uncnews.unc.edu

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

National Coverage

Mexico Tackles Epidemic Of Childhood Obesity
The Associated Press
...President Felipe Calderon said earlier this year that Mexico had the highest rate of obesity for children ages 5 to 19 in the world. And although he did not cite any source, University of North Carolina nutrition professor Barry Popkin, who has studied childhood obesity in many countries, agrees that it "is the highest I know of in the world."

Senators Challenge Sports Equipment Safety Claims
The Associated Press
...The danger of head injuries in sports was highlighted just last week, when a 16-year-old high school football player died after he was hit during a varsity game in upstate New York. A handful of high school students suffer fatal on-field injuries every fall, according to the University of North Carolina's National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research.

An Ordinary Football Game, Then a Player Dies
The New York Times
...Two certified athletic trainers and three student trainers from the nearby State University of New York at Cortland were on hand and treated Barden on the field, and emergency medical technicians arrived with an ambulance within minutes. “You can have the perfect plan in place but if all of these things happen, it can still result in a catastrophic injury and death,” said Kevin Guskiewicz, the chairman of the department of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina and a leading researcher on sports concussions.

Task Force Recommends Women Get Fewer Pap Tests
"World News with Diane Sawyer" ABC
...Instead of continuing to overtest, the task force said it would be better to reach out to those who have never been screened. "There are a number of women who have never been screened, and that remains a challenge," said Wanda Nicholson, one of the task force leaders and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center. "We need to keep those women at the top of our priority list and brainstorm for interventions for better access."

Jesus at Occupy Wall Street: ‘I feel like I’ve been here before’
The Washington Post
...“Jesus believed the whole system was corrupt,” says Bart Ehrman, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina. “The people who ran things were empowered by the evil forces of the world and his followers had to work against these powers by feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and caring for the sick.” Jesus had a fit when he saw the money changers in the Temple, and turned over their tables – a dramatization, Ehrman says, of the reversal that was imminent.

State and Local Coverage

Conference to focus on literacy of young black males
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
N.C. Central University and UNC Chapel Hill are joining forces to host a conference aimed at developing strategies for improving the literacy of young black males. The spring 2012 conference will be a collaborative effort by NCCU’s School of Library and Information Sciences and its counterpart school at UNC CH, the School of Information and Library Sciences.

UNC eyes charging students for personal online use
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
For college students who grew up with the Internet and have spent countless hours surfing the Web and interacting via social media outlets, the thought of paying for time online is as foreign as a rotary phone. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill might soon make such an expense a harsh reality for its students, however.

Plaintiff can get papers in UNC lawsuit
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill must release documents in its investigation of a housekeeper's sexual-harassment allegations, a judge ruled Wednesday. Amanda Hulon, 30, of Carrboro, filed a complaint against the university with the state Office of Administrative Hearings in August.

Bower withdraws from CH-Carrboro school board race (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Brian Bower, one of the candidates for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education, has withdrawn from the race. ...Bower said he decided to run for school board to get in-state tuition at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he is a doctoral student in genetics, and to publicize what he called an arbitrary system of determining in-state tuition eligibility.