uncnews.unc.edu

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

National Coverage

The Fact Checker: Obama's 2011 State of the Union address
The Washington Post
...Big companies often complain that the top U.S. corporate tax rate, 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But a recent University of North Carolina study of the period from 2003 to 2007, spotlighted in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, suggests that the effective tax rate - what multinationals pay after credits, deductions and tax strategies - in the United States is really not much different than in the rest of the world.

Think bigger, Mr. Obama (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Washington Post
...Lowering the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent while closing the loopholes that enable companies to pay far lower rates will surely simplify the tax code. Whether it will increase domestic investment, however, is anybody's guess. According to a University of North Carolina survey of multinational corporations' tax payments from 2003 to 2007, as reported by Bloomberg Businessweek this month, the effective tax rate of U.S. multinationals was 26 percent, while the global average for multinationals was 25 percent.

For Rep. Giffords, fitness level bodes well for recovery
USA Today
..."There's still so much we don't know about her brain injuries," says (Karen) McCulloch, director of physical therapy education at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She is not involved in Giffords' care but says she is watching every step of the congresswoman's progress from afar. "The fact that she is a motivated, driven, bright, active person could be assets. If she has really good endurance, that can be helpful."

Research Universities and the Sputnik Moment (Opinion)
Science Progress.org
It’s hard to imagine a meaningful response to President Obama’s “Sputnik moment” that does not involve the nation’s research universities. With a history measured in centuries rather than years or decades, combined endowments in excess of $250 billion, Nobel prize-winning faculty, and a generation of students as intellectually curious and socially committed as any in history, research universities are among the crown jewels of our society. (Holden Thorp is Chancellor and Buck Goldstein is the University Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

Does Pursuing Our Passions Really Make Us Happier?
The Huffington Post
...Stocking up on positive events is important because we're usually in a losing battle against the negative avalanche barreling down on us from all sides. Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina has documented that we need a three-to-one ratio of positive to negative events to stay on the positive side of the ledger.

Regional Coverage

Why some black males avoid doctors (Blog)
The Indianapolis Star (Indiana)
...Apparently, a good portion of them doesn’t trust the health care system, found researchers at the University of North Carolina. ...To improve the health of black men, the study’s author, UNC health assistant professor Wizdom Powell Hammond, said the reason why they lack trust in the health care system and its providers should be analyzed.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4197/107/

State and Local Coverage

FDR's summons to progress (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
On Jan. 11, 1944, President Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union address from the White House by radio. The nation had not fully recovered from the Great Depression and was engaged in a ferocious war, with D-Day still half a year away. After delivering his summons to Congress and the people to take actions he thought necessary to win the war, Roosevelt turned his attention beyond the war and to "the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever known before.'' (Ferrel Guillory is director of the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill and a senior fellow at MDC, a Chapel Hill-based nonprofit. Richard Hart is communications director at MDC.)

Someone Is Watching Us
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
How much does privacy matter to the Internet generation? Facebook and Twitter are changing our understanding of what information we deem off-limits to the world at large. We are easier than ever to market to. Even more troubling is the question of whether the government is taking advantage of access to our personal information. Host Frank Stasio talks about the changing nature of privacy with Sarah Preston, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina; Laura Gasaway, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Law; media lawyer Hugh Stevens; and Landon Cox, assistant professor of computer science at Duke University.

UNC Profs Talk Wikileaks
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
It’s a fascinating issue of global importance, and two UNC journalism professors will engage in dialogue on the law and the ethics of WikiLeaks Wednesday. Jan Boxill is the director of the Parr Center for Ethics. She says Cathy Packer and Lois Boynton will be discussing WikiLeaks as part of the monthly “Lunch and Learn” program.

UNC baseball team helps boy through brain surgery
The Star News (Wilmington)
Wilmington resident Zion Kinlaw, age 10, was about to check into the hospital in Chapel Hill to have brain surgery on Oct. 5. ...The visit resulted in a chance meeting with Tar Heels assistant coach Scott Jackson, a former coach at UNC-Wilmington. And that chance meeting turned into an inspirational trek for Zion and the UNC coaches and players, one of whom is a cancer survivor.

