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UNC targets 6-year degree
Graduation ratesBig bang, then a new campus
Kannapolis Biotechnology Center partnersStudy: N.C. tax code badly needs updating
Institute of Emerging IssuesThe knight of the right
Institute of Emerging IssuesColleges aid schools with math via RAMP-UP
Laura Bottomley, Liz Parry, Collge of Engineering, math tutorial/mentoring programEven if cleared, Black could suffer from elections board hearing
Andy Taylor
China
connection boosts NC economy
Japan Center
Chaplain
hopes to offer aid to pet owners
Michael Davidson, College of Veterinary Medicine
KING:
Catching tagged red drum can be informative, beneficial
Red drum research, Sea Grant
Jobless
rate below 4 percent
Mike Walden
Durham's
labor force hits high
Michael Walden
A cue
on hogs
Hog waste research
University's
'DukeCard' expansion on hold
Student banking perks
University's
'DukeCard' expansion on hold
Student banking perks
N.C.
State Textile Open House
College of Textiles
Designs
for living
College of Design
Web sites
aid search for off-campus crib
Off-campus housing
UCSD
leader also serves as a director on 10 boards
Marye Anne Fox
BCC
slates Black History events
Student sit-in protests of the 1960s
The
long history of problem kids
David Ambaras
Even if cleared, Black could suffer from elections board hearing
Jan. 30, 2006
News 14 Carolina, NCrumors.com, WWAY NewsChannel 3, News & Observer, WSOCtv.com, Winston-Salem Journal, Charlotte Observer, WCNC, Lexington Dispatch, Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC), WVEC.com (VA), Dateline Alabama (AL)
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
(RALEIGH) - The State Board of Elections' decision to hold a formal inquiry into campaign donations made to House Speaker Jim Black and others isn't the same as accusing the powerful Democratic leader of wrongdoing.
But it's possible that details emerging from the Feb. 8 hearings could harm Black's political future, even if evidence of wrongdoing points elsewhere, just by keeping the speaker's name in the news.
"It's just one more thing that people get to hear about the speaker in a bad light," said Andy Taylor, a political science professor at North Carolina State University. "It just keeps a constant type of drumbeat alive, and keeps his name in the public's consciousness."
Last week, the elections board announced plans to examine what its staff investigators believe are apparent violations of campaign finance laws, uncovered while looking into a June 2004 complaint filed by a campaign reform group that focused on donations from the video poker industry.
Democracy North Carolina raised questions about whether donors from the industry exceeded the contribution limit of $4,000 per election by giving money in another person's name without their knowledge. The group says Black was the top legislative recipient of that industry's donations going back to 2001, with $167,750 in industry-related donations.
The board also plans to examine donations from a political action committee of optometrists _ Black is an optometrist _ in addition to the campaign committees of Black and former Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, a close Black ally who ranked second in donations from the video-poker industry during the 2003-04 election cycle.
Democracy North Carolina hasn't uncovered evidence that Black knew about anything illegal. By state law, that's required before election board can conclude there has been a violation of election law, issue fines and forward the case to state prosecutors.
But, said state elections director Gary Bartlett, "Any time that the state board holds a formal hearing ... it is serious. This is a very powerful body."
It's unclear what the board's staff investigators have found, or what the board itself will find when taking up to three days of testimony from subpoenaed witnesses. It's also unknown if Black will be asked to testify.
"Speaker Black can use this as an opportunity to clear his name given all of this speculation that has been spreading around these contributions," said Bob Hunter, a chairman of the State Board of Elections in the late 1980s and a Greensboro attorney who often represent Republican clients before the board.
Bartlett said donations from the video poker industry remain a focal point of the probe, especially whether donors bypassed spending limits or illegally gave money from corporate, instead of personal, accounts. He declined to provide more details.
Black has been the video poker industry's strongest supporter in recent years, pushing back attempts by the Senate and county sheriffs to get rid of the machines. He says the industry is a lawful business that employs up to 5,000 people in North Carolina, and banning video poker would result in massive layoffs.
He adds that his support of the industry isn't tied to their campaign donations.
"I have never voted on a bill or taken a position on any issue due to a campaign contribution," he told reporters in January.
This is hardly the first time the state elections board's has conducted an inquiry into a high-profile politician and allegations of influence-peddling.
In 1998, the board cleared then-House Speaker Harold Brubaker, R-Randolph, and other House Republican leaders of allegations they pushed through tough hog farm regulations as retribution for meager campaign donations from the pork industry.
Four years later, the board fined Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps after it concluded she took illegal campaign contributions in order to pay down the debt from her 2000 campaign. That evidence helped federal prosecutors send Phipps and three associates to prison for a scheme aimed at extorting cash from carnival operators seeking a North Carolina State Fair contract.
A federal grand jury examining the video poker and lottery industries, along with the lobbying work of former Black political aide Meredith Norris, has asked for and received more than 3,000 pages of records from Black's office. But Black and his attorneys have said federal prosecutors have told them the speaker is not a target of the grand jury's work.
Amid it all, Black still has the support of his colleagues, who contend the investigations are politically motivated. They are quick to point out that Black hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing.
"If it's people bundling money and putting false names on it, very well the speaker might not have any knowledge in that," said Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson and one of the majority whips in the House. "I just don't know what to make it of it until I know what's there."
Black has more than $1 million in his campaign coffers to help his colleagues and other Democratic candidates win re-election and keep control of the House. And their support might be the most important consideration when it comes to Black's future in Raleigh.
"Do members of the House Democratic Caucus determine that Black is a political liability this political year?" Taylor asked. "That might be the critical thing."
Jan. 30, 2006
News 14 Charlotte, abc11tv.com, WCNC, The State (SC), WVEC.com (VA), Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC), Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX), Centre Daily Times (PA), Charlotte Observer, WFMY News 2, Winston-Salem Journal, WRAL.com, Lexington Dispatch
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- China may get the rap for taking textile and furniture jobs away from North Carolina, but the communist nation also spends a lot of money on important industries here.
Among them are computer products, telecommunications, wood and plastics., state officials said.
Next month, the North Carolina China Center will open, further boosting China's presence in the state, they said.
The center, to open Feb. 18 at the headquarters of Longistics, a Raleigh-based company that operates a foreign trade zone near Raleigh-Durham International Airport, will promote economic, cultural and educational exchanges between North Carolina and China.
The center, to open Feb. 18 at the headquarters of Longistics, will promote economic, cultural and educational exchanges between North Carolina and China.
" It's critical for us to have a China center," said Peter Cunningham, international trade director of the state Department of Commerce. "China is a fast-growing, emerging market for North Carolina. The numbers are proof."
While often criticized for its role in outsourced American jobs and for undervaluing its currency, China has also had a positive impact here, state officials said. Cunningham notes the significance of Chinese PC-maker Lenovo's recent purchase of the PC division of IBM, which kept about 1,800 jobs in the Triangle.
China and Hong Kong represent the state's fourth-largest export market. As an importer of goods from North Carolina, China in recent years has moved ahead of industrial heavyweights including the United Kingdom and Germany.
The country's purchases of North Carolina-made pharmaceutical products, especially insulin, shot up 2,500 percent last year, from 2004 from $2 million to $52 million, according to state figures.
Ties between the state and China are also evident in public schools here, where parents will enroll their children in classes that teach to some degree in Chinese.
The China center could further enhance the positives in the North Carolina-China relationship, officials said.
John Wei, a leader in the Chinese-American community who has lived in Cary since 1982, has sought a China center since the early 1990s.
N.C. State University officials discussed a center modeled after the N.C. Japan Center, which former Gov. Jim Hunt established in the early 1980s.
While the idea generated interest in business and political circles, it lacked money to make it happen.
That's changed largely because of L. Duane Long, an entrepreneur who hooked up with Wei about six months ago and told him he would like to help launch a center.
"I think its our destiny," said Long, chief executive officer of Longistics.
Long is donating more than $30,000 and 5,000 square feet of office space for the China center.
He, Wei, and others might follow the framework of N.C. State's Japan Center. That center offers language classes, an annual trade conference, and translates into Japanese the state drivers handbook. It also provides cultural briefings for American executives.
"If you want to do business, you have to have an understanding of culture," said Hong Yang, a former N.C. State chemistry professor and director of the Minnesota China Center since 2000.
