‘Transit of Venus’ a rare sight Tuesday
KGW (Portland, Ore.) – June 5
Many got a chance Tuesday to see Venus pass in front of the Sun, a sight that won’t be repeated in most people’s lifetimes. This celestial phenomenon has been dubbed a “transit of Venus.” It’s so unique that museums and schools around the globe hosted Venus viewing festivities — all for a chance to see our star sport a fleeting beauty mark…University of Alabama astronomer William Keel was determined not to miss the 2004 transit, the first one in 122 years. But he only caught 45 minutes of the action before clouds rolled in. This time, he plans to set up telescopes on the roof and hopes for clear skies.
Crimson White – June 6
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – June 5
UA ACTS program to provide services to its largest class ever in fall 2012
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – June 5
An estimated one in 88 children in the United States is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Now, there is an initiative from the University of Alabama that could help them as they age. Since 2006, the UA ACTS program has supported college students who have autism or Aspergers syndrome. The program has recently grown tremendously to include transfer and graduate students. In the fall UA ACTS will provide services for its largest class ever, with students from as far away as New York and California. “We get calls regularly about other universities trying to start programs. To my knowledge, right now, there are between five and 10 programs like this in the entire country; so this is definitely on the forefront of services for adults.” UA ACTS mentors will serve participating students as long as they are enrolled. But the program’s goal is that by graduation, they won’t be needed.
Homegrown Alabama celebrates 5 years
Tuscaloosa News – June 6
The Homegrown Alabama farmers market, held weekly between April and October each year on the University of Alabama campus, prides itself on offering a unique experience for shoppers. “We try and create an atmosphere at the market where people just want to come and be,” said market manager Lindsay Turner. “Each week we have live music, a kids table with crafts so mom and dad can drop off their kids while they shop.” Turner said organizers try to create a community space where people will want to come, even if they aren’t buying produce. The nonprofit, student-led group started its weekly market in 2007 to educate students about the value of local produce and foster partnerships between local farmers and UA. In addition to cash, the market accepts credit and debit cards, with a transaction fee, as well as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food stamps and Electronic Benefit Transfer cards. Turner added that on certain market days, the group matches SNAP and EBT customers dollar for dollar. For instance, if one of these customers pays $25, the market would give them $50 worth of merchandise. Thursday will mark the market’s fifth anniversary. The market’s is held at Canterbury Episcopal Chapel, 812 Fifth Ave., from 3-6 p.m.
Crimson White – June 6
Film takes student from Campus MovieFest to Cannes, France
Crimson White – June 6
Some students dream of vacations to Hollywood and France, but for UA student Alex Beatty, these dreams came true, thanks to his love and talent for filmmaking. Beatty was selected to show his short film “Here and Now” at the prestigious 2012 Cannes Film Festival in France this summer. Beatty’s film showcases the story of an “emotionally-detached teenager” and his journey to better his life following the death of his mother. The five-minute film won Best Drama at UA’s Campus MovieFest and, in addition to the Cannes Film Festival, will be shown at a Hollywood competition in two weeks. Beatty, an upcoming junior majoring in telecommunication and film, developed his interest in filmmaking at an early age. “I always kind of had an interest in film when I was little, trying to just play around with video cameras and doing little short things with my neighbors and friends,” Beatty said. “I started to get more involved in live production – like concerts and making music videos, just with friends and other local bands, I guess – my freshman year of college.” Beatty said his access to the University’s equipment and involvement in Campus MovieFest propelled his interest in filmmaking. Last year, Beatty entered a music video, “A Certain Woman,” in the Campus MovieFest and won his first trip to Hollywood…After winning Best Drama at Campus MovieFest this year, Beatty was one of 22 students chosen out of 105,000 international submissions to attend the Cannes Film Festival. This was the first year student filmmakers were invited to the festival.
