All-star chorus concert set for Saturday

DURHAM -- Ninety selected choral students from Durham School of the Arts and Hillside, Jordan, Northern and Riverside high schools will take part in the High School All-County Chorus Concert 2009 at 7 p.m. Saturday at Hillside High School.

The event is free and open to the public.

N.C. Central University's Richard Banks, an associate professor of music, will conduct the all-star chorus in a wide-ranging repertoire of choral music.

Banks is former co-director of the famed Boys Choir of Harlem. He is an accomplished recitalist and appears often around the country, including conducting choirs at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., and performing in Carnegie Hall in New York.

Library to host medical panel

DURHAM -- MaryAnn Black, associate vice president for community relations for Duke University Health System will moderate a panel discussion including Duke physicians Alex Cho, Kevin Schulman, and Kim Lyerly at 7 p.m. tonight at the North Regional Library branch, 221 Milton Road, on the future of medicine.

It is free and open to the public.

Cho is in the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy's Center for Genomic Medicine.

Schulman, is a professor of medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Clinical and Genetic Economics and as an associate director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Lyerly is the director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is an internationally recognized expert in cancer therapy and cancer immunotherapy.

For more information, visit www.durhamcountylibrary.org/drt or call Marian Fragola at (919) 560-0268.

Disabled focus of NCCU event

DURHAM -- Durham Parks and Recreation along with N.C. Central University will host Unity in the Community Day Oct. 24, from 11 a.m.- 3 p.m., at NCCU's Leroy T. Walker Complex, 1801 Fayetteville St.

Unity in the Community Day is held in observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The event theme is "Expectation + Opportunity = Full Participation." Participants will enjoy a full day of free activities including adaptive sports, makeovers, children's play area, entertainment, food and much more.

There will also be information booths and resources for people with disabilities.

For more information, call (919) 560-4355.

Groundbreaking today for park

DURHAM -- At 4:30 p.m. today, Mayor Bill Bell will host the official groundbreaking ceremony for Bethesda Park, 3801 Cash Road.

The Bethesda Park project is funded by a November 2005 bond issue.

The construction budget is $3,112,563.00 and the park is scheduled to be complete in August.

The event is free and open to the public.

The 20.56-acre park will include covered tennis and basketball courts, a disc golf course, a playground, an open play field and walking trails, and is the future site of a high ropes challenge course.

For more information, call (919) 560-4355.

Students to back health care effort

RALEIGH -- College students across the state are expected to gather on campuses across the state today to support federal health care reform initiatives.

They are seeking signatures for a petition to members of Congress asking them to support legislation that ensures affordability, access and choice for all Americans, according to a news release from the N.C. Justice Center.

Emily Littlejohn, a student volunteer at N.C. Central University who has helped coordinate the effort, said she is excited to see students getting involved in the health care debate. "Students know that health care is a fundamental right," said Littlejohn. "And making sure Americans have access to high-quality, affordable health care is something that will benefit us all."

Contact Mark Donovan at mdonovan@heraldsun.com or (919) 419-6655. E-mail news of interest to our readers to news@heraldsun.com.