unc.edu/news

Raising The Ante In The Information Age
CBS News
In 1973, a book was published that showed journalists how to conduct and report polls, and gave them a solid grounding in statistics and databases. It has remained in most journalism-school curricula ever since, and is now in its fourth edition. ...After it was published, Phil Meyer became the Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina. Last week, UNC held a symposium in his honor, looking ahead to the future of journalism, including what will happen to newspapers, to research, and to news polls.

Regional Coverage

Hackers infiltrate Google searches
The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Hackers have turned their attention to search engines in the latest attempt to invade the computers of unsuspecting Web users. ...One site that was infected, the TalkingBiz blog run by the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, tried to get visitors to download malicious code from a site hosted in American Samoa that has since been taken down.

Clear head, good driving (Editorial)
The Santa Maria Times (California)
And while you're reaching for your wallet to pay off the oil companies, you might want to consider turning off your cell phone while driving. ...In fact, information from the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center indicates that using hands-free cell devices while driving may actually make a bad situation worse, because the sense of false security could encourage drivers to make more and longer calls.

State and Local Coverage

New UNC student leaders speak of past, future
The Chapel Hill Herald
New UNC Chapel Hill student government officers sworn in Tuesday acknowledged unprecedented challenges including the transition to a new chancellor and "these most inconceivable circumstances" -- the murder of former student body president Eve Carson. Carson's influence was everywhere during the inauguration ceremony at Frank Porter Graham Student Union -- from the blue ribbons worn by student leaders new and old, to the advice that outgoing officers passed on to successors.

Roses & raspberries (Opinion Column)
The Chapel Hill News
ROSES to UNC's Office of Special Events and the many others who organized and helped present the memorial service for Eve Carson at the Smith Center. At a time when everyone at the university was reeling from the student body president's murder, the people who coordinated the event somehow managed, in the space of just a few days, to put together a service that struck just the right note.

Reader questions UNC Hospitals fees (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
Although at 83 years of age, I am in reasonably good health. My personal physician, a member of the UNC Healthcare conglomerate, conducts routine blood work every three months. ...I suspect that the difference is that the charges by UNC Hospitals have to provide for the salaries -- with last year's bonuses now counted as salary after public protest -- for its CEO and senior administrative staff. (Junius Davis, Chapel Hill)

Issues and Trends

Chelsea shows low-key stump style
The Chapel Hill News
Chelsea Clinton put a full-court press on the Triangle's young voters Monday. In campaign stops at N.C. State University, Peace College and UNC, the daughter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton made the case for her mother's presidential campaign.
Related Link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/01/politics/uwire/main3988024.shtml

Stumping for Obama (Under the Dome)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Obama's campaign also announced that actors Shawn and Marlon Wayans will be visiting North Carolina colleges this weekend. Their mission -- to get students registered to vote. ...The actors are scheduled to visit N.C. State, N.C. Central, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, N.C. A&T, UNC-Greensboro, Winston-Salem State and Wake Forest.

Reasons to not sell water to UNC for irrigation (Letter to the Editor)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Seeing is believing, but I still can't believe the front page story in The Herald-Sun on March 29, "Officials consider buying water to save athletic fields." ... Many of us earnestly prayed for rain, and I believe the Lord sent it. Now, I pray, say "no way" to UNC. (Mary Cash, Durham)
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/index.cfm#938731

Durham must begin to invest in its youth (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Black males, 17 and 21, charged with killing the UNC student body president. ...The general criminal age demographic in Durham is unfortunately between the ages of 16-25. Sadly, this narrative seems all too common in Durham.
Related Links:
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/13643.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/columnists/mccann/

Report: Inadequate Staffing Led to Probation Oversights
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
Parole officers and supervisors from Wake and Durham counties expressed concerns over constant and multiple vacancies, new staff and a lack of training, according to an investigative report released Wednesday in the cases of two men charged in the death of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's student body president.
Related Links:
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/index.cfm#938731
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/chhletters/index.cfm#938745
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/durham/durham/story/1021828.html

Northwestern University tests new emergency-alert system
The Chicago Tribune
Northwestern University tested its new outdoor emergency-alert system Tuesday morning, joining other schools nationwide that instituted safety measures in the wake of shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech. ...Brown University in Rhode Island introduced a siren system in late February, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's siren system launched in March.