Showing posts tagged “UNC”
Joe Schwartz ·
3 Mar 2010, 4:21 PM ·
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Topeka municipal leaders renamed the town Google, Kansas. Others across the country are forming Facebook groups and bringing tech gurus together hoping to be selected for Google’s high-speed Internet project.
Chapel Hill, Carrboro and UNC are forming a joint task force, holding a forum and inviting residents to complete a survey.
The group is geared toward becoming a pilot community for Google Fiber, a program announced last month that seeks to build and test Internet service that’s one gigabit per second — 100 times faster than what’s available today.
To qualify, towns of 50,000 to 500,000 people must apply by March 26 and demonstrate that they have adequate resources and infrastructure to make the partnership successful.
The forum is set for 7 p.m. March 15 at Chapel Hill Town Hall.
Read next week’s Independent for a story on what else local municipalities are doing to try to woo Google.
Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County Add new tag, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, fiber, Google, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
11 Feb 2010, 3:53 PM ·
3 Comments
UNC burned 104,586.00 tons of coal at its cogeneration plan in 2009, public records show.
During the past five years, they’ve used 568.703 tons of coal purchased from eight mines all in Virginia or Kentucky.
You can access the data here. Next week’s Indy will feature an analysis of the mines and their practices.
Regina Stabile, director of institutional records and reporting compliance, filled our public records request Wednesday, the same day that our story on UNC coal use hit the stands. The request, which asked for the amount and cost of coal used each year since 2005 along with the name and location of the mines, was filed Jan. 29.
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Chapel Hill, Orange County, environment coal, Cogeneration Facility, Energy Task Force, Regina Stabile, UNC
Lisa Sorg ·
9 Feb 2010, 6:23 PM ·
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Who knew what when: The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources wants answers from UNC-Chapel Hill about the 53-day gap between the time workers at the Bingham Facility suspected a leak in a treated-wastewater storage pond and when the university notified environmental officials that said leak did occur.
The treated wastewater did flow into nearby Collins Creek, a violation of UNC’s discharge permit.
A letter from DENR to UNC (160kb, pdf denrletter24) stated that the state regulators are considering “enforcement action,” and asked for a response from the university.
Mary Beth Koza, director of UNC environment, health and safety, said the university is preparing a response to DENR. “We try to do everything in compliance,” she said.
Because of the discharge DENR revoked UNC’s “deemed permit status,” a general permit classification, and is requiring the university to apply for an individual discharge permit. UNC has until early March to submit its application.
There have been several malfunctions or leaks at the facility’s wastewater treatment ponds, which have raised questions about the quality of the construction. Koza would not address that issue, but added “We’re working with the contractors to fix the problem.”
Orange County, environment Bingham Facility, discharge permit, N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
2 Feb 2010, 4:47 PM ·
2 Comments
James Hansen, one of the nation’s leading experts on global warming, joined a group of UNC students today in calling for the university to become coal-free.
Standing in front of UNC’s Cogeneration Facility, which powers the campus, about 20 students held signs encouraging Chancellor Holden Thorp to “be a climate champ.”
They were joined by Professor Jose Rial, a UNC glaciologist, Patricia Leighten, a Westwood neighborhood resident who lives about a quarter-mile from the plant, a handful of Sierra Club members and Carrboro Alderman Sammy Slade.
The speakers praised Thorp’s creation of an Energy Task Force and said it provides an opportunity for UNC to become a national leader in renewable and clean energy.
“The best way for the Energy Task Force to address energy use on campus is to get UNC off of coal as quickly as possible,” said Stewart Boss, a freshman and media outreach coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Coal-Free UNC Campaign. “Coal is the dirtiest possible energy source we could be using today.”
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Chapel Hill, Orange County, environment Coal-Free UNC Campaign, Cogeneration Facility, Holden Thorp, James Hansen, Jose Rial, Sammy Slade, Sierra Club, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
22 Jan 2010, 3:02 PM ·
2 Comments
Clarification (10:12 p.m. Friday): As UNC School of Law student Jonathan Jones commented below, Larry Flynt’s speech is free and open to the public, but a ticket is required. The Great Hall of the UNC Student Union only holds 500 people, so you’ll need a free ticket to reserve a space. The prices noted below apply to the second day of the symposium, which includes three panel discussions and runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. February 19.
Larry Flynt will come to UNC next month to deliver a speech on sexually explicit language and material.
The controversial pornography maven and founder of Hustler is the keynote speaker for the UNC’s First Amendment Law Review Symposium, the eighth annual event put on by the student organization and journal.
“When you talk about the First Amendment, and you talk about controversy, one person comes to mind, and it’s Larry Flynt,” said Symposium Editor David Wicclair, a third-year law student from Pittsburgh.
Flynt will speak at 8 p.m. Feb. 18 in the Great Hall of the UNC Student Union. Tickets are $20 for the general public, $10 for senior citizens and students from other institutions. UNC students, faculty and staff can get in for free. They go on sale Feb. 1 at the Student Union Box Office.
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Chapel Hill, Orange County, education, media First Amendment Law Review Symposium, Hustler, Jerry Falwell, Larry Flynt, pornography, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
4 Jan 2010, 2:45 PM ·
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Danny Glover of Lethal Weapon and Angels in the Outfield fame is the keynote speaker for UNC’s 29th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration, UNC officials announced today.
