University of Alabama tapped as science innovation site
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 21
The University of Alabama’s recent selection by the National Science Foundation as an Innovation Corps site will help UA broaden its efforts to help commercialize new technologies developed by students and employees. “It really doesn’t change drastically what we are doing,” said Dan Daly, director of the Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs Center. AIME helps faculty, staff and students commercialize inventions and innovations. The UA board of trustees approved renaming the center earlier this month from the Alabama Institute for Manufacturing Excellence. While designation as an NSF I-Corps site won’t fundamentally change AIME’s operation, it will help the center assist more teams as they work to develop products and launch startup companies. The designation and grant will allow AIME to help more companies develop working prototypes, Daly said.
BRAIN POWER: University of Alabama hosts regional Science Olympiad
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 21
Using cardboard and other materials as the body and CDs as the wheels, Ishaan Patel and Eric Shin, seventh-grade students at Saint John School in Montgomery, propelled their motorless vehicle across the floor of the South Engineering Research Center at the University of Alabama using jumbo paper clips, string and rubber bands. The objective was to build a vehicle powered by something other than a motor and send it off with the push of a button. The wheeled vehicle competition was one of multiple competitions that took place at UA Saturday as about 480 middle and high school students participated in one of Alabama’s regional Science Olympiad events.
Tuscaloosa News (gallery) – Feb. 21
Tuscaloosa poet Hank Lazer honored with Harper Lee Award
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 23
Tuscaloosa poet Hank Lazer is the winner of this year’s Harper Lee Award for distinguished Alabama writers. The Alabama Writer’s Forum announced Lazer will receive the award in April at the annual Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville. The gathering is held at Alabama Southern Community College in the hometown of “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee, the namesake of the award. While Lee has a new book coming out in July, it’s unlikely she will attend the event. The 87-year-old writer lives in an assisted living center in Monroeville and is in declining health. Lazer has published 18 poetry books. The California native moved to Alabama in 1977 and held a number of positions at the University of Alabama before retiring last year. He still teaches at the university.
Moulton Advertiser – Feb. 22
Charlotte Observer (N.C.) – Feb. 21
Bradenton Herald (Fla.) – Feb. 21
Study shows that Alabama still needs more state troopers
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Feb. 20
Drivers could soon see more state troopers on patrol across the state. This follows a law enforcement reorganization. Alabama law enforcement agency officials say 21 new state troopers graduated from a Selma training center and will soon begin working roadways across the state. Authorities say this is the first trooper class graduating since 2010. Two-hundred-eighty-nine troopers worked highway patrols in 2014. But that’s a lot less than what a recent University of Alabama study recommended for the state, which was 871 troopers.
Dothan Eagle — Feb. 20
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 20
WPMI-NBC (Mobile) (Video not available) – Feb. 20
CIA’s Nuclear-Bomb Sting Said to Spur Review in Iran Arms Case
Bloomberg Business – Feb. 20
Details of a 15-year-old Central Intelligence Agency sting emerging from a court case in the U.S. may prompt United Nations monitors to reassess some evidence related to Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons work, two western diplomats said. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in Vienna will probably review intelligence they received about Iran as a result of the revelations, said the two diplomats who are familiar with the IAEA’s Iran file and asked not to be named because the details are confidential. The CIA passed doctored blueprints for nuclear-weapon components to Iran in February 2000, trial documents have shown … The CIA sting shows the kind of tactics that the U.S. and its allies have used against Iran, according to Dan Joyner, a law professor at the University of Alabama. “The falsification of nuclear-related documents is a very real part of such states’ efforts to frustrate Iran’s nuclear program,” said Joyner, who has written extensively on nuclear proliferation risks. “This revelation highlights the dangers of reliance by the IAEA upon evidence concerning Iran provided to it by third party states whose political agendas are antithetical to Iran.”
Raising taxes in Alabama: Most options are difficult
Montgomery Advertiser – Feb. 22
Gov. Robert Bentley and lawmakers dealing with a yawning General Fund budget deficit will also deal with this issue: raising taxes in Alabama is not easy. And it’s not just the politics. Virtually every major source of revenue in the state is embedded in the state Constitution, and can’t be changed without a constitutional amendment that has to first make it out of the Legislature, and then win approval from state voters. The governor said last week he will propose a $700 million package to address long- and short-term funding issues in the state’s General Fund. That fund faces a budget deficit of at least $250 million in the 2016 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Bentley did not unveil specific proposals, and Jennifer Ardis, a spokeswoman for the governor, said there would be none released this week … “Many people are afraid of tax reform because they’re afraid you’ll end up with something more unfair,” said Susan Pace Hammill, a tax-policy expert and professor at the University of Alabama. “We are about as bad as we can be right now. I can’t imagine reform would take us anywhere but better.”
Bentley to ask for $700 million tax increase
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 20
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley says he will ask legislators to approve a $700 million tax and revenue package in the upcoming session. Bentley says he will not sugarcoat the state’s budget situation. He says Alabama needs additional revenue to maintain services. Bentley is expected to discuss the specifics of his proposal in his March third state-of-the-state address on opening day of the legislative session. University of Alabama political science professor Anne Williamson says, “We have a lack of ability to meet our expenses in the state of Alabama. We have rising costs for instance related to Medicaid…, and we just simply can’t do it with the current tax structure.”
