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BioNetwork Hires VC To Run New BioBusiness Center
Biomanufacturing Training & Education Center, Centennial Campus
Low cigarette
tax may go up in smoke
Blake Brown, agricultural and resource economics
School
adds up awards
Todd Fuller Mathematics Competition
Here
are gift ideas for livestock owner on list
Horse Short Course clinics
CIAA
vote under wraps
Shaw leader says he picked Raleigh
Garner
plans roster of centennial events
Kaye Whaley, engineering
Letter; Hold line on UNC tuition
tuition
NASA
Study Finds Tiny Particles In Air May Influence Carbon Sinks
Dev Niyogi, marine, earth and atmospheric sciences
The
Art of Growing Christmas trees
Doug Hunley, extension
Arizona
State University Wins CGS/Thomson Petersons Award for Innovation
Thomson Peterson's/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting
an Inclusive Graduate Community
Salt-water
Minnow Research Helps Explain Human Cardiology
Marjorie Oleksiak, environmental and molecular toxicology
Obituary:
Natalia Romanova
public administration
BioNetwork Hires VC To Run New BioBusiness Center
Dec. 16, 2004
LocalTechWire
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH – Cheryl McMurry Shenaut, an executive with a variety of experience in the biotech industry and in raising venture capital, is the new manager of the BioNetwork BioBusiness Center established by the North Carolina Community College System.
The center is based near Asheville at the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Enka campus.
“The NC Community College System BioNetwork is aware of many of the challenges faced by biotech startups and has a plan to help address these,” marketing and recruiting director Norman Smit tells Local Tech Wire. “The BioNetwork BioBusiness Center is in early implementation and recently appointed its manager, Cheryl Shenaut. With her angel fund and biotech startup experience, and having worked in both the public and private sector, she has key insights that will be used to assist the biotech industry in North Carolina through BioNetwork.”
The Center is designed to promote development of entrepreneurial skills plus support services and courses in biotechnology operations. Its services will be used by the statewide college system.
"One of the challenges the BioNetwork BioBusiness Center will take on is developing outreach programs that convey to people who live outside our urban research areas that biotechnology is a field in which there are immense business and employment opportunities," Shenaut said in a statement.
"Scientists and entrepreneurs who have intellectual property to develop - as well as start-up and established companies - need to know that the community college BioNetwork will provide a first class workforce for them everywhere in the state,” she added. “They need to know that they can locate wherever they choose and find a ready pool of well-trained employees.”
High-tech and venture background
Development of workforce training for the biotech industry is a major initiative within the Community College System. The Golden Leaf Foundation has provided nearly $9 million in funding for the effort.
Shenaut played a key role in the design and creation of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. The state-funded but privately run center helped more than 60 companies and raised more than $200 million in funding. She also was director of technology development and marketing for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.
Before coming to Asheville, she worked three yeas at Emergent Technologies, a venture capital firm, as a vice president in Austin, TX. In Oklahoma, she ran Emergent Technologies, Oklahoma, LLP, that invested in five technology firms.
Shenaut worked on recruitment of biotech companies and coordinated the successful statewide campaign to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to allow for public-private partnerships between university laboratories and private entrepreneurs. Earlier in her career, she served as special counsel to the chairman of MetPath.
Shenaut is a graduate of the University of South Carolina law school and earned a Master’s Degree at Winthrop College.
Staffing underway at other centers
Three other centers also have recently hired directors. They are:
Managers are expected to be named soon for centers in the Triad and Robeson County.
Dec. 17, 2004
Charlotte Observer
By MARK JOHNSON
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- N.C. lawmakers are moving closer to a cigarette tax increase than at any time since it was nudged up to a nickel a pack in 1991.
The two biggest foes of a cigarette tax increase are no longer automatically mounting opposition to the idea. That makes it more likely than ever that members of the General Assembly, who convene in one of the nation's few public buildings where smoking is permitted, will raise the tax on smokes next year.
North Carolina is the No. 1 tobacco-producing state, headquarters of the nation's second-largest cigarette maker and home to universities -- Duke and Wake Forest -- built on tobacco fortunes. All of which helps explain the second-to-lowest cigarette tax rate in the country and why the state legislature has routinely smacked down efforts to raise it.
As state legislators prepare to meet next month, though, the climate has changed dramatically.
Neither the N.C. Farm Bureau, which represents farmers of tobacco and other crops, nor cigarette giants R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Philip Morris are exhibiting the reflexive opposition to a cigarette tax increase that they have offered in the past. On top of that shift, N.C. House Speaker Jim Black earlier this week said he met with tobacco company representatives who "talked positively" about a possible increase.
Black, who was nominated this week by his fellow Democrats for another term as speaker, said the companies "understand there's probably something coming."
"They're open to sharing their revenues for the right issues," Black said, adding that education could be one of those recipients.
Some lawmakers suspect the companies may be trying to have some influence over the inevitable, to get a tax increase they can swallow, instead of waging a losing fight.
"There's a general feeling that there's going to be a tobacco tax increase this year," said Sen. Charlie Albertson, a Democrat from tobacco-heavy Duplin County and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He said the increase would be to "get us closer to what other states around us are doing."
At least 30 states have raised their tobacco tax in the past two years. Only Kentucky, at 3 cents, has a lower cigarette tax than the five cents in North Carolina. South Carolina has the nation's third lowest tax at 7 cents a pack, and efforts in recent years to raise it have failed.
