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March 20, 2006
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:International Coverage
Study cites dearth of psych docs in N.C.
United Press International
-- A new study suggests that psychiatrists are increasingly in short supply in North Carolina. The situation appears even more dire for psychiatrists who specialize in treating children, said the collaborative study done by Duke University Medical Center, the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Medicine; and UNC's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/reportpsychiatrist031406.htmAspirin Prevents Strokes in Women
International News Network (Pakistan)
In a stunning example of gender differences in medicine, a major new study found that aspirin helps healthy women avoid strokes but makes no difference in their risk of heart attacks unless they’re 65 or older - the polar opposite of how the drug affects men. ...But they also point out the gender gap in medical studies, which involve too few women, elderly and minorities, said Dr. Sidney C. Smith, a spokesman for the American Heart Association and cardiology chief at the University of North Carolina, who has been a speaker in the past for Bayer.
Women bear burden of caring for Agent Orange victims in families
Vietnam.net (Hanoi, Vietnam)
The war ended more than 30 years ago, yet its consequences still rule the lives of many of its victims - not only those who were directly exposed to Agent Orange sprayed by US troops in southern Vietnam during the war, but also mothers and wives who are suffering because their husbands and children have been affected by the dangerous defoliant. ...Americans have an obligation to help counter many of the harmful after-effects of the war in Vietnam, said Dr. Trude Bennete, Associate Professor at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, US.
National Coverage
Use of substitution for blood draws ethics challenge
The Wall Street Journal
Three medical-ethics professors, in an open letter to research boards at hospitals where a blood substitute is being studied without patients' consent, said the research "fails to meet ethical and regulatory standards." ...Its authors are Robert M. Nelson, a physician specializing in critical care and anesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Nancy M.P. King, social-medicine professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and Ken Kipnis, a medical-ethics professor at the University of Hawaii.
2006 Onsite Concepts
Food Management
FM's Best Concepts awards competition is designed to recognize and celebrate innovative thinking and practices in noncommercial foodservice. To select this year's winners, our editors pored over scores of entries before settling on a final list of winners. ...Literally Bridging a Campus Divide Winner: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
UNC News Brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2006/031006.htmLost in transcription?
The Washington Post
Bart Ehrman is a sermon, a parable, but of what? He's a best-selling author, a New Testament expert and perhaps a cautionary tale: the fundamentalist scholar who peered so hard into the origins of Christianity that he lost his faith altogether. Once he was a seminarian, a pillar of conservative Christianity, whose doctrine states that the Bible "is a divine revelation, the original autographs of which were verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit."
Treatment of New Testament ‘textual criticism’ stirs debate
The Associated Press (National)
Today’s New Testament translators can consult many more ancient manuscripts than are available for other classical works, including some 5,700 in the original Greek and 10,000 in Latin. The oldest fragment dates from the early second century. ...This arcane science is presented to popular audiences in “Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why” (HarperSanFrancisco) by Bart D. Ehrman, chairman of the religion department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Newspapers as a public trust
The Philadelphia Inquirer
From the outside, The Day's newspaper office looks like a lot of old buildings. "From the inside," said editor and publisher Gary Farrugia, "it looks like paradise." ..."The truth of the matter is, it's doable," said Hodding Carter III, scion of a legendary Southern newspaper family now on the faculty of the University of North Carolina. "It's just really hard to do."
Quite a stretch denying a connection between Islamic terror and Islam itself is causing a backlash (Opinion-editorial column)
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On March 3, Mohammed Taheri-azar, a 22-year-old graduate of the University of North Carolina, rented an SUV and drove it into "the Pit," an area between two libraries on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill where students congregate, injuring nine. Mr. Taheri-azar told police he made the attack "to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world." Mr. Taheri-azar smiled and waved at his arraignment, and told reporters he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah."
State & Local Coverage
11 seniors in region chosen Morehead scholars at UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Fifty-three students from high schools nationwide and in Great Britain, including 29 from North Carolina, have been named Morehead scholars at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Morehead pays all expenses for four years of undergraduate study, including costs of a laptop computer and four summer enrichment experiences. It amounts to about $80,000 for each in-state student and $140,000 for each out-of-state student.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/morehead031006.htmUNC starts second phase of $120M Genetic Medicine Building
The Triangle Business Journal
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has begun phase II construction on its 331,000-square-foot Genetic Medicine Building that will carry a final price tag of about $120 million. The seven-story building is expected to reach completion by Dec. 2007 and will house three departments from the university's School of Medicine and provide additional space for the School of Pharmacy.
UNC Students 'Take Back the Pit'
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is holding a "take back the Pit" event today to reclaim the popular student gathering spot. A UNC graduate is accused of trying to kill people when he drove a sports utility vehicle through the crowded area. Nine people were injured.
Related Links: http://www.wral.com/news/8135273/detail.htmlThere are legal, better ways to take a stand (Letter to the editor)
The Charlotte Observer
In the March 14 Young Voices, a young man commented about the UNC-Chapel Hill incident, "The student was trying to take a stand against those who are either persecuting or killing Muslims worldwide." Perhaps the young man should be forced to take a class in civics. One takes a stand by force only when there is no other option.
