Grand Opening of Alabama Rowing’s Facilities Set for today
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 22
The grand opening of Alabama rowing’s The Boathouse at Manderson Landing is set for today at 4:30 p.m., on the banks of the Black Warrior River. University president Dr. Judy Bonner and director of athletics Bill Battle will be on hand as well as UA head coach Larry Davis, his staff and the current team. Victoria Croy, a member of the Crimson Tide’s inaugural team, will represent the rowing alumni while captains Logan O’Neil and Courtney Atkinson along with senior Alyssa Drevenak will represent the current team during the ribbon cutting ceremony. Following the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, members of the current team will be on hand for tours and to answer questions about the facility.
UA visiting professor speaks about Ebola
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Oct. 22
Members of the University of Alabama community had a chance to ask their own questions about the Ebola virus to one of the nation’s leading experts. Michael Oldstone is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the head of the Viral Immuno-Biology lab at the Scripps Research Institute in California. Oldstone gave a background of Ebola to a packed lecture hall on the UA campus and explained the global impact the virus could have. “We can expect that the economy and the health structure in West Africa will be, if not destroyed, extraordinarily limited.”
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Oct. 22
WAFF-NBC (Huntsville) – Oct. 22
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Oct. 22
Speakers discuss recent Ebola coverage
Crimson White – Oct. 22
As the world is busy handling the Ebola outbreak centered in West Africa with intermittent cases found in Europe and North America, students and Tuscaloosa health professionals prepare themselves by learning the facts. Erik Peterson, an assistant professor in the University of Alabama history department, offered an insight into how the virus is spread. Peterson specializes in the history of science. “Ebola is a zoonotic virus, which means it spreads from animals to people,” he said. “Many, if not most, diseases are of this variety; the flu is one. In the case of Ebola, we believe that it’s harbored in rainforest fruit bats and probably spread to gorillas, chimpanzees, porcupines, pigs and so on. People get it by eating one of these animals or just coming across a dead animal and picking it up.” This is not the first Ebola outbreak the world has seen. “In 1989-90, one of the species of Ebola, Reston virus, made it into a lab in Virginia, just outside of D.C. from some monkeys captured in the Philippines,” Peterson said. “Reston virus did not seem to do anything to humans when at least one worker was infected by the virus. This was surprising since most of the monkeys who had it died, and since Ebola virus typically kills a high percentage of those who catch it.” Michael B.A. Oldstone, a visiting professor and renowned virologist, visited The University of Alabama on Thursday evening to give a lecture on Ebola. A member of the audience asked if the CDC was well prepared for the outbreak. He said the CDC was well prepared to deal with the situation.
UA Political Science professor says Hubbard’s indictment may cause others to run for Speaker of the House
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Oct. 22
Political experts are weighing in on the impact of a felony indictment against Alabama House Speaker, Mike Hubbard. With the 23-count indictment filed two weeks before Election Day, Hubbard has called it a political witch hunt. But local experts predict it will not keep him from being re-elected. A University of Alabama political professor says Hubbard is still extremely popular in his home district in the Auburn area. But the indictment could play a role with fellow Republicans in the legislature when it comes to Hubbard’s role as speaker of the house. Steven Borelli, UA political professor: “It’s one thing to say you support him and even to defend him, but it’s another thing to have somebody who might be seen as a political liability you know as the most visible, besides the governor, the most visible representative of the party, so you’re going to see some jockeying among his fellow Republicans.”
Experts: Arrest’s impact minimal
Florence Times Daily – Oct. 22
Even if Democrats running for office on Nov. 4 wanted to make an issue of the arrest and 23-count indictment against Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, most lack the ability to take political advantage within the next two weeks. So say political experts. Those experts state Alabama Democrats have neither the money nor party organization to use the situation involving one of the most powerful Republicans in the state. William Stewart said he doesn’t foresee Hubbard’s indictment having much impact beyond his own race. Hubbard has maintained his innocence. “I just think the Democratic Party is in a really weak position right now,” said Stewart, retired chairman of political science at the University of Alabama. “Maybe if the Democrat Party had better candidates, it would (matter more). But I don’t see much impact.”
Martin: Alabama’s ‘real governor’ dies
The Randolph Leader – Oct. 22
Paul Hubbert spent his career trying to improve education in Alabama and has often been called in political circles the “real governor of Alabama,” but one of the two times he ran for that office he was defeated by someone who didn’t attend a day of college. Dr. Hubbert, who had led the Alabama Education Association (AEA) for more than four decades, passed away last week in Montgomery at the age of 78. A native of Hubbertville in Fayette County and a graduate of Florence State College (now the University of North Alabama) and the University of Alabama, Dr. Hubbert directly impacted every major piece of education legislation for 42 years. … As a lasting legacy to their commitment to the teaching profession and public education, Dr. and Mrs. Hubbert dedicated the proceeds of their entire estate to the University of Alabama College of Education to provide scholarships for students pursuing certified teaching degrees.
