May 5, 2005

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 group tests flag infectious HIV carriers
Reuters International Wire Service
Health officials in North Carolina have found a cost-effective way to identify people whose infection with the AIDS virus is so recent that the standard screening test would not normally work...."If you're looking to understand why the health department in North Carolina has hit a home run, that's it," chief author Christopher Pilcher of the University of North Carolina told Reuters.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may05/pilcher050405.html

National Coverage

A bitter pill for older patients
USA Today
If medical research mirrored reality, promising drugs would be tested extensively in patients who need them most: frail, elderly people who also take other drugs....That's true for many drugs, not just beta blockers, says UNC's Sidney Smith, a co-chairman of the joint American Heart Association-American College of Cardiologists' committee that writes patient-care guidelines.

Episiotomy May Not Help Most Mothers
WebMD
Episiotomy -- a surgical cut routinely done to reduce the risk of tears during vaginal delivers -- offers no health benefits to women....The finding comes from a team of researchers including by Katherine Hartmann, MD, PhD, co-director of the North Carolina Program for Women's Health Research and assistant professor at the schools of medicine and public health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may05/hartmann050305.html

State & Local Coverage

Memorial reopening good for town, gown (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
While the Downtown Development Corp. fiddles endlessly around with the minutiae of a summer concert series, and the town of Chapel Hill begins the slow process of pondering proposals for what might take place on downtown parking lots, some tangible good news for downtown happened this week....UNC Chancellor James Moeser refers to Franklin Street as the university's "front door," and that it is. The future of the downtown commercial strip is inextricably interwoven with what the university does.

Chapel Hill, university to split cleanup costs
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In an unprecedented move, UNC-Chapel Hill will cover half the town's costs for the wild celebration that erupted after the men's basketball team claimed the national title.

UNC to pay town for dealing with Final Four
The Chapel Hill Herald
The town won't be left holding the entire bill for dealing with the throngs of Carolina fans who took over Franklin Street during the Final Four.

Town, gown meeting is genial
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Doing his best Phil Donahue, Mayor Kevin Foy paced Town Council chambers, microphone in hand.....Foy was hosting a "community dialogue" about proposed changes to the zoning classification applied to UNC-Chapel Hill construction, the latter perhaps the hottest of local hot-button issues.

O/I-4 review time main talk topic
The Chapel Hill Herald
Mayor Kevin Foy didn't sprint up and down the aisles at Town Hall like Phil Donahue, or share hugs and tears with the audience like Oprah.....The time period that the Town Council has to review certain UNC projects under O/I-4 emerged as the single-biggest issue, in the relatively informal discussion among council members, UNC staff members and citizens.

Legislature may allow UNC to close airport
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill's plans to transform nearly 1,000 acres into a research park with offices, homes, labs and shops less than two miles from the main campus could soon be taking off.

Budget would let UNC close airport
The Chapel Hill Herald
A provision in the N.C. Senate's draft state budget would allow UNC to close the Horace Williams Airport if it can establish a new base for its six-plane medical-air fleet at RDU.

Senate's budget proposal carries additional weight
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
State senators didn't just tentatively approve a $17 billion spending plan Wednesday. With less than a day to review the 277-page bill, they took steps toward creating a lottery, banning video poker and telling teachers how much time they should spend preparing students for some standardized tests....They cut the UNC Board of Governors out of the loop when it comes to raising tuition at UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State University. And they cut the jobs of two DOT officials who have raised the ire of commissioners in Senate leader Marc Basnight's home county.

UNC mum on Senate tuition plan
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC Chapel Hill officials are being cagey in their reactions to a state Senate proposal that would give the campus unprecedented tuition flexibility.

Budget fiasco (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Words are hard to come by in describing the sorry excuse for a state budget born Wednesday in the upper chamber of North Carolina's General Assembly...Finally, by including proposals such as a state lottery in the budget, along with items such as a grant of final authority over tuition increases to UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University boards of trustees (thereby weakening the UNC system), the Senate has constructed a budget that even can be seen as dishonest.

UNC's sights on HIV
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Sophisticated testing that can detect AIDS virus infections weeks earlier than the standard screening has been developed by researchers at the University of North Carolina and the state Division of Public Health, the group announced Wednesday.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may05/pilcher050405.html

HIV study could save both money and lives
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Batch testing of blood samples and use of an extra $4 analysis for routine HIV testing could save millions of dollars and prevent thousands of HIV and AIDS cases, according to a study by UNC and state health experts.

Is the lottery a big deal?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
From the hard brown counter of a Waffle House next to the Walnut Street exit from U.S. 1, you can see the Third Wave of legalized gambling in America at daybreak on Thursdays...."It's like Will Rogers said about drinking in Mississippi -- Mississippians will vote 'dry' as long as they can stagger to the polls," said William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC-Chapel Hill.

You don't need a ring to be jilted
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks doesn't have a monopoly on suddenly reversed decisions that leave somebody -- or something -- waiting at the altar....That's extreme, but some level of doubt and second-guessing is a natural response to a major life decision, a cue to step back to weigh choices and consequences with a clear, critical eye, said Donald Baucom, a professor and director of the clinical program in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Issues & Trends

UNC schools bridle over granting in-state status to some students
The Associated Press (N.C.)
At the start of each semester, students and staff at public universities across North Carolina go out of their way to make new scholars feel at home.

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.