Articles by Ross Maloney

Bluetooth devices, iPhone’s and all things cellular were in use as about 15 doctors and medical students called around the community to rouse support for President Barack Obama’s health care reform.

The phone bank at Jessee’s Coffee & Bar in Carrboro was organized by Dr. Stephen Gamboa, clinical instructor at UNC School of Medicine, along with Organizing for America, the local chapter of the Obama-affiliated volunteer campaign.

Two state legislators are drafting a bill that would keep undocumented immigrants out of N.C. community colleges — only a month after they regained the right to enroll.

N.C. Rep. Wil Neumann, R-Gaston, and N.C. Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd, R-Cleveland, have recruited 52 other Republicans to support the bill and are hoping to gather Democrats too.

“We need to get to the magic 61,” Burris-Floyd said, referring to the need for a majority in the 120-member House.

If they gather enough support, the bill will be introduced in May 2010, at the outset of a new session.

The U.S. Census Bureau found earlier this month that 17 percent of North Carolinians are currently without health insurance.

Supporters of health reform on a national and university level say this finding backs their position.

Adam Linker, a health policy analyst with the N.C. Justice Center, said that the state’s uninsured rates are higher than the national average of 15 percent partially because of high rates of joblessness.

Today is the eighth anniversary of Sept. 11, yet the commemorative events and public reflection of the past eight years are largely absent.

On the first anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, there was a campus vigil attended by thousands of students, multiple memorial ceremonies and commemorative structures and artwork.

In 2006, five years after the tragedy, there was a memorial service held on campus, a silent 5K run and thousands of small American flags placed on the lower quad.