Chaplain hopes to offer aid to pet owners
Jan. 30, 2006
Winston-Salem Journal, Lexington Dispatch, WRAL.com, abc11tv.com, Winston-Salem Journal, Lexington Dispatch, Charlotte Observer, WCNC, Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC), WVEC.com (VA), Dateline Alabama (AL)
By Yonat Shimron
© Copyright 2006
As a volunteer chaplain at Rex Hospital for several years, Robert - Gierka said, he had a calling to offer care and compassion to those in grief. Now he wants to extend that empathy to people saddened by the loss of their pets.
Gierka, 49, wants to be a full-time pet chaplain, and he has the support of leaders at N.C. State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
"A lot of pet owners view their dogs and cats as members of the family," said Michael Davidson, the director of veterinary medical services at N.C. State. "If they lose a pet, it has the same sort of emotional impact as losing a child or a spouse."
Davidson said he is working with Gierka to get private grant money to pay for a full-time pet chaplain as part of the vet school's faculty. The chaplain could help clients who bring their pets for treatment and teach students how to deal with anxious owners.
To Gierka, the role of pet chaplain is needed in a society that has not yet accepted the human-animal bond as a valid relationship, which is often felt most acutely in death.
"People say, 'Get over it,'" Gier-ka said. "There's no easy way to get over it."
Gierka sees his role as a grief consultant, ready to offer a compassionate ear to people struggling with the loss of a pet.
He also has a Web page, www.petchaplain.com.
His approach to chaplaincy is interfaith. He said he is careful not to impose any religious view on the pet owners he counsels but can bring in spiritual elements if they so desire.
Last year, his friend, Pam Carpenter, lost her cocker spaniel, Niki. Gierka offered to conduct a memorial service, playing classical guitar and reciting spiritual prayers. He encouraged Carpenter and her husband to share memories of Niki.
Carpenter said that the memorial helped her get over the loss, unlike her experience 13 years earlier with a cocker spaniel named Paige. The Carpenters had rushed Paige to the vet school's animal hospital after she started hemorrhaging. She died on the operating table.
"There was absolutely no one around who understood what we were going through," Carpenter said. "I went into a depression."
But pet chaplaincy made Niki's passing a little more bearable, she said.
"This is such an important service to offer to validate the experience you're having," she said.
Web sites aid search for off-campus crib
Jan. 30, 2006
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
Some things in life are done best with the help of a recommendation, such as seeing a new hairdresser, picking a new mechanic or deciding where to live.
In a typical year, more than 50 percent of undergraduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill choose to live off campus, in a fraternity or sorority house or university-affiliated property. At N.C. State University, about 45 percent do. There, on-campus figures include students who live in Greek and other housing.
UNC-CH and NCSU students who plan to live on campus must apply by February, so a lot of off-campus apartment hunting happens in January. Some students go online to apartment rating sites such as www.apartmentratings.com and www.apartmentreviews.net for messages, both positive and negative.
A SAMPLE OF ONLINE REVIEWS
Here's a sampling of posts about places near N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill -- anonymous and not necessarily from students. Also, not necessarily from tenants.
* FINE FLATS: "It definitely caters to a specific type of person, or what you knew of as 'preps' in your high school. There's a lot of skinny, white people and a lot of alcohol. As far as the general facility, I found it to be pleasing. I liked sharing a bathroom with only three other girls as opposed to the dorms on campus where I would have had to share with a number of other girls."
Post on same complex: "My grades suffered tremendously for reasons of not being happy. I hated my living situation so bad that I developed a stomach ulcer which has cost me about $5,000 over the past 2 years. Luckily I have good insurance."
* PARTY PADS: "Some people are just pigs in general and they have no respect for anyone, of course we have some parties, but most everyone loves 'em anyway, that's part of college, ya know what I mean. To those of you who complain, get a life."
Post on same complex: "If u love parties every single nite and people kicking beer cans and breaking beer bottles on your patio (and management doesn't do a ... thing to clean this dump up) THIS is the place for you!"
Jan. 30, 2006
Charlotte Observer
By ADAM BELL
© Copyright 2006
KANNAPOLIS - The North Carolina Research Campus will begin to take shape in earnest over the next month or so, with a groundbreaking for its centerpiece lab and its largest implosion yet.
The big bang will level more than 1 million square feet of a bleachery and a towel distribution center -- the equivalent of knocking down a major league baseball stadium.
It will help make way for the $1 billion, 350-acre biotech campus being built by billionaire David Murdock, which is being constructed mainly at the former Pillowtex textile mill complex.
Groundbreaking for the first building, the Core Lab, is planned for sometime next month. Murdock's representatives also intend to boost marketing, remain active on several issues in Raleigh and step onto the national biotech stage in Chicago this spring.
Even though the first campus tenants are still a year away from breaking out the lab coats, the heightened activity by campus leaders will proceed throughout 2006.
Here's a look at several key areas.
Demolition ahead of schedule
The pending implosion is about a month away. That's when the 528,000-square-foot
bleachery and the remaining 505,000 square feet of the towel center are supposed
to come down. A water tower also will be imploded then.The towel center was
partially imploded in November, and the back of the building remains peeled
open like a tin can -- a really, really big tin can.
The implosion will involve about 2,000 pounds of dynamite, said David Griffin with D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co. of Greensboro. The job is about twice as big as the demolition of the old Charlotte convention center, which his company imploded last year.
Demolition work is about four months ahead of schedule, according to campus
Project Manager Lynne Scott Safrit.
Traveling inside the construction area remains hazardous duty, however, between
the piles of debris and cratered dirt roads. Trucks are busy hauling out up
to 200 loads of dirt a day.
Foundation work for the lab has begun, although it will be several weeks before
the building's skeleton takes shape.
The lab should open in spring 2007, Safrit said. It is one of the main recruiting
tools for the campus, with space and equipment available for rent to campus
tenants.
Marketing push coming
Marketing the property will be a critical part of the work this year, Safrit
said.
A full-time marketer will come on board, and a Web site will go up soon. A logo, brochures and a video about the campus are in the works; the logo will debut in about a month.
Then there's the Biotechnology Industry Organization's annual conference in
Chicago in April, a prominent industry showcase.
Campus officials, who will share space in the state's booth, plan to do recruiting
and networking there. Murdock also is expected to make an appearance.
Dealing with legislature
Despite all the activity in Kannapolis, Safrit also makes frequent trips to
Raleigh.She deals with such issues as environmental cleanup plans and legislative
funding for campus partners UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State University. The
universities will have space in the Core Lab building until their own facilities
go up on campus.
Plans call for $41 million in university-related funding for the first year of the project and $25 million per year after that. Murdock is optimistic he can get Duke University to sign on to the campus, too.
" It's exciting to see it coming together," Murdock said of the various plans. He praised the support he continues to receive from local, state and federal officials, adding, "There is no obstruction here, only cooperation."
A Ton of Noise
505,000
Remaining square footage of the towel center that will be imploded.
528,000
Square footage of the bleachery.
2,000 LBS.
Amount of dynamite to be used in implosion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam Bell: (704) 786-2185
KING: Catching tagged red drum can be informative, beneficial
Jan. 29, 2006
Rocky Mount Telegram
By Kent King
© Copyright 2006
On several trips to the coast this past fall, we saw posters at various boat ramps offering a reward for the capture of a tagged red drum.
On one very cold and windy day near Turkey Creek, we took time to read one of the posters, as we prepared the truck and boat for the long journey home. The poster explained to the fishermen the importance of reporting the catch of a tagged red drum. N.C. State University researchers are currently studying the habitat use and movements of these fish within our state's coastal waters.
The researchers are offering rewards for the information obtained when one of these fish are caught by commercial or recreational fishermen. The data gathered from a yellow tag entitles the angler to a t-shirt, hat, or $5. Red tags are worth $100.
Almost one year ago, researchers attached the tags to 500 red drum in the coastal sections of the Neuse River. A total of 425 fish received yellow tags and 75 fish received red tags.
The red drum are tagged by scientists who are interested in how the fish move about in our coastal rivers and sounds. Most of the fish tagged were between 15-18 inches long.
Fishermen who catch one of these tagged fish are asked to cut off the tag and call 1-800-790-2780. The data collected will include the date of the catch, location, how the fish was captured, it's total length, and whether it was kept or released.
Researcher Nathan Batchelor and co-workers also surgically implanted radio transmitters in 96 other red drum. They are gathering some astounding data as these fish move about the coast.
The study is funded by The North Carolina Sea Grant. It's purpose is to develop new ways to calculate fish mortality, track their use of habitat, and how frequently they move to different waters, as well as why they move.
