uncnews.unc.edu

Jan. 4, 2008

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

Thai "Stealth Coup" Threatens Pro - Thaksin Victory
Reuters (Wire Service)
Fears of a post-election dirty tricks campaign by Thailand's old guard appear to be coming true. ..."The idea of 65 suspicious cases against PPP seems odd," said Kevin Hewison, a Thai politics researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Satellites build a picture of the past
Cosmos (Australia)
Today's archaeologists are using high-tech tools - from NASA satellites to Google Earth - to do the hard work for them. ...Archaeologist Scott Madry, Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, U.S., stumbled across a newspaper covering Mori's story.

National Coverage

A raise that's hard to justify (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Los Angeles Times
On Jan. 1, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. again urged Congress to raise judicial salaries. Low judicial pay is causing a constitutional crisis, he says. It means we cannot attract good judges or keep the good judges we have. (Scott Baker is a professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

State & Local Coverage

Uphill Climb: Analysts say Edwards a contender despite not winning in Iowa
The Winston-Salem Journal
After months of pinning his hopes on Iowa, John Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, did not get the first-place result he was hoping for in last night's caucuses. ..."It's too early, it seems to me, to crown anyone the nominee. And Sen. Edwards has still got an uphill climb. He didn't come in first. But he didn't fall back into the second tier either," said Ferrel Guillory, an expert on Southern politics at UNC Chapel Hill.

State law at issue in Mackey dispute
The Charlotte Observer
Mecklenburg County's Republican commissioners maintained Thursday that state law gives the commission sole power to fill vacant sheriff positions -- a stance that could allow it to bypass controversial Sheriff-elect Nick Mackey. ...David Lawrence, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill's Institute of Government, said that while both laws give commissioners some role in filling a sheriff's vacancy, Mecklenburg must allow a political party to offer its choice.

UNC-affiliated aid group to shut doors in Kenya
WTVD/ABC (Raleigh)
An aid organization affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has shut down its operations in Kenya amid election violence. ...Organization President Rye Barcott said the recent rioting in Kibera is undoing much of the work accomplished by Carolina for Kibera. The group closed its offices indefinitely December 15th and its clinics December 26th in fear of election turmoil.

Family of triplets has emotional reunion at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
The Somerville family, formerly of Carrboro, has been through a lot. On the morning of Sept. 17, 1989, Karen Somerville gave birth to triplets 30 weeks premature. The three tiny girls were in newborn critical care on the fourth floor of Memorial Hospital on UNC's campus for weeks and weeks afterward, a time that has lingered in the minds of Karen and her husband John.
Related Link:
http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/search.apx.-content-articles-
NCN-2008-01-03-0025.html

Civil War detective solves grave mix-up
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Jacob Pfeiffer caught a rebel's bullet on the hip at Gettysburg in 1863, a wound that took a month to kill him. ...For example, there is no complete roster of Union dead to this day, said Harry Watson, director of the UNC Center for the Study of the American South.

Diverse art forms mark Triangle visual arts exhibits
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Diversity seems to be the watchword for the visual arts this spring. ...The Ackland Art Museum will bring together internationally recognized photojournalists, trained at UNC Chapel Hill's School of Journalism, whose photographs document scenes from the far corners of the world.

Whole lot of diversity goin' on (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Universities today are full of people who not only embrace diversity but who also talk a lot (endlessly?) about their zeal for social inclusion, their desire for a more democratic culture and a bigger public sphere. Often, they also decry the fact that "social capital" is eroding and the bonds of community are loosening. (Peter A. Coclanis is associate provost for international affairs and Albert R. Newsome professor of history at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

Issues & Trends

Search on for UNCG leader
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...UNC President Erskine Bowles will charge a search committee with the task of identifying candidates to succeed Chancellor Pat Sullivan, who announced in December that she would retire July 31. ...This year, Bowles will add at least three new chancellors to his leadership team at the 17-campus UNC system. Searches are now under way for leaders at Fayetteville State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Deep mental health reform sought
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The state Department of Health and Human Services is asking outside experts for help to improve its troubled mental hospitals and develop local plans for handling emergencies. ...Debra G. Dihoff, executive director of the advocacy group NAMI North Carolina, asked (Dempsey) Benton last fall to convene a team of experts to examine how the state hospitals work. She is now on such a team, along with representatives from the UNC School of Medicine, the N.C. Hospital Association, and others.

Charges argued in alleged sex assault on athletes
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A UNC-Chapel Hill football player thought he would have a story to tell his teammates the next day. But when a stranger put a knife to his throat, he feared for his life. That player and one other testified Thursday at a probable cause hearing against Tnikia Washington, Michael Troy Lewis and Monique Taylor, accused of kidnapping, robbing and sexually assaulting them.

Historic home condemned
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A promotion moved former UNC President Edward Kidder Graham out of the wood-shingled house that bears his name. Now, a storm that knocked two hardwood trees through the house's back wall has put a condemned notice on its front door.