Related Links: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/14128915.htm
http://www.newsobserver.com/559/story/419237.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/164/story/419579.html
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/2914652p-9364897c.htmlPolyHeme
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
Nancy King, professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was featured on Friday's (March 17) edition of "The State of Things." How do you do medical research in the field of emergency medicine, when most patients are unconscious and unable to give their consent? Such testing is currently underway at Duke University with an experimental blood substitute called PolyHeme.
Edwards says `utter failure' of Katrina continues
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The government's "utter failure" to deal with Hurricane Katrina is continuing to this day, with help for those who lost everything coming only from charities and volunteers, former Sen. John Edwards said Saturday. ...Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, was picked for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket in the last election, and since losing that election he's opened a center for the study of poverty issues at the University of North Carolina.
Good deal for North Carolina journalism? (Opinion-editorial column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The hot topic at 215 South McDowell St. in Raleigh last week was -- surprise -- the big newspaper deal. ...One response offered by N&O editors is that combined Capitol coverage could actually free up reporters to do more in-depth, investigative and project reporting. That's the view also of long-time newspaper watcher Phil Meyer, who spent his career at Knight-Ridder papers before becoming a journalism professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. "Duplication isn't the same thing as competition," he said. "By eliminating some of the duplication, the company should be able to put more into reporting. I would expect to see more state-level investigative reporting."
UNC professor tells of global competition
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Professor James H. Johnson Jr. wanted to give a close-to-heart example of how businesses and individuals are becoming increasingly international in thinking. Johnson, who teaches at UNC, told of a self-employed carpenter in Durham who needed bypass surgery, but couldn't afford an approximately $200,000 cost, prompting a search beyond the U.S.
Expert urges educators to ready for growing Hispanic population
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Granville County educators received schooling Friday from one of the nation's leading population experts on the need to accommodate more Hispanic students and changing families. The bottom line is that the composition increasingly is becoming brown and gray, said James H. Johnson Jr., a distinguished professor at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Related Link: http://www.hendersondispatch.com/articles/2006/03/19/news/news03.txtUNC professor: Vegas 'bracketology' is best
The Chapel Hill Herald
Four days into the NCAA tournament and you're already last in your office pool? Maybe you just should have consulted the Las Vegas lines when filling out your bracket. That's the advice of Koleman Strumpf, an associate professor of economics at UNC who researches sports gambling. ...The rationale is that the Vegas odds are based on the collective wisdom of many people, each with a different area of expertise, Strumpf says. An individual bettor won't have more information than the group.
Stormwater fee a burden to some
The Asheville Citizen-Times
Mary Gentry wasn’t pleased to find another bill in her mailbox asking her to pay for what she calls “an act of God.” ...“The federal agency has been trying for years to slow down the roll out of these regulations,” said Richard Whisnant, assistant professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government.
Blood clots can kill
The Reidsville Review
Reidsville residents can now go to their local hospital to be tested for one of the nation's top killers. ...Allred said Dr. James Groce, clinical assistant professor with the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and pharmacist with the Moses Cone Health System, introduced the deep-vein thrombosis screening to the Moses Cone Health System after years of research on the medical condition.
Yes, we should worry, then we should raise taxes (Question-answer)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Arthur Benavie, a professor emeritus of economics at UNC-Chapel Hill, is the author of "Deficit Hysteria: America's Rush to Balance the Budget" and "Social Security Under the Gun."
Issues & Trends
UNC research center needs FAA clearance before taking off
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Dare County has given 40 acres to the University of North Carolina for a coastal research center, but now the Federal Aviation Administration must step in before the project can lift off. The reason: An agreement reached after World War II that limits the use of the property to aviation purposes.
Don't volunteer for this (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
Here's one idea the UNC system ought to steer clear of as it devises new guidelines for how much North Carolina undergraduate college students pay: Breaks to lure out-of-state students who attend colleges near borders.
Dicey crossing troubles pedestrians
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Betsy Malpass used to cross Fordham Boulevard at Manning Drive to get to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus for basketball and football games. Not anymore. "It feels like an interstate," she said of the four-lane Fordham, also known as the N.C. 54 Bypass.
Two lawmakers rally behind proposal for new dental school
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The state's two top lawmakers have thrown their support behind a proposed dental school at East Carolina University, with Senate president Marc Basnight saying there is a chronic need for more dentists in eastern North Carolina.
Deal that could bring NCSU, UNC $100M hits IP snag
The Triangle Business Journal
One of the nation's wealthiest supporters of biomedical engineering is courting the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University to sign onto a deal that some say would give an outside entity unprecedented rights to the universities' intellectual property. ...Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development at UNC, has been leading the negotiations with the foundation along with John Gilligan, vice chancellor for research and graduate studies at NCSU.
High school could become UNC member
The Kinston Free Press
The 17th constituent member of the University of North Carolina system could be a high school. Negotiations are currently under way that could lead to the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, a residential high school for talented juniors and seniors, to become a full-fledged constituent of the UNC system.
Meetings don't belong behind closed doors (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
You don't have to assume nefarious purposes in the university's request to meet privately with the head of the recently formed Carolina North committee to conclude that it's a bad idea. UNC established the committee, and named former Chapel Hill mayor Ken Broun to lead it, in order to help clarify key goals and principles as the mammoth project moves forward. Although the university created the committee, it is not strictly a university committee; it includes elected officials from Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County, local residents, business leaders and university personnel.
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.
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