November 26, 2003

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:

National Coverage

GOP Updates a Page From Great Society
Los Angeles Times
It is the health-care equivalent of President Nixon's going to China: The
biggest expansion of Medicare since its inception has been approved on
the watch of a Republican Congress and a Republican president....
"What really unlocked this and created a bidding war was the existence
of the surplus," said Jonathan Oberlander, a professor at the
University of North Carolina.

GOP puts its mark on Medicare
Dallas Morning News
The Senate approved a historic $400 billion prescription drug benefit on
Tuesday in a sweeping measure that is expected to frame years of debate
about how to pay for the retirement of the baby boom generation....
Jonathan Oberlander, a Medicare expert and professor of social
medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the
bill is at least a short-term victory for Republicans.

Some Shops Offer A New Kind of Clean
The Washington Post
Normandy Cleaners is a small shop, barely noticeable in the stretch of
storefronts at the Potomac Promenade Shopping Center in Potomac.
Even its new white neon "Natural CO 2 Cleaners" sign gets too washed
out to read on bright days....Joe DeSimone, professor of chemistry
and chemical engineering at the University of North Carolina and
North Carolina State University, says CO 2 doesn't beat up clothes like
perc does.

State and Local Coverage

UNC, hospital buy fire truck for town
The Chapel Hill Herald
The town's fire department will add another Carolina blue fire truck to its fleet,
with UNC and UNC Hospitals picking up the entire $110,000 bill for the new
vehicle....Pat Evans, the town's mayor pro tem, made that pitch several weeks
ago to UNC's Nancy Suttenfield and Eric Munson at the hospital, and Evans
said it took all of 15 minutes for them to agree to buy the vehicle

Making a difference
The Chapel Hill News
The first thing you notice when entering the Hospital School at UNC Hospitals
is that it looks nothing like a hospital.

ACLU to defend UNC student in music lawsuit
The Chapel Hill News
The American Civil Liberties Union has taken up the case of a UNC student
charged with illegal music-swapping.

UNC says house exchange still on
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC remains committed to exchanging the house it owns on East Rosemary
Street for the Cameron Avenue property owned by Cam Hill, a university official
said Tuesday...."I can understand why [Hill] would say that, but as best I know,
we still have a potential agreement," said Bruce Runberg, associate vice
chancellor for planning and construction at UNC.

Issues and Trends

Plane policy sought
The News & Observer
If the state's fleet of planes and helicopters were an airline, its shareholders
might raise a ruckus, a new state audit suggests....The state has 68 planes
and helicopters in its fleet. It owns all but 25. Of the rest, 19 are loaned by
the U.S. Forest Service to the state for fire control and prevention, and six
are leased to UNC-Chapel Hill's Area Health Education Centers program
by Medical Air, a private nonprofit agency affiliated with UNC-CH.

Breaking the mold, pronto (Opinion-Editorial)
The News & Observer
Thankfully, Gov. Mike Easley has taken it upon himself to fix the mold
problems that have closed two dormitories at N.C. Central University in
Durham....That's a graceful way to express what many people must have
been thinking: There is no way this inaction would have been tolerated if
the mold were affecting the predominantly white student body up the road
in Chapel Hill. Somehow, I don't see UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James
Moeser being forced to desperately beg for money and action on behalf of
his student body, as Ammons has.

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, please call Russell Campbell at News Services, (919) 962-2091, russell_campbell@unc.edu, or Mike McFarland in University Communications, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu

Note: Web links on this page are time-sensitive, so stories might not be available after the day they first appeared.