Executives’ outlook dims in UA survey
Tuscaloosa News – July 3
State business leaders have grown more pessimistic as they move into the year’s third quarter, which started Sunday. The Alabama Business Confidence Index released Monday shows the state business leaders’ confidence level fell 6.6 points from the second quarter to 50.2 for the third quarter. The University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, which conducts the quarterly survey, said the latest reading is barely above the neutral point of 50, which separates business expansion from business contraction. The survey was filled out by 273 Alabama business executives during the first two weeks of June. The executives were asked to assess their businesses’ outlook going into the third quarter — July through September. Global economic problems and weak economic reports about the U.S. economy caused the respondents to be less upbeat and more cautious in their third quarter projections, CBER said.
UA professor’s play to preview in Tuscaloosa before heading Off Broadway
Al.com – July 2
University of Alabama associate professor of theater Seth Panitch will direct an Actors Equity Association Showcase production of his own comedy “Hell: Paradise Found” in July at the 59E59 Theaters in New York City. But Tuscaloosa gets an early look at Panitch’s play with a few preview performances starting tonight. Panitch, head of the Master of Fine Arts/Bachelor of Arts acting programs, will be joined by graduating and recently-graduated theater and dance students and professionals for the production, which will run from July 10-22. Tuscaloosa’s preview shows will take place July 2-4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Allen Bales Theatre on campus before the production heads to the Big Apple. Panitch’s play examines how traumatic it can be when one’s after-life expectations aren’t quite met. It follows recently-deceased lawyer Simon Ackerman as he finds himself desperate to get into hell, which turns out to be the better place to both visit and spend eternity.
University of Alabama’s Rose Towers coming down: Send us your dorm-life memories
Birmingham News – July 2
While the University of Alabama’s Rose Towers will tumble to the ground in a cloud of dust Wednesday, the memories of students who lived there the past 43 years will remain. If you have memories — good, bad, happy, or sad — of Rose Towers, please share them in the comment section below. We’d like to include some comments in a story for Wednesday. Rose Towers is being demolished at about 8 a.m. Wednesday — July 4 — to make way for a new residence hall to be built near the same site, the University of Alabama reports. For those wanting one last look and witness the implosion, a public viewing area will be available in the Riverside East parking lot. Parking will be available in the parking lots around Shelby Hall and at the Campus Drive parking deck. Visitors should take Hackberry Lane from University Boulevard to reach the parking areas.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – July 2
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – July 2
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – July 2
CBS 8 (Montgomery) – July 2
(OPINION) AHA Roundtable: Historians’ perspectives on the Supreme Court health care ruling
American Historical Association – June 29
In light of the historic importance of the U.S. Supreme Court decision of June 28, 2012, and with the belief that history can help inform debate on any contemporary topic, we offer three commentaries from historians on the Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act. David T. Beito, professor of history at the University of Alabama: This is a bleak day for defenders of personal liberty. The Supreme Court has abrogated its responsibility as a co-equal branch. If the federal government can force us to buy insurance, under the catch-all pretext of calling it a “tax,” it can force us to do almost anything. The same post-New Deal court which often upholds choice on abortion, pornography, and contraceptives continues to let politicians trample on the personal choice of Americans over their own pocketbooks. In we cannot freely spend the fruits of our labor on such a deeply intimate decision as health care, any other liberties are ultimately meaningless. While the impact of this ruling is important, Obamacare was not a sharp historical break but rather the culmination of a long trend toward more state intervention in health care.