After tornado, Tuscaloosa is ready for touchdowns
Sports Illustrated – Sept. 1
Alabama is ready for college football more than four months after tornadoes killed about 240 people statewide, and nowhere are people more excited than in Tuscaloosa, the storm-tossed home of the University of Alabama. The No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide plays host to Kent State this Saturday in its first game since the tornadoes, and people are excited all over town. Mayor Walt Maddox is looking forward to that point in the game when people are thinking about football rather than rebuilding. Splintered trees, empty lots and blue tarps over roofs are still visible near Bryant-Denny Stadium. But the city and school say Tuscaloosa is ready for fans. The game will include a ceremony to remember the tornado, and Crimson Tide players will wear special stickers on their helmets for victims.
San Francisco Chronicle – Sept. 1
Newsday – Sept. 1
Forbes – Sept. 1
WAKA (Montgomery) – Aug. 31
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 31
Returning Tide: UA fans will return Saturday to a recovering, but different Tuscaloosa
Montgomery Advertiser – Sept. 1
…By Saturday, the construction hit center stage. Football mercifully returns to the city largely defined by it, but still scared by the April 27 tornado that claimed 50 of its residents. More than 101,000 people will fill Bryant-Denny Stadium for the 11:21 a.m. season-opening game with Kent State. Most arriving in Tuscaloosa this weekend will do so for the first time since its unwelcomed remodeling. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said to prepare for sensory overload. “There’s not one time I’ve entered our recovery zones and not felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of this disaster in terms of what it’s done to the landscape of Tuscaloosa,” he said. “I hope I never become desensitized to it because it’s this innate feeling within all of us to try to return normalcy to our city.”…The city does not expect any major changes to the traffic flow in and out of the stadium resulting from the storm damage. All major and side streets around campus have been open for months and no parking was eliminated…”I think people should be mindful that, within the neighborhoods hit hard, there are still a lot of people working hard every single day to put their life back in order,” Maddox said. “I would ask that they avoid as much sightseeing as possible within our recovery zone.” The very reason behind the curiosity, though, speaks to the connection so many have with the city. UA alumni completed, the mayor estimates, many of the 21,000 volunteer hours logged in Tuscaloosa since the storm…
Morning kickoff brings extra traffic challenges on game day
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 1
With the Crimson Tide’s first game of the 2011 season coming Saturday, Tuscaloosa is only a few days away from an influx of traffic the area hasn’t seen in two years, said University of Alabama spokeswoman Cathy Andreen. Because the university has not hosted a morning kickoff for two years, Andreen and university officials are asking fans to arrive early to avoid a pileup of traffic should everyone arrive for the game at the same time. “We expect a heavy influx of traffic around 9 a.m. We would also ask Tuscaloosa area residents to plan to arrive on campus early for the game and avoid the 9 a.m. surge,” Andreen said. “We encourage parking in the downtown intermodal facility, behind City Hall for free parking and a $1 bus ride on Tuscaloosa Transit.”…
APR professor recounts Red Cross
Crimson White – Sept. 1
…One of these hidden heroes is J. Suzanne Horsley. Horsley is the assistant professor of advertising and public relations in the College of Communication and Information Sciences. She is a prolific writer whose work has been featured in numerous books and texts. Horsley also serves as a national public affairs volunteer for the Red Cross…The self proclaimed “disaster junkie” was one of the most prepared when a massive EF4 tornado ripped through six miles of Tuscaloosa in April. Horsley immediately sprung to action as she was trained to do. “I am actually the only nationally trained disaster public affairs spokesperson in the West Alabama Chapter, with our next closest person being in Hoover,” she said. “Because this disaster was right in my own backyard, I was responsible for working with all media who covered the event and providing information to the public about the disaster relief shelter and other assistance that the Red Cross was providing.”…
Opelika-Auburn News – Sept. 1
UA interns play role in tornado aftermath
Crimson White – Sept. 1
Three city interns were among the many unsung heroes of Tuscaloosa following the aftermath of the deadly EF4 tornado last April. The students, John Bishop, Meredith Lynch and Matt Calderone, were all interning for Mayor Walt Maddox and the city government when the tornado forced them to play unexpected roles…Maddox said Bishop was the person he turned to at staff meetings following April 27 and said, “How are we feeding these people?” “A lot of times mayors get too much credit, but when you turn to a young man and say ‘Let’s go out there and feed 30,000 people,’ and he’s coordinating with the National Guard, he’s coordinating with the Alabama EMA, he’s representing the city of Tuscaloosa,” Maddox said of Bishop…The evening after the tornado, Calderone received an email from the City Clerk soliciting his help. “I was sent to St. Matthias Church, where I was under the impression that I was down there as a volunteer, but I started receiving calls from state representatives and I realized I was in charge of handling and distributing all the materials the city would use for relief,” Calderone said…From there, Calderone transitioned to the McAbee Center, where he worked with the University Fellows in setting up a call center where residents affected by the storm could call for relief…Meredith Lynch was not involved in the same relief efforts as Bishop and Calderone. “After the tornado, nearly all of my duties and responsibilities changed,” Lynch said. “In an effort to maintain accurate and up-to-date communication between ourselves, as the Mayor’s Office, and the rest of the community, I would often work 12-14 hour days gathering as much information as possible that we could tweet and re-tweet to our followers.”…Lynch was the source behind the frequent updates to these social media sites…Lynch, now the public relations coordinator for Incident Command for the City of Tuscaloosa, was promoted following her relief work.
