New parking lot opens at UA
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 10
A parking lot at the University of Alabama opened Saturday just in time for school and — perhaps more importantly for the lot — football season. The lot at the end of Fifth Avenue off Campus Drive will hold about 1,200 vehicles during the week and 181 recreational vehicles during football home-game weekends. The RV spaces are already sold out. “During the week, two sections of the lot will be designated for commuter students and one section will be designated for perimeter parking, which includes faculty, staff and students,” said Cathy Andreen, UA spokeswoman. The parking lot, which cost almost $4 million, is the first UA project on land that belonged to the Bryce Hospital campus. The university bought the nearly 20-acre site from the Alabama Department of Mental Health for about $1.6 million in December 2007. The property sits outside the fence encircling the Bryce campus, but UA had held off using the land until it bought most of the rest of the Bryce campus two years later. About three-quarters of the construction price is paid for by donations through the Crimson Tide Foundation, and the parking lot was primarily built to handle game-day traffic…
Football stadium to be open to the public every day
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Aug. 9
WHNT (Huntsville) – Aug. 9
Full speed ahead for the University of Alabama football stadium expansion. And CBS 42 has your sneak peek inside the 230,000-square-foot facility before kick-off. The 8-story expansion took 16 months to complete. It mirrors the north end zone, but there are a couple of new features like the outdoor market, the donor hall of recognition, the stadium club and south zone club, plus 34 new skyboxes.
Zoe’s, YogurtLab to open stores at Bryant-Denny Stadium
Birmingham News – Aug. 10
Two Birmingham-based eateries are part of the new expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium at the University of Alabama. Zoe’s Kitchen and YogurtLab are set to open this fall in an area of the addition that will be open throughout the year, as well as on football game days.
New Report Shows Distracted Driving to Blame for Many Wrecks
WAKA (Montgomery) – Aug. 9
A new report finds cell phone use is having a major impact on drivers in Alabama. It comes from the University of Alabama. The study shows distracted driving is to blame for more than 1,400 accidents in the past 13 months alone. Distracted driving ranges from using a cell phone or other electronic device to eating while driving.
Personal income in most U.S. metro areas suffered in 2009
Gadsden Times – Aug. 10
Robert McLeod, a professor of finance at the University of Alabama, said with high unemployment rates, there’s no pressure on wages and that lessens the chance of wage increases…McLeod said there are mixed economic signals that include positive growth, but not at a pace able to create new jobs, and that recent studies are questioning the classic economic effect of government spending. “Recent studies show if you spend a government dollar there’s less than a dollar benefit,” he said. “Throwing more money at a problem is not working, but that’s probably coming from the cut-taxes group. There are people arguing that it is working. “The key thing we’re not seeing a bang for a buck from Washington,” McLeod said. “The only way we can have sustained economic growth is capital expenditures.”
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 10
Sorority Rush Starts at UA
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 9
And speaking of beating the heat, more than 1,500 students at the University of Alabama are hitting the pavement, knocking on doors, and meeting new faces this week….Planning on visiting the University of Alabama campus this week, watch out for hundreds of students on foot this week beating the heat. There are nearly 1,600 women participating in UA sorority recruitment right now. According to the UA Greek life office that makes it the largest sorority recruitment in the nation.
Target’s back-to-school shopping for freshmen
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 10
Freshmen at the University of Alabama can do their back-to-college shopping during an after-hours event at Target, 1901 13th Ave. E., as part of the university’s Week of Welcome festivities. The event is only for UA freshmen. The event on Monday, Aug. 16, will be from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Students can ride a bus to the Target store for the private event. There will be a DJ, games, prizes and food, as well as gift bags including coupons and other essentials.