Simulator drives home distracted driving dangers to University of Alabama students
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Oct. 22
University of Alabama student Bradley Morris thought he was a wizard behind the steering wheel. Then he tested his skills on a drunk driving simulator and learned better. “I thought I was going to do better than I was but it wasn’t good at all. I hit 15 curbs,” Morris said. That’s the point according to Anthony Lawrence of the Save a Life Tour. “It’s a hands on approach for people to see just exactly the mistakes that are happening when they’re texting while driving or if they drink and drive,” Lawrence said. The tour stopped at the University of Alabama on Wednesday for Alcohol Awareness Week. Lawrence said that distracted driving, like when people text and drive, is more dangerous than drunk driving. But drinking affects several things that make safe driving harder. “There’s three things that happens when you drink alcohol and they happen to everybody. You get a delayed reaction, tunnel vision and loss of multi-tasking ability,” Lawrence said.
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Oct. 22
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Oct. 22
Free legal clinic offered for low-income residents of Tuscaloosa County
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 22
A free legal clinic will be offered Thursday for low-income residents of Tuscaloosa County. The clinic will be from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at the main branch of the Tuscaloosa Public Library, 1801 Jack Warner Parkway. The clinic is open to the more than 40,000 low-income residents of Tuscaloosa County coping with civil legal challenges. The clinic lawyers are experienced in various areas of the law and will be available to answer questions about divorce, custody and visitation, landlord and tenant issues, wills and estates, debts, bankruptcy, foreclosure and domestic violence. The clinic is sponsored by the Alabama State Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program, working in cooperation with the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association, the University of Alabama School of Law and Legal Services Alabama.
Dubose shares platform to raise awareness
Crimson White – Oct. 23
Danielle Dubose is the current Miss University of Alabama. October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, is a time for Dubose to share her platform across campus to help raise awareness. Why did you choose domestic violence as your platform for Miss UA? It is a very underserved issue. I was first exposed to it when I was vice president of philanthropy for Alpha Chi Omega, and our national philanthropy is Domestic Violence Awareness. I coordinated Walk a Mile in Her Shoes to raise money for a local shelter here, and I did outreach to raise awareness for dating violence. I started getting into a dialogue with that, and I started to realize how many people were affected by it. Students would come up to me in the Ferguson Center when I was passing out pledge cards, telling me how they had been affected by it and thanking me for my sorority raising awareness about the cause. After I was done with being VP of philanthropy, I still wanted to give back to domestic violence awareness and be active with the issue. So I was able to form my platform [for Miss UA] off of that. What have you done so far to promote awareness for domestic violence? I founded a group with three other women through the Women’s Resource Center that gives presentations to sorority chapters about abusive relationships and dating violence education.
Alabama IJM strives to halt slavery, trafficking in world
Crimson White – Oct. 23
Alabama International Justice Mission exists to raise both money and awareness in order to end slavery around the world. “There are currently nearly 30 million slaves around the world,” said Maggie Snead, the president of AIJM and a junior majoring in general studies in human environmental science. “This includes sex trafficking as well as unpaid labor.” Snead said Atlanta has the highest rate of sex trafficking in the United States. “We have events throughout the year to make sure people are aware of the issue, as well as raising money that goes directly to IJM,” she said. AIJM’s first event of the year was a Night of Justice featuring music by Steve Moakler. Hughes said AIJM plans to host another Night of Justice at the beginning of next semester.
Bruna Rossati trades Brazil for Bama
Crimson White – Oct. 23
Bruna Rossati is a senior majoring in chemical engineering who came to Tuscaloosa from Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, as part of a cultural exchange program between The University of Alabama and other Brazilian universities. Next year, Rossati will transfer from the English Language Institute to The University of Alabama and join the College of Engineering along with her Brazilian peers in order to experience college life in America before going back to Brazil at the end of next year. Why did you come to the U.S.? I am part of the Brazilian Exchange Program that brings a huge group of Brazilians, mostly engineers, to study at the University for a year and a half. I specifically came to the University because there are more things related to technology and engineering compared to the other universities I applied to. What do you like the most about campus? I love that it has a lot of green landscapes, trees and open spaces.
Relay specialist dedicates career to fighting cancer
Crimson White – Oct. 23
For many, fears are what hold them back. But for a select few, their fears unleash their greatest potential. Anna Lisa Weigel is one of those few. Weigel serves on the front line of the fight against cancer at The University of Alabama, but it was not always this way. “I remember being afraid of it,” Weigel said. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I hope I never get cancer because people who get cancer die.’” Weigel became involved with the American Cancer Society in high school in 2002 as a volunteer. It was not until 2011 that her interest in cancer really spiked, she said. “My uncle was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma,” Weigel said. Weigel, born and raised in Tuscaloosa, graduated from The University of Alabama in 2009. Since graduation, she has been involved on campus for three years as a relay specialist. In total, Weigel is in charge of five relay committees in different counties in Alabama. Weigel returned to her UA roots because of the students’ passion, she said. … The Relay for Life movement at the University is becoming more successful by the year, Weigel said. Last year, Relay for Life racked up $70,000 in donations. As for participants, the University’s relay participants increased their numbers by 215 from 2013 to 2014.