In the past, the N.C. Farm Bureau has stood against any increase because of the potential harm to farmers by slowing cigarette sales. This year, though, Congress passed a $10.1 billion federal buyout of tobacco farmers' quotas. Farm Bureau President Larry Wooten said the federal bailout makes it difficult for his organization to complain about a cigarette tax hike, unless it is so high that it hurts farmers.
"A reasonable cigarette tax increase is something we'll have to discuss with the legislature and the tobacco companies," Wooten said.
Lawmakers are facing as much as a $1 billion budget shortfall when they meet next month. A proposed increase to 75 cents last year would have raised an additional $372 million a year, with the amount declining by about $15 million a year because of declines in smoking, according to General Assembly researchers. The state raised $38 million in cigarette taxes in 2000-2001.
Anti-smoking groups routinely push a tax increase as a way to discourage smoking, particularly among teenagers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, found that increasing the price of a cigarette pack from an average of $2.18 to $2.68 with a 50 cent tax increase would be expected to yield about a 9 percent decline in consumption.
The major cigarette makers, Reynolds and Philip Morris, have historically balked at any tax increase. This year they said they'll take a position when they see a specific proposal.
Reynolds is headquartered in Winston-Salem, and Philip Morris' second-largest plant is in Cabarrus County.
"It's still early. Nothing's been officially introduced," said Reynolds spokesman David Howard. "We're not really in a position to say how we would come out."
Philip Morris also won't take a position until they see what is proposed, but spokeswoman Jamie Drogin's comments were a departure from the company's uniform opposition to a tax hike in years past.
"The company's position on (cigarette) taxes continues to evolve," Drogin said, emphasizing that Philip Morris is concerned about increases that bring unintended consequences.
Both Drogin and Howard said their companies would fight a cigarette tax increase that:
• Was so high that it fueled the illegal cigarette market, such as New York City's combined $3 in city and state cigarette tax.
• Was so high that it unfairly burdened middle- and low-income smokers.
• Put a disproportionate burden on the tobacco industry alone.
Howard said Reynolds also is concerned with how the tax revenue would be used, criticizing the notion of using a tax hike to close the state's budget shortfall.
"A lack of taxes on smokers didn't cause the state budget problems," he said. "An increase won't solve them."
Lawmakers need only look across the state line to Virginia, which levied the lowest tax until this year, for a model cigarette tax increase that Philip Morris found acceptable.
Virginia legislators this year passed an increase from 2.5 cents per pack to 30 cents, which fully takes effect next summer. The cigarette tax hike, however, was packaged in the state budget with a half-cent sales tax increase. The budget also included a $6 million long-term tax credit for Philip Morris, whose tobacco operations are headquartered in Richmond.
Reynolds opposed the Virginia tax increase.
"What happened there was certainly an omen of what was to come in North Carolina," said Blake Brown, professor of agricultural economics at N.C. State University and an expert on the tobacco industry.
The N.C. Farm Bureau's openness to an increase undermines, to some degree, the position of anti-tax lawmakers in the General Assembly, especially those from counties with heavy tobacco farming. Any support from the tobacco companies likely would collapse the opposition even further.
"I wouldn't support it without (the tobacco companies') consent," said Rep. Leo Daughtry, former House Republican leader who is from Johnston County, home to tobacco farmers and one of the state's largest tobacco warehouses.
Brown said there are both economic and practical reasons for the tobacco companies' shift away from automatically opposing a tax increase.
First, North Carolina is home to several small cigarette manufacturers and importers of foreign cigarettes. They compete with Reynolds and Philip Morris, and draw many customers who want to take advantage of the low state tax. A tax increase dampens sales and that hurts smaller, one-shop operations more than it does the big two national corporations, Brown said.
The companies also have seen the parade of tax increases over the past two years.
"It may be that companies view this as inevitable," Brown said, "so at some point how much political capital do you burn in trying to oppose it?"
Ready to Act?
House Speaker Jim Black (top) says a cigarette tax hike likely will come to a vote soon. Senate Agriculture chair Charlie Albertson (middle) says the hike would put North Carolina in line with other states. Rep. Leo Daughtry says he'd back an increase only if tobacco companies do.
Garner plans roster of centennial events
Dec. 17, 2004
News & Observer
By BONNIE ROCHMAN
© Copyright 2004
GARNER -- Every newly incorporated town needs its own set of rules, and this place was no different a century ago.
Hogs, sows and pigs were forbidden to roam at large. Games of marbles and cards couldn't be played on Sunday. Privies and hog sties were subject to regulation.
As Garner gears up to celebrate its centennial, the village of neighbors with one general store and a doctor who made horse-and-buggy house calls has metamorphosed into a community of 21,000 with big-city icons such as Target and Home Depot.
To marvel at how far Garner has come, the town has planned a roster of centennial events culminating with a full day of festivities April 16, the anniversary of the day the town was incorporated.
The official Web site for the centennial, www.garner100.com, has information about the town, a list of centennial events and stuff for sale.
Fifty dollars will get you a Garner throw, knit through with images of historically significant buildings. A T-shirt with a centennial logo can be had for $10; the Web site proclaims it a "must wear" during centennial events. There are also keychains, tote bags and mouse pads.
