SummerTide Theatre devotes June to Gulf Shores ‘Spelling Bee”
Pensacola News-Journal – June 4
It’s time for the annual SummerTide Theatre production at the George C. Meyer Performing Arts Center in Gulf Shores, Ala. This is the seventh year that this professional summer theater of the University of Alabama has brought a musical to Gulf Shores, and this year’s show is “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
Alabama Business Hall of Fame
Business Alabama – June 2010
Prime Movers: This is the first in a quarterly series of profiles featuring members of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame — pivotal personalities in Alabama’s commerce, community and history. The Alabama Business Hall of Fame honors those who “have lived a rich life, not a life of wealth,” says J. Barry Mason, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Alabama. Inductees range from iconic Alabamians like George Washington Carver and Daniel Pratt to modern leaders of Alabama’s burgeoning technology industries like Roy Nichols.
‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ May Haunt Effort to Taint Obama
Bloomberg Businessweek – June 4
Republicans’ embrace of offshore oil drilling and their skepticism of “big” government may hamper the party’s efforts to gain politically from President Barack Obama’s handling of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who heads the Republican Governors Association, has said the BP Plc oil spill that followed the April 20 explosion of a deepwater rig is no reason for the U.S. to abandon offshore oil and gas exploration. As oil washes ashore in Gulf Coast states, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, also a Republican, sent a letter to Obama this week expressing “grave concerns” with the president’s decision to suspend activity at 33 deepwater rigs. “They’re kind of stuck because they’re the party of ’Drill, Baby, Drill,’” said David Lanoue, head of the political science department of the University of Alabama, referring to a Republican slogan during the 2008 presidential campaign. “If you’re an ambitious Republican governor, where do you go with this?”
Free concert features jazz, big band music
Tuscaloosa News – June 4
The Jazz Cavaliers will present a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the concert hall of the Moody Music Building on the University of Alabama campus. The program will feature big band music and traditional jazz with vocals. The band will be joined by dancers from the Dance Clubs of Tuscaloosa. The band will be directed by Mart Avant.
Gordo festival pairs traditions, amusing sights
Tuscaloosa News – June 4
Visitors can appease the palate with chicken and beef cookoffs, which coincidentally tie in the area’s connections to the poultry industry. There will also be carnival rides for the kids, live gospel and rock ‘n’ roll, and art, from the sublime — photography, sculpture and printmaking by the Crossroad Arts Alliance, including Kathleen Fetters, Barbara Lee Black and Glenn House — to the distinctly whimsical. Visitors can watch paper being made from mule poop, although they can’t follow their noses to find it. “It does not have a distinct odor once we cook it,” said House, who knows something about fiber arts, having helped found the book arts program at the University of Alabama.
Legislature pay raise vote blamed for some losses
Associated Press – June 4
A vote Alabama legislators cast more than three years ago to raise their pay by 61% is being viewed as a cause for the defeat of several incumbents in Tuesday’s party primaries. Political observers say more lawmakers could lose their jobs in the November general election because of the vote, taken in 2007. Four-term Republican state Rep. Mac Gipson of Prattville said he has no doubt that voting for the pay hike was a reason why he lost Tuesday to Prattville attorney Paul Beckman by 60% to 40%. Retired University of Alabama political scientist William Stewart said Thursday he believes challengers will hit incumbents hard in fall campaigns about voting for the pay raise and accepting it.
UA program aids Hannah Homes
Crimson White – June 3
After the spring semester, the University’s Give-N-Go program collected a record of 35,040 pounds of donated items for Hannah Homes across Tuscaloosa, Shelby and Jefferson counties, providing basic necessities to women and children of domestic violence, according to a UA news release.
Black Belt Experience gives students new perspectives
Crimson White – June 3
For three weeks in May, about 50 freshman and sophomore University Fellows participated in the Black Belt Experience, developing community relationships and aiding an often forgotten rural town. “[The program] aims to introduce the members of the University Fellows Experience to the necessity of forming partnerships to achieve common goals in a community,” said Gina Miller, Black Belt Experience coordinator.
Bama in the Barrios of Madrid
Crimson White – June 3
The streets filled with hundreds of fans pounding homemade drums, bodies completely painted, waving flags, beers in hand, screaming uproariously. The SWAT team and police officers lined the streets watching the sea of people with resignation. As the roar of the crowd swelled, I could feel a “Roll Tide” forming in my own throat. But this wasn’t an Alabama championship: this was an Atlético soccer game victory on a Wednesday night in Madrid, thousands of miles away from Tuscaloosa.
73rd annual Boys State held at UA
Crimson White – June 3
About 550 rising high school seniors are on the University’s campus this week running a mock state government through the 73rd annual American Legion Boys State program, according to a UA news release.
10-digit dialing coming soon to a phone near you
Decatur Daily – June 4
One, two, three — pause — four, five, six, seven. When push-button phones started replacing rotary phones in the 1980s, a seven-digit rhythmic dialing emerged. During the past two decades, callers perfected the rhythm — a rhythm now disrupted. On Saturday, rather than seven digits, customers in the 256 area code must dial 10 digits for local calls. . . . How quickly callers will adapt to the new requirements stumped psychologists. “Oh goodness, I don’t know how quickly people will respond. No research has been