Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / June 26, 2008, edition 1 / Page 3
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iThr BaiUj (Tar Uppl UNIVERSITY BRIEFS Banjo music exhibit comes to Chapel Hill from Africa West African musician Cheick Hamala Diabate and singer/ fiddler James Leva will play music inspired by African banjo, and will display a 1740 version of the instrument. The free public program will be today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. CITY BRIEFS Carson documents scheduled to be released this week Several documents relating to the March killing of Eve Carson are set to be released thus week. Search warrants and other docu ments could be made public Friday during a hearing originally set in April for Judge Allen Baddour to consider unsealing the records and autopsy report. The autopsy is expected to be released June 30, when interviews with witnesses are to be completed. District Attorney Jim Woodall had requested the documents remain sealed until all interviews were completed in an attempt to test the validity of eyewitness accounts. Chapel Hill bomb threat turns out to be a false alarm The Chapel Hill Police Department closed down many blocks downtown for several hours June 24, beginning promptly after a 6:30 p.m. call notifying officials about a suspicious package. The package, found in the inter section of Rosemary and Henderson streets, turned out to be innocuous. Police closed Rosemary Street between North Columbia and Hillsborough streets, as well as Henderson Street between Franklin and Rosemary streets. The Durham County Sheriff's Department bomb squad investi gated the package. The police currently are investi gating suspects. Man plummets from Top of the Hill balcony to sidewalk A man plunged at about 4:30 p.m. June 24 from Top of the Hill restaurant on East Franklin Street. Police said that a citizen called to report it and that the man was alive when he was transported to UNC Hospitals. “The only thing we know is that a guy either fell or jumped off Top of the Hill," SgL Donnie Rhodes said. Passerby and UNC junior TVler Woodard said he was startled by the event. “He was on the edge right there rocking," he said. The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported June 25 that Top of the Hill manager Scott Maitland said the manjumped after pacing the restaurant for about an hour. Maitland reported that the man was drinking only water. The N&O reported that the man fell onto an awning above the for mer Sunglass Hut, spun and landed on his head on the Franklin Street sidewalk. STATE BRIEFS N.C. schools might face SSO million budget shortfall State education officials have announced that they might have to withhold SSO million from school districts to cover rising diesel fuel costs and ensure that teachers get their full bonus checks this year. The state Department of Public Instruction reimburses school dis tricts for most fuel costs and also dispenses the annual bonus checks for teachers, which are based on student performance on state tests. In a message sent out June 22 to school districts across the state, Associate State Superintendent Phillip Price stated that the proposed state budget leaves a major funding shortfall for fuel and bonus checks. Wake County might lose $4.7 mil lion. Durham and Johnston coun ties could each lose sl.l million. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system could lose $395,000. New sentence ordered for N.C capital punishment case An N.C. death row inmate now faces resentencing, as ordered by a federal court in Richmond, Va Dentist William Robert Gray Jr. was given a death sentence for mur dering his estranged wife in 1992. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said June 24 that Gray's lawyer should have used a defense establishing his mental illness. The court said not doing so most likely impacted Gray’s sentencing. The court said the defense attor ney ignored several warning Signs about Gray’s mental state and did not properiy explore the possibility of using insanity as a defense. -From staffand wire reports Dean to lead business school Brings 10 years of experience to job BY KATIE ANDERSON STAFf WRITER Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bernadette Gray-Little announced Friday in a letter to stu dents that Jim Dean, senior associ ate dean for academic affairs, will be succeeding Steve Jones as dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the beginning of August, pending approval of the Board of Thistees in July. Dean will be coming into the position with more than ten years of experience at the business school. “I’ve really seen the school from three different perspectives," Dean DTH, RAC ME: RODEMANN Dave McCracken, president of the Neuse River Foundation, dons a sign and gas mask in protest of hog lagoons in eastern North Carolina. Several group leaders gathered in front of the state administration building to express their discontent with current hog waste legislation. BY RACHEL RODEMANN SENIOR WRITER Leaders and supporters of several grass roots organizations presented Gov. Mike Easley' with a gallon jug of hog waste Thursday as a culmination to a 51-hour Hog Vigil on the lawn in front of the N.C. legislative building. The vigil, held in protest of the disposal of hog waste in eastern North Carolina lagoons, began June 17 when several dozen people from organizations including the Neuse River Foundation, the N.C. Environmental Justice League, the New River Foundation and the VVaterkeeper Alliance gathered on the lawn. The vigil ended when protesters marched first to the governors