The 22nd annual Realizing the Dream concert honors MLK
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 16
Hip-hop violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain plays with members of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra as they rehearse Saturday afternoon at Moody Concert Hall on the University of Alabama campus. Roumain performed with the symphony orchestra at the 22nd annual Realizing the Dream concert Saturday night.
First lady’s gown is all Alabama
Montgomery Advertiser – Jan. 16
He can’t reveal what it will look like — or even what color it is — but designer Anthony Williams promises that the gown to be worn by first lady Dianne Bentley at the inaugural ball Monday will be “beautiful.”…Williams is well known to fans of the fashion design reality show “Project Runway.”…He’s also a native of Birmingham (his mom still lives there) and graduated from the University of Alabama. His dean at the school asked him if he’d like to design Bentley’s gown for the inauguration, and he said yes. “(The university) has been very good to me,” Williams said, “and I want to be in a position to be sure I can give back when I can.” He will say that the gown is made of silk, and the fabric is from fashion designer Carolina Herrera…
UA to host top international names in business for a symposium
FOX6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 17
The University of Alabama will host some of the top international names in business for a symposium on February 3rd and 4th. The university’s institute of business intelligence is coordinating the event. Participants will include practitioners, faculty and students with interest in business analytics.
UA Crimsonettes celebrate 40 years
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 16
…This year, Powell organized the August 2010, 40th year reunion and anniversary celebration held at The Zone inside Bryant-Denny stadium to shine the spotlight on the organization and to reunite four decades of friendships…Mallory Meissner, daughter of former Crimsonette Teresa McCulley Meissner (class of 1977 and ’78)…The 22-year-old senior is majoring in finance and dance, has a 4.0 GPA, is a member of the Blackburn Institute, Mortar Board and other honor societies…
Associated Press – Jan. 18
Alabama wins cheerleading national championship
Tuscaloosa New s – Jan. 18
Another championship can be added to the trophy case at the University of Alabama after its cheer squad was crowned national champion Sunday. The squad placed first among large schools in the 2011 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship held in Orlando over the weekend. UA topped 14 other universities in the finals of Cheer Division 1A…
Ala. governor’s pay depends on keeping job promise
NECN.com – Jan. 16
…Bentley, a retired Tuscaloosa dermatologist, began his campaign for governor near the back of a seven-candidate field for the Republican nomination. That began to change when he told voters, “Alabama is hurting and we need a doctor.” The doctor lent $1.9 million to his own campaign and promised to work without pay as governor until Alabama’s unemployment returns to normal — a figure he put at 5.2 percent. Bentley could end up working most, if not all, of his four-year term without a paycheck if the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama is correct in forecasting a recovery taking several years. Director Sam Addy said it may be beyond 2014 before Alabama sees an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent again. The most current report puts it at 9 percent. “I don’t see him getting a paycheck any time soon,” Addy said.
Gov. Bentley says finances are top priority
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 17
…Experts say Bentley could be stepping into the worst financial atmosphere for an Alabama governor since the Great Depression. Economists at the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research say the economy may not fully turn around until 2014…
Bentley takes unlikely route to office
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 16
…“(Bentley) appealed to the ordinary Alabamian and had sensitivity to the ordinary citizen,” former University of Alabama political science professor William Stewart said in July. Bentley said he won because voters could sense he cared about their issues…
What will be Gov. Bob Riley’s legacy?
Florence Times-Daily – Jan. 16
…University of Alabama political science professor emeritus Bill Stewart said Riley has been a very successful, hands-on governor who showed he was willing to take a risk. Stewart cites Riley’s early push for constitutional reform and the absence of widespread scandal during his administration. But Stewart said Riley’s most remarkable success may be the widespread growth of the Republican Party. “He leaves the next governor with the legacy of a Legislature where his political party is the majority party,” Stewart said, a fact that should give Robert Bentley an easier time getting his policies enacted. Stewart compared Riley with George Wallace, a governor he said had a passion for running for higher office. “He was a whole lot more interested in running for president than he was in governing,” Stewart said…
More sales tax revenue points to rebound
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 15
…Sales tax revenue is a direct result of consumer spending and the state of the economy, which the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research projects will grow by 3.4 percent, and possibly as much as 4 percent, in Alabama during 2011. The state’s economy grew by about 2.2 percent in 2010. Ahmad Ijaz, an economist for the Center for Business and Economic Research, said there has been “a modest but steady increase in both business and consumer spending” since mid-2009. That’s when the recession that started in December 2007 ended, Ijaz said. “Also in 2010, both consumer and business spending increased at a slightly faster pace than was anticipated, which also helped sales tax revenues,” he said. “Plus, the fact that payroll employment also went up slightly in 2010 compared to 2008 and 2009, resulting in a slight increase in consumer spending.”…
Black Friday purchases lift local retailers out of 2-year slump
Florence Times-Daily – Jan. 16
…The statewide outlook for the year also is optimistic, according to economic researchers. The Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama projects an increase of 3 percent to 5 percent in retail sales. The Alabama Retail Association projects increases in retail sales of 3.5 percent to 4 percent, according to economic researchers. “We did not expect how strong the fourth quarter would be,” said Ahmad Ijaz, director of economic forecasting at the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama…
UAW targeting the South
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 16
…The UAW’s previous attempts to unionize Mercedes’ employees in Vance have failed. The union, however, does represent workers at some Mercedes suppliers. James Cashman, a University of Alabama management professor who has studied and worked with the state’s automotive industry, said that to succeed, the UAW has to show workers they would be better off with a union. That could be harder to do now because of the job losses and plant closings that occurred at General Motors and Chrysler during the past few years. Both companies are unionized. “I don’t know what employees would see as an advantage,” he said. “All they have to do is look at Detroit and see what happened.”…
Rants and Raves
Montgomery Advertiser – Jan. 15
RAVE: For the fascinating research by University of Alabama professor Bill Keel into the mysterious cloud of gas known as Hanny’s Voorwerp. It was discovered by Hanny Van Arkel, a Dutch schoolteacher, in 2007. (“Voorwerp” means object in Dutch.) Since that time, Keel has been trying to learn more about the cloud, which is about the same size as the Earth’s galaxy. Keel presented his research this week at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, noting that so far it has raised as many questions as it has answered. Pictures from the Hubble space telescope indicate that it seems to be reflecting the remains of a dying quasar, the nucleus of a galaxy that probably dimmed hundreds of thousands of years ago.
College News
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 17
The University of Alabama’s Creative Campus Initiative announces that submission forms are available for the “Creative by Design” event, which will be Feb. 3 at the Jim Harrison Gallery. “Creative by Design” highlights the creativity involved with certain design disciplines…Students in the departments of graphic design, interior design, digital art, advertising, engineering, photography, apparel design and other design-related disciplines may submit work for exhibition…