Alabama teachers learn how to teach Computer Science
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – June 24
Some Alabama teachers are getting a crash course in computer science. The teachers are in the middle of a week-long technology class at The University of Alabama. There are nearly two dozen teachers at the University of Alabama this week, learning the basics of computer science education.
UA takes part in Swim To The Top Program
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – June 24
The new program is called “Swim to the Top.” It’s a collaborative effort between the Benjamin Barnes Branch YMCA, PARA and The University of Alabama. Children are taking part in a variety of activities this month like swimming, exercising, and basically learning how to swim.
Debate over rebel flag widens to include all symbols of Confederacy
Fox News – June 24
The debate over the rebel flag that began anew after last week’s church shootings in Charleston, S.C., has morphed into a full-blown Confederate controversy. While Stars and Bars have long been associated by many with slavery, the latest campaign to remove Confederate emblems has extended beyond the flag to statues, memorials, parks and even school mascots. Never has the debate over what symbolizes heritage and what stands for hate covered so much ground, as efforts to strip icons that have been part of the visual and cultural landscape of the South for decades are afoot at national, state and local levels. In one Arkansas town, the school board voted unanimously Tuesday to ban the song “Dixie” for the next school year and phase out “Rebel,” the school’s mascot … While some, like Mulvaney, have questioned whether the push to purge could wind up erasing an important part of America’s past, University of Alabama history professor Joshua Rothman, believes the distinction lies not in learning about the Confederacy but in how people choose to honor it. “I don’t think there is a reasonable position anyone could take that says that the history of the Confederacy shouldn’t be talked about in a university or school or museum,” he told FoxNews.com, adding that the problem lies in celebrating the Confederacy, especially using taxpayer money.
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – June 24
790 Talk (Las Vegas, Nevada) – June 25
When it comes to cigarette tax, governments should use it right or lose it
Al.com – June 24
Alabama’s legislative session has come and gone without the passage of a proposed 82-cent per pack increase in the tax on cigarettes. The chances of such a tax weren’t good to begin with in a state that seldom endorses taxes of any kind. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Whenever legislatures need money in a pinch, they always turn to cigarettes first. The lawmakers seem to be recognizing the dangers to health and are punishing smokers for being so foolhardy. But are governments really providing disincentives for bad health and high medical costs by adding to the cost of cigarettes? To the contrary, the way things are, the states want and need to profit from cigarette sales. From a public health perspective, a tax on cigarettes that goes into general revenue to be used for deficit reduction doesn’t do anything to reduce smoking, contrary to what we have been led to believe by groups such as the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. That’s because a government that collects such a tax becomes dependent on it. The payment that Alabama gets each year from the tobacco industry is a case in point. (By Dr. Alan Blum, the Gerald Leon Wallace Endowed Chair in Family Medicine at the University of Alabama and the director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society, who creates The Marlboro Journal of Medicine cartoon series with syndicated cartoonists Ted Rall and Matt Bors)
“Ring Of Fire’’ continues ‘til July 3 at SBCT
Mulletwrapper.net – June 24
The University of Alabama theater department’s presentation of Ring of Fire, a musical revue by Richard Maltby Jr., and Bill Meade, continues thru July 3 at South Baldwin Community Theatre in Gulf Shores. Performances are every Tuesday through Sunday evening at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under. A group rate of $15 per ticket is available for parties of 12 or more. Tickets are available at SummerTide.org, by phone at 251-968-6721 or at the box office at South Baldwin Community Theatre Tuesday through Sunday from 2-8 p.m. The theatre is located at 2022 West 2nd Street in Gulf Shores.