Batchelor said, “We're finding fish doing a lot of different things, and it's hard to generalize. Some hang around the Neuse River, even in water fresh enough for largemouth bass. Other drum migrate all the way to the ocean. They have been caught in the surf off the Outer Banks around Avon and Cape Point.”
In the next two years, 1000 more red drum will be tagged and released to go about their normal daily routines of foraging for food, migrating, and reproducing in our estuaries.
The data collected by his project will help researchers understand how many fish are killed by predators, how many die from various diseases, and how many succumb to severe winter cold.
Fishing has changed along our coast over the past few decades. There are many factors that have contributed to the decline of many of our most sought after species.
With research like this red drum project, maybe we can find some answers to problems before certain species reach the endangered status.
Red drum are fun to catch, and we have released dozens in the last few months while casting grubs for speckled trout. I wish we could have landed one of those tagged fish.
If you are lucky enough to encounter one of these marked drum please take the time to participate in the survey. The information you provide will be very valuable to the researchers, and valuable to the survival of the red drum.
University's 'DukeCard' expansion on hold
Jan. 30, 2006
Durham Herald-Sun
By PAUL BONNER
© Copyright 2006
DURHAM -- Duke still has made no decision on a request last fall to allow students to use their university spending accounts for purchases off campus.
At other universities, however, the arrangement is common. And it is much less costly than the 18 percent commission Duke charges in its program that is now limited to restaurant deliveries to campus.
Duke also charges the restaurants about $1,200 in set-up fees.
Elon University near Burlington, on the other hand, has set-up charges and commissions less than one-third that amount for 38 participating off-campus merchants. The businesses, moreover, extend beyond food to include fitness gyms, auto-parts stores and an eye center.
Transactions on both Duke's DukeCard and the Phoenix Card issued at Elon are administered by Blackboard, the education-support company best known for its software with which teachers post course materials for their students on computer systems.
At both universities, as at most institutions, the cards double as a student ID that is used for other campus purposes, such as building access, cafeteria meal plans and as a library card.
The Blackboard Transaction System software and equipment is used by hundreds of colleges and universities, said a company spokeswoman, Melissa Chotiner. Both Duke and Elon manage their off-campus transactions themselves, she said. When Blackboard administers it, in an add-on service known as BBOne, fees are "less than a typical credit card," she said.
Elon University recently lowered its off-campus costs for the Phoenix Card, and more merchants signed on, said university spokesman David Hibbard.
"We're not doing this to make money," Hibbard said. "We have a good relationship with merchants in the program."
Two of the three Gold's Gym locations Matt Layman operates in Burlington began accepting the Phoenix Card two years ago. Earlier, he said, he was skeptical about the 5 percent commission and $250 fee for each card reader terminal.
But after students repeatedly asked if he accepted the card, he signed up. Only about 10 percent of his Elon student customers pay with it, but that's still enough to make it worthwhile, he said.
On Durham's Ninth Street, Tom Campbell, co-owner of The Regulator Bookshop, said Elon's deal sounds good to him.
"I'd sign up for that in a flash," he said.
As for Duke's higher charges -- prohibitively so for him, he said -- "My assumption has been that it's a choice Duke has made to keep all its transactions on campus."
At UNC, students are issued a UNC Card with an account for on-campus purchases. If they open a checking account with Wachovia, they can have the bank's Visa Check card feature integrated into the UNC Card, in a version called UNC Card Plus.
The bank offers the option free to students. N.C. State University has a similar arrangement with Wachovia.
Duke spokesman John Burness said administrators aren't likely to change the Duke Card before the beginning of a new academic year. He said he didn't know why Duke's fees are higher and eligibility more restricted than Elon's.
"I think part of this has to do with the evolution of this system, and that's why we're looking at it now," he said.
In the fall, John Schelp, president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association near Duke's East Campus, asked Duke officials to make the system, and its 11,000 cardholders, more merchant-friendly. He said officials told him they would get back to him by November.
Since then, in The Herald-Sun and in the Chronicle, Duke's independent student newspaper, the issue has been raised periodically.
On Tuesday, Schelp said he hopes administrators will communicate their plans to interested parties outside the university beforehand.
"We hope we would be able to see the rollout before it's a done deal," he said.
Burness said the university will advise merchants and students once it reaches a decision.
Jan. 28, 2006
News & Observer
By Jonathan B. Cox
© Copyright 2006
Something is happening in the local labor market that Jeff Stocks, who runs
a staffing company, hasn't seen in about five years.
More of the people seeking work, especially those in technology-related fields,
are getting a couple of job offers at once.
It reflects a tightening labor market that has the lowest percentage of unemployed workers since mid-2001, according to new figures released Friday.
It's an evolving trend that could prove lucrative to workers.
"It puts the employee in a better position to negotiate," said Stocks, chief executive of Manpower in North Carolina.
Triangle unemployment fell to 3.9 percent in December, the first time it has fallen below 4 percent since June 2001, according to data from the N.C. Employment Security Commission. The figures were adjusted by Wachovia Securities to account for seasonal effects.
All told, 26,534 more people had jobs in the seven-county region that includes Wake, Orange and Durham counties than in December 2004, the state reported. The labor force grew by 23,801 during the same period.
"The economy seems to be getting over the bursting of the tech bubble," said Mark Vitner, an economist with Wachovia in Charlotte. "It finally appears that the Triangle is firing on all cylinders."
A broad swath of industries are hiring locally, from software companies such as ChannelAdvisor of Morrisville to health-care businesses such as Closure Medical in Raleigh. Government agencies, including the Wake County school district, are staffing up for a growing population.
Optimism is building around the state. Unemployment rates dropped in 84 of North Carolina's 100 counties in December. The state unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent, putting it in line with the national average for the first time in almost five years.
Even with the hiring growth, however, Triangle unemployment remains well above the lows of the late 1990s. In January 1999, for instance, 98.5 percent of those who wanted a job had one.
Questions remain about the quality of the jobs now available. The Triangle has many more service and retail positions than it did back in 1999 because of new shopping centers such as Brier Creek Commons in Raleigh and The Streets at Southpoint in Durham. The jobs don't pay as well as high-tech positions that were lost when the dot-com bubble burst.
Job quality overall in the region "is good, but it's not as tilted to the upper end we saw in the late 1990s," said Mike Walden, an N.C. State University economist. "The health and education jobs are mixed, but tend to be right at the average. The business and professional services tend to be above average."
The Triangle's hiring outlook is promising for 2006. Local employers and recruiters anticipate the strongest gains since 2001.
If the predictions hold true, workers could get more power. Economists said that once the unemployment rate drops below 3.5 percent, wages could begin to go up at a faster pace because competition for workers will force better pay packages.
But there is a wrinkle: As hiring increases, more people are likely to enter the labor force. That could slow unemployment declines.
Staff writer Jonathan B. Cox can be reached at 836-4948 or jcox@newsobserver.com.
Jan. 28, 2006
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
It iis no small step when Larry Baldwin, the Lower Neuse Riverkeeper, offers generous praise for the nation's largest hog producer. Baldwin has done precisely that in expressing the hope that "the example being set by Smithfield Foods will now be followed by the rest of the industry."
In this instance, Baldwin is speaking of Smithfield's agreement with the riverkeeper, the national Waterkeeper Alliance, and the Neuse River Foundation to adopt measures to improve protection of the environment at 275 or so hog production facilities in North Carolina. This is, indeed, a historic step, yet one that will be trumped when the industry in general follows through with better and cleaner alternatives to the lagoon and sprayfield methods of disposing of hog waste.
The pork industry remains skeptical about the cost-effectiveness of systems that have emerged from research at N.C. State University -- research financed largely by Smithfield Foods under a previous agreement with the state. At the moment, work continues on two alternatives that are being tested on North Carolina hog farms.
The standard for adoption of a new system, however, is "economic feasibility," and it is the industry's view that a new waste-management process should present no additional business expense for hog producers. This certainly seems unrealistic in view of the relatively low costs of operating lagoon and sprayfield systems. But for the moment it looms as the Boss Hog at the table, with a potential of blocking reform vital to future environmental protection, and especially where the state's waterways are concerned.
Even so, it's a welcome move when as large a producer as Smithfield Foods and Murphy-Brown LLC, its hog production subsidiary, agree to invest in programs that are aimed at better waste management and enhanced protection of ground and surface waters. Smithfield, based in the southeastern Virginia town of the same name, is the giant among pork companies operating in North Carolina.