University of Alabama’s HELL: PARADISE FOUND Plays 59E59 Theaters, 7/13-22
OffOffBroadway.com – June 5
59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) will host the NY premiere of Hell: Paradise Found, written and directed by Seth Panitch. Produced by The University of Alabama,”Hell: Paradise Found” begins performances on Tuesday, July 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, July 22 … This scorcher of a play for the summer season, HELL: PARADISE FOUND originally premiered in Los Angeles. The cast features Chip Persons (Švejk at the Duke; Andorra at the Lortel), Peyton Conley, Alexandra Ficken, Lawson Hangartner, Matt Lewis, Seth Panitch, Stacy Panitch, and Dianne Teague. The creative team includes Brian Elliott (set and lighting designer); Tiffany M. Harris (costume designer); Raphe Crystal (composer and arranger); and Stacy Alley (choreographer). The production stage manager is Matthew Burkholder. Seth Panitch (playwright/director) is Associate Professor of Acting and directs the MFA and Undergraduate Acting programs at the University of Alabama. A professional director, actor and playwright, Seth has worked internationally in Havana, Cuba with the Ministry of Culture (directing productions of The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Beyond Therapy at the Teatro Berolt Brecht and Adolfo Llaurado), Off Broadway at the Westbeth Theater Center, Urban Stages, and The Raw Space.
Mal Moore named top athletic director
Crimson White – June 6
The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame named Mal Moore the 2012 recipient of the John L. Toner Award last Wednesday. The Toner Award is presented annually to the athletic director “who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football.”… Moore has presided over Alabama athletics since 1999, and in that time, Alabama has won five NCAA team championships, 18 Southeastern Conference team championships and numerous individual awards.
UA ad team takes home second place (print edition only)
Crimson White – June 6
The University of Alabama advertising team dedicated 890 hours, took over 1,100 research impressions and sacrificed spring break to defeat 150 teams and place second in the National Student Advertising Competition. The team beat out eight other southeastern competitors in the American Advertising Federation’s district seven competition in Nashville, Tenn., including major opponent Savannah College of Art and Design.
Gulf Shores hosts UA summer play (print edition only)
Crimson White – June 6
When the academic year is done and the curtain closes on the semester’s last performance in Galloway or Allen Bales theatre, most of the UA’s student actors go home. Some, though, who auditioned and were cast before the school year ended, are preparing to begin rehearsals for the UA Summer Tide Theatre, the professional summer theatre program of the University. This year, the SummerTide theature group will perform “Smokey Joe’s Café: The Songs of Leiver and Stoller.” Performed in revue-style and featuring popular songs such as “There Goes My Baby,” “Love Potion No. 9,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “Yakety Yak,” the performance incorporates the hit music of the 1940s and 1950s … The show will be performed from June 1-29, Tuesdays through Sundays at 8 p.m.
Literary competition links fiction, real-world sites
Tuscaloosa News – June 4
If a concept being promoted by the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative takes hold, fiction readers using Kindles, iPads, iPhones or laptops can take their own journeys with just a click on hotlinks that might lead to more real-life journeys. SELTI recently named Kathryn C. Lang’s short story, “Digging Up Bones,” about a murder investigation at Moundville Archaeological Park (owned by the University of Alabama), the winner of its first writing competition to link fiction works with real-life sites. The online version of the story takes you to history, photos and more about Moundville, which was North America’s second-largest city several hundred years ago.
Alabama economy shrinking? Some doubt federal estimate for 2011
Anniston Star – June 6
While numbers out of Washington Tuesday suggest that Alabama’s economy is shrinking, local economists think the situation may not be so bad. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis — an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce — Alabama’s gross domestic product shrank in 2011. Alabama and neighboring Mississippi each saw a 0.8 percent reduction in GDP, were out-shrunk only by Wyoming, which saw a 1.2 percent decline. By comparison, 43 other states showed growth, and national GDP grew, albeit by a slow 1.5 percent. But a separate analysis from the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research estimates that the state’s GDP growth should have registered somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, most likely around 1.5 percent, according to Ahmad Ijaz, the center’s director of economic forecasting. “I think these are just very preliminary estimations which [will] most likely be revised upwards,” he said, “because none of the other statistics from 2011 support these numbers.” That’s what happened with BEA’s projection for Alabama’s GDP in 2010. Originally estimated at 2 percent, revised numbers show an even stronger 2010 with a relatively healthy 2.3 percent growth rate.