Drugs That Work Differently in a Woman Than a Man
MSN – Feb. 19
Any woman who has spent time drinking alcohol around men is familiar with the term “light-weight.” Drink for drink, women often can’t keep up. This makes sense for women who weigh less than men. But women also metabolize alcohol differently. For instance, women generally have less of an enzyme made in the liver, called alcohol dehydrogenase, that’s responsible for the breakdown of alcohol … If women react differently than men do to alcohol, why wouldn’t they to drugs? Well, they do. And research has begun to show how just how much gender can play a role in things like potency, efficacy, and side effects of a wide range of medications … It is not known why, but women tend to respond better to certain antidepressants and antipsychotics than men. For example, women do better than men with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Zoloft, with verapamil for bipolar disorder, and also tricyclic antidepressants like Tofranil, according to Heather Whitley, PharmD at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Tuscaloosa.
“Bloody Tuesday” Reflection held at UA
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Feb. 21
The Tuscaloosa community took time to reflect on Bloody Tuesday this week. Reverend Thomas Linton and Maxie Thomas led a discussion at The University of Alabama. Linton helped organize the June 9, 1964 march in Tuscaloosa from First African Baptist Church to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse over segregated water fountains. Thomas also played a key role in the march attempt where they were met with violence. Linton says it’s important to continue talking about Bloody Tuesday.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 21
Science Sunday held at UA Museum of Natural History
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 22
Today was Science Sunday at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The free event invited the community to explore man’s use of collective learning and the journey of tool discovery. Visitors got a chance to view artifacts from prehistory and there were activities for children as well. The museum is in The University of Alabama’s Smith Hall. WVUA spoke to Allie Sorlie, the museum’s education outreach coordinator, who says the event is definitely a team effort.
Brentano String Quartet Performs
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 22
A group of internationally renowned musicians visited Tuscaloosa today. The Brentano String Quartet has played at many prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. This afternoon the quartet performed at The University of Alabama’s Moody Music Hall.
Writers@Work Welcomes Rick Bragg And Lila Quintero Weaver
The Chattanoogan (Tenn.) – Feb. 20
Writers@Work is an award-winning initiative conceived by the Chattanooga State Humanities Department. The program invites to campus an author with significant ties to the American South to engage with students and the public on matters of authorship, the power of academic voice, Southern identity and sense of place. … Rick Bragg comes to Chattanooga State Community College as its featured author during the Writers@Work series April 13-17. Mr. Bragg says that listening to oral storytelling during his childhood while growing up in the Appalachian foothills of Alabama helped to hone his writing abilities. Mr. Bragg is a Pulitzer Prize winner for feature writing, a best selling author, newspaper writer and current journalism professor at the University of Alabama.
Miss UA named
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 22
We now know the winner of the 2015 Miss University of Alabama pageant. Peyton Edberg will spend the next year as Miss UA. Edberg will go on to compete in the Miss Alabama pageant in June. According to her Twitter page, Edberg is a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority at UA.
Alabama Women’s Basketball Team visits cancer patients
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 22
The Alabama Women’s Basketball Team hosts 14th ranked Mississippi State tomorrow in the Power of Pink Play for K game that promotes breast cancer awareness. To get the team ready, the Tide paid a visit to patients at DCH.
Book review: ‘The Architecture of William Nichols’
Clarion Ledger – Feb. 21
A review of “The Architecture of William Nichols: Building the Antebellum South in North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi” by Paul Hardin Kapp, with Todd Sanders … Best known in Mississippi as the architect of the Old Capitol and the Governor’s Mansion, William Nichols (1780-1852) was the most important and influential architect in the state during the first half of the nineteenth century; but he also had a long and productive architectural career in North Carolina and Alabama before coming in Mississippi in 1836 … In 1827 Nichols relocated to Alabama, where he designed the old state capitol at Tuscaloosa, completed in 1831. While in Tuscaloosa, Nichols also prepared the original campus plan for the University of Alabama and designed several early buildings there.
University of Alabama grad’s son labeled “child genius”
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 21
John Sumter likes to play the piano, swim, take karate and play video games like most kids his age. He appears to be an average kid until you see his test scores. John has tested into the 99.9 percentile with the highest math, language and reading test scores nationally, and he is the youngest member of Mensa, a high IQ society, in his region of Myrtle Beach, S.C. He has also been recognized by Johns Hopkins University for being a part of its gifted and talented program. John was recently recognized as one of the smartest kids in America by the Lifetime original show “Child Genius,” which takes 20 of the smartest kids in the U.S. and tests them in multiple subjects for a chance to win a $100,000 college fund … His mother said she thought he was reading the large words like “rhinoceros” and “hippopotamus” from memory, but when she shuffled them, he could still read them. “I thought it was just normal,” said Traci Sumter, a University of Alabama graduate from Hartselle.