May 12, 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

Sunken slave ship 'Henrietta Marie' lures black divers
Cyber Diver News Network, New Zealand
A decade from now demographers may wonder at the sudden spike in black marine biologists, sunken-treasure hunters and underwater welders. ... Dr. Colin Palmer, author of Human Cargoes and a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, is just one of the scholars whose work contributed to the creation of the Henrietta Marie exhibition.

National Coverage

Tally of civilian deaths depends on who's counting
The San Francisco Chronicle
The reports come in with numbing regularity. Iraqi police blown up by suicide bombs. ... Richard Kohn, a professor of military history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says that for the Bush administration, "it's more politically advantageous not to count and not to know."

Don't look back, y'all, drawl is gaining on you
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Could America's mouth be heading south? Depends on who's talking. ... Harry Watson, director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, knows about the anti-y'all prejudice from personal experience.

Creation of gene targeting earns Smithies March of Dimes honor
Medical News Today
For developing an indispensable tool for genetic disease research, two scientists have been named co-recipients of this year's March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, to be awarded Monday (May 16) in Washington, D.C. ... Drs. Oliver Smithies, Excellence Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, and Mario R. Capecchi, Distinguished Professor of human genetics at the University of Utah, are being honored for developing gene targeting.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may05/smithies051205.html

Potential seen for land surrounding airport in K.C.
Lawrence Journal World (Lawrence, Kan)
Developing 8,000 acres of vacant land surrounding Kansas City International Airport could produce between 90,000 and 250,000 new jobs, an economics professor says in a report released Tuesday.... [John D.] Kasarda, director of the University of North Carolina's Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, discussed the study with the Kansas City Council's Aviation Committee and Platte County business leaders Tuesday.

Local News Note

Desmond Runyan, professor and chair of the department of social medicine in the School of Medicine, was featured on today's edition of "The State of Things" on WUNC-FM (91.5 FM) at noon. Runyan commented on family violence in North Carolina, with focus on the Domestic Violence Victims' Empowerment Act, which would help victims of domestic violence obtain temporary permits for concealed handguns. The program will be rebroadcast tonight at 9:00.

State & Local Coverage

N.C. Senate considers social, legal expenses of starting lottery
The Associated Press (N.C.)
If North Carolina joins every other state on the East Coast and creates a lottery, the cost of policing it and offering help to problem gamblers could cost several million dollars a year, witnesses told a Senate committee on Wednesday ... Oregon pays roughly $3.2 million, or $1.04 per resident, annually for a respected program that includes free counseling and an educational advertising campaign, according to Smith Worth, a clinical instructor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Social Work.

Bill would require use of hands-free headset
The News & Record (Greensboro)
Cecil Carpenter has seen it: Someone talking on a cell phone gets distracted, runs off the road and has an accident. ... There has been some research on the general topic, though. A 2003 UNC-Chapel Hill study showed that drivers on cell phones were nearly twice as likely to be involved in rear-end collisions.

Issues & Trends

For UNC's leader, an inside story (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
And so it begins. The University of North Carolina Board of Governors, or rather a search committee of that board, has immersed itself in the process of finding the system's fourth president. There will be public meetings to get "input" from people as to what kind of president they want.

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.