uncnews.unc.edu

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

National Coverage

Soon, Helmet Data at a Keystroke
The New York Times
When a parent or youth-sports official decides which helmet will protect the head of a young football player, hard information ducks for cover. ... Scott Trulock, the head athletic trainer for University of North Carolina football, said he remained cautiously optimistic. He said that Duma’s information — which could hit the Web as early as May — would not undergo the peer review it would typically warrant. And making it available to the public, without a full explanation that still could be ignored, might backfire.

Showers of blackbirds air out conspiracy theories
The Associated Press
The moon turns blood red. The earth shakes. Soldiers die in wars. And the world keeps spinning, even though these events fit neatly into apocalyptic predictions. So why, when swarms of winged creatures hit the dirt in Arkansas and elsewhere, do some indulge their inner conspiracy theorists and believe more than ever that the end of days is near? "There's no prophecy in the Bible about the birds falling from the sky," says Bart D. Ehrman, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who sometimes teaches a class called "Apocalypse Now and Then."

State and Local Coverage

First in value (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
No doubt about it, Kiplinger's Personal Finance likes UNC-Chapel Hill. For the tenth straight year the consumer magazine ranks the campus No. 1 in the nation for educational value. Value, in this listing, comes from a combination of affordability (with Chapel Hill's charges for in-state students now a bit higher than the national public-university average) and academics (highly selective admissions, etc.). So if you get in, you get good value, says Kiplinger.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4177/68/

Taking the pulse of volcanoes
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina's last volcanic eruption occurred at least 200 million years ago, so it might be surprising to find a volcanologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. But for the past 10 years, geological sciences professor Jonathan Lees has traveled the globe studying these natural explosions after being lured to the state to study geothermal fields with colleagues at both UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke.

A growing attraction
The Greensboro News-Record
Flying out of Piedmont Triad International Airport can be a leisurely affair, as passengers go from ticket counter to security without much of a crowd to move through. ... John Kasarda , a UNC-Chapel Hill professor and airport commerce expert, wrote a detailed report about the concept for the partnership. This region must do several things, he said, including making sure good industrial land is preserved within a 20-minute driving distance of the hub.

A discovery on sleep-wake signals
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The underlying molecular signals that influence the sleep-wake cycle as well as cancer growth have been illuminated by scientists at UNC-Chapel Hill. The group, led by Aziz Sancar, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics, has focused on the mechanisms by which genes interact with light in an organism's environment. About 15 years ago, Sancar discovered the human protein cryptochrome that acts as a core component of the molecular clock in mammals. The protein is also found in fruit flies, other insects and plants.

NFL Charities Rewards UNC for Concussion Research
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
A National Football League organization has awarded a $100,000 grant to UNC’s Center for the Study of Retired Athletes to support concussion research. NFL Charities commended the center for its commitment to studying the long-term effects of concussions and hopes the center will continue its groundbreaking research.
UNC Brief: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4184/107/

Divorce may be available at low cost
The Chapel Hill Herald/The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law and Legal Aid of North Carolina are providing low-cost divorces for low-income people. Orange County District Court judges will soon begin holding hearings and issuing divorce judgments at the law school, with law students representing clients under supervision by clinical professor Beth Posner. "Attorney and court fees are out of reach for poor people," according to a news release from Legal Aid's Pittsboro office. "Divorce, however, should not be a legal remedy that is only available to people of means."

Aetna-UNC flap may limit care
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A contract dispute between Aetna and the UNC Health Care System is threatening to disrupt thousands of the health insurer's members in the Triangle. The fight, naturally, is over money. UNC Health, which also owns Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, wants higher fees for its facilities and physicians to treat Aetna members. Aetna is trying to keep costs down for employers that buy coverage for their workers and other customers.

UNC Kicks Off Spring Concert Series
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
The UNC Music Department is inviting you to attend their spring performance season, beginning next week on the Chapel Hill campus. Opera director and music department chair Terry Rhodes says there are too many great concerts on tap to even begin to list them all.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4178/66/

State braces for aging boomers
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Baby boomers are doing it again: insisting the world change as they push through it. This time, they are shaping the most unwieldy institution of all: North Carolina's government. The first of the boomers turned 65 last week. Every day for the next 19 years, 10,000 boomers in the United States will pass that milestone. This year in North Carolina, more than 84,000 are expected to do so. ... "We're a self-centered and demanding bunch," said Bill Lamb, who works for UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute on Aging. "And, we've had a whole lifetime of understanding that we get our way."

What Silent Sam says
The Chapel Hill Herald
A letter to the editor last week has re-opened a debate about Silent Sam, the bronze Confederate soldier who stands in McCorkle Place looking north toward Franklin Street. The letter-writer, Gerald Horne, says the statue - erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1913 as a memorial to the UNC students and alumni who fought and died in the Civil War - is a "monument to violence and racism."

The kindest bad news bearer UNC ever had
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For a long stretch in the 1970s and '80s, UNC-Chapel Hill students seeking in-state residency - and the huge tuition break it would provide - would plead their case to Douglass Hunt. The answer was often "no," but Hunt took special care in delivering the bad news, recalled longtime co-worker Sam Williamson. "He could be gracious and pleasant and generous," said Williamson. "He helped put a human face on an increasingly bureaucratic educational process."
UNC Statement: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4176/68/

Meeting to discuss Bingham animals
The Durham Herald-Sun
UNC plans to "re-purpose" the Bingham Facility, shifting from large animals to small animals, such as caged rodents, and a meeting is planned for 4:30 p.m. today with Bob Lowman, associate vice chancellor of research assigned by Chancellor Holden Thorp to manage the facility and its operations.

Issues and Trends

A New Econ Core
Inside HigherEd
Ph.D. programs in economics are built on a common core of courses taken by students of a variety of specialties and philosophies within the field. In theory, this core represents must-know material for everyone in the field. But is it as relevant as it should be? And could it be discouraging creativity?

Opportunity knocks, hard, for Perdue
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, the next six months could tell the tale of her administration. Faced with a gaping $3.7 billion budget shortfall and a new Republican legislature, Perdue will find her political, budgetary and administrative skills tested as never before. During the first half of her term - the midpoint is Monday - Perdue has been buffeted by a deep recession, an ongoing fiscal crisis, a raft of budget cuts, state employee furloughs, salary freezes, a tax increase, and state and federal investigations that have left her among the nation's most unpopular governors.

Ground broken at 140 West
The Chapel Hill News
Representatives from the town of Chapel Hill and Ram Realty Services gathered Wednesday morning for a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark the start of construction of the 140 West Franklin mixed-use project in the heart of downtown. The $55 million, eight-story development will include 140 condominiums, 26,000 square feet of retail space and a public open space above two levels of underground parking.