Montgomery Advertiser – June 5
Baldwin County commissioners warn of subversive ‘Agenda 21’ initiative
Mobile Press-Register – June 5
In a political commentary that sometimes seemed like a tent-revival exhortation, Baldwin County Commissioner Frank Burt held forth for more than 20 minutes Tuesday on the evils of a 1992 United Nations initiative known as Agenda 21 that he characterized as a threat to U.S. sovereignty…Last month, the Legislature passed a new law meant to shelter people in the state from Agenda 21. The law bars the state from taking over private property without due process. Burt said that a law could have impacts on local zoning regulations and subdivision regulations and maybe more. Reached later Tuesday, a constitutional law professor at the University of Alabama, Paul Horwitz, described the state law as “purely symbolic” and “meaningless and redundant.”…Horwitz said Agenda 21 “was a set of goals and recommendations for sustainable development, arrived at over years of international consultation under the auspices of the United Nations. The recommendations are not enforceable in and of themselves, although presidents from both parties, beginning in 1992 with President George H.W. Bush, have endorsed aspects of the recommendations.” For the initiative to have any effect in the U.S., he said, it would require approval through treaties, the endorsement of the Senate and passage of domestic bills…As for the new state law, “What it says is that the state and its subdivisions cannot implement or enforce recommendations that infringe property rights without due process. In other words, it says that state and local government cannot do what they are already forbidden to do by the federal and state constitutions,” Horwitz said… In a separate interview, University of Alabama environmental law expert William Andreen agreed with Horwitz’s assessment saying, “Agenda 21 is not law — just recommendations for sustainable development. And it is not controversial in any respects of which I am aware. For the most part, all of our zoning laws and the statutes that deal with water quality and stormwater management pre-date Agenda 21 and have nothing to do with it.”
Jim Walter mine’s violation order is lifted after spill
Tuscaloosa News – June 6
The Alabama Surface Mining Commission has removed a violation order for a Jim Walter Resources mine in Fayette County that spilled up to 600,000 gallons of slurry overflow into tributaries feeding the North River last year. Commission Director Randall Johnson said Tuesday the commission removed the violation or cessation order on Monday after studies showed that fish had returned to an unnamed tributary and to Freeman Creek that feed the North River. Johnson said that University of Alabama biologist Bernard R. Kuhajda sampled waterways that had contained spilled mine slurry. Johnson said biological monitoring through last month showed improved fish populations…“We received a final biological report from Dr. Bernhard Kuhajda, and his recommendation was there was not any more biological sampling needed and the fish populations were recovering, so we issued the termination order,” Johnson said.
Ferguson Center construction includes expansion of Supe Store, dining area, game room
Al.com – June 6
Construction on the Ferguson Center continues this summer to expand the east dining area, Supe Store and game room, according to the University of Alabama. The Starbucks inside will move from the second floor to the first floor. The coffee shop will continue normal operations on the second floor until the new first floor area is complete, according to UA. Construction began May 14 and is projected to be completed by the end of July.
Moody Hall hosts jazz band reunion
Crimson White – June 6
Sounds not often heard in Tuscaloosa rang out in Moody Music Hall last Saturday as the Alabama Cavaliers and the University of Alabama Jazz Ensemble presented a free concert featuring a variety of jazz tunes and big band style music with accompanying vocals. The concert also featured dancers, both professional and otherwise. The Dance Clubs of Tuscaloosa performed alongside the ensemble and the Alabama Cavaliers, who played near the front of the stage, and encouraged those in the audience to come on stage and dance to the music.
Ragsdale honors graduates as senior awards are presented
Jamestown (N.C.) News – June 5
…the Senior Awards Program was held in the auditorium at Ragsdale High School to honor those seniors who had earned scholarships through their academic and/or athletic achievements and community involvement…The National Merit Scholarship was awarded to Christopher Ebright in the amount of $2,500 in recognition of being a finalist in the National Merit program. In addition, Ebright, who has the number one rank academically in the graduating class, was presented the University of Alabama Full Merit Scholarship which pays full tuition, room and board and other expenses as well as a summer study abroad program.