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Shr Daily Car Hrri UNIVERSITY BRIEFS Basketball museum will be open for expanded hours The UNC Basketball Museum will be open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning on July 12,2008. Starting the week of July 7, the museum will be open each Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m!, and Saturday mornings, except for University holidays. Admission remains free. The museum, located on the first floor of the Ernie Williamson Athletics Center adjacent to the Smith Center, has attracted nearly 25,000 visitors since it opened in January. Elevator shaft gets smoky, but no damage in small fire A small fire ignited in the eleva tor shaft of Wilson Hall on Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters who respond ed to the scene said the elevator had overheated, causing it to smoke. No injuries or serious damage were reported. Search for life brings UNC science to the red planet Materials called perfluoropoly ethers (PFPEs) will help the European ExoMars rover analyze Martian soil and rock for traces of biological compounds such as amino acids. PFPEs were dev eloped by Joseph DeSimone and Jason Rolland. two researchers from UNC. The mission is scheduled to take .mil i-une ni'several to follow NASA's currentrhoenS' mission. CITY BRIEFS School board eyes site for new elementary school. At a June 5 meeting, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools' Board of Education discussed build ing the district's 11th elementary school on the site of the former Orange County Training Services School and Northside Elementary School, where the existing struc ture has fallen into disrepair. “We’ll probably have to tear down the (existing) building, it is so full of mold and asbestos," said board Chair Pam Hemminger. The board said one goal of the new school is to reduce class size, and the location must allow for future expansion and growth. *There is a lot of cultural history," Hemminger said of the Northside site. OWASA installation to close Old Mason Farm Road Old Mason Farm Road will close to through traffic for about three weeks starting Monday to install an Orange Water and Sewer Authority sanitary sewer main and a reclaimed water pipe in the roadway. Facilities with driveways on the mad will still be accessible through alternate routes such as Finley Golf Course Road and Fordham Boulevard. Judge to hear arguments in Carson autopsy dispute A judge will hold a hearing Wednesday at 2 p.m. to discuss the withheld autopsy reports of former Student Body President Eve Carson. Orange County Superior Judge Allen Baddour has said he needs more time to decide whether to unseal the documents. District Attorney Jim Woodall said he has kept the records sealed until interviews concerning the case are completed, while attor neys for The (Raleigh) News & Observer claim the reports are public record. STATE BRIEFS State Board of Education OKs K-12 curriculum changes The State Board of Education approved replacing the state’s fourth-, seventh- and lOth-grade writing tests with anew Assess ment system that would be admin istered by individual districts at a Thursday meeting of the board. Vanessa Jeter, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, said the changes to the tests will allow for a more authen tic evaluation of writing skills. “The idea is that students would learn subject matter in a more com prehensive fashion," she said. The testing changes are part of a larger curriculum shift to empha size more depth of knowledge, as opposed to breadth. “There is a desire to really iden tify’ the most important know ledge base and make sure that we do a really superb job of helping stu dents delve into that versus a sort of shotgun approach where you hit a wide variety of topics but not very deeply," Jeter said. -From staff and win reports Hospital eyes bed increase Proposal would add a 321-bed tower BY ANDREW RYAN COSGROVE STAFF WRITER UNC Hospitals is hoping to expand yet again as its capacity needs continue to be an issue. A proposal has been sent to the N.C. General Assembly to add a 321-bed tower in front of N.C. Memorial Hospital, where the old helipad was located. “We currently have 727 beds and it is my understanding that we are at or near capacity every day," Tom Hughes, spokesman for UNC Health Care said. This increase in patient health “We had a tremendous interest right off'the bat from the antique tractor and farm equipment clubs." brian long, N.C DEPT OF AGRICULTURE SPOKESMAN 4K| .. * ‘ V.rt-1 r , wgM Mfljl ; "" |l-5 DTM-RACHEI RODEMANN While a handful of children braved the metal seats of the rides at the "Got to be N.C." Festival in Raleigh last weekend, the near 100- degree temperatures kept the midway empty for most of the weekend and left parents and siblings huddled under umbrellas for shade. TRACTORS AND GRITS N.C. festival attracts limited numbers in heat BY COURTNEY ROLLER STAFF WRITER Tractors, food and heat were the defining parts of the first “Got to be N.C. Agriculture Festival." The state fairgrounds in Raleigh opened up June 5-8 for a food expo, an antique trac tor show and other events, rides and comjH’- titions, including a draft horse race, tractor pull, pig races and a barbecue cook-off. Brain Long, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which hosted the festival, said the event germinated from their "Got to be N.C." marketing campaign to raise consumer awareness of N.C. agriculture. “We started talking about doing some sort of a festival focused on N.C. foods and food products," Long said. “It seemed logical to tie that in with antique tractors and farm equipment." Housekeepers seek overtime C-TOPS alters work schedule BY SARAH SMITH STAFF WRITER This summer, housekeeping employees working in residence halls will not receive overtime pay for mandatory Saturday work. As the UNC Department of Housing and Residential Education faced the costs of host ing C-TOPS sessions and other summer camps, it began to assess cost issues, said Dick Mann, vice chancellor of finance and admin istration. “I am sure that there are employ ees who are unhappy, but Housing is trying to hold down costs,” Mann said. The department approached Director of Housekeeping Services Bill Burston to negotiate a cost effective solution for its revenue shortfall. The result of this exchange is a new policy, announced in January , in which housekeeping employees maintain a 40-hour work week from Tuesday to Saturday but are not paid overtime for their week end work. By implementing a policy of no overtime pay, the department and housekeeping administrators are able to save money while maintain- Top News care needs is not anew trend for UNC Hospitals. "This capacity problem has been building for a long time and we have had plans to build this tower for some time," Hughes said. Throughout the past several years, UNC has continued to see an increase in demand for patient space. Don Dalton, spokesman for the N.C. Hospital Association, said the tower is a response to that demand. Several factors have contributed to the rise in demand for health care in the state. “I think that the rise in health Though the heat had an impact on the number of fair-goers, the antique tractor clubs from across the state made their pres ence known with over 800 pieces of farm equipment on display. Long said. “We had a tremendous interest right off the bat from the antique tractor and farm equipment clubs," he said. Dick Lorey, president of one of the antique tractor clubs from Huntersville, was willing to face the heat for a good cause. “Asa project for the club, each year we restore an antique tractor. We take it to all the shows in the area and sell tickets on it," Lorey said. After restoration expenses are accounted for. he explained, the rest of the proceeds are donated to Holy Angels, a nonprofit corpora tion that provides programs and services for mentally and physically disabled people. This year’s project was a 1948 Ford BN. |: r r - trl DTH/SHANNON CHURCH UNC Housekeeping staff workers Odessa Davis, James Holman and Josephine Glover clean Rams Village Apartments on Monday afternoon. ing a schedule suitable for C-TOPS and other summer camps. While grounds and maintenance workers are also under the Facility Services umbrella, only housekeep ers are subject to this new policy. In addition to the lack of over time pay for Saturday work, house keepers have also complained that temporary workers, who have been hired in past summers to help with the workload, were not hired for this summer. “We have always had temps care need ties to the population growth in North Carolina and especially this area," Hughes said. “I think age is also a factor because this area is a popular retire ment spot for people." he said. UNC Hospitals also sees a wide range of patients from all over the state and country, he added. Overall, patients don’t appear to be staying at UNC Hospitals for extended time periods. “The average length of stay for a patient is about six days," Hughes said. But short stays are not necessar ily typical in hospitals statewide as more patients seek treatment. “Right now I think many are DTH ONLINE: Check out a photo slideshow of the weekend's fair at dailytarheel.com. “It's just like new," Lorey said. Lorey was joined by eight of the 43 mem bers of his cluh on Saturday under a tent which provided little refuge from the sun and tem peratures teetering upward of 90 degrees. “It s almost unbearable out here," Lorey said, motioning to fellow club members with bags of ice on their heads and fans waving. The smell of sunscreen was almost com pletely masked by the aroma of food samples provided by more than 70 N.C. companies and growers in the indoor Expo Center. "1 think given the fact that they were located in an air-conditioned building dur ing the festival," Long said, “they were quite pleased with the traffic that they got through their booth." Though not lucky enough for her exhibit SEE FAIR, PAGE 5 and overtime it