None of this much interests Lucile Bryan Stevens, who was born in Garner in 1913 in the house where she still lives. Stevens is more inclined to favor relics. Her home is a paean to Garner's history, with old photos on the wall, a butter churn in the corner and a small iron stove once used to heat the horse-drawn mail cart from which her uncle delivered mail.
Stevens, 91, attended Garner's only school, sometimes catching a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. For fun, she and her four sisters would play dress-up in their mother's wedding gown or romp in the cotton stored in the barn. Once in a while, they'd hop the train to Raleigh to catch a movie.
When Stevens was a girl, there were barns all around. Her home, a framed two-story house built about 1840, sat at least a quarter-mile from any neighbors. Now the house maintains its genteel allure, squatting alone in the middle of a large, grassy yard. An apartment complex and a church are next door, and cars on the highway zoom by.
"Garner was the country then," said Stevens, a retired eighth-grade teacher. "A lot of things are better now, but it was mighty nice and peaceful in the old days."
Stevens shared many of her memories with Kaye Whaley, the unofficial town historian. A secretary at N.C. State University's College of Engineering, Whaley is gaga over Garner.
About a year ago, Whaley published "Images of America -- Garner," a pictorial history of the town from the 1700s to the 1960s.
For years now, Whaley, 61, has collected photographs of the town's evolution. She is the seventh generation to live in Wake County, and she grew up in Garner. In her 20s, Whaley began researching her genealogy. That sparked questions about what it was like growing up in Garner when it was but a crossroads.
Shared memories
People were happy to reminisce and willingly shared black-and-white snapshots with her or receipts from a long-defunct store.
From conversations and the faded photos, Whaley was able to piece together a fairly complete picture of old-time Garner.
She recorded that George Montague was the town's druggist, and S.H. Harper made plows and wagons. Arch M. Woods was the local barber. Most people lived along Old Garner Road facing the handful of businesses along Railroad Street -- today's Main Street. What is today bustling U.S. 70 separated the sprawling homes from the shops.
"It was just my curiosity to learn more about Garner, who lived here and what they did, as far back as I could go," Whaley said.
In April 1905, Garner was chartered. In April 2005, there will be a re-enactment of the occasion that conveyed officialdom on what was then a square mile.
Though the main celebration is in April, Garner has been attaching the centennial logo to events since July. There has been a traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial and a Christmas parade, the Fireman's Day Parade and the Women's Club Tour of Homes.
On April 16, in addition to the charter re-enactment, there will be a dedication of Centennial Park, a soccer park at the corner of N.C. 50 and New Bethel Road, and a similar ceremony at a new gazebo at Lake Benson Park.
That same day, Garner will host the state barbecue cookoff, in which winners from cookoffs around the state compete for the title of champion. Heritage Village will feature people in period costume laboring over long-abandoned chores such as blacksmithing and spinning. There will be games for children and a concert. And it's all free.
Rodney Dickerson, the town's assistant manager, figures the cost of partying will come to about $140,000. The aldermen have been saving for several years, he said, and sponsors have helped out. Wake County contributed $25,000.
A fund-raising committee has raised and allocated $124,000, he said, and some money is in the parks and recreation budget.
"We're in good shape now," Dickerson said.
Dec. 17, 2004
News & Observer
By KINEA WHITE
© Copyright 2004
I must tip my hat to the Leesville Road High School Math Team. The team finished first place recently in the Todd Fuller Mathematics Competition at N.C. State University.
Team members are: T.J. Burnell, Jon Buttaci, Brittany Johnson, Katie Mason, Ryan Miller, Angie Sharer and Eric Shuie. Eric Shuie also tied for fourth in the individual award category.
The team competes with other math teams across Wake County. The individual scores are added up for the total team score.
The students were quizzed on a variety of topics such as equations and inequalities, functions, theorems and trigonometry.
The team was honored on Dec. 7 at the Wake County Board of Education meeting.
The school will receive a plaque.
Frank McKee, a Raleigh businessman, started the competition in 1983 after being concerned with the school system's math problems. The competition was named after McKee from 1983 to 1994. The contest switched sponsors from 1995 to 2001 and in 2002 it was named after Fuller and funded by him.
Fuller, who played basketball for N.C. State, was named Academic All-American and All-ACC player. The former NBA player has a degree in mathematics.
After a few trips to the N.C. Museum of Art, students at Brooks Elementary School will be able to talk in-depth about the Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris exhibit.
Joan Certa-Moore, coordinator for the school's museum program, said the students learned about patterns and art concepts that are related to their class studies.
The students will hold a seminar today about their experiences.
Here are gift ideas for livestock owner on list
Dec. 17, 2004
Charlotte Observer
By Jeff Carpenter
© Copyright 2004
Here are gift ideas for livestock owner on list
Q. I have lots of relatives who own livestock. Can you suggest some holiday gift ideas for animal owners? While I'm certainly not an expert on holiday gift-giving (just ask my wife), there are quite a few basic ideas that might help you finish that list before Christmas. Here's my top 10 list for those of you that have a horse, cattle, goat or sheep owner to buy for.
1. Books on the subject. Animal owners are always interested in learning more about caring for their livestock. Check animal health catalogs or farm supply stores for a selection of topics.
2. Art prints. There's nothing like a beautiful picture to remind someone of their favorite pastime while they are at work or at home. You can find quite a wide range of prices and quality -- something for every budget.
