(Ttje Saily (Ear Brrl Agency Downgrades State Bond Rating by 1 Level Change won't affect ongoing construction By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. Assistant State & National Editor As construction funded by the N.C. Higher Education Bond shifts into high gear on campuses across the UNC system, ftiture bond rates might increase because of a downgrade in the state’s bond rating. Moody’s Investors Service, one of three main credit rating agencies, announced Monday that it had dropped North Carolina’s bond rating from AAA to Aal. “It’s just one step down,” said Katherine Kirkman, director of public affairs for the state treasurer. “Aal is still a strong rating.” A press release from the N.C. Department of the State Treasurer said Moody’s cited the state’s “continued bud get pressure, its reliance on nonrecurring revenues, and its weakened balanced sheets” as reasons for the downgrade. But legislators are confident that con tinued efforts to fine-tune the state’s 2002-03 budget will reverse the down grade. “If we can get our house in order in certain areas, we can get our rating back up,” said Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange. Moody’s announcement came as UNC-system officials were trying to capitalize on a favorable bond market. Bonds that already have been issued will not be affected by the downgrade. _ Redeem Coupons at 107 E. Franklin St x Chapel Hill • 929-6551 ""■Free"”""” free : ”$2.99":"5i.9T ! F !!!ll.lr*eerteak. . Hsh‘n Chips . chicken Pita I Free cheesesteak must be of | g I equal or lesser value. I, "_*fcVl ■ p lsll i gwsg ; mb 3 * Valid at participating Miami Subs Plus | Valid at participating Miami Subs Plus | Valid at participating Miami Subs Plus . 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Individual Program ill MHk A to to Your * ■ mm* a . y y -jj . i __ M jm % Aqua Therapy for V IMiH.mli Group Programs I uM c I ftyr cartiio\ JM-uUr Strength & Endurance Jy pi|* # pi 1 Year * dllOl rioZa Unlimited Weigh Sc Measure To m( your Coal* jmjk “What I’m wearing is all I’ve got,” said city councilor Juergen von der Heydt, who leaned on the wall of a half submerged restaurant near his home in suburban Waldersee to catch his breath while supervising relief efforts. His home, just over a mile from the city center and its famed Bauhaus architecture school, was flooded neck-deep. “I’ve been up for five days and nights, and I haven’t managed to rescue anything,” he said. Military helicopters ferried sandbags to a dike being built to protect a key highway linking Berlin and Munich. Houses designed by the Bauhaus school’s master architects in Dessau were considered safe, city spokeswoman Christina Framke said. Thousands of emergency workers, soldiers and volunteers worked nonstop piling tons of sandbags onto sodden dikes along the Elbe and Mulde rivers. Sandbags were scarce, prompting Denmark to ship 650,000 of them to help, said the Technical Aid Service, a German government relief agency. In Magdeburg, about 40 miles down stream from Dessau, authorities pre pared to evacuate up to 20,000 people as the Elbe’s crest approached. Tuesday, August 20, 2002 Hundreds were evacuated from villages farther north in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state. Weather forecasts for Germany and central Europe called for dry weather in the next few days, with scattered show ers over western Hungary. Floods have wiped out or severely damaged scores of roads, rail lines, bridges, stores and homes in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, leaving countries with a cleanup and rebuilding bill estimated at S2O billion. The German government said it was delaying next year’s tax cuts until 2004, which Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said would free up $6.8 billion. The flood-damaged buildings include Dresden’s famous Zwinger Palace muse um, where a support wall collapsed Monday in the basement. The collapse was not expected to cause serious dam age, said Martin Roth, managing direc tor of the state art collections in Dresden. In Prague, authorities inspected more buildings damaged by flooding from the Vltava River. Fifty-eight homes in the low-lying Karlin neighborhood were damaged and at least 28 dwellings could be tom down, officials said. 15A