At each of its hog production facilities, Murphy-Brown will also use a computerized Precipitation Alert System, drawing on National Weather Service data, aimed at preventing the spraying of liquid from hog waste lagoons before, during and immediately after rainstorms. Another automatic device will shut down spraying when wind speeds exceed 15 miles per hour.
Smithfield Foods has expressed itself as "very pleased" with the settlement and says it is committed to "continually improving its environmental stewardship efforts." And that is a cue for all North Carolinians who worry about hog-farm runoff, especially when rainstorms or hurricanes come calling, to speak as one to all the pork producers, "Go ye, then, and do likewise."
Jan. 28, 2006
News & Observer
By Matt Dees
© Copyright 2006
" College: The best five or six years of your life."
The tacky T-shirt slogan is funny because it's true.
About 14 percent of students who enrolled in UNC-Chapel Hill in 1997 took five or six years to earn their degree.
That's not how it was in Nelson Schwab III's day.
"We've allowed a culture to exist that says it's OK to graduate in six years," said Schwab, chairman of the UNC-CH board of trustees, at a meeting Thursday.
Schwab and many of his colleagues want to see more done to get students to graduate in four years, as Chancellor James Moeser begins pushing strategies to improve the graduation rate.
The issues are tied but not tightly, said Jerome Lucido, UNC-CH's vice provost for enrollment management and director of undergraduate admissions.
Students drop out or take time off from school for many reasons: family commitments, extended internships, etc.
Some need the extra year or two, but most don't, Lucido said.
He and other administrators want to offer expanded services to help students stay in school and get out when it's time.
"We need to move to the next step of really assessing what it takes to get them through here with the kind of experience they want in an efficient period of time," Lucido said.
About 83 percent of UNC-CH students who enrolled in 1997 graduated within six years. (About 6 percent transferred to other schools. An additional 10 percent neither graduated nor transferred.)
That's high compared with most public universities. Sixty-three percent of N.C. State University's 1997 freshman class graduated within six years. Only about half of N.C. Central University students during that time period received their degrees.
But UNC-CH lags behind its "peer institutions," such as the University of Michigan, University of Virginia and University of California, Berkeley.
Lucido, who will make a presentation to the trustees in March, said UNC-CH probably can't catch Virginia's 92 percent rate. "But we can make some progress," he said.
Lucido said he wants to expand the Summer Bridge program, which offers remedial courses for students coming from "less powerful high schools."
And he wants more advisers to help students in crisis, guiding them toward manageable course loads that play to their strengths.
"We already do a good job here," Lucido said. "We just want to step up to the very highest level."
Durham's labor force hits high
Jan. 30, 2006
Durham Herald Sun
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
DURHAM -- Thousands of workers joined Durham's labor force last year as the average number of employed county residents hit 123,975 for 2005 -- the most ever, according to N.C. Employment Security Commission statistics.
The strong year was helped by an active December that saw 700 fewer unemployed residents than the previous month. The result: Durham's unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in December, the lowest rate since May 2001. Durham's jobless rate was 4.3 percent in November.
December was also the fifth straight month that Durham's unemployment rate dropped, according to the ESC.
"I think it can go down more and I think '06 will be a good year," said Michael Walden, an economist at N.C. State University. "The region is still considered one of the hot regions."
Indeed, the Triangle is booming with jobs -- the number of workers in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area grew by 27,891 in 2005 to 762,933 at the end of December, according to the ESC. The Triangle had an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent in December, its lowest since May 2001.
And while December is typically a month that sees jobs added for the holidays and lost in January or February, Walden and other labor market observers think the job market landscape will hold steady in the first quarter, even as some retailers cut back on jobs.
"I don't think you'll see a strong change one way or another in January or February," said Larry Parker, an ESC spokesman. "Things have been going so well and I think that'll continue."
While the number of jobs in Durham rose and fell throughout the year, there were 3,193 more people with jobs at the end of 2005 than in December 2004, according to the ESC. Taking 12 months of figures for employed residents in 2005 and averaging it gives Durham an average of 123,975 employed residents for 2005 -- a new high point that represents almost 4,000 more jobs than the average number of employed residents for 2003.
In 2005, most of the jobs added in the Durham metro area were in educational and health services, a sector that saw 1,500 jobs added, according to the ESC. New government jobs were close behind at 1,300 with leisure and hospitality adding 700 jobs, the ESC said.
But don't discount the tech sector when talking about the Triangle and Durham's growing job market.
"Overall this year the economy moved past the bursting of the stock market bubble," said Mark Vitner, a regional economist with Wachovia Securities in Charlotte. "Tech companies finally started growing again and that's really benefited the Triangle."
Bronto Software was one of the Durham companies that grew in 2005, with the small tech firm going from seven to 20 employees in 2005. The e-mail marketing software company had to add people to keep up with a customer list that has swelled to 500 clients, said Joe Colopy, the firm's chief executive.
"Looking at [similar] companies in the area, everyone seems to be doing well, hiring," Colopy said.
Like Durham, most of the surrounding counties saw their unemployment rates decline in December. The unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed workers in a county's work force.
In December, Orange County's unemployment rate dropped to 3.3 percent, from 3.7 percent in November; Chatham County's jobless rate dipped to 3.9 percent, from 4.0 percent; Granville County's unemployment rate dropped to 5.2 percent, from 5.7 percent; and Vance County's unemployment rate dropped to 7.6 percent, from 8.4 percent. But Person County's rate edged up to 6.1 percent in December, from 6.0 percent in November.
All five counties saw the number of residents with jobs increase in December, according to the ESC.
Meanwhile, the December unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in the Durham Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Durham, Orange, Chatham and Person counties.
The December job market picture was bright across the state as well, with 84 of the state's counties reporting lower unemployment rates. Likewise, the statewide unemployment rate of 4.9 percent in December was the state's lowest jobless rate since March 2001, and matched the nation's jobless rate for the fourth time in 2005.
Both Vitner and Walden see the Triangle's job market continuing to grow in 2006.
And Colopy said he expects his company to be part of that growth.
"Definitely," he said. "We have a lot of open positions now."
Study: N.C. tax code badly needs updating
Jan. 28, 2006
News & Observer
By Rob Christensen
© Copyright 2006
North Carolina should overhaul its Depression-era tax system, finding ways
to make the state more attractive to industry while financing the rapid growth
in cities, according to a new study by a group of civic leaders.
Among the options state leaders should examine, according to the study, are:
* Cuts in corporate taxes and high marginal rate personal income taxes.
* Expansion of the sales tax to cover services.
* Elimination of loopholes in tax laws.
* Giving local governments more taxing power.
The report is already prompting debate among policymakers about whether North Carolina should shift some of the tax burden off business and more onto middle-class taxpayers.
The study was prepared by a group of about 50 economists, tax attorneys and political and business leaders who have been studying North Carolina's tax code for the past three months. The group stopped short of making specific recommendations.
But the group hopes the report will stimulate debate among legislative leaders, gubernatorial candidates and opinion leaders about the need to modernize the state's tax code. The report will be presented at a forum that will be held Feb. 6 and 7 by the Institute for Emerging Issues, a think tank started at N.C. State University and founded by former Gov. Jim Hunt.
The forum will bring in some high-profile speakers to discuss taxes, including former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a likely presidential candidate; magazine publisher Steve Forbes, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
The study was organized by the institute because of growing concerns that North Carolina is in a perpetual crisis trying to balance its budget, because of job worries caused by the decline of traditional industries such as textiles and tobacco, and because North Carolina is projected to shoot past such states as Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey in population during the next 25 years.
"It's important to recognize this is a long-range process," said John Medlin, a retired chairman of Wachovia. He was one of the study's leaders along with state Treasurer Richard Moore and Parks Helms, chairman of the Mecklenburg County commissioners. "These things are not changed overnight. It has been 80 years since the law was last redone."
One of the underlying themes in the report is a call to shift the tax burden away from income taxes -- particularly corporate income taxes -- and to a broaden the sales tax, which is sometimes called a consumption tax.
Some business leaders and economists say such a move would help attract jobs to the state.
But some members of the group said they are worried it could shift some of the tax burden to working people.
"It is a theme running through this report from beginning to end," said Helms, a Charlotte lawyer and former state legislator. "The theme is that there should be a shift, not just from individual and corporate income taxes, but moving toward a consumption tax. It does present significant fiscal issues, but also an issue of fairness and equity as well."
The report also addresses problems facing local governments, such as rising Medicaid costs and the difficulty and expense in building schools in fast-growing areas such as Wake County.