3. Outdoor clothing. Most large animal owners have to be outside caring for their livestock in all sorts of weather, so this is a good choice any year. Select articles that are durable, warm and waterproof. Many farm supply stores are beginning to carry clothing lines that would be appropriate.
4. Portable stock tank heaters. If you have a family member who provides water to his animals from a tank, then that person has probably had to deal with ice buildup before. These heaters keep the water from freezing in very cold weather, which encourages more water consumption by the animals and eliminates hassles for the owner.
5. Animal health items. Dewormers, vaccines, feed supplements -- the list is endless. Be sure you have some good information to go on before making these purchases because some owners are selective on brands or specifics. Get some inside details from someone who knows the animal owner, like a veterinarian or another family member, so you buy something that will be used.
6. Hoof trimmers. If you have a family member who owns sheep or goats, this is a good, practical gift. They will be more likely to provide good foot care and will do the job more safely if they have a good set of hoof trimmers.
7. Educational seminars. These can be pretty pricey, but if you have a horse-training enthusiast to buy for and want to go all-out, this is an option. Many top trainers have their own television programs now and offer special clinics for small groups of students interested in learning more on horse training. If your budget is somewhat limited, check out some of the N.C. State University Horse Short Course clinics. A brochure is available at local Extension Offices.
8. Ropes, feed pans, water buckets and halters. If you have a family member who shows livestock, they can never have enough of these. Get some help to choose the right rope or halter for the size and species of livestock they own.
9. A fencing tool. Many local farm supply stores stock the multipurpose tool for working on fences. The tool serves as a hammer, pliers, wire cutter, steeple puller and all-around useful gadget.
10. A gift certificate. When all else fails, a gift certificate to a local farm supply store or livestock supply catalog company will allow the recipient to choose the items they want.
Letter: Hold line on UNC tuition
Dec. 17, 2004
Charlotte Observer
By J. Bradley Wilson
© Copyright 2004
From J. Bradley Wilson of Cary, chairman of the Board of Governors of the 16-campus University of North Carolina system, to fellow members of the board regarding tuition increases for 2005-06:
In January the Board of Governors will begin consideration of campus based tuition increase requests submitted by the Chancellors. Evaluation of these requests is one of the most challenging and important responsibilities of the Board of Governors.
The chancellors do a remarkable job in managing the resources of the university and in identifying the ongoing needs of their particular campus. I am confident the requests that will be made will be substantiated by data that indicates compliance with board directives as to how tuition proceeds should be used and will also state a compelling case for more resources to supplement the support that has been forthcoming from Gov. Easley and the General Assembly. In tough budgetary times Gov. Easley, President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight and Co-Speakers Jim Black and Richard Morgan have consistently supported university-friendly appropriations, and for this leadership the university is grateful.
It is my judgment that the board should not raise tuition this year and I would urge you to vote against doing so. My position is not based on the economic merits of the cases that will be made for tuition increases, but one of educational policy that is consistent with the heritage of the University of North Carolina to keep tuition as low as practicable. I believe the Board of Governors can hold the line on tuition this year and meet the dual goal of ensuring that the University has sufficient resources to provide the quality of higher education North Carolinians want and deserve, while keeping the cost to North Carolina students and their families as low as practicable.
The "financial arms race" in higher education will continue and the University of North Carolina will be affected by it. The Board of Governors must continue to balance the quality versus cost equation to insure that the university that has distinguished North Carolina from all other states in America is funded at a level that will meet the needs of our state, nation and world.
Dec. 17, 2004
News & Observer
By CINDY GEORGE
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- The Triangle is home to three CIAA schools, the leaders of which might have been expected to support Raleigh's bid to retain the conference's coveted basketball tournament.
But the heads of two of those schools -- St. Augustine's College in Raleigh and N.C. Central University in Durham -- won't say how they voted when the choice came down to keeping the big event in Raleigh or moving it to Charlotte.
Only Shaw University President Clarence G. Newsome will state that he cast his vote for Raleigh.
On Tuesday, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association announced that the tournament will head to Charlotte in 2006, ending a six-year run in Raleigh. The decision was based on a secret-ballot vote of the CIAA board of directors -- the 12 college presidents and chancellors.
CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry said he doesn't know how any of the college leaders voted or how many of the 12 votes fell to Charlotte.
"It's not being released, and the board doesn't want it released," he said Thursday.
Shaw spokeswoman LaChauna Sumpter made it clear Thursday that her president cast his vote for Raleigh. Newsome could not be reached for comment.
"The university exercised its full power to ensure that the tournament remained in Raleigh, by voting that the tournament be kept in the Triangle," a news release said after Tuesday's announcement.
Even when asked directly, St. Aug's President Dianne Boardley Suber refused to say how she voted. NCCU Chancellor James H. Ammons Jr. has not returned phone calls seeking comment.
In March, while Raleigh was considering plans for an on-campus stadium at St. Aug's, Suber threatened not to vote for the city's 2006-08 CIAA bid if city leaders did not support the school's request for a 5,000-seat athletic stadium.
The City Council approved a permit for a scaled-back 2,500-seat stadium.
Suber has continued to insist, though, that she was "pulling for Raleigh" and is "disappointed" that Raleigh lost.
"The presidents and chancellors agreed that the decision would be what was good for the conference," she said. "This is best for the conference at this point."
Unlike Ammons, the state's public university chancellors in the Atlantic Coast Conference -- the leaders of N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill -- were open to questions last year after their pivotal votes to expand that league from nine teams to 11, and later to 12.
