October 29, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

New Drug Helps Control Type 2 Diabetes
Reuters International Wire Service
Long-term use of exenatide, an experimental diabetes drug derived from lizard saliva, reduces blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes who don't do well with sulfonylurea-type drugs, investigators report....Dr. John B. Buse from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill and colleagues studied 377 adults with type 2 diabetes that wasn't being controlled sufficiently with sulfonylurea drugs such as glipizide or chlorpropamide.

National Coverage

OK, put yer money where yer mouse is
Los Angeles Times
We bet on ballgames and poker, the Oscars and the Emmys, so why not the presidential election - especially one as tightly contested as this one?...."Americans are rediscovering betting on presidential races," said Koleman S. Strumpf, an associate professor of economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who tracks gambling trends.

Going Long: Hedge Funds Take the Edge Off
The Wall Street Journal
Hedge funds, known for embracing riskier strategies to score big gains, are trying to elbow into the $6 trillion market dominated by traditional money managers and mutual funds with a novel approach: simply buying and holding stocks....Others worry that the trend to start long-only products is part of a new move to boost assets, rather than focus on beating the market. The concern is that "it could be seen as asset gathering," says Michael Hennessy, vice president of University of North Carolina investment group, who says he is confident most hedge funds will continue to beat the markets with their stock picks.

Caxton, Maverick Capital Plan Stock Funds Without Hedging
Bloomberg News Services
Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates LLC and Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital are two of the hedge fund groups opening funds to bet only on rising stocks....``Any time an asset class attracts lots of capital, the returns go down,'' said Michael Hennessy, who runs investments for the $1.1 billion endowment of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Ever-Costlier MBA Degree
Business Week
Times were good when Sarah McNeilly earned her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1998....The University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School estimated it would up the 2004 tuition for the two-year MBA by 10.7%, to $67,000, while Michigan Business School planned to raise the two-year tuition 8.7%, to $75,376.

Location, Location, Location
Forbes
The latest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances shows that Americans invest their taxable accounts and their tax-deferred accounts--their 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts--almost identically, devoting just over two-thirds of each to stocks. Those who do this are stupid....The authors of the study are Dammon; Chester Spatt, another Carnegie Mellon prof, who is now serving as chief economist at the Securities & Exchange Commission; and Harold Zhang, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tony & Tacky
The Wall Street Journal
What if they held a political debate on campus and couldn't find a Republican professor to take part? That's what happened at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday, when Young Democrats and Young Republicans invited profs to debate campaign issues.

State & Local Coverage

Student's illness prompts warning
The News & Observer
An 18-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill student has been hospitalized with bacterial meningitis, and public health officials are urging anyone who came in contact with him last weekend to get a dose of antibiotics.
Related links: http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-538184.html
http://www.news-record.com/news/now/meningitis102904.htm
Note: Similar stories aired on WUNC-FM, WTVD-TV, WNCN-TV, News 14 (Time Warner), WLFL-TV , WRAL-TV and WCHL-AM.

Efforts aim to guard N.C. votes
The News & Observer
Some worry that lawyers could be the big winners in this election if there are legal challenges similar to those four years ago....In Chapel Hill, representatives of Election Protection North Carolina announced the opening of a voting rights hot line at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Note: A story also aired on WUNC-FM.

Judge: UNC, soccer coach violated no laws
The News & Observer
Six years after two University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill women's soccer players filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against their coach, Anson Dorrance, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled that the last remaining allegations in the case do not show violations of the law.
Related link: http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-538215.html

Breast cancer simmers as issue
The Charlotte Observer
Forget the war in Iraq or the economy. What's become the most contentious issue in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race is breast cancer...."It is extraordinary that this kind of issue has elevated itself to a major Senate campaign when you have a war in Iraq and a major economic transition in this state," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill.

Battle heats up in 'burbs
The News & Observer
Cecilia McCormick can't decide...."The breast-cancer and the nursing-home fights are the clue," said Ferrell Guillory, who studies politics and media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tech major loses its luster
The News & Observer
Offshoring, always an option for companies, could become a necessity. IBM, Dell and other high-tech corporations have come under fire in recent years for shifting jobs overseas...."Computer science is seen as a rather challenging major," said Kevin Jeffay, director of undergraduate studies for the University of North Carolina's computer science department.

Chick lit explosion!
The News & Observer
A steady stream of women made their way through Raleigh's Nofo @ the Pig one recent Saturday morning....Christina Pelech, the publicity manager and book buyer of Bull's Head, the bookstore at UNC-Chapel Hill, broke out a section for the books last year. She calls the section, "Lipstick lit."

Segway owner aims for balance
The News & Observer
Steven Waters is the kind of guy who turns heads....Waters, a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill, is the owner of one of those Segway Human Transporters, a two-wheeled motorized scooter.

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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.