Among the options outlined in the report is shifting the entire cost of Medicaid to the state and federal governments and giving local governments more taxing power.
Staff writer Rob Christensen can be reached at 829-4532 or robc@newsobserver.com
Jan. 29, 2006
News & Observer
By Rob Christensen
© Copyright 2006
So gradually did Art Pope became the powerful patron of the political right in North Carolina that few at first noticed. First he created the John Locke Foundation, a respected think tank churning out reports proclaiming the virtues of limited government. Then another think tank, to keep tabs on the state's colleges, was spun out of the Locke Foundation.
In recent years, Pope has created other organizations to sway public opinion, monitor the legislature, develop grass-roots political efforts and bring court challenges.
As a result, Pope, 49, a Raleigh retail executive, has emerged as an important behind-the-scenes figure in Tar Heel politics, spending millions of dollars on a network whose purpose is to move North Carolina to the political right.
You might call it Pope Political Inc.
One Pope organization is asking the courts to throw out the state lottery. Another is leading the charge against a Wake County school bond issue. And if you watch one of the talking-head TV shows, you are likely to see one of Pope's paid spinmeisters.
Pope Political Inc. now has 50 people on its payroll, including academics, journalists, political operatives, lawyers and a former N.C. Supreme Court judge.
Pope's reach extends beyond the public policy factory he has created. The Pope family has given so much money to the state Republican Party -- at least $700,000 in recent years -- that the party headquarters bears the family's name.
Not since the 1970s, with the creation of the National Congressional Club to serve as the political organization of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, has there been a conservative network in North Carolina with such reach. Some Pope lieutenants see Pope Political Inc. as filling the vacuum left when the Helms organization collapsed in the 1990s.
"We are creating a freedom movement in the state," said Chris Neeley, director of one of the Pope-funded groups, Americans for Prosperity. "It's a march toward eventually putting conservatives in office and getting conservatives to support conservative issues."
Even as many conservatives cheer Pope's patronage, he has created enemies who feel that one man has gained too much power. They say Pope is bankrolling half of a civil war in the GOP to purge Republican moderates in the state House of Representatives.
Among his critics is former state Rep. David Miner, a Republican from Cary, whom Pope helped drive from office.
"What is scary about Art Pope is that it is one person," Miner said. "There is not any committee. There is no oversight. There is no elected official involved to face the voters every two years or every six years. It's him and his own personal agenda, and he is throwing his money around big time.
"Art Pope wants to control North Carolina politics."
The center of Pope Political Inc. is Hillsborough Place, a four-story office building in downtown Raleigh, across the street from the state Democratic Party headquarters. A Pope family real estate company bought the building for $11.1 million last year.
It houses The John William Pope Civitas Institute, Pope's legislative monitoring arm; Americans for Prosperity, its political arm; and the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, its legal arm, as well as organizations unrelated to Pope. On the same block, but in a separate building, is the John Locke Foundation, its research and communications arm.
Family beginnings
The Pope fortune was made in hundreds of small towns across the South. Started in the 1930s in Fuquay-Varina, Variety Wholesalers grew over the years to more than 500 discount stores and 10,000 employees. The company operates stores under several names, including Rose's, Maxway and Super 10. Privately held, the company competes with the likes of Wal-Mart and Dollar Stores in 14 states.
Art Pope and his family recently moved to a house valued for tax purposes at $2.3 million in Raleigh's Country Club Hills. He has a vacation house on Bald Head Island valued for tax purposes at $960,130.
The Pope family has been civic-minded, giving generously to such causes as the Boy Scouts, a lecture series at N.C. State University and the North Carolina Symphony.
The vehicle for the family's giving is the Pope Foundation, whose assets had a fair market value of $53.6 million in June, according to tax documents. The family fortune has been the subject of an acrimonious suit involving the widow of Art Pope's brother.
Pope traces his interest in politics back to at least 1972, when he was a 16-year-old campaign driver for Jack Hawke, a Republican congressional candidate who now leads one of Pope's organizations. His father, John William Pope, was a leading Helms supporter.
Pope later worked as an aide to GOP Gov. Jim Martin and served four terms in the state House. He was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 1992 but proved to be a plodding campaigner and lost to Democrat Dennis Wicker.
Pope, who is intellectually inclined and well-read, has always had a Libertarian streak -- a group that favors less government in all spheres, including personal lifestyle issues.
Pope organized a Libertarian state chapter while in college. Some of his close colleagues -- George Leef, who heads Pope's higher education foundation, and David Koch, who is national chairman of Americans for Prosperity -- have run for office as Libertarians. During his campaign for lieutenant governor, Pope was forced to say he did not support prostitution, legalizing drugs or gambling.
Pope said he began thinking about starting a free-market think tank while serving as Martin's legal counsel in 1985. A Republican governor dealing with a Demo-cratic-controlled legislature, he said, often lacked the research and resources he needed to make the conservative case.
"The whole establishment in North Carolina -- the business establishment, the university establishment and governmental establishment -- was basically supportive of the Democratic Party and its policies," Pope said. "We are the underdog. We are almost overwhelmed."
The problem, as Pope sees it, is not just liberals trying to expand government. It's also corporations and other interests using government to manipulate the marketplace for their own benefit.
For too long, Pope says, the state's Democratic dominance has given North Carolina one of the South's larger governments without many benefits to show for it.
Pope says his millions have only somewhat narrowed what he views as a mismatch between the liberal and conservative public policy efforts. Left-of-center organizations in North Carolina dole out $18 million annually while right-of-center organizations give away $9 million, according to an analysis by John Hood, president of the Locke Foundation.
Pope says the left's resources include former Gov. Jim Hunt's Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State University, the N.C. Center for Public Policy in Raleigh, and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards' Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, as well as organizations such as the N.C. Justice Center, the Common Sense Foundation and the UNC Program on Southern Politics & Public Life.
Unlike the more liberal organizations, the purse strings of the Pope groups are mainly controlled by one man. The Pope network also seems more intensely focused on an ideological agenda.
Once a month, as many as two dozen representatives of conservative organizations meet in Raleigh to map strategy and discuss goals. The meetings are patterned after a similar meeting started in Washington by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist.
"Is this part of 'the vast right-wing conspiracy'?" Pope asks. "No. It's just an exchange of ideas and what is going on in the state."
The Pope network is also trying to remedy what it sees as a leftward tilt in North Carolina's news media, spending much of its energy communicating the conservative message through daily e-mail newsletters, monthly newspapers, guest columns in established newspapers, and radio and television talk shows.
'One of the very best'
The Locke Foundation is part of a national trend of conservative think tanks. The national model is the Heritage Foundation in Washington, and 42 states have some form of conservative think tank. Only the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan is larger.
"It is a very common perception that Locke is one of the very best," said Mackinac President Lawrence Reed.
Although the Locke Foundation was created in 1989, most of the Pope network's growth has taken place in the past few years.
In 2004, Pope helped set up a state chapter of Americans for Prosperity. The group lobbies in favor of issues such as a constitutional amendment to limit the growth in state spending. It is in the process of organizing chapters in all 100 counties. The group will shortly release its Carolina Covenant, a pledge based on the Contract with America that helped elect a Republican Congress in 1994.
"We are basically trying to build an army," said Neeley, a veteran political operative who is the group's director.
Also in 2004, the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, led by former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, was created as the network's legal arm.
Last year, the Civitas Institute was set up under the leadership of Hawke, the former congressional candidate who also once was chairman of the state GOP. That group does polling, trains young people in politics, monitors legislation and is about to launch a Web site that provides legislative voting records.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, the Pope family was paying more than $56,000 per week for Pope's network, according to tax records. That figure will likely rise to $93,000 per week this year based on what the groups say they expect to spend as they expand. That does not include Americans for Prosperity, which does not make its budget public.
Although the Pope family has largely bankrolled the network, Pope hopes the organizations will attract other donors.
The Pope organizations are classified as tax-exempt and therefore must be nonpartisan. The exception is Americans for Prosperity, which can become involved in campaigns as long as it is advocating for an issue.
To protect their tax status and to project a nonpartisan image, the Pope groups sometimes invite Democrats to speak to their groups or participate in their training programs. They make available their reports to Republicans and Democrats and post their polling data on their Web site for all to see. They sometimes hire Democrats such as attorney Pamela Brewington Cashwell, a former Clinton administration official who now works for Orr's legal group. Journalists with The News & Observer have spoken at Locke Foundation events.
