Jeremy Lin is burning brightly, for now
Los Angeles Times – Feb. 18
It’s too early to call Jeremy Lin the next Michael Jordan, but the newly minted New York Knicks star is the best thing to happen to basketball on TV in a long time. The question is how long the “Linsanity” will last. The Harvard-educated point guard has averaged more than 24 points per game during a seven-game winning streak, a sudden rise to fame that’s boosting TV ratings. . . . “Nothing lasts to this magnitude in sports,” Andrew Billings, a sports expert at the University of Alabama, wrote in an email. “Part of the reason people tune in, though, is because there’s a feeling that this could end in the not-too-distant future. When people say they want to ‘ride this wave,’ they are tacitly admitting that it is like a wave — terrifically fun, but temporary.”
Billions of dollars at stake in BP oil spill trial
National Public Radio – Feb. 16 (Audio story)
The first phase of the trial for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is scheduled to begin on Feb. 27. Billions of dollars are at stake for BP, the other companies involved, and the states, companies and individuals harmed by the disaster. Negotiations between all parties are continuing and some observers believe the case could be settled before opening arguments even begin. . . . The trial will happen in three stages, each focused on a different element of the disaster. Associate professor Montré D. Carodine at the University of Alabama law school says the first phase is designed to answer a basic question. Who’s at fault….
Tuscaloosa County to need 8,600 new housing units, analysis shows
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 17
Tuscaloosa County will need almost 8,600 new housing units over the next five years, but the overwhelming majority of them — 72 percent — will be in the price range of less than $125,000. That’s the finding of an analysis of the Tuscaloosa housing market by the Alabama Center for Real Estate, MarketGraphics Southeast and Zanola Co. LLC, a real estate research and business improvement services firm. The analysis released this week shows housing starts in Tuscaloosa County bottomed out in 2011 after a four-year free fall. The analysis projects that housing starts will increase this year and will continue to rise yearly through 2016. The study released by the University of Alabama-based real estate center looked at a 10-year period of 2007 through 2016.
Editorial: More affordable housing needed in Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 19
Signs in the local market point toward an improvement in home sales
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 19
Has the local home sales market hit bottom? There are some signs it has and is on a rebound. The number of homes sold in the Tuscaloosa metro area in 2011 was higher than in 2010. It was the first time in four years that annual home sales increased over the previous year. Some 1,743 homes were sold last year, almost 200 more than in 2010, the lowest point in the economic downturn. The 11.6 percent increase was the highest of any metro area in the state. . . . While the sales figures, which were provided by the Alabama Center for Real Estate, are good news, local annual sales were still down 32 percent from the pre-recession peak year of 2007, when 2,576 homes were sold. But there are other signs, as well, that the local housing market is improving, said University of Alabama professor Leonard Zumpano, who specializes in real estate and finance. “There is no question that now is a good time to jump in on the housing market before things take off,” he said after looking at some of the latest data on local real estate sales.
Alabama ‘face kid’ viral sensation says last 24 hours have been ‘crazy’ (video)
AL.com – Feb. 18
It seems (UA freshman) Jack Blankenship is more than just a face. Although the face helps. Blankenship made serious waves this week after Hal Yeager’s Birmingham News photo of him at an Alabama basketball game popped up. He caught the attention of SEC basketball fans on Twitter, thanks to a strange and contorted face he makes and has had duplicated on a giant cardboard cut-out. In the following video, Blankenship talks about what the last 24 hours have been like for him since his face has been the talk of social media in the region. It’s even going national. He’s been interviewed by ESPN, NBC and other major networks and has plans to continue doing so.
ESPN – Feb. 16
International Business Times – Feb. 16
Fox News (Fox & Friends) – Feb. 17
WHAS-ABC (Louisville, Ky.) – Feb. 17
WDBJ-CBS (Roanoke, Va.) – Feb 17
KFDM-CW (Beaumont, Texas) – Feb. 17
NWNJ (New York) – Feb. 16
UA Science Olympiad regional brings 500 students to campus for competition
AL.com – Feb. 18
Close to 500 middle and high school students competed today in the University of Alabama Science Olympiad regional for the chance to try their skills in a state tournament. The students, from 18 middle schools and 12 high schools across the state, had the chance to participate in 23 events in each division that drew on physics, geology, astronomy, anatomy and other scientific disciplines. On the Quad Saturday morning, middle school students waited their turn to blast water rockets made from plastic bottles to see how much airtime they could get once they were launched by UA student volunteers using pressure from a bicycle pump.