takes all this to get the work done —and now we don’t have any temps or over time, but they expect us to do the same amount of work,” said James Holman, a housekeeping employ ee who works in Ram Village Apartments. As some housekeeping employ ees find it difficult to arrange and pay for child care and transporta tion on Saturdays, many end up SEE OVERTIME PAGE 5 approaching capacity," Dalton said. He went on to say that hospital admissions had increased even while the length of stay had not been reduced. But as new technology has contin ued to evolve, hospitals have expand ing options for patient care, even if they cannot expand their space. “Technology has allowed us to move some care to outpatient and home care settings, which have helped hospitals cope with the higher utilization of health care," Dalton said. The state has also responded to the growing needs of state hospi- SEE HOSPITAL. PAGE 5 Town approves pilot election fund program Comes after five-year fight for realization BY SARAH RIAZATI STAFF WRITER The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a pilot public campaign financing program, in the works for five years, at its meeting June 9- The program will begin with the fall 2009 municipal elections. Chapel Hill is the first N.C. munic ipality to enact this type of program. The General Assembly authorized the town to do so in 2007. Using the fund is voluntary for candidates, but for taxpayers, con tributing to the fund is not. "This involves taxpayers' money,” council member Matt Czajkowski said. 'lt comes at a time when taxes have increased 11 percent.” Council member Ed Harrison said the program w'ould cost each Chapel Hill resident about SI.BB during its four-year span. Many citizens raised concerns that the system masks an incum bent protection act. To use the fund, a candidate for Town Council must demonstrate public support by raising $750 from 75 different contributors, and a mayoral can didate must raise $1 500 from 150 THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2008 States big race off and running Candidates take different routes BY DEVIN ROONEY STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR The race for N.C. governor is still young, and already it’s neck and neck between Republican Pat McCrory and Democrat Bev Perdue. McCrory, w-ho is currently the mayor of Charlotte, recently made a series of public appear ances, including a speech to rally supporters Saturday at the state Republican Party convention in Greensboro. Bev Perdue, currently the lieu tenant governor, has been keeping a lower profile, spending much of her time with the in-session N.C. General Assembly. Perdue will speak at the state Democratic Party convention June 20-22 in New Bern. hMabJUJ! awke. a general con sultant for the McCrory cam paign. said the first step they took after the primary was to build party con sensus after the competitive pri mary race. "The first thing you do coming out of the prima ry no matter w hich party is unify- vour base," Hawke said. “We were able to do that fairly rapidly." R " A Republican candidate Pat McCrory has stayed in the public eye. Democrat Bev Perdue stays with the General Assembly. He added that he thinks McCrorv's speech at the conven tion won over voters. “Pat did such an outstanding job in his speech to the convention that he walked out with solid support," he said. David Kochman. Perdue's deputy campaign manager, said rebuilding bridges isn't the campaign's focus. “She’s very happy with the support she got in the primary," Kochman said. He said the Perdue campaign is still doing “a lot of fundraising, a lot of meetings and phone calls with community leaders and activists." Hawke said McCrory also is spending the bulk of his campaign time on fundraising. "Quite a bit of Pat’s time has been on the phone, making those kind of finance and other contacts," he said. Kochman said the Perdue cam paign is still developing a public events strategy. “We re still putting a lot of that together," he said. “As we move toward the end of SEE ELECTIONS, PAGE 5 "This is to ensure that in the long term , our politics in Chapel Hill are not polluted by money.” KEVIN FOY, MAYOR different contributors. “A candidate who is a moderate, a genuine independent, a Republican or a newcomer will have a much more difficult time getting the 75 financial contributions needed to qualify for matching public funds,” Terri Tyson, a Chapel Hill resident, said in a letter to the council. Mayor Kevin Foy said that in 1995, the council made a then-con troversial decision to limit individual contributions to $250 and to requite full disclosure of contribution sourc es. Now, he said, the council Is taking similar action. “Thus is to ensure that in the long term, our politics in Chapel Hill are not polluted by money," he said. The council recognized other benefits of the program, includ ing the restrictions on campaign spending, the lowering of cam- SEE FUNDING. PAGE 5 3
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