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May 17, 2006Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Grapefruit Solution
The Ottawa Sun (Ottawa, Ontario)
Researchers have pinpointed the substance in grapefruit juice that makes it risky for people taking certain prescription drugs to drink it, a new study shows. Grapefruit juice can cause more of these drugs to enter the blood stream -- in some cases tripling the rate of absorption -- resulting in dangerous side effects. The substance is furnanocoumarins, says lead author Dr. Paul Watkins, director of the University of North Carolina's General Clinical Research Center.
UNC News Services: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/grapefruitstudy050806.htmNational Coverage
Colleges Admit Few Students
Off the Wait List
The Wall Street Journal
It's shaping up to be another disappointing year for many students on college wait lists. A number of selective schools say they are taking very few -- if any -- students from the wait list this year. Harvard University says it will likely take only between five and 10 students, down from the 28 it admitted last year. Georgetown University says it is only taking about 10 students, down from about 70 last year. Others, including Princeton University and Ohio State University, aren't taking any. ... We went over last year," says Stephen Farmer, UNC's director of admissions. "So we were chicken this year." The school chose to admit fewer students outright and plans to admit about 100 students from the wait list this year. Because this year is seeing generally low wait-list activity, things may be brighter for next year's waitlisted applicants.
Note: No link available. For a copy, email Todd at tvinyard@dev.unc.edu.A glimmer of hope on immigration
Boston Globe (Opinion-column editorial)
President Bush slipped just enough humanity into his national immigration address to show this is one issue he sees with complexity. After saying he will send the National Guard to the borders and build new fences and walls, he acknowledged that millions of people are here to stay and millions are still going to try to come here to stay. ... One example of the benefits is in a recent study of Latinos in North Carolina by business professors at the University of North Carolina. Nearly half of the state's 600,000 Latinos are undocumented. On the bare surface, the costs might seem to exceed the benefits. Latinos annually pay $756 million in taxes but cost $817 million in education, healthcare, and corrections.State & Local Coverage
UNC professors get Lumbee schooling
The Fayetteville Observer
Nursing instructor Victoria Soltis-Jarrett learned about Lumbee culture through some of her students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this year. She said she learned more in Robeson County on Tuesday at the Tar Heel Bus Tour stop in Shannon. “I had no idea they didn’t have federal recognition,” Soltis-Jarrett said of the tribe. “It is amazing.”
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/bustour051106.htm
UNC Media Advisory: http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/bustourdaytwo051506.htmScience bus rolls out cutting-edge lessons
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
"It's like the Magic School Bus," a student in Tammy Chance's Jordan High School biology class said as she walked onto "Discovery," a 40-foot traveling science laboratory. The assessment wasn't far from the truth. ... "Discovery" is part of a UNC Chapel Hill program, called DESTINY, in which instructors give cutting-edge science lessons to high school students. At Durham's Jordan High School on a recent school day, students were forensic scientists, using DNA fingerprinting to solve a fictitious crime."North Carolina Voices: Teaching Science"
WUNC-FM
Many US Companies lament that they have to go overseas to find engineers, scientists and researchers. Recruiters say high-school age students in cities like Singapore and Mumbai are better trained in math and science than many college students in the United States. The gap between American and foreign students has serious consequences for the economy, according to a group of educators at UNC-Chapel Hill. They have formed a partnership with corporations across the country to create a new way to teach science. Lorne Matalon reports for our series.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/highschool050406.htmEvery child deserves insurance (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill News
North Carolina's health care system is in trouble. An estimated 1.4 million state residents (more than 17 percent of the state's population) lack health insurance. As the costs of premiums rise and businesses cut back on coverage, the number will surely grow. North Carolina cannot count on the federal government to fix this problem. As the ranks of the uninsured have grown, the federal government has done nothing. Even worse, recently enacted cuts in federal Medicaid spending actually make it. ... Jonathan Oberlander is an associate professor of social medicine at UNC.Wilmington Residents Flock to Free Dental Clinic
WECT-TV (Wilmington, NBC)
If someone offered to give your teeth a good cleaning and fixing for free, would you take advantage of that? Many people in the Port City would take advantage of the offer. ... Eighteen dentists and several dental students from UNC Chapel Hill volunteered to give patients dental cleaning, fillings and extractions for free.Want beef? See a farmer
The Charlotte Observer
Forget buying prepackaged beef at your local grocery store. Some Carolinas residents are bypassing the market, driving to the country and choosing their own steer. ... While organic beef is healthier because it's free of antibiotics and growth hormones, it is also more expensive, said Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a registered dietitian and UNC Chapel Hill clinical assistant professor. She sees that as an added benefit.An unhealthy lack of psychiatrists
The Fayetteville Observer
Anna Finch and her husband decided to consult a child psychiatrist. It took them a year and a half to find one who was accepting new clients. Lack of access to psychiatrists is becoming an all too common problem in Fayetteville, in North Carolina and around the country. ... The state’s supply of psychiatrists shrinks each year as need for the services grows, according to a recent report released by The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Duke University School of Medicine, and the N.C. Area Health Education Centers.Judge outlines prosecution errors in overturned death row case
The Associated Press (NC)
No body was ever found. No blood, DNA or other evidence was located. Jurors even found that Charles Walker did not participate in the actual killing of Elmon Tito Davidson Jr. in August 1992. Still, the jury sent Walker to death row. ... "I think people assume that we only execute those that are unquestionably guilty and those who commit the worst crimes," said Richard Rosen, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "This doesn't fall into either of those categories."UNC nets new tennis center
The Chapel Hill Herald
A new 3,500-square-foot facility for tenis has opened at the UNC Faculty Farm on Barbee Chapel Road. The facility has a tennis shop and tennis pro office and fitnes room with cardio and strength machines and classroom for fitness programs. The Farm recently announced it is opening membership to UNC CH alumnus.
