uncnews.unc.edu

International Coverage

Alternative colorectal cancer drug found
United Press International
U.S. medical scientists say they've found a compound that effectively treats colorectal cancer but with fewer side effects than with a commonly used drug. ...and Joyce Reardon and Aziz Sancar of the University of North Carolina appeared in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Kenan-Flagler appoints in-house dean
Financial Times (United Kingdom)
Jim Dean, a career academic, is to be the next dean of the Kenan-Flagler business school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, succeeding banker Steve Jones, who will step down from the job in August.

National Coverage

From a Prominent Death, Some Painful Truths
The New York Times
Apart from its sadness, Tim Russert’s death this month at 58 was deeply unsettling to many people who, like him, had been earnestly following their doctors’ advice on drugs, diet and exercise in hopes of avoiding a heart attack. ...“It’s the real dilemma we have in cardiology today,” said Dr. Sidney Smith, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and a past president of the American Heart Association.

Achieving Wellness, Whatever That Is (Book Review)
The New York Times
There are so few good belly laughs in health care these days. ...Everyone, perhaps, but Dr. (Nortin) Hadler, a rheumatologist and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina who is a longtime debunker of much the establishment holds dear.

Turning That Layoff Into Career Catalyst
The Wall Street Journal
Nine months into her first job, Mary Wisniewski returned from a business trip to Switzerland in April -- and was laid off. ...Marcia Harris, director of University Career Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, urges those laid off to obtain a letter of recommendation before leaving the company, explaining what happened and why, indicating the employee wasn't at fault.

Bill Gates, in other people's words
Computerworld
..."[IT is] a business I don't know anything about, but I admire Bill Gates enormously. I know him individually, and I think he's incredible in business." — Investor Warren Buffett, in a 1994 lecture at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Regional Coverage

Obama Rides The Wave
The Huffington Post (New York, N.Y.)
Barack Obama is riding the leading edge of a Democratic wave, benefiting from a potential -- although by no means certain -- cyclical shift in the partisanship of American voters which could last at least through 2016, if managed carefully. ..."All regimes overshoot what the electorate wants in their policy behavior to satisfy both their own internal ideologies and their party base, and thus sow the seeds of future opposition," said University of North Carolina political scientist James Stimson, citing as two examples the administrations of Lyndon Baines Johnson and George W. Bush.

U of L launches one-stop autism center
The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
When her grandson Harrison was diagnosed with autism 8½ years ago, University of Louisville Trustee Sandy Metts Snowden found there was "so little support for him" that her family sought help in New Jersey. ...In attempting to address this fragmentation, he said he drew inspiration from programs like one at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which provides, among other things, research, diagnostic evaluations, parent training and support groups, as well as recreation groups and supported employment.

State and Local Coverage

Dean picked as business dean
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Longtime faculty member James W. Dean Jr. has been picked as dean of the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. ..."He will make an excellent dean and has a compelling vision for how Kenan-Flagler can become even better in the future," Gray-Little wrote.

Science camp sparks interest in kids
News 14 Carolina (Charlotte/Greensboro/Raleigh)
The United States House of Representatives voted to boost funding for science agencies by $330 million. That includes money for the National Science Foundation to train more math and science teachers. ..."It's very important because we as a nation are not leading like we used to in science education for our kids and our students, and they are our future,” Crystal Harden, a student at UNC Chapel Hill said.
UNC Media Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/destiny-science-bus/glaxosmithkline-uncs-planetarium-
hold-summer-science-camp-in-durham.html

State Labor Commissioner
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
The office of state labor commissioner might not attract much attention at election time, but that doesn't mean it's not important. Employers and employees both fall under the commissioner's purview, which means whoever wins this November could have an impact on you directly. Today's run-off between Democrats John Brooks and Mary Fant Donnan is a prelude to that bigger battle later this fall, so UNC sociology professor Andrew Perrin joins host Frank Stasio to examine this race, its top issues, and the future of North Carolina labor politics
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.

UNC Health makes in vitro more affordable
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC Health Care has launched a new program to help make in vitro fertilization more affordable. The university's Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility is the only IVF provider in the Triangle to offer the IntegraMed Shared Risk Refund Program.

As gas hits $4, will locals change their driving habits?
The Star-News (Wilmington)
...Across the country, Americans are wondering: What happened at the gas station? ...Howard Aldrich, chairman of the sociology department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said people generally don’t like change, especially when they feel they’ll be losing something.

Youth to perform 'The Music Man'
The Chapel Hill Herald
A cast of 40 young actors, ages 9 through 18, will perform Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" July 24-27 in UNC's Center for Dramatic Art. For the second year, PlayMakers Repertory Company, the university's professional theater company, joins with The ArtsCenter for a Summer Youth Conservatory -- five weeks of theater training that began Monday.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/musicman0608.html

Issues and Trends

Repeal sought on bargaining bill
The Chapel Hill Herald
A group of about 30 representatives from various Democratic, faith-based and employee groups asked state Rep. Joe Hackney Monday to lead the charge in repealing a bill that bans collective bargaining between government entities and public employees. ...If the bill were passed, it would affect the major employers in Orange County -- UNC, UNC Hospitals, the public schools and governments.