May 16, 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

Updated Secondary Prevention Guidelines Issued for CVD
Reuters Health
The American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) today issued updated guidelines regarding risk reduction strategies for patients with coronary and other atherosclerotic vascular disease. ..."This is an important new addition to our guidelines that should significantly improve outcomes for patients with cardiovascular diseases," Dr. Sidney C. Smith, Jr., of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and chairman of the writing committee said in a statement.

National Coverage

Forever Pregnant
The Washington Post
New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon. ..."The recommendations say we need to be opportunistic," or deliver care and counseling when opportunities arise, said Merry-K. Moos, a professor in the University of North Carolina's maternal fetal medicine division who sat on the CDC advisory panel. "Healthier women have healthier pregnancies."

Interest on rise for ADHD behavioral therapy
The Washington Post
What nondrug treatments work to combat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? ..."There's so much lip service paid to (combined) treatments, but a lot of people just rely on medication alone," says William L. Coleman, a developmental pediatrician at the University of North Carolina who is chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health.

Goal: Intensify treatment for heart patients
USA Today
Mounting evidence that scores of heart patients can avoid second heart attacks or strokes with intensive treatment to reduce their risks prompted the nation's two top heart organizations on Monday to jointly issue new prevention recommendations. ..."That's a really important major new recommendation," says Sidney Smith, of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and chairman of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology group that issued the guidelines.

U.S. Experts Issue New Heart Disease Treatment Guidelines
HealthDay News
America's top experts in heart disease have issued new guidelines on helping people with the illness avoid more cardiovascular trouble. ...The new guidelines come as the result "of a number of new trials completed since our last recommendations were issued," said Dr. Sidney S. Smith, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and chairman of the group that drew up the report.

Holy crap?
The Associated Press (National)
A line from Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code tells you why it's easily the most disputed religious novel of all time: "Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false." ... Bart Ehrman, religion chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, likens the phenomenon to the excitement in the 19th century when deluded masses thought Jesus would return in 1844.
Related Links: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Entertainment/503776.html
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/052006/05162006/189534

State & Local Coverage

UNC's Tar Heel Bus Tour makes stop at OIC
The Rocky Mount Telegram
A busload of faculty members from a leading state university rolled into the city Monday to learn about the Opportunities Industrialization Center. The group on the Tar Heel Bus Tour consisted of 36 professors and administrators from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The annual, weeklong trip allows new faculty members to see people and sites that make each region of the state unique. Some 300 officials have taken the tour since it began in 1997, said Linda Douglas, community relations director for the university.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/bustour051106.htm
UNC Media Advisory: http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/bustourdayone051206.htm

UNC officials get ready to board the bus
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
The Carolina Connections Bus Tour turns North Carolina highways into classrooms. UNC Chancellor James Moeser says this thousand mile bus ride is a perfect opportunity to acquaint fresh teachers with the Tar Heel State. ... The trip is funded through private donations, and you’ll hear from educators throughout the week on the morning news with Ron Stutts what it is they see every day.

Graduates should try the impossible (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
With our colleges and universities playing such an important role in our communities, graduation day is one of the ways we mark the passing of the year, a time on the calendar somewhere between the Final Four and Festival for the Eno. ... At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at Duke University, graduation was Sunday, with N.C. Central University holding its event the prior weekend.

Minimum wage gets high profile
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The federal minimum wage hasn't risen from $5.15 since 1997. Business groups say raising the minimum wage would raise labor costs, leading to job cuts. But Democrats -- nationally and in North Carolina -- say it's time to do it. And if Congress is not willing, some state leaders are taking the initiative. ... "It doesn't have the driving power that gay marriage amendments" had in 2004, said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Construction affects campus street
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Raleigh Street closed to through traffic Monday from Lenoir Drive south to South Road near Fetzer Gymnasium because of construction. Completion of the project is tentatively expected in August.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/briefs051206.htm

Historic black hospital tied to sterilization program
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For years, Irene Clark has hunted for details about St. Agnes, the storied Raleigh institution once regarded as the best hospital for blacks between Hampton, Va., and New Orleans. Clark, a retired St. Augustine's College biology professor, has rescued hospital records from the trash. She has created an archive so extensive that state history museum officials recently turned to her for information. And she has written a book-length manuscript on the hospital's history. ... As a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill in the late 1980s and early 1990s, (University of Iowa historian Johanna) Schoen researched North Carolina women's access to birth control. She is the only person in at least three decades to have been given broad access to the Eugenics Board's records.

Razing West House not necessary for Arts Common (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
I am one of the many, including 1,200 petitioner signers, over 70 Distinguished Faculty, faculty staff, alumni and Chapel Hill Town Council members, who are grieving over the loss of West House, one of the few buildings that retain the tranquility and human scale of our beloved old North Campus. .... Eleanor Kinnaird, who lives in Carrboro represents District 23 in the state Senate.
Note: No link was available. For a copy, email Todd at tvinyard@dev.unc.edu.

Issues & Trends

Monday at the General Assembly
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The state House gave overwhelming initial approval to legislation expanding and retooling ethics rules to monitor conduct of the governor, statewide elected officials and state agency leaders. ...The rules would extend to the governor and his staff, all Council of State members, top leaders of state agencies, the University of North Carolina system and community colleges, and all voting members of all state boards and commissions.

Edwards urges UM grads to act
Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards told University of Maine graduates on Saturday stories of young people who changed the world, then challenged his audience to make a difference. ...The former North Carolina senator and Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 now runs the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He stressed helping neighbors within the United States borders as a first step.

Minimum wage supporters gain powerful new ally
News 14 (Time Warner)
Supporters of a minimum wage increase are stepping up the pressure on lawmakers. Monday, former vice presidential candidate John Edwards helped supporters get their message across at a rally. ... Edwards now works for UNC's Center on Poverty.

SAT's declining scores knock more points off test's reputation (Editorial)
The News Journal (New Castle, Del.)
It hasn't been a good year for the SAT. ...Some schools saw their overall average drop 20 points. The drop at nine campuses in the University of California system was 15 points. The decline at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was 12 points.

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.

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