Home arrow Carolina in the News arrow Carolina in the News: Friday, June 10, 2011
Carolina in the News: Friday, June 10, 2011 E-mail
Friday, June 10, 2011

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

National Coverage

Making a home in one of North Carolina's fastest-growing places
CNN

...North Carolina's population exploded in the last 10 years, especially around Charlotte's booming (then busting) financial industry. "We're it," said James H. Johnson Jr., a professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan Flagler Business School and director of the Kenan Institute's Urban Investment Strategies Center. "We are the cat's demographic meow. We are a real migration magnet."

When a miscarriage isn't a fluke
CNN

...Some clotting disorders, such as factor V Leiden and antiphospholipid antibodies, can put women at a higher risk for pregnancy loss. For a list, see Clot Connect, run by Dr. Stephan Moll, a hematologist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Consumer Safety: A Fight Over Table Saws
Businessweek

...For eight years, Gass has lobbied the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to require all table saws sold in the U.S. to be equipped with SawStop or a similar safety device. ...In March he demonstrated his invention for Robert S. Adler, a former University of North Carolina business professor and recent Barack Obama appointee to the CPSC. "I couldn't believe anything could work that fast," says Adler, who is now in favor of revisiting the issue.

State and Local Coverage

The Power of History
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM

Erik Muller wanted to examine the power of place and whether it can transform the ethical decisions you make in your every day job. He recently traveled with a group of students to Auschwitz and other historic sites in Germany in pursuit of the answer. Host Frank Stasio talks about history and its ability to change the choices we make with Eric Muller, Law School professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Financial stress spurs leakage of UNC’s high-end faculty talent
The Triangle Business Journal

Against the backdrop of the recession and ongoing budget cutting in Raleigh, UNC-Chapel is increasingly losing some of its best and brightest faculty to other universities capable of making better offers that can’t be beaten or even matched. It’s an alarming development for a university that prides itself on recruiting and retaining top teaching and research talent. Chancellor Holden Thorp blames financial uncertainty as a major factor.

UNC researcher identifies 18 startup ‘dealmakers’ in area
The Triangle Business Journal

It’s not the venture dollars. It’s not the number of entrepreneurs. It’s the people who network it all together that will be key to growth of the Triangle as an entrepreneurial region. That’s the conclusion of research by Ted Zoller, director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, who compiled statistics on 358 companies started in the Triangle since 1984 that survived until 2010.

Artists can design cows in N.C. Children's Hospital fundraiser
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

...With some imagination, the parade of cows is likely to bring global followers to the Triangle, said Patti Thorp, a member of the hospital's board of visitors and wife of UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp. "CowParade is an opportunity for artists to participate in an internationally recognized art display," Thorp said.

Reclaimed water set to quench Kenan thirst
The Chapel Hill Herald

...UNC has begun to use reclaimed water to irrigate Kenan field, making it the first place on campus to be irrigated with wastewater that has received advanced treatment including filtration and disinfection with ultraviolet light and chlorine. While not suitable for drinking, UNC officials see reclaimed water as a welcome alternative to using drinking-quality water to irrigate the gridiron.

What college kids want: Healthy food, affordable style
The Triangle Business Journal

...Although voluntary meal plan enrollment is slightly up at N.C. State and at UNC-Chapel Hill and stable at Duke, many students are becoming more particular about what they eat and are experimenting at home, says Scott Myers, director of food and vending for Carolina Dining Services at UNC.

State’s going green, but don’t worry: Red’s plenty safe
The Triangle Business Journal

...While that was impressive, Morrison Hall at UNC-CH did even better. Thanks in large part to solar panels that heat the dorm’s water supply, Morrison chopped its energy usage by a whopping 36 percent in one year, good enough to win the national competition, which included a New York City skyscraper.

‘Free condoms’ replaced by patch
The Smoky Mountain News (Waynesville)

...Frayda Bluestein doesn’t necessarily agree. She’s the associate dean at the University of North Carolina’s School of Government, and local government is her specialty. “I don’t understand how that’s an administrative decision, frankly,” said Bluestein. “I can see how it would be an administrative decision of the health board.”

Duke accused of conflict in poultry case
The Daily Reflector (Greenville)

...Pitt County senior resident Superior Court Judge Russell W. “Rusty” Duke attended a fundraiser held by Nash County Commissioner Robbie Davis in May 2006. ...Davis and Duke said in separate interviews this week that they don't know each other, and that the fundraiser was arranged by Duke's wife and the Nash County Republican Party. A law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said campaign contributions normally aren't cause for a judge to recuse himself from a case.

Some not thrilled with UNC seating
The Triangle Business Journal

...Versions of the new system are common at universities around the country and, indeed, UNC already uses a similar method to determine access to tickets for bowl games and the ACC men’s basketball tournament. “We probably should have done it before now,” Bob Winston, chair of the UNC Board of Trustees, says of the change. He notes that the school’s top athletics donors have helped pay for facilities improvements as well as athletic scholarships.

Issues and Trends

Ross won't ask for tuition increase
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

UNC system President Tom Ross won't recommend a supplemental tuition increase to deal with budget cuts at the state's 17 campuses, he said Thursday. In the legislative budget now in front of Gov. Bev Perdue, the university system's total spending would be reduced 14.6 percent, or $407 million. On the campuses themselves, the cut is $344 million, or 13 percent.

Fix is in (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

...In passing a bill instructing the University of North Carolina system and the state's community colleges not to consider the accreditation of a student's high school when it comes to admissions standards, a majority of the state House engages in seriously inappropriate interference in the operation of public higher education.

N.C. State enacts spending freeze
The Triangle Business Journal

N.C. State University is under a strict spending freeze and its finance department does “not expect to be able to pay all invoices and other charges from state general funds this month,” according to a memo sent by N.C. State Vice Chancellor for Finance and Business Charles D. Leffler. ...UNC spokesman Mike McFarland said in an email Thursday morning that he is not aware of any campus-wide spending freeze at that university.

NC House leader wants resolution on budget
The Associated Press

North Carolina House Republicans maintained Thursday that a bipartisan coalition that passed a government budget last weekend will remain intact, giving them enough votes to override a possible veto by Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said he was "completely confident" that five House Democrats and all 68 Republicans in the chamber who voted for the two-year plan would stick together if Perdue used her veto stamp.