Glover’s speech highlights the weeklong event, which runs from Jan. 17 to Jan. 22. The talk is free and open to the public and is set for 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at Memorial Hall. You will need a ticket, however. Students with UNC IDs get the first crack at them beginning Jan. 12. Everyone else can get two tickets starting Jan. 14 at the Memorial Hall box office.
Glover will address how King inspired him to use his celebrity platform fight for causes like health care and education.
More information on the speech and the entire slate of events can be found here.
Chapel Hill, education, film Danny Glover, MLK week, UNC
Lisa Sorg ·
11 Dec 2009, 3:17 PM ·
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UNC received more than 78 percent of Orange County’s federal stimulus money—$92 million of the total $117.9 million, according to Indy analysis of data released today by ProPublica, an investigative journalism nonprofit organization based in New York city.
The total county funding equals $932 per resident.
To see the full list, click on the ProPublica link.
Most of UNC’s stimulus grants, contracts and loans came through the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
NIH money went to research on salivary gland disease, autism behaviors, melanoma, Alzheimer’s, opiate addiction, genetic disorders and HIV. The Department of Energy funded further study of solar fuels, and the NSF awarded money to analyze the development of African American English and its Role in School Achievement.
Other recipients include
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Head Start program: $190,000
Chapel Hill energy efficiency initiatives: $50,000
Capital funding for Chapel Hill public housing: $732,000
Orange County Sheriff’s Department justice assistance grants: $238,000
Chapel Hill, Orange County, economy, national, news energy efficiency, federal stimulus money, Head Start, Orange County sheriff's department, public housing, UNC
Lisa Sorg ·
5 Oct 2009, 9:00 PM ·
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The Daily Beast has named Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill as the No. 1 smartest city in America.
The online mag cited the area’s top-notch universities, Duke and UNC (sorry N.C. State), RTP and the “engaged political minds” that are attracted to the capital city. It awarded the region a Daily Beast IQ of 170, which, if translated into legitimate intelligence quotient, would place us between Albert Einstein, who reportedly had an IQ of 160, and Sir Isaac Newton with 190.
Of the 55 cities scored, Fresno, Calif., placed last with an IQ of 3. Greensboro came in 35th with an IQ of 83. Charlotte ranked 16th with an above average score of 119.
Chapel Hill, Durham, North Carolina, Raleigh, education, national, news Duke University, Research Triangle Park, The Daily Beast, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
2 Oct 2009, 3:02 PM ·
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From the it-depends-which-way-you-interpret-it file, UNC will host a speech by Catherine Rohr, a former Wall Street investor who founded the Prison Entrepreneurship Program after learning that “executives and inmates have more in common than you might think.” Enron, anyone? Surely, she means that prisoners have upward mobility in today’s society, but the flip side is pretty funny, you have to admit.
The free event goes down at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Chapel Hill, Orange County Catherine Rohr, Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC
Lisa Sorg ·
24 Sep 2009, 6:15 PM ·
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Congrats to local teens in northeast-central Durham, who have launched an online publication, Durhamvoice.org, with help from UNC and N.C. Central University. The first edition was posted this week with stories about the Durham Police Department’s Operation Bulls-Ey, Samuels and Sons Barbershop and the new Union Independent School, run by Union Baptist Church on North Roxboro and Corporation streets.
Expect a monthly print edition beginning in February 2010.
Here’s the text of the press release:
The journalism programs at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. Central University have partnered with Durham civic and church leaders, volunteers and residents to launch the Northeast Central Durham Community VOICE, a community news publication serving Northeast Central Durham.
The first edition went online Sept. 24 at durhamvoice.org with neighborhood news, information, photos, videos and features provided by NCCU and UNC journalism students and local teens mentored by students and faculty.
Jock Lauterer, director of the Carolina Community Media Project at the
UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is leading the effort
that began more than year ago as an idea from UNC Department of City and
Regional Planning students looking for ways to revitalize the 300-block
area known as “the bull’s eye” to Durham police and community
development officials for its high incidence of crime.
Lauterer believes that strong community media help strengthen
communities by encouraging a vital civic life and a developing a
positive sense of place. VOICE will be published bi-weekly online
through November and will add a monthly 24-page tabloid print edition in
February 2010. The Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s student newspaper, is covering
the costs of printing 2,000 copies monthly for the first year of
publication. VOICE will be distributed at neighborhood schools, churches
and businesses.
“We want to empower youth to create a single source for local news for
the Northeast Central Durham community,” Lauterer said. “And we hope the
young people putting out the paper will develop the skills to use their
voices effectively in civic discussions while expanding their education
and career options.”
VOICE recruited its youth staff primarily through a series of free,
on-site photography lessons taught at NECD’s Salvation Army Boys’ and
Girls’ Club, Seesaw Studio and the Durham Inner-City Garden.
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation provided early support with a $25,000
grant for computers, cameras and other equipment for the project.
Lauterer is negotiating space for a newsroom in the new Golden Belt
complex, and he is exploring partnership opportunities with the new
Union Independent School in the NECD neighborhood.
Durham, media, news Carolina Community Media Project, Durhamvoice.org, Jock Lauterer, NC Central University, northeast central Durham, UNC, Union Independent School, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