One factor that may have influenced how Ammons voted is that his school, NCCU, and Winston-Salem State University, have contemplated leaving the Division II CIAA for the more lucrative Division I.
Raleigh and Charlotte both offered $1 million in scholarships per year to the conference schools -- an amount three times more than next year's $340,000 scholarship commitment from Raleigh.
The last round of games will be played in Raleigh the week of Feb. 27. Scholarship money is due to the CIAA in advance of the annual tournament and is divided evenly among the dozen colleges.
Both cities also offered rent-free arenas, Kerry said.
The details of Raleigh's bid are available because it was submitted under the auspices of both the city and Wake County, both government agencies subject to the state's public records law. Specifics about Charlotte's bid remain difficult to ascertain because the proposal was not submitted by a public agency.
Kerry noted that location was the deciding factor in Charlotte's favor, something Raleigh could not overcome.
With departures of some schools possible, the CIAA is considering an expansion in South Carolina and Georgia. Charlotte brings the tournament closer to those schools, their fans and the coveted Atlanta market, he said.
"The people who do this for a living have realized this was the best thing to do. People who don't understand think it should have stayed where it was," Kerry said Thursday. "This deal was made to keep the CIAA fresh and competitive and nothing else."
Charlotte's under-construction arena downtown is in the heart of restaurants, hotels, clubs and other attractions.
The CIAA basketball tournament arrived to the then-new arena in West Raleigh in 2000, an area with few amenities for visitors. Raleigh won a second three-year contract through 2005.
Turnstile attendance has doubled since the games left Winston-Salem in 1999. Last year, the conference attracted more than 90,000 fans and topped 100,000 when counting people who attended free Saturday events.
Last year, the tournament brought an estimated $11.5 million economic impact to the Triangle and nearly $1 million in tax revenue.
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Dec. 16, 2004
The Hook
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Busiest day in court for former fugitives: Daniel Bradley Limbacher, 22, pleads guilty December 7 to second-degree murder in the death of his friend, Shawn G. Hatcher, whose bullet-riddled body was found near Oakwood Homes on U.S. 29 June 18. Limbacher, who was arrested at a Houston bus station, will serve 15 years of his 40-year sentence. The same day, Benjamin Lopez Rivera pleads guilty to breaking and entering his girlfriend's apartment, which was set on fire and destroyed March 18. Rivera was arrested in a laundromat in Florida. Liesel Nowak has both stories in the Daily Progress.
Worst day in court for Scott Peterson: A jury sentences him to death December 13 for the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci.
Worst day for heavy metal: Nathan Gale shoots Damageplan's Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott onstage December 9 at a Columbus, Ohio, concert and kills three more people before police gun him down.
Worst Washington area trend: Arson. Fires are set in 30 new homes in the new Hunter's Brooke subdivision in Charles County, Maryland, early December 6, burning 10 to the ground. And a regional arsonist is believed to have set 45 fires in the DC area over the past 21 months.
Oddest flashback to Allan Bakke: The Office of Civil Rights in the Education Department is investigating a complaint that UVA discriminates against white undergrad applicants, according to the Chronicle for Higher Education. The civil rights office has been asked to look into similar allegations involving UVA's and William and Mary's law schools, NC State's undergrad admissions, and Maryland's School of Medicine.
Latest Delegate Rob Bell bill: Bullying in school. Bell hosts a forum with clinical psychologist Peter Sheras December 15.
Biggest interstate custody appeal: Vermont civil unions v. Virginia's anti-gay marriage law. The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and Equality Virginia file December 8 on behalf of Janet Miller-Jenkins, whose former partner, Lisa Miller-Jenkins, took the child she bore while the couple was together to Virginia and obtained sole custody.
Harshest gesture for the new neighbor: A legal challenge. Hydraulic Road area resident Renae Townsend appeals Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge's certificate of occupancy for its new headquarters, where abortions will be performed, to the Albemarle Circuit Court, Julie Stavitski reports in the Progress. Townsend and five other Garden Court townhouse residents have filed a separate lawsuit against Planned Parenthood and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.
Biggest defender of Christmas: John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, appears on Fox's O'Reilly Factor December 8 to explain how to mesh the religious holiday with public institutions. A guide, "The Twelve Rules of Christmas," is available on the Rutherford website.
Best time to go to Monticello: Before December 31. The cost of an adult ticket goes up a buck in 2005 to $14.
Grandest library opening: The Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture at UVA is dedicated December 8, ending months of construction in the middle of Grounds and providing a new home for the university's special collections.
Worst loose mattress: The U.S. 29 bypass is closed for about three hours December 7 after a mattress in the road causes a multi-car accident around 5:30pm between the Ivy Road and Fontaine exits.
Worst way to try to collect a reward: By telling police of your own involvement in the crime. Eric Daugherty, 21, provided information about an arson in Schuyler in hopes of collecting a $2,000 reward, and was indicted December 6 on five felony counts, according to a Reed Williams story in the Progress. Two others also face charges in the August 16 fire.
NASA Study Finds Tiny Particles In Air May Influence Carbon Sinks
Dec. 16, 2004
NASA News; EurekAlert, DC; ScienceBlog; Space Ref; Astrobiology News
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
A NASA-funded study provides direct measurements confirming aerosols, tiny particles in the atmosphere, may be changing how much carbon plants and ecosystems absorb from or release to the air.
