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Carolina in the News: Friday, March 14, 2008 Print E-mail
Friday, March 14, 2008
Remembering Eve Carson

Below is a brief sampling of the national, regional and local coverage of these tributes to Eve and her contributions to Carolina and the lives of so many in Chapel Hill.

Carson's killing jolts NCSU and Duke, too
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
At N.C. State University next week, students will wear baby blue -- not generally a popular color in Raleigh -- as a tribute to Eve Carson, the UNC-Chapel Hill student body president killed last week. "Everybody knows that N.C. State fans hate Carolina Blue," said Zach Adams, NCSU's senior class president. "So the idea is to really show support by looking beyond our rivalry to something much bigger." NCSU students will be urged to attend the memorial Tuesday at UNC-CH as well. It is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center. A tribute for Carson also was held prior to the recent Duke-UNC-CH men's basketball game at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Related Link: http://news14.com/content/headlines/
593836/ncsu--unc-to-honor-slain-student/Default.aspx

Break in a case (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Brutal, senseless killings are a community tragedy. There is no way to reverse the loss, but when law enforcement responds swiftly and efficiently, that at least can be something of an antidote to people's grief, fear and anger. The slaying last week of Eve Carson, student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill, elicited just such a response, which now has resulted in the arrest of two suspects. This took good, cooperative work by police departments in Chapel Hill and Durham. The arrests were prompt and no one was hurt. It will fall to the courts to determine whether the two young Durham men who were arrested -- both presumed innocent -- are in fact guilty as charged, but this is the path that must be followed for justice to be done.

Suspects in Carson slaying were both on probation
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Two days before Eve Carson was shot, a man now charged in her killing showed up at a Wake County court for a probation violation hearing that could have landed him in jail, officials said Thursday. The hearing for Demario James Atwater never happened because of a paperwork mistake, said Robert Lee Guy, director of the state Division of Community Corrections.

Suspect in Duke Death to Appear in Court
The Associated Press (National)
A man suspected of killing a Duke University graduate student and the University of North Carolina student body president is expected in court. Authorities say 17-year-old Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr. is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday morning in Durham in the fatal shooting of Abhijit Mahato (Ab-ah-SHEET muh-HA-toe). The 29-year-old computational mechanics student was found dead in January inside his apartment a few blocks south of Duke's campus. Lovette should be in nearby Hillsborough Friday afternoon to face charges in the death of Eve Carson. The 22-year-old Georgia native was found fatally shot March 5 in the middle of a residential street in Chapel Hill.

Acts of Faith
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Rev. WonGong So, left, leads a deliverance ceremony for Eve Carson at the Won-Buddhism Meditation Temple in Chapel Hill. Carson, the student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill, was shot to death March 5. 'Eve left this world without unfolding her visions and dreams fully,' WonGong So said.

The promise to come (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It is such a pity that the story on Page 4B of your March 13 paper ("13 in Triangle win UNC grant") could not have been substituted for the front page headline "One man held, another at large in Carson case." I can think of no better tribute to the memory of Eve Carson than the prominent recognition of these wonderful, brilliant students who will become her successors and leaders in the academic and social life at UNC. Congratulations to each of them for setting such a fine example for all of our youth. May they enjoy the success in their lives that was denied to Eve.

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

International Coverage

Trapped spheres of water make perfect protein prison
New Scientist (United Kingdom)
A material with a love-hate relationship with water immobilises droplets so completely that small spheres of water remain pinned to its surface even when hung upside down. ... Royce Murray, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US, is unsure whether there is much need to use such small samples when testing drinking water. However, such small immobilised droplets could serve as perfect prison cells for single protein molecules, he adds, trapping them in one small place long enough for mass spectrometry analysis to show how they unfold.


Being the first-born may not be so good after all
ANI (Asian News International)
Contrary to a common perception that baby birds that are laid before their siblings have a better chance of survival, a new study at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has shown that the first-laid eggs are in fact least likely to hatch at all. Keith Sockman, an assistant biology professor in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences along with his team studied the Lincoln's sparrows in a remote stretch of Colorado's San Juan Mountains for three breeding seasons. "I believe this is the first study to follow siblings from laying through fledging and demonstrate that the effect of laying order on hatching is very different from its effect post-hatching," said Sockman.


National Coverage

Even The Brass Is Hitting The Books
Business Week
... The UNC program is modeled on one started by the Navy in 2003 that has trained nearly 500 officers. The Air Force began a similar program last year. "Now you have more things you have to do with a given level of resources," says Harry Quast, a Navy coordinator for higher education. "Instead of building aircraft carriers, which we still do, we need things that are more appropriate to the type of challenges in Afghanistan and Iraq.... It heightens the requirement to make operations more efficient." Since its start, the Navy program has added courses on risk management and strategic planning, including some at Babson College's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. "When you get to be an admiral, those positions are more like business jobs," says James W. Dean, UNC's dean of academic affairs.

'The Wire': War of Truths (Opinion Column)
The New York Sun
... This is a lesson many social scientists consider a precious wisdom, but research doesn't bear it out. Rather, studies by social scientists such as Harry Holzer, the former chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor and a professor of public policy at the Georgetown's Public Policy Institute, and James Johnson, a professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina, have shown that factory relocation was responsible for at most a third of the rise in unemployment of uneducated young men in the 1980s.

