Highlights of recent news coverage of Georgia State's people and programs. The "In the News" program is a service of the Office of University Relations. Please reply or call 3-3025 if you would like a full copy of any of the following news stories.

Banking on bankruptcy
   Despite Delta Air Lines’ plan to avoid bankruptcy through 7,000 job cuts, pay reductions and other measures, the company’s future looks ominous, warned finance professor James Owers in articles appearing in numerous newspapers, including the The Seattle Times, The Detroit News and The Denver Post. “Those of us looking at it from an objective perspective are assigning a low probability of that plan being realized outside of bankruptcy,” Owers said.

Energy crisis
   Many nutritionists and fitness experts maintain that eliminating too many carbohydrates from your diet can decrease the effectiveness of exercise by depleting energy levels, reported New York’s Daily News recently. In the article, Georgia State’s Andrew Doyle advised exercisers to create a diet consisting of 55 percent carbohydrates, 25 percent fat and 20 percent protein to offset energy drops. “Exercise isn’t a license to overeat on carbohydrates, but there is a need for fuel,” says Doyle, associate professor of kinesiology and health.

All work and no play
   ABC News recently featured Georgia State’s Olga Jarrett in a story on the recession of recess from schoolchildren’s lives. “I believe that there is a mistaken assumption that children do better if they spend all their time on academic things,” says Jarrett, associate professor of early childhood education. “And I believe that that is not the case, that children do better if they do have breaks in the day.”

Checking for fraud
   People should start checking their bank statements more often after the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act goes into effect Oct. 28, advised law professor Mark Budnitz in Newsweek. Also known as Check 21, the law could lead to more checking-account fraud and bank errors, Budnitz said. Under the law, banks can transmit electronic images of checks instead of paper versions. Check 21 also allows banks to create substitute checks when receiving banks can’t accept an image or when consumers want their cancelled checks back. Budnitz worries that there’s increased risk of the same check being cashed more than once with original and substitute checks floating around.

Dirty job
   The struggling economy could explain rising crime rates in DeKalb and Fulton counties, said criminal justice professor Robbie Friedmann in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. People might resort to crime if they have lost their jobs and cannot find new ones, he said.

Hit hard
   Already struggling with crushing poverty and political turmoil, Haiti was devastated by Tropical Storm Jeanne, with more than 250,000 people left homeless from the deluge, reported The New York Times. “Haiti’s situation right now is a catastrophe,” said Henry “Chip” Carey, associate professor of political science, in the article. “The state collapsed in February and it remains unreconstituted. Without a functioning state, you can’t build stronger houses, repair infrastructure, build control dams.”

Stormy weather
   Students in parts of Florida missed nearly a month of school due to the hurricanes that recently pounded the state, reported the The Christian Science Monitor. The article quoted William Waugh, professor of public administration and urban studies, who said returning to school should help students’ psyches. “Once back in school, students will be able to tell stories and share their pain, and that will help the recovery,” said Waugh, an expert on dealing with disasters.

Hard lesson
   Critics of a third-grade textbook’s treatment of slavery feel it glosses over the issue by saying slaves were “brought” here to “help” others, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The article quoted Georgia State’s Akinyele Umoja, who believes it is possible to accurately portray slavery for children through age-appropriate lessons. “If we want to create a multicultural society, you have to do it at the earliest level,” said Umoja, associate professor of African-American studies.