Zoës Kitchen donates to Rise Foundation
Crimson White – Sept. 1
…From Sept. 1 until the 15, Zoës Kitchen will be donating $5 from every dinner for four sold to the Rise Foundation in honor of the Cassimus’ granddaughter, Zoë Bromberg, who died in a fatal motorcycle accident while visiting Spain last July. The Rise Foundation is an advocate for children born with physical and developmental disabilities. The event will take place at the Zoës Kitchen in Bromberg’s hometown of Jacksonville, Fla. as well as the locations throughout Alabama, including the new establishment in the south end of Bryant-Denny Stadium…In addition to memorializing Bromberg, the event will also be a much-appreciated gift to the Rise foundation and the children who attend. “Here at Rise, we have to raise most of our operating budget through planned fundraisers and it is very difficult, so this is something that was truly an unexpected surprise and blessing,” said Martha Cook, executive director of all Rise schools. “And I know it will be a huge success because everyone loves Zoës. Zoë was a kind and caring person, so I know that this is the perfect way to remember her by.”…
Alabama home sales jumped 28% in July
Birmingham Business Journal – Sept. 1
Alabama home sales climbed 28.7 percent from July 2010 to July 2011 — the highest spike in the market since 2007, according to a new report by the Alabama Center for Real Estate. The University of Alabama report shows 3,712 units were sold in July 2011, 827 more units than were sold in July 2010. But that’s still a 14.8 percent decrease compared to the state’s five-year average. The study credits the expiration of the home buyer tax credit in 2010 and the relocation of homeowners displaced by the April 27, 2011, storms with the increase…
Experts offer tips to beat the heat
Crimson White – Sept. 1
…Common sense precautions such as drinking water instead of soft drinks, wearing loose-fitting clothing and exercising when temperatures are cooler can help prevent heat-related illnesses for students undertaking physical activity, said Jonathan Wingo, assistant professor of kinesiology and director of the Human Performance Laboratory, which investigates the body’s responses to exercise under varying environmental conditions…
Club challenges stereotypes of salespeople
Crimson White – Sept. 1
The College of Commerce and Business Administration Sales Program wants students to know they aren’t your average, slimy used car salesmen. The group is working to challenge the negative stereotype that often comes with the sales profession. Through the sales specialization offered in the Culverhouse School of Commerce and Business Administration, the Sales and Marketing Association and Sales Ambassadors, people like Joe Calamusa, their director, are informing students of what people in the sales field actually do…
Marching into a new season
Crimson White – Sept. 1
The University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band will kick off their season this Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Their halftime show will feature the sounds of Elvis Presley and will culminate in a special tribute to the city of Tuscaloosa. Like the football team, band members are continuing a tradition much older than themselves…
Crimson Tide football fan loses 175 pounds after road trip scare
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 1
Will Nevin never made a big deal about his weight or what he looked like. He weighed 350 pounds and knew he was unhealthy, but didn’t feel like putting in the time and effort to do anything about it. But that all changed one January day in 2010 on a lonely stretch of highway in West Texas when his chest tightened up and began aching in the middle of a road trip with some friends to California from Tuscaloosa for the BCS national championship college football game between the University of Alabama and the University of Texas… “It scared me to death,” Nevin said. “I thought I was having a heart attack.”…In February, he embarked on another journey, this time to lose weight. He began going to the University of Alabama’s Student Recreation Center, where he had gone only one previous time…