Roses & raspberries (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
Roses to Delta Kappa Epsilon, which found a way to turn a tragedy into something positive. ...Smith's friends, family and fraternity brothers got the house built. But they didn't stop there. They had raised more money than was needed for the one house, and Habitat asked whether they might put the excess, and some additional labor, toward building a playground for the community's children.

Jazz Man
The Chapel Hill News
Wynton Marsalis, the first jazz composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music and the first artist ever to win Grammy Awards in jazz and classical music in the same year, will bring his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to Memorial Hall on the UNC campus for two shows this weekend.

Stirring the Southern cuisine pot
The Charlotte Observer
Is polenta Southern food? ...I spent most of my time listening to Marcie Cohen Ferris, the Southern Studies specialist at UNC Chapel Hill. Ferris is one of those smart people who helps the rest of us figure things out. She brought up the misconceptions that surround what Southern food is, and isn't.

Flatbread pizza delivers taste and convenience (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Who doesn't love pizza? It's quick and convenient, and it tastes great. You can customize it to make it even more appealing. But what it offers in flavor and practicality can be offset by other, less wholesome features. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

Homeless man forces his way into UNC frat house
WTVD-TV (ABC/Raleigh)
UNC fraternity members come to the rescue of a woman who police say was attacked inside their house. It happened at the Beta Theta Pi house in Chapel Hill. Lt. Kevin Gunter says Chapel Hill Police were called to the frat house on South Columbia Street around 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Related Link:
http://wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=17242

Aetna clients' care is in limbo
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Aetna and the UNC Health Care System are headed to a contract cutoff next week, with neither side willing to back down from their financial fight. Unless it's resolved at the last minute, the dispute will disrupt medical care for thousands of Aetna members.Many are scrambling to find new providers to avoid paying higher out-of-pocket costs.

Issues and Trends

Obama Calls for Spending Freeze but Says He'll Spare Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In a State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama proposed a five-year freeze in discretionary spending on nondefense programs and vowed to veto any bill containing earmarks. But the president said he would spare education and research from the freeze and spending cuts, calling them vital to the nation's long-term growth and competitiveness.
Related Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/us/politics/26speech.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

Penn State to Dump Coal for Natural Gas
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania State University has approved a plan to spend $25-million to $35-million to convert the campus’s aging coal plant to natural gas. ...Cornell University, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina, among other major institutions, have also started switching to natural gas.

Perdue may seek to keep tax increases
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue greeted the first Republican legislature in more than a century Tuesday, agreeing to deeper budget cuts, proposing to eliminate inefficient boards and commissions, and carefully tucking away her veto pen. But as Perdue extended the olive branch to the GOP legislature, she also laid the groundwork for a potential clash. In preparing her budget recommendations to the legislature, Perdue said she was considering including $1.3 billion in temporary tax increases passed by the legislature in 2009 - but due to expire in June - as an alternative to large-scale cuts in education.

Universities on block for NC Legislature budget ax
The Associated Press
North Carolina lawmakers will consider slashing the ranks of university professors and raising college tuition during the General Assembly session that begins Wednesday, overshadowed by a budget crisis that could eliminate some degree programs. ...Some $620 million in state funds were cut in the past four years and mostly took a toll on administration, so further trims will be felt by students, said Jeff Davies, the UNC system's top operating officer. "We are seeing more pain on the academic side of the house," Davies said Tuesday, adding that legislators have a tremendous task ahead to balance the state budget now at $19 billion. "This is the most difficult economy in my lifetime."

Reaves announces committee to help with long-term budget woes
The Winston-Salem Journal
Chancellor Donald Reaves of Winston-Salem State University said recently that he will form a budget advisory committee to help him decide what cuts the university should make as it heads into leaner years. The school, and others in the 17-campus UNC system, has had to deal with a series of mandated budget cuts to make up for a drop in state appropriations. Over the past four years, WSSU's budget has been slashed by $21 million.

Troubleshooter: Complaints rise over state-employee driving
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The number of complaints lodged against state employees driving state-owned vehicles has skyrocketed over the past four years. Last year, there were 752 complaints compared with just 176 complaints in 2006.