Democrats sometimes criticize the Locke Foundation for tailoring its research to fit its conservative views.
"I really do think the John Locke Foundation and the Pope orbit has contributed a lot and has a big role in challenging liberal and Demo-cratic dogma," said Mac McCorkle, a Democratic consultant to Gov. Mike Easley and others. "On the other hand, there is also a petty partisan side. They are involved in advocacy research. They do sometimes turn into Republican cheerleaders and apologists, and that undermines their larger intellectual mission."
Too busy to run again
Pope oversees his network with a light hand. While he sits on the boards of all of his groups, those who work for him say Pope is too busy running his family's chain of discount stores to spend a great deal of time on day-to-day decisions involving Pope Political Inc.
Pope says that he does not use his organizations to promote himself and that he has no plans to run again for political office.
It is not easy to measure the impact of the Pope network, in part because the state has been largely controlled by Democrats in recent years.
But it was a Pope publication that helped uncover abuses by then-U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance, a Warrenton Democrat who is now in prison for misuse of state funds.
Pope says he believes the Locke Foundation's advocacy played a role in the major tax cuts passed by the legislature in 1995, in shaping the school reform movement that led to more accountability, higher standards and more local flexibility, and in making it more difficult for lawmakers to raise taxes.
Pope says he is trying to change and enlarge North Carolina's political conversation.
"What I try to do," Pope said, "is educate the public about what is going on in the legislature and government and let them know what their elected officials are doing so they can make informed choices."
(Researchers David Raynor and Denise Jones contributed to this report.)
Staff writer Rob Christensen can be reached at 829-4532 or robc@newsobserver.com.
Colleges aid schools with math via RAMP-UP
Jan. 30, 2006
News & Observer
By Demorris A. Lee
© Copyright 2006
Two days a week, Clyde Gholston stands in front of a group of third- and fourth-graders at Washington Elementary School and teaches all things math, trying to keep the students engaged, trying to think of innovative ways to teach multiplication.
At Southeast Raleigh High School, Denice Young meets with students at 7 a.m., showing them how math can be applied to everyday situations.
Gholston, a Shaw University junior, and Young, an N.C. State University graduate student, are part of a program that is intended to reach out to students traditionally under-represented in math and turn them into sound adders, multipliers and square-rooters.
Through $2.5 million in grants from the National Science Foundation and The General Electric Foundation, NCSU's engineering and education schools have teamed with Shaw and Wake County public schools in an effort to boost the number of minorities who take Algebra I by the eighth grade and calculus by their senior years. Thirty-five NCSU and Shaw students are working with the program.
Dubbed RAMP-UP (for Recognizing Accelerated Math Potential in Under-represented People), the program is in its second year. The college students may work with small groups, help create lessons and, on the high school level, teach engineering concepts.
RAMP-UP is under a five-year grant, and the student teachers are paid.
"The numbers of kids from under- represented groups that take advanced math are low, and that's not just in Wake County," said Liz Parry of NCSU's College of Engineering and RAMP-UP's director.
"If you look at the data on identification of academically gifted students in AP [advanced placement], Wake County is like most: It's largely Caucasian. We are looking to add to it by putting students [from] college in third grade and go all the way up to 12th.
"Your success in math in high school is a strong predictor of how well you do in math in college."
According to the state Department of Public Instruction, 88.3 percent of white students were passing or at grade level in Algebra I at the end of the 2004-05 school year, compared with 65.3 percent of blacks and 72.4 percent of Hispanics.
In Wake County, 94.9 of white students were at grade level or passing, compared with 76.3 percent of blacks and 80.9 percent of Hispanics.
"We see that students are capable of doing the work, said Young, 23, the NCSU student who is working on a master's degree in material science and engineering. "But sometimes it's those fundamental skills they don't have or remember -- for example, with multiplication, knowing your multiplication tables and being able to do that in your head not having to rely on a calculator.
"What a lot of students don't realize is that you don't have to be a genius to do engineering," she said. "You just have to know how to apply the concepts."
Last semester, RAMP-UP student teachers spent about 6,000 hours in Wake County schools -- Bugg, Combs, Dillard, Fuller and Washington elementary, Centennial and Carnage middle and Southeast Raleigh High. Each student teacher puts in 15 to 20 hours a week.
Sold on the program
Jan Kidwell, Washington Elementary's instructional resource teacher and the RAMP-UP coordinator, said the program is working.
"It's a great program because it allows a sharing between teachers, N.C. State students and Shaw," Kidwell said. "They bring their math background to our program, which as educators, we are always lifelong learners learning new techniques in math; yet, we are able to help the [college] students to share with the youth of today. It's like all parties benefit."
Laura Bottomley, the director of K-12 outreach for NCSU's College of Engineering and the principal investigator for RAMP-UP, said the partnership has increased communication among Shaw, NCSU and the public schools.
Bottomley said NCSU's engineering school is also getting a better idea of what to expect from Algebra II students out of high school.
"We expect them to know certain things, but they don't know them," Bottomley said. "But they know certain things that we didn't expect them to know. So we are learning as well."
For Gholston, 20, the Shaw math major, being able to stand before a class of students has been a learning experience beyond any other. In addition to working in the schools, he tutors math at a Boys and Girls Club.
"Beforehand, I would have never thought I would be able to create a lesson that I could stick to for an hour," Gholston said. "It brings out the creative side of me. I can come up with a good lesson plan and teach it, and the kids will give me good feedback based on how quick they grasp the concepts I'm trying to convey."
To James Nelson of Shaw's math and education department, RAMP-UP has other benefits.
"When public school students see someone a little older succeeding and doing well in the subject," he said, "we hope that will inspire them to keep working harder and proceed in science and math."
Correspondent Demorris A. Lee can be reached at demoalee@yahoo.com.
Jan. 30, 2006
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
For a copy of this article, contact News Services at 515-3470.
Yow brings battle against cancer to court
Jan. 28, 2006
News & Observer
By Rachel Carter
© Copyright 2006
Kay Yow paced the sideline Thursday, arms folded as she watched her N.C.
State women's basketball team pull out a win over Miami.
Yow, 63, looked perfectly healthy and says she feels good.
But in July, she had two tumors removed. She underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy and will find out at her next scan, which she hasn't scheduled yet, if cancer is still in her body.
Her battle with breast cancer is well-known and she uses her experience to raise awareness.
Originally diagnosed in August 1987, she had a partial radical mastectomy. In December 2004, she had another tumor removed and began a strict new diet.
The return of her cancer is the impetus behind "Hoops for Hopes," a Feb. 19 game against Maryland.
At the event survivors will be recognized and $5 of every ticket will be donated to the Triangle affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The event will include exhibits where fans can learn about treatments.
Brenda Steen of Wolfpack Sports Marketing said 2,000 tickets have been sold, the most "presales" anyone there can remember.
There will be no general admission seating for the event, so fans are encouraged to buy the $10 tickets early.
"It's very encouraging," Yow said. "I hope they keep selling them. It's not until Feb. 19 and that's really great. I want this to be a big event, a celebration. The game will be important, that's for sure.
"At the time, that game could be critical, but at the same time, we're playing for a cause that we're all on the same team. That's exciting to have every one on the same wavelength."
Fighting cancer isn't just Yow's cause.
N.C. State senior guard Monica Pope learned before the season that her father, Darrell, has colon cancer. He was scheduled to have surgery in September, but the tumor was too large to remove. He has undergone radiation and chemotherapy treatment in the hope that the tumor will shrink to a size where it can be removed.
Staff writer Rachel Carter can be reached at 829-8953 or rcarter@newosbserver.com.
Jan. 28, 2006
News & Observer
ByWeta Ray Clark
© Copyright 2006
Invite architects to show off their stuff and they will go straight to the drawing board.
A plethora of creativity and diversity flowed in from architects across the state, answering our call for examples of good home design for our Home of the Month project. The project, a collaboration with the N.C. State University College of Design's Home Environments Design Initiative, aims to educate, inspire and inform you about good home design. Along with our occasional Architectural Living series -- where we peek into the homes of area architects and residential designers -- this project gives readers a chance to look up close at the range of possibilities in residential architecture.
An expert panel -- Peter Chapman, senior editor for home design books at Taunton Press; Jean Rehkamp Larson, Minneapolis architect and author; and New York architect and author Dennis Wedlick -- selected the cream of the crop from 27 entries in our Home of the Month feature. The series will highlight a different design each month of 2006.