UA event focuses on business activities
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 20
Entrepreneurship Week 2012 starts today at the University of Alabama and will feature four days of activities. It will culminate with an awards banquet Thursday that recognizes entrepreneurs in various fields from around the state. “Alabama has one of the friendliest public policy environments for entrepreneurship, according to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s Small Business Survival Index 2011,” said the event’s coordinator, Allen Henry, an UA clinical professor of management and CEO of Park Transfer and Storage Inc. of Tuscaloosa.
Engineering Research Center provided with new lab space
Crimson White – Feb. 20
New lab space devoted to electromechanical systems in the South Engineering Research Center will enable research not possible before in the College of Engineering, according to Tim Haskew, professor and interim head of the electrical and computer engineering department. “This space is custom-built,” Haskew said in an article to be released in Capstone Engineer, the alumni magazine for engineering graduates. “It gives us a better platform for bringing in the type of work we want to do.” With the help of NASA and National Science Foundation grants secured by Haskew and others, researchers with the Electromechanical Lab have worked on thrust vector control, hybrid electric vehicles, electric motor control, power source integration, power electronics and renewable energy, according to the upcoming article in Capstone Engineer.
UA Away scholarship application deadline is March 1
AL.com – Feb. 19
Students interested in working, serving or studying abroad this summer or fall are eligible to apply for the UA Away scholarship given by The University of Alabama Division of Student Affairs. Applications are available at www.sa.ua.edu and are due Thursday, March 1, by 5 p.m. The UA Away scholarship initiative funds students in need of financial support to make studying abroad possible.
Hoover High School team wins physics competition at University of Alabama
Birmingham News – Feb. 17
Two teams from Hoover High School took first and second place overall in the large high school division at a recent physics competition at the University of Alabama. Hoover took 40 students to the event, which drew more than 72 teams from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, Hoover High physics teacher Jeff Johnson said. In the team competition, each member must solve four physics problems in less than 45 seconds per problem. Points are awarded for correct answers, but if a student takes more than 45 seconds, points are deducted, Johnson said.
ABC 33/40, UA students help Tuscaloosa residents program weather radios at Publix
AL.com – Feb. 17
Employees from the ABC 33/40 television station along with a University of Alabama television reporting class assisted residents with programming weather radios at Publix on University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa on Friday.
UA jazz ensemble to play Radiohead songs tonight; concert to be streamed live
AL.com – Feb. 16
The University of Alabama Chamber Jazz Ensemble will perform big band renditions of songs by British rock band Radiohead at a free concert tonight. The show, set for a 7:30 showtime at the Moody Music Building Concert Hall, will also be streamed live on UStream. The ensemble will perform jazz arrangements of Radiohead songs “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box”, “Everything In Its Right Place,” “Idioteque,” “Knives Out,” “There, There,” “All I Need,” “Paranoid Android,” “Kid A,” “Bodysnatchers” and “High and Dry.” Chris Kozak, associate professor and director of jazz studies, will direct the ensemble.
Politico managing editor to speak to UA journalism students, CW staff
AL.com – Feb. 16
Bill Nichols, managing editor of Politico.com, will speak to journalism students at the University of Alabama on Tuesday about the migration of news and information from print to online media. A former White House correspondent for USA today, Nichols will also talk about the 2012 presidential race. He will speak at 5 p.m. in Room 216 of Reese Phifer Hall. His visit also includes sessions with staff of The Crimson White student newspaper and website.
Resonance raises relief funds
Crimson White – Feb. 20
It’s always been said that music has the power to heal, and the University of Alabama’s Resonance Show Choir is putting on a special performance this semester to do just that. Resonance will be hosting their first ever, one-night-only Cabaret Benefit Show tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Moody Concert Hall. Admission to the show will be $5, and Resonance will give the profits from the show to the tornado relief foundation Alabama Forever.
Mardi Gras in Mobile
Attleboro (Mass.) Sun-Chronicle – Feb. 19
On Lundi Gras, Fat Monday, King Felix and his knights arrive by yacht at the foot of Government Street and the mayor presents the king with the key to the city. King Elexis I also arrives with a royal flotilla ceremony and is crowned the Sunday before Mardi Gras. It’s all great for the local economy. The celebrations have an annual quarter-billion dollar economic impact in the Mobile area, according to a new study by the University of Alabama’s Associate Business Center.