The research is important for understanding climate change and the various factors that influence how much carbon gets transferred from the air into below ground carbon sinks. Carbon dioxide acts as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. The study appeared in a recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
The study reported the effects of aerosols on overall carbon exchange might be more significant than clouds. Cloud cover tended to reflect the sun's radiation back out to space, reducing the overall amount of light to Earth's surface. As a result, less sunlight on plants caused less photosynthesis.
The study, which benefited from NASA satellite data, focused on six sites around the country. The sites represented a wide variety of landscapes, including forests, crops, and grassland. When aerosol levels were high, the amount of carbon absorbed by an ecosystem increased for forest and croplands, and it decreased for grasslands.
Lead author Dev Niyogi, a research assistant professor at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., and colleagues, suggested the effect of aerosols on the overall exchange of carbon dioxide by ecosystems may be greater than the effects of clouds on these processes.
"We were very excited to find direct observational evidence that one variable, the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere, can have such a significant effect on something so complex as an ecosystem's carbon exchange," Niyogi said.
The researchers used data from NASA's AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) and the AmeriFlux network. AERONET provided data on the amount of aerosols in the air. From AmeriFlux, Niyogi and colleagues were able to measure the exchange of carbon dioxide between the air and an ecosystem.
But aerosols did not dramatically
cut the amount of radiation that reached Earth's surface. Instead, aerosols
scattered sunlight allowing
more radiation
to penetrate to the lower layers of leaves. This less concentrated
radiation due to aerosols allowed for more leaves to photosynthesize
at a higher
rate. During photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon from the air.
In grasslands the top layers of leaves are not as dense as with
crops and forests, causing the ground to heat more. When the
ground heats,
the soil
gives more
off carbon dioxide, thus reducing the net effect.
The study also benefited from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in NASA's Terra satellite. It was used at regular intervals to provide broader geophysical context to the more continuous data available from AERONET. MODIS data were also used to assess the vegetation health and map leaf area for each site, and to interpret the net ecosystem exchange.
For each site, the researchers analyzed how carbon cycled in each ecosystem on cloudy and cloud-free days. They examined carbon exchange levels for high and low levels of scattered sunlight as well as high and low levels of aerosols. Measurements were taken during afternoons in the peak growing season from June through August. Years of available data varied for each site.
AERONET is a ground-based aerosol-monitoring network and data archive. It was initiated and supported by NASA's Earth Observing System. It was expanded into a consortium with many non-NASA institutions. NASA provides equipment and standardization to institutions that participate in the program. Data from AERONET provides near real-time observations of aerosols. AmeriFlux is a multi-institutional network supported by several federal agencies that provides ongoing data of ecosystem level exchanges of carbon dioxide, water, energy and other factors from daily to yearly time scales.
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The Art of Growing Christmas trees
Dec. 16, 2004
Dateline Alabama; Tuscaloosa News
By Patrick Beeson
© Copyright 2004
NEWLAND, N.C. | The day after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of holiday shopping for many Americans. But for farmers in the mountains of western North Carolina, it’s the start of the annual Christmas tree harvest.
Truckloads of the state’s famed Fraser firs are sold from Mexico to New England. Because of the punctuated topography of the Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina is the nation’s second-largest producer of Christmas trees, topped only by woodsy Oregon.
By comparison, Alabama ranks 33rd among Christmas tree-producing states.
“We’ve gone from being way down on the list to almost the top," said Doug
Hunley, agricultural technician at the Avery County extension
office of North Carolina State University. “We’ve probably got 40 to 50 million trees in the ground."
Hunley, who has worked with the NCSU extension office in Avery County for 14 years, attributes the phenomenal growth of North Carolina’s Christmas tree industry to the development of the Fraser fir -- a species known for needle retention, dark blue-green color, pleasant scent and good shipping characteristics. The trees grow best at high altitudes, commonly 3,000 to 4,500 feet, making them perfect for the state’s high peaks.
Christmas tree sales in North Carolina brought farmers about $110/smillion in 2003, a figure that state Department of Agriculture marketing specialist Bill Glen believes will be equaled with this year’s harvest. He expects a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in sales of trees grown in the state.
However, Christmas tree farmers in North Carolina and other states face robust competition from imported artificial trees and the growing trend toward people not purchasing the decorative icons.
Glen said changing demographics and an aging population are major problems for the Christmas tree industry. At least 50 percent of approximately 108 million households chose an artificial tree over a natural tree in 2002, and 20 percent chose to have no tree, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
But holiday cheer is plentiful for the majority of North Carolina tree farmers.
A nationwide poll conducted for the National Christmas Tree Association by Wirthlin Worldwide/Harris Interactive projects U.S. consumers will purchase about 24 million to 25 million Christmas trees this year, up from 23.4 million trees in 2003. That harvest brought $521 million to the nation’s Christmas tree farmers, according to the USDA.
“It’s a tremendous economic impact," Glen said.
Indeed, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture estimates the industry accounts for 1.4 percent of the state’s total income and ranks it 12th out of 50 commodities sold.
But in the largely rural counties in the western mountains, the Christmas tree industry has been a priority since the ’50s.
Nothing Else Will Grow
Sam Cartner typifies the average North Carolina Christmas tree farmer – even at 84 years old. After all, he helped plant the first seedlings in 1959 as an agricultural cooperative agent for the state government.