"We awarded recognition to those [designers who] accomplished their dream homes in well-crafted and, most importantly, innovative ways," Wedlick said in an e-mail message. "There were many homes not recognized that were larger and fancier, but lacked those qualities."
Taunton Press' Chapman said about the designs:
"I think we responded to houses that looked like they belong to North Carolina ... the ones that looked like they belong to the site.
"What we don't like, is when we look at a house that can be anywhere. They have no relationship to the place they were built. We responded to those that had a strong regional feeling."
All of the entries were designed and built by North Carolina architects in or after 2000. They included examples of Craftsman and contemporary styles, as well as transforming renovations and additions, and designs that embraced affordability and specific site characteristics. These topics are of particular interest as more homeowners build homes and renovate old ones in and around the Triangle.
Across the country, thanks to the onslaught of television, shelter magazines and books that focus on home living and creating usable living spaces, residential architecture is getting increasing attention. According to Chapman, that notice is well deserved.
"It's wonderful that people are acknowledging residential design," he said. "The focus usually is at the new museum or new library. But houses can be beautifully done, too."
Recognizing all of the architects' efforts and the impressive show of participation, we've chosen to give you a glimpse of the 27 submissions. (The winning Home of the Month designs are marked with an asterisk.) Look for the profile on the first winning design -- The House at Wood's Edge by Ellen Weinstein of Dixon Weinstein, Chapel Hill -- in February.
Home editor Weta Ray Clark can be reached at 829-4758 or wrclark@newsobserver.com.
University's 'DukeCard' expansion on hold
Jan. 29, 2006
Durham Herald-Sun
By Paul Bonner
© Copyright 2006
DURHAM -- Duke still has made no decision on a request last fall to allow students to use their university spending accounts for purchases off campus.
At other universities, however, the arrangement is common. And it is much less costly than the 18 percent commission Duke charges in its program that is now limited to restaurant deliveries to campus.
Duke also charges the restaurants about $1,200 in set-up fees.
Elon University near Burlington, on the other hand, has set-up charges and commissions less than one-third that amount for 38 participating off-campus merchants. The businesses, moreover, extend beyond food to include fitness gyms, auto-parts stores and an eye center.
Transactions on both Duke's DukeCard and the Phoenix Card issued at Elon are administered by Blackboard, the education-support company best known for its software with which teachers post course materials for their students on computer systems.
At both universities, as at most institutions, the cards double as a student ID that is used for other campus purposes, such as building access, cafeteria meal plans and as a library card.
The Blackboard Transaction System software and equipment is used by hundreds of colleges and universities, said a company spokeswoman, Melissa Chotiner. Both Duke and Elon manage their off-campus transactions themselves, she said. When Blackboard administers it, in an add-on service known as BBOne, fees are "less than a typical credit card," she said.
Elon University recently lowered its off-campus costs for the Phoenix Card, and more merchants signed on, said university spokesman David Hibbard.
"We're not doing this to make money," Hibbard said. "We have a good relationship with merchants in the program."
Two of the three Gold's Gym locations Matt Layman operates in Burlington began accepting the Phoenix Card two years ago. Earlier, he said, he was skeptical about the 5 percent commission and $250 fee for each card reader terminal.
But after students repeatedly asked if he accepted the card, he signed up. Only about 10 percent of his Elon student customers pay with it, but that's still enough to make it worthwhile, he said.
On Durham's Ninth Street, Tom Campbell, co-owner of The Regulator Bookshop, said Elon's deal sounds good to him.
"I'd sign up for that in a flash," he said.
As for Duke's higher charges -- prohibitively so for him, he said -- "My assumption has been that it's a choice Duke has made to keep all its transactions on campus."
At UNC, students are issued a UNC Card with an account for on-campus purchases. If they open a checking account with Wachovia, they can have the bank's Visa Check card feature integrated into the UNC Card, in a version called UNC Card Plus.
The bank offers the option free to students. N.C. State University has a similar arrangement with Wachovia.
Duke spokesman John Burness said administrators aren't likely to change the Duke Card before the beginning of a new academic year. He said he didn't know why Duke's fees are higher and eligibility more restricted than Elon's.
"I think part of this has to do with the evolution of this system, and that's why we're looking at it now," he said.
In the fall, John Schelp, president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association near Duke's East Campus, asked Duke officials to make the system, and its 11,000 cardholders, more merchant-friendly. He said officials told him they would get back to him by November.
Since then, in The Herald-Sun and in the Chronicle, Duke's independent student newspaper, the issue has been raised periodically.
On Tuesday, Schelp said he hopes administrators will communicate their plans to interested parties outside the university beforehand.
"We hope we would be able to see the rollout before it's a done deal," he said.
Burness said the university will advise merchants and students once it reaches a decision.
Jan. 30, 2006
Oregon Daily Emerald (OR)
By Ryan Knutson
© Copyright 2006
Linda P. Brady, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at North Carolina State University, will take office July 1 as the University’s senior vice president and provost. She will replace John Moseley, who is retiring June 30.
As vice president and provost, Brady will work closely with University President Dave Frohnmayer. Her job responsibilities will include speaking for University academic programs to the larger University system, and oversight of budgets, academic priorities, student affairs and diversity issues.The Emerald sat down for a one-on-one conversation with Brady on Wednesday.
ODE: “So why Oregon, how did you end up here?”
Brady: “I think there are several things that have attracted me to the University of Oregon. The first is simply the character of the University. It is a comprehensive university that is anchored by a large college of arts and sciences surrounded by professional schools. It is very diverse in terms of the nature of the programs and the disciplines.
“The second thing that I think is really unique about the University of Oregon is the size. To be a major research university, and a member of the
Association of the American Universities, with only 20,000 is an amazing accomplishment. I understand that the University of Oregon is actually the smallest of AAU public institutions.
“What that means is you have the tremendous advantage of being a major nationally recognized research university with a relatively small population, which I think will enable the university to invest in initiatives, particularly in terms of the undergraduate experience, that would be more difficult at a much larger university. At (North Carolina State University), for example, we have 31,000 students, and that makes it very difficult to for us to pay the kind of attention to undergraduate education that I think we personally think we really should be focusing on.
“I think certainly the quality of the faculty here, the quality of the academic programs, the high rankings of many of the academic programs is also something that really attracts me.”
ODE: “Talk a little bit about your background.”
Brady: “I’ve been at N.C. State for the last five years. Prior to that, I spent about 12 years at Georgia Tech, where I led the Sam Nun School of International affairs.
“Before that I worked with President Carter at the Carter Center in Atlanta, and before that I spent about seven years working in Washington, part of that time working in the State Department, and part of that working in the Pentagon. In both places I was doing arms control work, and (I also) spent some time in Vienna and Geneva.”
ODE: “Can you tell me a little bit about what you did in the Carter administration, specifically?”
Brady: “In the Carter administration I was primarily involved in arms control work. During that period of time, that was between 1978 and 1981, the U.S. and then the Soviet Union were involved in negotiations in Vienna, Austria. The goal was to try to reduce the level of conventional forces in Europe. At that point the Berlin wall still existed, Europe was divided between east and west and there were large numbers of military forces on both sides — on the NATO side and the WARSAW Pact side.
“Both sides were very concerned that war might occur by accident, simply by the presence of so many military forces. The U.S. and the Soviet Union really took the lead, but involved our respective allies in negotiations designed to dramatically reduce the level of military forces.” The negotiations were not successfully concluded while I was working on it, but an agreement was signed in 1985 that has dramatically reduced the forces. Some people would argue that the success of that negotiation and another negotiation that I was involved in at the Pentagon helped lay the ground work for the end of the Cold War.”
ODE: “Recently, there has been some controversy regarding the (University’s) relations with the Department of Defense.”
Brady: “I was actually not aware until I came to campus for my interviews, and the issue was raised in a variety of forums while I was here. My perspective on that issue is that it is important to realize that the defense department has supported a wide range of research. Much of the excellent academic work that has been done and the policy work in arms control and conflict resolution really would not have been accomplished if those funds had not been made available to faculty.”
ODE: “How do you see yourself fitting in, overall, at the University?”
Brady: “Well, I feel very comfortable here. I’ve been walking around the campus a good bit, as I’ve been having various meetings, and spending some time in the (Erb Memorial Union) and in the bookstore. I’m trying to get a feel for the place.
“One of the things that I’m really interested in exploring is how to best get the pulse of students. One of the things that I have done at N.C. State is several times every semester I sit in on a class, and I’ve talked with faculty and made myself available. Sitting in on a class is a very good way, for me, to get a sense of what’s going on in the classroom, what’s the student experience like, and that’s enabled me as an administrator to kind of keep that in mind as we’re dealing with a variety of issues.