Regional Coverage

Study of birds shows firstborn may not be the last standing
The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
News bulletin: Despite the cliché to the contrary, the early bird doesn't always get the worm. At least not if the bird is a Lincoln's sparrow, living high in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. That's what Keith Sockman has found, after studying the diminutive songbirds nesting in subalpine meadows at 10,500 feet on Molas Pass. Sockman, 39, a 1986 graduate of Cheyenne Mountain High School, is an assistant professor of biology at the well-regarded University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He's just published a paper in the natural science journal PLoS ONE that challenges notions about the benefits of being the firstborn - or in this particular case the firsthatched.
UNC News Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/science-and-technology/
early-bird-doesnt-always-get-worm-unc-researcher-finds.html

Water forum focuses on toxic algae in Lake Erie
Toledo Blade (Ohio)
Western Lake Erie's newest form of toxic algae is a tough nut to crack. Called lyngbya wollei, it's hardy enough to survive frozen water. And, as a national algae expert said yesterday at a conference in Toledo, there's probably a lot more than phosphorus that's feeding it. "It's almost like a cockroach. It can grow out of practically nothing, with just a few crumbs, and then keep growing," Hans W. Paerl, a University of North Carolina marine and environmental sciences professor, said at the Toledo Yacht Club.

State & Local Coverage

UNC researchers say they’ve improved a vaccine for tuberculosis – Rose Hoban reports.
WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)
…[Tony] Hickey [from the UNC School of Pharmacy] worked on an inhaled version of the vaccine. It’s worked well in animals and can be stored at room temperature. “There’s no obvious barrier to it going forward. Since BCG is already approved, what we’re really talking about is another route of administration, so this is not a totally new vaccine that a person has never seen before.”
Note: This story was broadcast during WUNC’s hourly newscasts this morning (Friday, March 14).
UNC News Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/
health-and-medicine/unc-harvard-develop-inhaled-tb-vaccine.html

Sugarless gum may fix constipation
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Maybe this explains why only four out of five dentists recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chew gum: Turns out the first ingredient in most sugarless gums is a laxative: sweet-tasting sorbitol. And there's growing interest among medical providers in harnessing gum's unintended powers to help patients whose insides are, well, gummed up. UNC-Chapel Hill researchers recently found that patients who chewed sugarless gum after bladder surgery were able to do their business several hours sooner than those who did not.

Hansbrough truly deserving of honor (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
 The Tar Heels aren't playing at home today, although the arena in Charlotte for the ACC men's basketball tournament should be heavily colored Carolina blue. The regular season is over and it's time for the madness of tournaments. That means the Heels' No. 50 won't be playing in front of the adoring home crowd at the Dean E. Smith Center. In fact, Tyler Hansbrough may never play again for the Heels, at home or elsewhere, after this year -- it would not be surprising if he decides to forego his senior year and become a professional. ... As anyone who has seen him play well knows, Hansbrough is not the most graceful of athletes. Unlike most basketball players, he is neither lithe nor particularly nimble. In fact, he plays basketball like it was football -- physically, occasionally brutally. He is wonderfully skilled in knowing how to use his body, how to maneuver and maximize his advantages. But that's not why Tar Heel fans admire him so much.

Gifts critical to our goals (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The roles of philanthropy and corporate funding in academia are significant issues that should be discussed while protecting academic freedom. Our premise is that there is a role for corporate-university partnerships. Moreover, they can provide ethical resources for research to solve 21st century problems. Some of the greatest challenges we face are in public health. Daunting public health problems, such as obesity, lack of safe drinking water, health disparities and infectious diseases, threaten our health and economic well-being. The UNC School of Public Health is a leader in finding solutions to these challenges. Rated as the top public school of public health (U.S. News & World Report, March 30, 2007), we are enormously proud to be North Carolina's school of public health.
Note: Barbara K. Rimer is dean and alumni distinguished professor at the UNC School of Public Health. Julie MacMillan is managing director of Carolina Public Health Solutions.

PlayMakers will present 9 plays in 2008-09 season
The Herald-Sun
William Shakespeare's "Pericles" and the regional premiere of Tanya Barfield's play "Blue Door" are among nine plays that PlayMakers Repertory company will present during the company's 2008-2009 season. Among the productions planned for next season, the UNC company will present Tennessee Williams' classic "The Glass Menagerie" in rotating repertory with Lisa Kron's Broadway play "Well." ... PlayMakers is the professional theater company in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All performances will be presented at UNC's Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road.
UNC News Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/
playmakers-repertory-company-unveils-2008-2009-season.html

3 from mountains win Morehead-Cain scholarships
The Times-News (Hendersonville)
High school seniors from Brevard, Asheville and Sylva were named Morehead-Cain scholars, receiving one of the most prestigious college scholarship awards in the U.S. to attend the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The mountain award winners were Allison Colleen Hawkins of Brevard High School, Leah Rose Downey of Asheville High School and Grayson Elliott Cooper of Sylva, a student at the N.C. School of Science and Math.
UNC News Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/students/
79-u.s.-high-school-seniors-named-morehead-cain-scholars.html

Move and layoffs repeat a Motricity pattern
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Until last week, Motricity was a symbol for entrepreneurial possibility and a shining corporate headquarters for the city of Durham. ... Indeed, there is something to be said for a little business theater when forging strategic relationships, said Hugh O'Neill, a professor of organizational behavior and strategy at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler business school. It's when that spending fails to yield returns that board directors should step in to admonish management. As for the merger deal, most experts agree Motricity has deeper and broader customer relationships with InfoSpace and more revenue streams to mitigate risk. But don't be surprised if the company gets bought, reconfigured or stripped down for parts, said O'Neill of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Issues & Trends

Higher water rates for Chapel Hill-Carrboro
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Southern Orange County water customers will face higher rates Monday despite rains that have filled the water supply to 57 percent full. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority board decided last night to proceed with the higher water rates in an effort to encourage customers to continue saving water. OWASA is the community-owned, public non-profit water and sewer utility serving the Chapel Hill–Carrboro community including UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Hospitals.