Today he remains a principle part of the Cartner Christmas Tree Farm in Newland, N.C., a wholesale, mail-order and choose-and-cut business run by members of his family.
“We were one of the first," Cartner said. “I mean to be in charge of things as long as I live."
Cartner, who was inducted into the North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame four years ago, said he began growing Christmas trees as an alternative to fruits and vegetables that couldn’t survive the harsh winters common in the high Appalachian Mountains. Unfortunately, because the industry was new, there weren’t any specialized machines or techniques to help harvest the trees.
“We just pulled the trees through a tube to wrap them," Cartner said. “It was a hard start."
Another problem with growing the trees was the time between planting and harvesting – six to 17 years on average.
“It takes so long to get them to the market, I thought we were going to go broke," Cartner said. “But you don’t just plant and quit. You’ve got to have something to sell if you’re going to stay in business."
The difficulty in growing Christmas trees caused many area farmers to avoid the crop until the mid-’70s, when rising tree prices and improved technology made the industry a lucrative business venture.
Cartner’s farm now employs a number of workers and produces more than 40,000 trees for wholesale, 1,000 for mail-order and another 300 for choose-and-cut customers.
A Family Operation
The Evergreen Ridge Christmas tree farm is just a short drive up the winding Hickory Nut Gap Road from Cartner’s farm. Although both farms produce the same Fraser firs, there are many differences in their business practices.
Evergreen Ridge produces only 1,000 trees for the wholesale market each year and is run solely by owners Mike and Anne Pitman, their two sons Gray, 20, and Jonathan, 28, and a few neighbors – to help hand out hot cider and drive the tractor for hay rides, among other duties.
Mike started growing Christmas trees 20 years ago on his 15 acres as a natural extension of his career. He is an agricultural agent for Avery County specializing in Integrated Pest Management.
IPM is a method of tree production that minimizes the use of pesticides and fertilizer in addition to scouting for pests, maintaining groundcover and practicing sustainable farming. The IPM method of tree farming is currently used by a majority of North Carolina growers since its development in the early ’90s.
“We practice what we preach," said Pitman. “You grow a better tree cheaper if you practice IPM."
Pitman’s wife Anne has a day job far removed from the tree farm, teaching sixth-grade social studies at nearby Cranberry Middle School. She prefers to let Mike and her two sons do most of the cutting, netting and lifting of a few hundred trees.
“I’ve been doing this job pretty much my whole life," said Gray Pitman, a senior at Wilkes Community College with a double major in carpentry and architecture. He works at his parents’ farm during school breaks with his brother Jonathan, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in exchange for tuition and apartment rent.
The Pitmans run the Evergreen Ridge Christmas tree farm as a part-time business, selling wholesale to a large nursery in Greensboro, N.C., though they are making an increasing amount of money from the smaller choose-and-cut operation.
Mike estimates the majority of their choose-and-cut customers travel from neighboring towns such as Beech Mountain, but some such as the Whitlock family from Bristol, Tenn., travel from bordering states.
“This is our tradition," said Sherri Whitlock, as Gray Pitman drags their family’s tree to the netting machine after felling it with a quick cut of a chainsaw. “The kids just love it."
Her husband Dean and their three children nod in agreement. They have been coming to the Evergreen Ridge farm for the last three years.
“I like picking the tree and having it cut down," Dean said. “There’s nothing like the smell of a real tree in the house."
Large Scale Labor Issues
Topping out at more than 4,400 feet, the McDaniel Tree Farm is one of the highest elevation farms in western North Carolina – perfect for growing 40,000 Fraser fir Christmas trees and landscaping hemlocks every year.
The McDaniels also sell two-thirds of their wholesale trees to Southeastern chain stores such as Atlanta-based Home Depot and Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’s. But they’ll also sell a few hundred choose-and-cut trees to customers with vehicles capable of making the drive up their seemingly vertical driveway.
“It’s just not our primary thing," said Debra Vance, who helps run the farm with her husband Wayne. “We’re here if the weather’s good, but if not, we don’t care."
The McDaniels lease several parcels of land throughout the northern part of western North Carolina. Their primary farm is 175 acres, followed by smaller 47-acre and 30-acre fields.
To maintain the several hundred acres of rugged land on which their trees grow, the McDaniels and other area tree farmers rely on imported labor from Mexico. This source of labor is made possible by the federal H-2A temporary agricultural program.
The H-2A program essentially allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring in nonimmigrant foreign workers for a temporary or seasonal nature, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can approve an employer’s petition for such workers, the employer must file an application with the DOL stating that there are not sufficient workers who are able, willing, qualified and available, and that the employment of aliens will not negatively affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
Employers participating in the H-2A program must also follow specific guidelines for compensating their contracted workers: They pay for independent recruitment, housing, transportation, food or a means to prepare meals and an hourly wage determined by the state’s adverse effect wage rate – currently $8.06 in North Carolina.
Agricultural employers in 2003 employed 14,094 nonimmigrant workers out of 44,033 certified by the DOL, according to Homeland Security statistics.
James Hrubovcak, an economist for the USDA, said numbers of workers specific to the North Carolina Christmas tree industry are unable to be determined.
Cline Church, a third year board member of the National Christmas Tree Association, has used the H-2A program for 10 to 12 years on his farm, Cline Church Nursery.