“I’m hoping that I will fit very well. I feel very comfortable here, and I’ve felt very welcomed here. There is a tremendous congeniality here, a real sense of ‘we need to identify problems, we need to work together, we need to participate together’ in efforts to solve problems, and that’s the way I’ve always approached my job.”
ODE: “What kinds of things have you done to get where you are today?”
Brady: “Number one, a curiosity and desire to learn. I think we all learn in many different ways. We certainly learn in the classroom, I always did as a student and in my graduate education. I think we learn when we teach. I've always learned a great deal from my students. I think part of what has been important in my career is simply a willingness to learn, and to look at problems from very different perspectives.
“The other thing that I think has been really important for me is being willing to take some risks. For most faculty, moving into an academic position and then getting tenure is the goal.
“What I actually did when I went to Washington was leave a tenure position at a university to move into the Carter administration. My boss could have come in at any moment and have said, ‘Sorry we don’t need your services anymore.’ That was a risk for me, as an academic, to simply leave the security of that academic position and to go into a political position and not really know how long I'd be there. I think the willingness to assume some risks, and to give up a little security to try to have a very different kind of experience, opened my eyes to things that I never would have been able to see.
“So I think the ... most important things are the curiosity and a willingness to learn, to learn about issues from different perspectives and a willingness to take some risks.”
ODE: “What are your goals as the provost and vice president, are there specific things you hope to accomplish here?”
Brady: “The University of Oregon has an excellent national reputation, but as someone coming from a very different kind of university, at N.C. State, I need some help from the Oregon community in understanding where you’re going and what your challenges are.
“I think the most important focus for any university is academic excellence, and I think the provost is the senior chief academic officer in the university and the fundamental mission of our universities relate to education and research. We need to focus on how to sustain academic excellence. That means everything from how can we recruit and keep the very best faculty to how do we provide students with the kind of educational experience that they need and that they want.
“For me the challenge will be to work the campus community to find what we collectively mean by “academic excellence,” and then to figure out how to sustain that, and how to enhance the quality of the institution while dealing with all of the challenges that public universities face in terms of budget cuts and so forth. I think everything else will flow from that.”
ODE: “Tell me a bit about your current research.”
Brady: “My current project is looking at the impact of negotiation in war termination. That is a lot of big words, but in my field, of war and peace studies, if you will, most of the research focuses on trying to explain why wars begin, in an effort to try to put in place mechanisms to enable parties to resolve their differences without having to resort to war. The reality of the international situation, however, is that wars occur.
“What I’m looking at now is the way in which we can use negotiation more proactively to try to bring wars to a successful conclusion. ... I’m hoping to draw some lessons that may be of use to policymakers now, as we think about issues, such as bringing the Iraqi situation to closure more quickly.”
Contact the higher education reporter at rknutson@dailyemerald.com
BCC slates Black History events
Jan. 30, 2006
Fall River Herald News (MA)
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
There will be a celebratory march around campus at 11:45 a.m., led by a drummer from Nigeria, followed by a casual get-together featuring authentic African food.
The film, "I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka," director and star Keenan Ivory Wayans’ satirical look at the black exploitation film genre, will be shown at 7 p.m. in Room C-111 of the Siegel Health Technologies Building.
Among the special guests coming to BCC to help celebrate African-American History Month is Dr. Jibreel Khazan, a civil rights pioneer and one of the famous "Greensboro Four." Khazan will discuss his experiences with the nonviolent civil rights movement on Feb. 23 at BCC’s campus in downtown New Bedford at 1 p.m.
In 1960 Khazan and three other freshmen from North Carolina State University staged a sit-in to protest racism at a local F.W. Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro. The demonstration sparked a national sit-in protest against racism and played an important role in the equal rights movement of the 1960s.
Ronald H. Takaki, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, will be the guest speaker on Feb. 15 at a 4 p.m. program in the Jackson Arts Center auditorium at the Fall River campus.
The son of Japanese plantation laborers in Hawaii, he is one of the most pre-eminent scholars on the nation’s diversity. He taught the first black history course at the University of California Los Angeles in 1967 and went on to assist in establishing the UCLA Centers for African-American, Asian-American, Chicano and Native-American Studies.
Fall River native George S. Lima, one of the first black airmen in the American military, will be a special guest on Feb. 7. He will speak in the Jackson Arts Center auditorium at 10 a.m. on the social issues he confronted. Lima was one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.
Fall River will declare Feb. 7 as George Lima Day. A short documentary about his life by Ken Bento and Napoleon X debuted at the Rhode Island International Film Festival last August. "Black Men Can Fly: the Story of George S. Lima," was also shown on public television.
Every Thursday during the month Spanish-speaking students, staff, professors and members of the community will meet at noon in the Commonwealth College. During the sessions, known as Mesa Redonda, they will discuss storytelling, slavery in the Caribbean, African-American issues, African-American culture and hip-hop in Cuba.
Posters commemorating famous African-American scientists created by biology professor Greg Maravelas’ students will be on display in the lobby of the Commonwealth College Center all month.
A number of other films will be shown during the month, among them Spike Lee’s "Four Little Girls," a documentary that explores the racially motivated crime that resulted in the death of four girls in the basement of a black Baptist church in 1963.
On Feb. 15, BCC students and their friends from other schools will present their African-American culture through song, dance, music, poetry and the visual arts.
That program will take place at 11:30 a.m. in the cafeteria of the Commonwealth College Center.
The musical performers Historic Soul will be at the College Center cafeteria on March 1 at 10 a.m. to lead listeners through a musical celebration of African-American contributions to American culture through jazz, rock and roll and rhythm and blues.
E-mail Kathleen Durand at kdurand@heraldnews.com.
The long history of problem kids
Jan. 30, 2006
The Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
By Tom Baker
© Copyright 2006
Bad Youth:
Juvenile Delinquency and the Politics of Everyday Life in Modern Japan
By David R. Ambaras
University of California, 297 pp, 49.95 dollars
" On the evening of August 1, 1927, a contingent of detectives from the
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department swept into the Ginza, the city's upscale
amusement
district, and, with auxiliary squads blocking escape routes, proceeded to arrest
every young man in fashionable flared trousers they could find. In all, police
detained more than 150...
"Such scenes were far from unusual in Tokyo and other cities in early twentieth-century Japan."
What a pleasure to find these lines right on page 1 of Bad Youth, a study of juvenile delinquency in early modern Japan. Not only does this anecdote make the topic sound interesting, but it demonstrates that author David Ambaras--a professor at North Carolina State University--has the confidence to state his facts and ideas plainly, rather than bury them under the heaps of clotted jargon that make far too much English-language academic writing on Japan utterly unreadable.
Ambaras stakes his territory in Tokyo from 1895 to 1945, but spends his first chapter emphasizing--contrary to the perceptions of many at the time--that crimes committed by the young were not a new problem.
He traces the history of youth crime as far back as the dawn of the Edo period (1603-1868). In the Sengoku (Warring States) period that immediately preceded the Edo period, a de facto military meritocracy had held sway, and men could literally fight their way to the top. After the Tokugawa shogunate consolidated power, though, social mobility ended as various classes were frozen in place. Young men who had grown up with the expectation of earning advancement through their fighting prowess found themselves locked out.
Many of them, chafing under the new order, formed violent, antisocial gangs. Things got so bad that the early shogunate "banned kite flying, popular dancing, and other forms of recreation that attracted crowds and provided opportunities for brawling."
Urban youth violence lingered through the period, with groups such as fire brigades and tradesmen's associations often doubling as street gangs.
By the later years of the 1868-1912 Meiji era, population upheavals associated with rapid industrialization and urbanization led to a swollen Tokyo slum population with large numbers of young people living in Dickensian squalor.
Scavenging fish guts to sell for fertilizer was an unsavory if mostly legitimate employment for many poor kids, while others survived through prostitution and theft. Some parents even rented their youngest children to beggars to use as props. The author writes that "skinny, weak-looking children, who elicited sympathy from passersby, fetched a higher fee than plump ones."
Along with this poor and potentially dangerous population, another new kind of person emerged in the Meiji era: Japanese middle-class Protestants. Ambaras writes that such people were often behind the public and private groups that tried to redeem poor or delinquent youth through combinations of education and work in a range of reformatory settings.
Their motives were mixed,