Group teams up with University Place schools to plant garden
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 3
The Druid City Garden Project took to the earth Friday, planting its fall community garden at University Place elementary and middle schools. The project was started to increase access to fresh and locally grown produce, and was established at University Place in April. After a successful summer garden, the organization teamed up with University Place students to create the fall garden…Project volunteers included two University of Alabama classes, who tilled the soil and prepped the garden Thursday afternoon in preparation for planting on Friday…
Students learn hazards of distracted driving through simulation
Crimson White – Oct. 4
The Student Government Association, along with UA Transportation Services, will sponsor a Professionals Encouraging Educational Reform Statewide Texting and Driving Awareness Simulation in the Ferguson Center Plaza today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. P.E.E.R.S is a program that works through the use of creative material to provide information to today’s youth to help them make healthier life choices, their website states. SGA Vice President for Student Affairs Stephen Swinson said he approached The Department of Transportation Services with the idea in an attempt to raise awareness of the dangers of texting while driving…At the event, students will be given the chance to operate a stationary car that will simulate a driver texting on their cell phone and the threats it poses. It will also simulate the other distractions, such as using MP3 players…Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Gina Johnson said students will have an opportunity to test themselves and see what their level of risk is by using the simulator. “I think it will give people a good idea of how dangerous it is to drive while texting or drive while putting on makeup and all other distractions we think we can risk,” Johnson said…
Public Service Commissioner to talk gender, politics
Crimson White – Oct. 4
Susan Parker, a UA alumna and a member of the Alabama Public Service Commission who is currently seeking re-election, will speak about being a woman in a political environment and working in an elected position in the Ferguson Center Ballroom at 7 p.m. Parker’s lecture is the third of four installments of the Women’s Political Initiative lecture series, co-hosted by the Student Government Association, Women’s Resource Center and the Honors College Assembly…
Local leaders not optimistic about economy
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 3
…The University of Alabama released its Alabama Business Confidence Index for the fourth quarter on Thursday. The index, which surveyed state business leaders in September, found that leaders had grown more pessimistic as they prepared for the final three months of 2010. In short, they said the economy is losing steam, and they no longer see the broad-based recovery taking place that they had foreseen just three months earlier. Ahmad Ijaz, director of economic forecasting for UA’s Center for Business and Economic Research, which prepares the quarterly Alabama Business Confidence Index, said respondents now expect a flat state economy for the rest of the year. That makes them more optimistic than their national counterparts, who see the economy declining. Previous forecasts indicated the recovery will be slow and gradual and that it might take years for the economy and unemployment rate to reach their pre-recession levels. Ijaz said it could be beyond 2014 before the number of jobs lost in Alabama during the recession, which began in December 2007, are regained. As for Tuscaloosa, he said it is harder to gauge the pace of the recovery. “Some sectors in the Tuscaloosa area are still in a recession, while others are either recovering or have already recovered,” he said. “The areas of the economy that are still in a recession include wholesale and retail trade, mainly due to relatively weak consumer spending.”…
College News
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 4
Student volunteers from the Student Government Association Department of Environmental Concerns at the University of Alabama participated in National Green Volunteer Day on Friday. Green Hands USA organized National Green Volunteer Day events across all 50 states and Washington, D.C…