Tide football stadium could seat 101,000 in 2010
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 14
An expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium could be completed before the 2010 season, if everything falls into place, University of Alabama President Robert Witt said Thursday. UA committee trustees approved the look, estimated cost and scope of an expansion to the football stadium’s south end zone Thursday, and the full board is expected to approve it today. However, Witt said the project has not reached a point of no return.
Huntsville Times – Nov. 14
Bryant-Denny expansion step closer
Crimson White – Nov. 14
$80.6M budget approved for stadium expansion
Birmingham News – Nov. 14
UA trustee says stadium expansion is sound financial move
WBRC-Fox, Birmingham – Nov. 13
WCFT-ABC 33/40, Birmingham – Nov. 13
WIAT-CBS 42, Birmingham – Nov. 13
WVTM-NBC 13, Birmingham – Nov. 13
WVUA, Tuscaloosa – Nov. 13
WKRG-CBS, Mobile – Nov. 13
WAFF, Huntsville – Nov. 13
WHNT, Huntsville – Nov. 13
WZDX, Huntsville – Nov. 13
WAKA, Montgomery – Nov. 13
WSFA, Montgomery – Nov. 13
WDHN, Dothan – Nov. 13
WTVY, Dothan – Nov. 13
WDEF-CBS, Chattanooga – Nov. 13
Denny Chimes revealed: Still chiming after 80 years
Crimson White – Nov. 14
Looking proudly over the Quad, Denny Chimes has sent students scurrying to class with its top-of-the-hour tolls for almost 80 years. The structure, one of the tallest on campus, has maintained a classic feel even as its innards have been modernized again and again. Denny Chimes is at once a relic and a testament to evolution. “It’s the icon of the University,” said Mike Largin, director of IT support for financial affairs. “All the alumni identify with it.”
Joint effort stocks shelves for community food pantry
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 14
After the single largest purchase from the West Alabama Food Bank in its history, students from the University of Alabama and volunteers at Cottondale Community Church have been working frantically nearly all week for the first “CARE Day” at the church Saturday. For the graduate students in the UA School of Social Work who conceived the “Cottondale Area Resident Enrichment Day,” the distribution of some 6,500 pounds of food actually comes with class credit. “But that’s not the main goal,” said Julie Holden of Birmingham, who is working on her master’s in social work. She spoke Thursday as she took a break from sorting cans of food at the church gym. “The main goal is to help the food pantry at the church expand and really serve the community.”
Toy Sales to Escape Downturn in Otherwise Bleak Holiday Sales Season
TECHDivas – Nov. 14
Most experts predict the upcoming holiday season for retailers will be the worst since the recession in the early 1980s when the nation was hit by increased bankruptcies, agricultural exports plummeted, crop prices fell, interest rates increased, and the federal budget deficit jumped. Even so, said Dr. Kristy Reynolds, Bruno Associate Professor of Marketing at The University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Commerce, kids need not worry, at least not as much as mom and dad. “Toy sales will be okay or at least not as hard hit. Toy sales are usually resistant to economic downturns because parents are reluctant to cut back,” Reynolds said.
Are Gift Cards a Good Gift?
WIAT Birmingham – Nov. 13
The gift card is always a popular gift, but with many companies facing financial problems, they may now have their drawbacks. Some big retailers, like Circuit City, are filing for bankruptcy, which has led to questions as to whether or not the little pieces of plastic would be a safe bet. But, one retail expert from the University of Alabama says: if gift cards are your gift of choice, you should be good to go. Dr. Kristy Reynolds says, “There are many concerns that several businesses will go out of business after this holiday season so I would recommend using them very soon.”
New Freeze Spray Helps Plants Live Longer in Cold
WTVY Dothan – Nov. 13
At six or minus 6.3 centigrade, plant tissues freeze solid and we have to deal with that solidity, that freezing. University of Alabama botanist Dr. David Francko developed a solution that works like antifreeze for plants. It lowers the plants’ freezing temperatures and enhances the plants’ natural mechanisms to resist freeze damage. “The ability to reduce the freezing point of water that’s inside the tissues of that plant, and also, once that water freezes, to allow that plant to survive freezing temperatures.”
Evangelicals Who Backed Obama Say Pro-Life Laws Can’t Reduce Abortions
Life News – Nov. 12
A new survey that details the beliefs of evangelical voters and why they supported Barack Obama or John McCain finds those voters who supported Obama don’t believe government can reduce abortions. Their views appear to be at odds with studies showing pro-life legislation save lives…Dr. Michael New, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, has conducted a national study showing parental involvement laws reduce abortions anywhere from 19-31 percent where they are adopted…The number of abortions has fallen in 12 out of the past 14 years and the total number of abortions has declined by 21 percent since 1990, thanks to pro-life laws, New explains.” Case studies provide still more evidence of the effectiveness of state level pro-life legislation. Between 1992 and 2000 the overall abortion rate declined by 14 percent (among the 47 states reporting data both years). However, those states that were especially active in enacting pro-life legislation during the 1990s experienced even larger decreases in abortions,” he explains.
Study results from University of Alabama update understanding of life sciences
Calibre – Nov. 13
“Deletion syndrome” is a very common, but commonly overlooked, disorder that has many viariable features, such as serious heart defects, speech and articulation problems, immune compromise, learning problems, pervasive developmental disorders, and a late appearing phenotype of this condition-mental illness,” scientists in the United States report (see also Life Sciences). “Persons with 22q11DS are likely to be medically complex patients with pervasive developmental disorders and late appearing mental problems, wrote M.G. Umlauf and colleagues, University of Alabama. . . . For more information, contact M.G. Umlauf, University of Alabama, Capstone College Nursing, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.