. It bolsters arguments that racial and socioeconomic integration are good for students.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun07/oliver062207.html

Former N.C. House speaker handed 63-month sentence
The Associated Press (N.C.)
After more than three decades of public service, Jim Black will end his career as a politician behind the bars of a federal prison cell. ..."This one hurts," said Ferrel Guillory, who heads the program on Southern politics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "A speaker of the House sent off to prison certainly adds a smudge to the state's self-image as a place of good government."

Jim Black sentenced to 5 years
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
He looked like the old Jim Black as he walked into the federal courtroom Wednesday morning. ...Black's case is likely to be remembered as a watershed moment in North Carolina politics, said Harry Watson, a UNC-Chapel Hill history professor who oversees the Center for the Study of the American South. Black rode to power by embracing the rise of big-money politics in North Carolina and, in the end, he showed how dangerous that game can be, Watson said.

Rx for Health Care
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
Michael Moore's latest documentary project, "Sicko," has plenty of people buzzing about what ails the American healthcare system.But, is the film a prescription for change? WUNC took some local health industry experts to see the movie and they join host Frank Stasio to weigh in on everything from medical insurers to health policy. We’re talking healthcare with George Pink, UNC Associate Professor of Health Policy; State House Representative Verla Insko; Adam Searing, Director of the North Carolina Justice Center Project; David Ridley, Assistant Professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business; and health insurance consultant Paul Mahoney.

The therapeutic Wii
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It took a car accident and the onset of Parkinson's disease, but 68-year-old Nathan Woodlief may finally have a chance at beating his grandson at video games. ..."You have to put them in a different mentality," says Kevin Poplawski, a physical therapist in the sports medicine/orthopedics department of UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill.

Oliver!
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
Forty-two children from around the Triangle. Two directors from Los Angeles. Five weeks of rehearsals. It all equals three performances of the musical “Oliver!” at the Paul Green Theater at UNC-Chapel Hill. Director Tom Quaintance, Musical Director Ernie Scarborough and actor Mickala Hinnant join host Frank Stasio to discuss what it takes for young kids to put on a professional show.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun07/oliver062207.html

Asheville’s mail history in new collection
The Mountain-Express
The Asheville Postcard Company, founded in downtown’s Carolina Lane in 1910, helped put its hometown on the map with small depictions that delivered big impressions. ...But what an age it was: “At a time when newspapers published few photos and few people owned cameras, the images of people, places, and events on picture postcards could be purchased and enjoyed by citizens from all walks of life,” notes an online description of “Greetings from North Carolina: A Century of Postcards From the Durwood Barbour Collection,” a new exhibit at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun07/ncpostcards061307.html

Holding to history (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As an aging warhorse in the battle against the state Department of Public Instruction's efforts to downgrade the teaching of history in the public schools, I encourage Professor Holly Brewer ("Robbing our students of history," Point of View piece, July 4) to again rally the troops. ...H.G. Jones, Curator Emeritus, North Carolina Collection, UNC, Chapel Hill

Area closer to landing bio-lab
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The Durham area is a big step closer to landing a sprawling, $450 million national lab where hundred of scientists would study some of the most lethal germs on the planet. ...The consortium includes UNC, Duke University, Durham and Granville counties, plus two dozen additional public and private entities from the state's academic, agriculture, government and private sectors.

Graham eyes Burlington attorney for interim slot
The Burlington Times-News
With Grady “Joe” Wheeler’s June 20 death, the members of Graham City Council and city staff not only lost a friend, they lost their lawyer. ...David Lawrence, professor at the UNC School of Government, said a lawyer can represent two towns without running into a conflict of interest, but things can come up.

For five years, Hidden Voices has used theater to help marginalized communities be heard
The Independent Weekly (Durham)
"I didn't realize how little all of our different communities know about each other," Lynden Harris says. ..."These are not depressing stories about victimization, but of people overcoming such odds they have faced," says UNC sociology professor Judith Blau.

It should be Hogg day (Letter to the editor)
The Carrboro Citizen
Everybody is happy about the occasion of the 25th annual Hog Day on June 15 in Hillsborough. ...When the fledgling State Legislature sought a site for the University of North Carolina, it was Hogg who recognized what a boon this would be for Orange. He corralled donors of land and money in the farm community of Chapel Hill, and, like a latter-day industry recruiter, sold this as the site of today’s UNC.

Issues & Trends

Give me an `L,' give me an `O,' give me a `No!' (Opinion column)
The Charlotte Observer
It's the fourth quarter at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. The N.C. State Wolfpack is down 17-14 to upstart in-state gridiron rivals, the East Carolina Pirates. ...Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, has ejected the state lottery from the game. He asked the chancellors at the state's campuses to end promotional contracts with the state lottery and avoid them in the future.

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.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.