Church wholesales 45,000 trees annually and believes without the foreign workers, Without the foreign laborers, Christmas tree farms would not be able to operate at current production levels.
“It’s sad that we have to hire migrants on our farms," Church said. “The local people have no desire to work on the farms."
Church said the program works well, but has “a few glitches" relating to wage issues. He disagrees with the federally mandated adverse effect wage rate and believes it too high for workers also getting housing, transportation and food with their paychecks.
“It gets pretty pricey," Church said.
Christmas tree farmer Wayne McDaniel claims his yearly overhead costs, including labor, amount to more than $300,000.
But with hundreds of thousands of trees to harvest per year, Church and others see no way around the controversial labor program.
“We just want to sell what we can grow," Church said. “Christmas trees are a very environmentally friendly crop with many more positives than negatives."
Arizona State University Wins CGS/Thomson Petersons Award for Innovation
Dec. 17, 2004
Managing Information, UK
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
The prestigious annual Thomson Peterson's/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting an Inclusive Graduate Community, sponsored by Thomson Peterson's, was presented to Arizona State University at a luncheon ceremony held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington DC.
Accepting the award for Arizona State University was Maria T. Allison, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies.
First presented in 1994, this annual award recognizes innovative institutional programmes that seek the identification, recruitment, retention, and graduation of minority graduate students. Programmes should demonstrate creative approaches that enhance current recruitment practices and that can serve as models for other institutions. All CGS member institutions are eligible for the award. The institution that submits the winning proposal receives $10,000 toward the implementation and administration of the program.
Arizona State's proposal for the award, Pathways to Success: An Undergraduate – Graduate Collaboration, focuses on targeting ASU's own undergraduate minority talent pool as they make decisions regarding their futures after graduation. The award will allow three separate institutional entities, the Division of Graduate Studies, Barrett Honours College, and the Vice President's Office for Undergraduate University Initiatives, to collaborate and help these students better understand the graduate experience and ease their entry into graduate school. A proposed Reach for the Stars Fellowship program will provide financial assistance to the traditionally underrepresented students, particularly those who choose to pursue graduate degrees in science, technology, and engineering fields. "In our experience, minority students, particularly Hispanic students who make up Arizona's largest minority group, will put off graduate education if it means leaving home and family," said Glick, Executive Vice President and Provost. "This recruitment and retention program seems to be the smart thing and the right thing to do."
This year, ten institutions competed for the award. In addition to Arizona State, Fielding Graduate Institute, University of Nevada, North Carolina State University, University of Albany, Montclair State University, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Eastern Michigan University, and Virginia Polytechnic and State University also submitted proposals.
"Changing institutional behaviour is not easy. And each year I am amazed at the tremendous level of creativity, time, and effort that goes into devising innovative ways to increase inclusivity in graduate education," says Debra Stewart, President of the Council of Graduate Schools.
"Applicants hail from all parts of the country and offer a wide range of strategies for creating a more diverse campus environment," adds Mary Gatsch, President of Thomson Peterson's. "Whether their focus is mentoring, advising, or program development, all are committed to making change at all levels of their institutions. Thomson Peterson's is proud to be involved with this award."
Last year's winner, the University of Mississippi, continues to build on a number of student-run programs, including writing assistance programs for international students, student mentoring programs, and various social activities, to strengthen diversity on campus.
Salt-water Minnow Research Helps Explain Human Cardiology
Dec. 16, 2004
Science Daily
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Arlington, Va. -- Doctors and their patients have puzzled over why certain
cholesterol-lowering drugs work better in some people than others. In research
results published in the December issue of the journal Nature Genetics, the
common minnow helps provide an answer.
Researchers Douglas Crawford and Jennifer Roach of the University of Miami's
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) and Marjorie
Oleksiak of North Carolina State University studied the genetic make-up of
the fish and found that normal differences in how their heart muscles process
fats and sugars contain clues to this mystery. The National Science Foundation
(NSF)'s biocomplexity in the environment program, and biological oceanography
program, funded the work.
"These scientists found a genetic set of keys that begins to unlock the mystery of why certain people can eat fatty foods and not suffer from heart disease, and why some medical treatments work more effectively in some people than in others," said Philip Taylor, director of NSF's biological oceanography program. "This far-reaching research is a result of NSF's investment in the use of genetics as a way of understanding how organisms adapt to their environments."
Some hearts, it turns out, use glucose (sugar) better than others. Some use fatty acids (fats) better. In general, if an individual is good at using or metabolizing one source, he or she is not good at using the other.
Using technology known as gene microarrays, the scientists were able to measure how the products of genes make proteins that in turn convert food sources into energy. They found a large variation from individual to individual in the number of genes associated with functions related to sugar and fat metabolism. Those differences explain much of the variation in cardiac metabolism of both sugar and fat, the researchers believe.
Surprisingly, the genes that matter most are not the same in each individual: in some, increases in certain genes affect the use of fats, while in others, they affect the use of sugars.
"This is an important first step in understanding why some of us can eat fatty foods and not suffer from cardiac disease," said Crawford, "and why some drugs or medical treatments work on some individuals but not on others."
Ultimately, the scientists think, their work could point the way toward identifying the number and type of certain genes a person has. With this information, doctors may be able to prescribe the most effective medication within a certain class of drugs to treat high cholesterol or blood sugar, and have a clearer understanding of an individual's propensity for heart disease.
The research was also funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Dec. 17, 2004
News & Observer
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