America’s Best Graduate Schools
U.S. News & World Report – March 28, 2008
Best Law Schools (Ranked in 2008): 32. University of Alabama School of Law… — Best Social Work Programs: 42. University of Alabama School of Social Work…
Chewbacca being nursed at UA
Tuscaloosa News – March 28
Under the glass of a greenhouse at the University of Alabama, horticulturists are delicately caring for a rare plant, hoping they can get a flower to bloom…the plant will show why it’s earned the nickname “Chewbacca.” “The woolly hairs reminded us of Chewbacca,” said John Clark, UA botanist. “Other flowers have hairs, but I’m not aware of that many with this much. This is, by far, the most extreme I’ve ever seen.” Clark, along with a botanist Larry Skog at the Smithsonian Institution, will publish their findings and classification of the flower in the Journal of Botanical Research Institute of Texas later this spring…The plant at the greenhouse in UA’s Arboretum, a descendant of the plant at Vanderbilt, appears to be flourishing. The leafy plant sits in a pot among several specimens Clark brought back from expeditions, but growing it has been a special task of Arboretum staff, said director Mary Jo Modica. “The only thing I know — the secret we’ve had in keeping it alive — is keeping it cool,” she said…
Court allows Siegelman release from prison pending appeal
Associated Press State Wire – March 27
…A federal appeals court ordered Siegelman released on appeal bond in his corruption case Thursday just hours after the House Judiciary Committee announced that it wants him to testify as part of its probe of claims of selective prosecution by the Justice Department. University of Alabama political scientist Bill Stewart said Siegelman could be out a very long time if either Democratic candidate Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton is elected president. “If he’s out until January and we elect Clinton or Obama, I expect he will be pardoned just like Scooter Libby was…”
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – March 27
Alabama personal income growth lags behind nation
Mobile Register – March 28
…Ahmad Ijaz, an economist with the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said Alabama’s auto industry is aiding the state…
Local sales tax revenues continues to rise amid suffering in other cities
Tuscaloosa News – March 28
…Of the three governments — Tuscaloosa County, the cities of Tuscaloosa and Northport — examined by The Tuscaloosa News, only one, Northport, showed less sales tax income through February than it had predicted for the coming fiscal year…Leonard Zumpano, a UA professor of finance and former director of the Alabama Real Estate Research and Education Center, said he believes Tuscaloosa County benefits from its location in West Alabama, where it serves as a shopping hub for many of the rural counties that border it. “There’s probably more sales being generated in the Tuscaloosa city area because it’s bringing in people from outside the county to shop inside the city,” Zumpano said. “And with the increase in the variety of retail stores, people are probably ¬— it’s my guess — making less trips to Birmingham than they were two years ago.” James Bryce, UA’s Joseph D. Peeler Professor of Law, teaches tax courses at the university’s School of Law. His feeling is that Tuscaloosa County economy, as well as that of the state, is remaining strong because of the Mercedes-Benz plant and its various suppliers. “The economy is doing a lot better in Tuscaloosa than it is in a lot of other places in the country,” Bryce said. “The auto manufacturing wave that started with Mercedes and continued under the Siegelman and Riley administrations, all of that has kept the Alabama economy way ahead of the national economy…
24 bands 2 stages all local, Tuscapalooza
Tuscaloosa News – March 28
When folks hear that 24 local bands will play today’s Tuscapalooza, there’s one common reaction: ‘People ask, ‘We have 24 local bands in town?” said Tim Neunzig, station manager for WVUA FM, 90.7 The Capstone, which is putting on the all-day event. Actually, there’s a whole lot more than two dozen local music acts working locally, everything from one-man bands to hip-hop to indie rock, and many points in between. Twenty-four is just what Neunzig and 90.7, the University of Alabama’s campus radio station, could fit onto two stages over 12 hours at the Bama Theatre…
Crimson White – March 28
Alumnus speaks about foreign service
Crimson White – March 28
…A UA alumnus told students on Thursday how they can be involved in the foreign service as a member of the U.S. State Department after they graduate. Greg Morrison, who received a master’s degree at the University in teaching English to speakers of other languages, said he has traveled to Morocco, Syria and Honduras working for the U.S. State Department…