Gambling, jobs divide Alabama governor candidates
Associated Press – Sept. 17
The candidates debated Thursday night at the University of Alabama just hours after outgoing Gov. Bob Riley had to increase cuts in the state education budget due to lagging state revenue…William Stewart, retired chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, said Sparks was the more aggressive of the two candidates. “He had to be because the polls show he’s behind,” Stewart said…The candidates will have another televised debate Oct. 19 at Auburn University.
Birmingham News – Sept. 17
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
Crimson White – Sept. 17
FOX6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 16
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Sept. 16
WVUA (Birmingham) – Sept. 16
CBS42 (Birmingham) – Sept. 16
EDITORIAL: UA recruitment means great things for city
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
…More than 30,000 students attend UA today. That is up more than 50 percent from eight years ago…There are some equally impressive numbers behind those numbers. The entering freshman class, at 5,563, is not only the largest class in UA history — it may also be the most talented. We’re not talking about having the nations’ best group of football recruits, although that’s true. Rather, this class includes 125 National Merit Scholars, up from 102 in 2009. Last year, UA ranked 10th in the nation among public universities in the enrollment of National Merit Scholars. And one quarter of the freshman class finished high school with a grade point average of 4.0 or higher. The average ACT score for the class also is a record: 25.1. Even while exceeding growth goals, UA has become more selective. The freshman class was drawn from a record 20,112 applicants, up 175 percent since fall 2002. So this year, 54 percent of applicants were admitted. In 2002, 85 percent of applicants found there way to campus…
New UA police station closer to approval
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
The University of Alabama’s rapid enrollment growth and the sluggish economy contributed to the delay in approving plans for a new UA Police Department station, a school spokeswoman said. The construction was given the green light by a committee of trustees Thursday, nearly four years after a plan was first submitted to trustees. The police station is one of several projects expected to earn final approval from trustees today…However, the building was never built as other projects took priority, said Debbie Lane, UA spokeswoman. During the delay, administrators decided the spot behind the law school was better than the site behind Publix, Lane said. The new location should be easier to access, she said…Trustees also agreed to let administrators award foundation work to the lowest bidder on a proposed dorm in the envisioned North Bluff residential community…Besides construction, trustees approved renaming the softball stadium to the John and Ann Rhoads Softball Complex, which should be commonly called Rhoads Stadium. Ann Rhoads of Birmingham pledged a $1.2 million donation and another $2.5 million after her death to the Crimson Tide Foundation to promote the softball team and other women’s varsity sports, according to information presented to trustees. She bought a box in the softball stadium when no one else would, said Pam Parker, vice president for advancement…
U.S. attorney general to speak at UA event
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be the keynote speaker at a University of Alabama event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The event will be at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the McMillan Lecture Hall at the UA School of Law. It is free and open to the public, but seating will be limited. Book bags, handbags and large coats will not be permitted in the hall. Also during the event, law school Dean Kenneth C. Randall will announce a new national book award, “The Harper Lee Prize for Legal Literature,” to be given annually to a published book-length work of fiction that best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society and lawyers’ power to effect change. The event is co-sponsored by the law school and the UA Honors College as part of the Anne Campbell Bloom Lecture Series. Lee, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, attended the law school in the late 1940s. Holder is the second high-ranking federal official to speak at the UA law school this year. In March 2010, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. delivered the spring Albritton Lecture.
National Law Journal – Sept. 17
UA researchers co-discover new salamander
Crimson White – Sept. 17
Leslie Rissler and Erica J. Crespi, associate professors of biological sciences at the University, along with Robert A. Browne of the biology department at Wake Forest University, recently co-discovered a new species of salamander, the Northern Pigmy Salamander…“It is important because species are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process, providing important clues to scientists interested in understanding earth history,” Rissler said. “It is also important because we are in a biodiversity crisis. Understanding the patterns of biodiversity is a crucial first step to ensuring the continued presence of other species on our planet.”…
UA’s MBA program reports record enrollment for fall 2010
Birmingham Business Journal – Sept. 17
The Manderson Graduate School of Business at the University of Alabama reported another record enrollment for the third consecutive year at 93 students. The students’ average GMAT score rose to 640 this year compared to 633 last fall, and the average GPA rose to 3.5 compared to 3.4 last year. The class of 2012 has student representatives from 17 states and from six countries, including the United States, the university reported. Thirty-two percent of the students are female, and 17 percent of the students represent minorities…
Start financial lessons while children are young
Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald – Sept. 17
… Involve children, in an age-appropriate way, in family discussions about spending, such as the cost of vacation destinations and a new car purchase, as well as routine money chores, such as balancing a checkbook or clipping coupons, said Jan Brakefield, a professor of consumer sciences at the University of Alabama, who teaches money seminars called Cash Camp to middle-schoolers.… Parents should customize amounts for how much their kids can handle, what they can afford, and what parents expect kids to buy with the money, Brakefield said…”I’m not big on allowance as payment for doing chores,” Brakefield said. “If you’re joining this group as a family member, you’re pledging to do these things.”…
Blight Fight
Slate.com – Sept. 17
…”What’s happening in Montgomery is a civil rights crisis,” says David Beito, a history professor at the University of Alabama who, as chair of the Alabama State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, held hearings on the demolitions in April of last year…Beito says more than 30 people testified at his hearings last year that their homes had been wrongly targeted. Beito calls these actions “eminent domain through the back door.”… After the hearing in April, Beito’s committee asked the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to launch a full investigation into the Montgomery demolitions.
Digital Textbooks Can Enhance Education
OverTheLimit.com – Sept. 17
The iPad is the leader in the digital textbook industry and according to one professor at the University of Alabama, he looks to make it part of his course curriculum. ‘The iPad is something that I have been waiting to come for years. It has the possibility of making the learning experience a lot richer’ said economics professor Harold Elder. Industry insiders are saying that it is a slow process but the way that things look that digital textbooks will be the thing of the future. All of the students’ books and works will be done through one digital textbook. ‘Something out of this world’ said Elder.