Oct. 21, 2005

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Liberty Corner Says Not Target of Probe
The New York Times
A U.S. hedge fund involved in deals that led to the demise of Refco Inc. said on Thursday that investigators are not targeting the company, and that it is suing the futures brokerage, adding to the dense web of lawsuits surrounding Refco's meltdown. ...But there appears to be no economic reason for Refco to have entered a transaction like that, said Robert Bushman, a forensic accounting professor at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Despite storms, coasts grow
USA Today
Coastal counties from Texas to New England are growing by about 1,300 people every day despite a decade-long surge of hurricanes that has peaked this year with the most in one season since 1969. ...The cost extends beyond the buyers, says Philip Berke, professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "Even if they have insurance, the rest of the country will have to pay higher insurance rates."

Bringing out best in brains
The Kansas City Star
Students don’t all think the same. ...Mel Levine thinks the answer lies in the burgeoning field of brain-based education. “There’s a whole host of brain functions that must collaborate to do well in math, write a report or read fluently,” said Levine, founder of the nonprofit All Kinds of Minds Institute and director of the University of North Carolina’s Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning. “One of our jobs is to get schools to understand the specific functions that work together to get a kid to do something.”

State & Local Coverage

More college students forced to get loans
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
As college tuition continues to rise, the amount of money universities give to students has fallen for the third year in a row, forcing more degree-seekers to take out loans, according to a College Board study. But at a news conference announcing the results, a UNC-Chapel Hill program allowing qualified students to graduate debt-free was touted as a national model for helping lower-income students.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sept04/covenant092904.html
Carolina Covenant Web site: http://www.unc.edu/carolinacovenant

FBI Trying To Repair Image On College Campuses
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The idea of academics collaborating with the FBI might once have aroused loud complaints on some campuses where agents had spied on student protesters and government institutions were viewed with mistrust. ...The board includes University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chancellor James Moeser and former North Carolina State University head Marye Ann Fox, now at the University of California at San Diego.
Note: This story also aired on WUNC-FM this morning during local news breaks during NPR's Morning Edition.

Global Health wins $400K grant
The Chapel Hill Herald
The Office of Global Health at UNC's School of Public Health recently received a three-year, $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand global health curriculum and research opportunities campuswide and engage faculty and students in an interdisciplinary study of global health issues.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct05/framework101205.htm

Focus on diversity is laudable goal (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The head of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, a conservative think tank based in Raleigh, believes that UNC Chapel Hill is diverse enough. "The place is already incredibly diverse," says George Leef, a frequent critic of the university plans and programs.

Jazz's grande dame stays au courant
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
While Marian McPartland has plenty of "those were the days" memories, she lives in a perpetual "these are the days" mode. Her "Piano Jazz" show on National Public Radio has entered its 28th year. She continues to tour -- her trio returns to the Triangle on Thursday for a concert at UNC's Memorial Hall with singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. And she continues to record. "85 Candles -- Live in New York," recorded in 2003, and a just-released "Piano Jazz" program with Bruce Hornsby, both on Concord Jazz, are her latest albums.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct05/bridgemcpart101705.htm

Song of solidarity
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As the clock ticked toward 8 o'clock Monday night -- before house lights dimmed, the audience in a sold-out Memorial Hall (UNC-Chapel Hill) burst into spontaneous rounds of applause. They were ready and waiting for the Twelve Girls Band, a multiplatinum act in Asia, making an eleventh-hour stop during their booked American tour.

Peeling the Orange
The Chapel Hill Herald
The audience at the recent performance of the American Roots series at UNC's newly refurbished Memorial Hall was enthusiastic as the opening act, Tift Merritt, came out on the still-dark stage with her band.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct05/nancitift100305.htm

'20/20' co-host will speak at UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
John Stossel, co-host of ABC News' "20/20" program, will speak in Memorial Hall at UNC-Chapel Hill on Nov. 16. ...Stossel's speech, "Freedom and its Enemies," will cover a broad range of topics, including individual freedom, free markets and what Stossel has learned in his 30-year career in the media.

Peeling the Orange
The Chapel Hill Herald
No, those four ear-splitting, window-rattling jets that roared over Chapel Hill on Thursday before lunchtime were not part of some new effort to boost the safety of the downtown business district, or crack down on speeding on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. They were a flight of F-15Cs, doing practice runs for a planned flyover of Carolina's football game against Virginia Saturday, explains Michael Beale, director of marketing for the UNC Athletics Association.
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/print/friday/city_state/story/2821042p-9268369c.html

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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