Students from Auburn and University of Alabama to build home for tornado victims
Birmingham News – July 16
Students from The University of Alabama and Auburn University plan to work together starting Monday to build a house for a Tuscaloosa family that lost theirs in the April 27 tornado. It will take the students — about 60 from UA and 30 from Auburn — four days to finish the Habitat for Humanity home, which they’re calling a House United. The house is located on Fifth Street Northeast in the Holt Community off Crescent Ridge Road. The students won’t just work together; they’ll also live together on the UA campus, share meals and travel together to the work site. They’ll be joined by each school’s mascot, and student athletes will also participate. The project was originally designed for Baldwin County, but that changed after the storms, according to Wahnee Sherman, director of the UA Community Service Center. The new house will have a safe room that was designed with help from a UA engineering professor…
Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs, UA team up to administer program that will begin this fall
Tuscaloosa News – July 16
…Sometimes, veteran students don’t feel as though they fit in on campus and end up wanting to quit college, Stevenson said. But the Tuscaloosa VA, along with the University of Alabama, is starting a program that will better assist veteran students to stay in school and have a successful academic experience. The program, called the veteran-student academic and wellness program, is slated to begin this fall and is currently enrolling participants…
State’s new immigration law would strain budgets
Anniston Star — July 18
…“My guess is that we’ve got another law on the books that nobody can afford to enforce,” said Talitha Powers Bailey, who directs criminal law clinics at the University of Alabama’s law school. Bailey said that despite the term “illegal immigration,” entering the country without paperwork has never been a state criminal offense. When federal agents arrest immigrants who can’t produce proof of residency, they go into immigrant detention facilities where immigration courts hear their cases — all at federal expense. The new law, Bailey said, would create a need to give suspected illegal immigrants due process at Alabama’s expense. To Bailey’s knowledge, that’s never been done before. Similar laws in other states, such as Arizona, have been blocked in court…
Economists say Alabama’s tough new immigration law could damage state’s economy
Huntsville Times – July 16
…Carolyn Trent, a socioeconomic analyst for the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said the percentage of the state’s 16 and over Hispanic residents who are employed has been declining. “The steeper decline from 2000 to 2009 undoubtedly reflects the impact of the recent recession on jobs,” she said…
Stillman professor’s book chronicles key Union force
Tuscaloosa News – July 16
… “(The book) really shows the organizational problems these armies faced because the sheer size was a problem,” said George Rable, a professor of Southern history at the University of Alabama who helped advise his former student during the book’s research…
April 27 tornado had an economic silver lining in sales tax for Tuscaloosa area
Tuscaloosa News – July 16
…”One of the things we should see is — sooner or later — a recovery rebound,” said Gary Hoover, a professor of economics at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce. Hoover said such a rebound likely would begin with construction-based purchases, evidence of which was seen at local hardware and building supply stores almost immediately after the April 27 tornadoes.…Hoover said the sale of construction supplies eventually will give way to the purchase of durable goods, such as washing machines and other appliances. These unexpected purchases will make up for some of the lost sales tax revenues that resulted from the interruption or cessation of businesses destroyed or damaged on April 27, but not all of it, Hoover said. “Never will the rebound in construction make up for the (total sales tax) loss, but we will see some kind of rebound,” he said…
System streamlines accident reporting
Montgomery Advertiser – July 18
…The state highway patrol in 2009 began using an electronic system known as eCrash, which can be accessed from mobile units within a trooper’s vehicle…The eCrash software was developed at the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama…
Holy Spirit hosts legal workshop for immigrants
Tuscaloosa News –July 18
…. Student volunteers from the University of Alabama law school and attorneys from the Alabama Appleseed organization offered a workshop Sunday to help the local immigrant population draw up power of attorney forms in case they are detained or deported…
Alabama, Auburn to gather for tornado relief fund
Tuscaloosa News – July 18
…Former athletes and fans from the University of Alabama and Auburn University have come together to form the HEARTinDIXIE Foundation to raise money for tornado relief. The foundation, along with Unite|364, will host a three-day weekend, including an alumni flag football game to benefit The Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund…Alabama A-Club president Ken Wilder said the name, Unite|364, was inspired by the cross-state rivalry. “Three hundred and sixty four days a year we get along perfect,” Wilder said. “One day a year we put on the battle gear, and battle pretty good. … We have the greatest rivalry in the country, and we intend to keep it that way.”…