Note: No link available. For a copy, email Todd at tvinyard@dev.unc.edu.Lack of vision dooms West House (Opinion editorial column)
The Chapel Hill News
Although I had promised myself not to say anything more about West House, I feel I must respond to your Wednesday editorial ("Clock runs out on West House," May 3). I am a 53-year-old native of North Carolina, and a 30-year employee of the university. I grew up in Kannapolis, which at the time was a feudal village. The gentle Cannon family owned everything -- the police, the schools (the best in the state at the time), the downtown and the newspaper -- essentially the people. Kannapolis was the largest unincorporated town in the country, and the largest textile manufacturer in the world.Issues & Trends
Bowles, new president of UNC, is ‘used to complexity’
Sun Journal (New Bern)
New UNC President Erskine Bowles finds his new job complex, but he’s used to complexity. “You have to remember as White House chief of staff, you work on Bosnia and Northern Ireland, the Mideast, budget, taxation, welfare reform, health care — and then you have lunch,” Bowles said.Support is urged for biotech center
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Dole Co. owner David Murdock and University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles urged lawmakers to get behind a proposed $1 billion biotechnology center in Kannapolis on the old Pillowtex Corp. site. Murdock has established a $100 million venture capital fund to attract biotech firms to the campus and has pledged to put $150 million into a nonprofit foundation to run the research lab there. Researchers from UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State University and Duke University plan to work on the campus.
Peer Support Cited in Black Students' Success
The New York Times
In her four years at the University of Virginia, Jessica Fowler, 22, who is graduating on Sunday, has had much success, including winning admission to Duke University Medical School. But one of her most enduring accomplishments may have come this year, when she was a mentor to Courtney White, 19, as part of the university's peer adviser program for incoming black students. ... For example, the University of California system and the University of New Hampshire each had a 70 percent graduation rate for blacks, while the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had 69 percent, and the University of Michigan, 67 percent. At many top state universities, only 60 percent or less of blacks who enroll end up graduating. Nationwide, the graduation rate for blacks at public and private universities is 42 percent, compared with 62 percent for whites.The UNC System Cinderellas have a chance to shine in the spotlight (Editorial)
Fayetteville Observer
The news about Fayetteville State University and, especially, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke is increasingly positive these days. The campuses will have even more reason to be cheerful the next few weeks. Their days as stepchildren could be ending. That is the promise Erskine Bowles made to smaller campuses when he was selected to lead the UNC System. It’s also the promise Bowles will have to keep during his first legislative session as UNC president. It’s all about credibility.
Tuesday at the General Assembly
The Associated Press (NC)
The House approved changes in ethics laws for monitoring conduct of the governor and other statewide elected officials. Following up on an initial vote Monday night, the House voted 114-1 to expand and revamp ethics rules to monitor conduct of the executive branch, Council of State members, leaders of the University of North Carolina system and community colleges, and all voting members of all state boards and commissions.Bipartisan Push for Automatic 401(k) Plans
CNSNews.com (Alexandria, Va.)
Former vice presidential candidates John Edwards and Jack Kemp joined forces on Tuesday in Pentagon City, Va., calling on corporations to offer automatic 401(k) options in an effort to boost the financial security of middle and lower-income American families. ... "This is an important step to ensure that seniors don't fall into poverty once they retire," said Edwards, who serves as director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina's School of Law.
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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