June 24, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Few gains for schools in legislative session (Commentary)
The Advocate, LA
Public schools and colleges and universities finished the 2004 legislative session much like the perennial losing team: Maybe next year, the optimists always say....Most everyone agrees that states that transformed themselves, such as North Carolina, linked their plans to an improved public university....North Carolina is one of the nation's hottest growth spots. And the University of North Carolina is regarded as one of the public elites -- state schools with Ivy League-like academic credentials.

State & Local Coverage

UNC program to help National Guard families
Fayetteville Observer
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is planning a program to help the families of more than 7,000 reservists and National Guardsmen from North Carolina now on active duty....Dr. James Moeser, the chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill, spent Wednesday at Fort Bragg to find out more about needs of family members of called-up reservists and National Guard members. He heard what the Army is already doing.

UNC leads a praiseworthy program (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
This is a military state, full of forts and bases and soldiers and marines. Away from the high-tech, rapidly urbanizing Interstate 85 corridor, the military -- including the more than 23,000 reservists and National Guard members -- is par of the bedrock of the state's economy and one of the salient features of its personality.

UNC Center To Help Families of Reservists, Guardsmen
N.C. Associated Press
A retired major general in the Army Reserves is putting his 37 years of active and reserve military duty to work building a program to help families of military reservists and National Guardsmen....Doug Robertson, head of the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina, is part of the team building the UNC Citizen-Soldier program.
Note: This article was posted to the websites of the Charlotte Observer, the Virginian-Pilot, Winston-Salem Journal, Wilmington Morning Star and a number of N.C. TV stations.

Making the effort (Editorial)
The Daily Tar Heel
In at time when UNC's public image could use some tweaking, Chancellor James Moeser's tour of the state should remind N.C. residents that the University remains dedicated to its service mission.

County defends strong savings fund strategy
The Charlotte Observer
Cabarrus County administrators are defending the importance of a strong savings fund after receiving criticism from one local government critic....David Lawrence, a professor at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government, said he's not aware of the N.C. Local Government Commission taking over a county, although it can under certain circumstances.

Petitioners could catch council's eye
The News & Observer
The 7,000 signatures gathered by a citizens' group demanding City Manager Marcia Conner's ouster represent an unusual groundswell of discontent aimed at a top city official....Such a highly orchestrated effort to fire a city manager is uncommon, said David Lawrence, a professor of public law and government at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Paradigm Genetics awarded over $800k in NIH funding
Triangle Tech Journal
Biotech firm, Paradigm Genetics, announced that it has received a second Fast Track Small Business Innovation Research Phase I/II contract from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this one entitled "Metabolomics: Alcohol Induced Toxicity....The first phase, a six-month study that commences September 1, 2004, is funded by NIH's National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

West Point between the covers (Commentary)
The News & Observer
On an airplane heading back to the Triangle, I opened "Absolutely American," David Lipsky's account of four years at West Point and this year's summer reading assignment for freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Mold found at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
First there was an odor....The mold problem is nowhere near as vast or problematic as the highly publicized infestation at N.C. Central that shuttered two large residence halls and cost millions of dollars to fix, they say.

Issues & Trends

Negotiations ahead as N.C. Senate approves its budget plan
The Herald-Sun
The state Senate is close to passing its own $15.8 billion budget plan, one that leaves several key items unsettled with the House less than a week before the new fiscal year begins.

Franklin Street rebounds
The News & Observer
Franklin Street finally may be pulling out of its slump....Leasing agents and retailers on the downtown strip -- a mecca for decades for UNC-Chapel Hill students to eat, drink, shop and celebrate sports wins -- say they're seeing signs of life. Deals are being signed and new tenants are opening their doors.

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, please call Russell Campbell at News Services, (919) 962-2091, russell_campbell@unc.edu, or Mike McFarland in University Communications, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu

Past issues of Carolina in the News are located at http://www.unc.edu/news/clips/index.shtml.

Note: Web links on this page are time-sensitive, so stories might not be available after the day they first appeared.