New Honors course partners students, city in reconstruction
Crimson White – Feb. 20
PlanFirst, a new Honors College service-learning course being launched this fall, is currently recruiting students interested in applying their academic disciplines to the reconstruction of Tuscaloosa communities. The brainchild of Wesley Vaughn, a senior majoring in public relations and political science, the PlanFirst program is a new partnership of the city of Tuscaloosa’s Office of Planning and Development Services and the University of Alabama. “The idea of PlanFirst developed last semester while my sister, Madalyn, and I were in Moral Forum, a course run by the Center of Ethics and Social Responsibility,” Vaughn said. “The course was set up as a group competition for grant funding for projects that would help Tuscaloosa’s rebuilding process.”
Up ’til Dawn helps fight childhood cancer
Crimson White – Feb. 20
To raise awareness and support St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, University of Alabama students and faculty will take to the Student Recreation Center on March 2 to participate in Up ‘til Dawn’s spring event. The program, which takes place from 2 to 6 p.m., aims to join faculty and students together in the fight against pediatric cancer.
Dean drives progress
Crimson White – Feb. 20
As dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Robert F. Olin oversees the administrative and academic management of the University’s largest and oldest academic division with 418 faculty members and 9,000 students, said Rebecca Florence, director of relations for the College of Arts and Sciences. “I thought being a dean of a high quality, liberal arts college like UA’s College of Arts and Sciences would be a lot of fun and it is,” Olin said. “I wanted to continue doing what I always did as a teacher – making a difference in students’ lives and their learning – but on a larger scale.” Under his leadership, the College of Arts and Sciences has launched initiatives in educational technology, undergraduate learning communities, international programs for undergraduates, undergraduate research and creative activity and faculty and staff diversity, Florence said.
Student uses fashion as tornado recovery platform
Crimson White – Feb. 20
From playing dress-up as a girl with clip-on earrings and rubber boots to dressing up models in designer outfits for a national fashion show competition, senior Abigail Hardin has come a long way to achieve success as a fashion apparel student at the University of Alabama. Hardin applied for Marie Claire Magazine’s Front Row College Challenge last year with the encouragement of Virginia Wimberley, an assistant professor in clothing, textiles and interior design. The competition was a first-time partnership with Ann Taylor LOFT to find college students who are interested in fashion and know the style of their region.
World-renowned doctor to speak at symposium
Crimson White – Feb. 20
The annual Blackburn Institute Winter Symposium, which serves as a convention for numerous leaders in the state of Alabama and is the largest event the Blackburn Institute hosts, will take place Friday at 6:30 p.m. This year’s Blackburn Institute Winter Symposium will host a lecture by Dr. Benjamin Carson in the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel. Carson grew up in a single parent home with the dream of becoming a physician. His mother, with only a third-grade education, challenged her sons to strive for excellence. Today, Carson is a full professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
Allen Bales premiers witty comedy
Crimson White – Feb. 20
Perhaps one of the few things Barbie heads, the Newlywed Game and Niagara Falls have in common is the part they play in the production “Wonder of the World,” which will open tonight in the Allen Bales Theatre. Jimmy Kantos, the director, and his seven-member cast are more than ready to share the fun they have on stage with a full audience. The play starts off with a dysfunctional couple – the socially awkward Cass and her sexually deviant husband, Kip. A fight causes Cass to run away in order to complete her bucket list, and she begins by escaping to Niagara Falls, where the majority of the play takes place.
UA engineers to study earthquakes in new earthquake simulator
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Feb. 18
From our Tuscaloosa newsroom, engineers from the University of Alabama are about to test a new lab with man-made earthquakes. A “shake table” is being installed in the South Engineering Research Center. Engineers will place parts of buildings and other structures on it to test building codes in a controlled environment.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Feb. 19
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 18
UA quarterback helps young girl battling leukemia
WKRG-CBS (Mobile) – Feb. 18
University of Alabama quarterback and Mobile native AJ McCarron is playing for a different team this off-season, but “this” team doesn’t play on a football field. It’s team Starla, named for little Starla Chapman, a young girl battling leukemia….
UA economist says immigration law to cost state billions
CSPAN – Feb. 17
We have seen a preview in Georgia and Alabama because of their new immigration laws. University of Georgia estimates because of resulting worker shortages in just seven key berry and vegetable crops, Georgia and its growers will suffer millions of dollars every year. The professor at the University of Alabama, estimates that Alabama will face between $2 billion and $11 billion in annual economic losses. Is this what we want for American agriculture? I think we need to face facts.