mansion and next to his office in the state administration build ing. sporting protest signs and air masks, to deliver a gallon jug of hog waste. “We hope he takes the lid off. He’ll smell what these people smell every time they leave their houses," said Lam Baldwin, Lower Neuse Riverkeeper for the Neuse River Foundation, after delivering the jug to Easley ’s door. The protest permit issued to the Hog Vigil expressly prohibited the substance on Senate opponents trade jabs BY HARRISON JOBE STAFF WRITER On Saturday, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C.. and N.C. Sen. Kay Hagan. D-Guilford, participated in a Senatorial forum hosted by the N.C. Bar Association in New Bern. This marks the first time that the two U.S. Senate candidates have debated each other. ‘I am running because Washington is broken," Hagan said in her introduction. Hagan also called for better health care, more affordable col lege and new energy policy plans. Dole cited her accomplishments in the U.S. Senate, including her role in establishing the state’s immigration enforcement plan and avoiding military base closures. ‘My campaign will focus on my record of results for North Carolinians," Dole said Dole also promised a positive campaign. ‘People are tired of politics as usual the same defaming type of politics that Kay Hagan clearly engaged in," said Hogan Gidley. a spokesman for Dole's campaign. Increased bipartisan cooperation was a central topic in the debate, echoing the presidential race. “Folks, the way we’ve been able to accomplish so much for North said, referring to his time as senior associate dean for academic affairs, associate dean of executive devel opment and associate dean of the Master of Business Administration program. “1 know most of the people in this school and I know what the challenges are," he said. Currently, the biggest challenge. Dean said, Ls raising enough money to support the programs that would enable the business school to com pete with top schools around the w orld, many of which have signifi cant sources of private funding. Dean is also looking for new WASTING AWAY the Halifax lawn, so the group instead deliv ered it to the governor’s office in a sealed container. The city of Raleigh called the substance “toxic waste” in 2007. the group's press release states. Vigil organizers said in a press release that they were frustrated with Easley in particular because in 1999 he made campaign prom ises that he would phase-out and completely eliminate hog waste lagoons by 2004. As of this year. North Carolina is the second-largest hog producing state in the nation and has more than 3,000 operational hog waste lagoons. Angie Whitener, director of policy devel opment and communications at the N.C. Hog Council, said the hog industry is responsible for more than 46,000 salaries and grosses more than $9 billion a year. “More than the entire RTP area." she said. In North Carolina, hog waste is dumped into large open-air lakes called lagoons. The material in the lagoons is later sprayed over farmland as fertilizer. Vigil groups said one of the problems with these waste lagoons is that weather conditions Incumbent Elizabeth Dole brings 40 years of experience in Washington to the table. Carolinians is by working across the aisle," Dole said. Hagan's campaign was critical of Dole's claims of working in a bipar tisan manner. “When you vote with President Bush 92 percent of the time, it's hard to make the case that you do," said Colleen Flanagan, a spokes woman for Hagan's campaign. Dole asked Hagan to join her in calling for outside organizations to refrain from running ads on their behalf. Gidley said that the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Dole formerly chaired, the Republican National Committee and the N.C. GOP have all agreed not to run ads in the N.C. Senatorial campaign. Hagan’s campaign has not responded to Dole’s request. “The NRSC was responsible for some of the most despicable ads against President Gerald Ford in Tennessee," Flanagan said. ‘I Top News technology and teaching methods to improve the schools programs. “Simulation technology has come a long way," Dean said, “and that’s a powerful tool for business educa tion." Dean cited the increasing ability to transmit information electroni cally and the growing use of social networking sites. He described how these new- technologies have & think it’s rich that she would ask to eschew third-party ads now." The candidates exchanged sharp barbs in their closing remarks. “When it comes to Sen. Dole and her 40 years of experience in Washington, experience just means a way of doing business." Hagan said. “It’s a way of doing business that puts special interests and their lobbyists before working families." Dole criticized Hagan for increas ing taxes and easing access to driver's licences for illegal immigrants. She also questioned Hagan’s energy plan. "My opponent claims she has a quote energy plan unquote, but the only octane is in the rhetoric.” Both spokesmen said they have received multiple requests for debates. Hagan has accepted an October debate on UNC-TV, Dole has not yet responded. Contact the State GJ National Editor at stntdetk@unc.edu. prompted a re-examination of teach ing strategies to enhance the effec tiveness within the business school. “What is presented in the classroom and what is presented online?’ Dean said. “Are there enhanced ways for the students to learn from each other as well as from the professors through social networking?" Dean and the current dean, Steve Jones, both talked about their hopes for the expansion of the active learning program in the business school. The program, started four years ago in the schools MBA program, provides the opportunity for stu- SEE DEAN, PAGE 9 Jim Dean has been named head of the Kenan-Flagler Business School. such as high temperatures and shifting winds bring the smell of the waste to the neighbor ing communities, where it lingers. On June 18. there was a fresh-air birthday party for children of Eastern North Carolina. Neuse River Foundation representatives said the opportunity to have such a party was a first for many children in attendance because nearby hog lagoons cause poor air quality in their hometowns. Group representatives also say there is a risk of the lagoons overflowing with heavy rains and contaminating outside bodies of water. Studies by the Environmental Defense Fund show that hog waste contamination can cause health risks for humans if it enters water supplies and poses environmental threats if it enters lakes or rivers. But WTiitener said the lagoons are the most effective method and that they are similar to the system used for human waste disposal. “There is nothing out there that is as effi cient as lagoons," she said. She also said there are several pilot pro- SEE PIGS, PAGE 9 Innovation Center plans are progressing Challenger Kay Kagan says she will focus on health care and work for anew energy plan. BY ANDREW RYAN COSGROVE STAFF WRITER Design plans for the Innovation Center, the first building scheduled to be completed at Carolina North, continue to progress despite the incomplete studies on the larger project's impact on Chapel Hill. “There has not been a formal design proposal because we are con tinuing to revise and refine the design structure," said Jack Evans, executive director for Carolina North. Evans will take the design to the UNC Board of TVustees in July and is hoping to start construction after getting approval by October. “Right now, though, it has been sent and reviewed by the planning board and will be reviewed by all local advising boards." he said. Currently, there are two research components being finished concur rently with the design plans for the Innovation Center. The first, a fiscal analysis, will show what impacts Carolina North will have on the town's economy. The other is a transit study that will look at the flow of traffic around the project and the utilization of public transportation available. Neither are finished, but the THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008 Nation hurt by fiscal slump N.C. saved by its versatile economy BY DEVIN ROONEY STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR The impact of the recent eco nomic downturn is outlined in the new est report on the fiscal health of the nation made biannually by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers. The Fiscal Survey of States was released last week and details bud get challenges and fiscal growth for each state and examines regional and nationwide trends. Across the country, many states are falling on hard times, according to the report. ‘Fiscal 2008 marked a turning point for state finances, with a sig nificant increase in states seeing fiscal difficulties, in stark contrast to the preceding several years," the report states. Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, said the concerns for the states mirror the difficulties of the average American. "Economic concerns the budget officers have, as recorded in this data, are just like the American consumer. They've got the same concerns and worries," Pattison said. But Raymond Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association, said that despite the gloomy outlook at the national level, there are huge dis parities between the states' fiscal situations. And the news for North Carolina is relatively positive, in part because the state has a relatively diversified economy with substantial agricul tural sectors. The report projects a 10 percent growth in expenditures for the state. Expenditure growths are cor related with economic growth. The national average for expen diture growth this fiscal year is 5.1 percent, and the historical national average is 6.7 percent. Scheppach said that in hard times, state leaders are prone to cut funding for higher education quickly. “They really do freeze that," he said. That tendency is evident here in North Carolina, where the N.C. General Assembly has pro posed funding cuts for the UNC system. The N.C. Senate's budget pro posal includes sll million in funding cuts for the 17-campus system. But Scheppach said the worst is yet to come for the states. “Biggest impact on states is a year after recession or two years," Scheppach said. “We saw this in 2001 the downturn ended in 2001, but the impact was still felt for the next two years." He went on to predict that the SEE SLUMP, PAGE 9 “We have thought carefully about how the Innovation Center is going to be an integrated part." JACK EVANS, carouna north nrector consultant of the fiscal impact study will be making a preliminary report today. Evans said. Some members of the Chapel Hill Town Council say they are uneasy about approving plans for the center before the fiscal impact and transit study have been com pleted. “It does make it much more challenging to contextualize the Innovation Center in a larger plan when the details of the larger plan have not been cemented," council member Mark Kleinschmidt said. “We don’t want to cast off any of our stated interests, nor would the University, in order just to move this single project" he said. “But I don't think this building is SEE INNOVATION, PAGE 9 3
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