TDK, UA Sign Research Agreement Related to Green Energy, Electronics
Lab Manager – July 16
The newly signed agreement between TDK and UA’s Center for Materials for Information Technology, or MINT, will, among other things, bring TDK engineers to campus while researching long-term solutions to some of the biggest challenges faced by the industry today. “A portion of this collaboration between TDK and UA researchers seeks an alternative to high-potential magnetic materials, known as rare-earth materials, central to sustaining the electric energy movement,” said Dr. Carl A. Pinkert, UA vice president for research and economic development. “Combining the know-how of TDK with that of our MINT researchers creates an intellectual powerhouse to tackle these significant challenges.”
Alabama courts end legal limbo, begin approving same-sex couple adoptions
Al.com – July 16
After years of legal delay, Alabama courts this week began approving one of the legal rights most sought by same-sex couples in the state: the ability to adopt children. A same-sex couple adoption was approved in Madison County, and Mobile couple Cari Searcy and Kim McKeand learned that a judge has set a July 24 hearing date in their landmark legal adoption battle. The Mobile judge is expected to approve Searcy’s adoption of the son the couple has raised together since he was born nine years ago, Searcy said Thursday … None of this was a certainty even after the Supreme Court’s June ruling. Professor Ronald Krotoszynski, the John S. Stone Chairholder of Law at the University of Alabama, said that the Supreme Court found marriage a “fundamental right,” but didn’t mention other family issues like adoption. State courts “could in theory draw a distinction” between marriage and adoption, he said this week, resulting in yet another round of lawsuits. “I’m not advocating this (interpretation),” Krotoszynski said, and he believes most states will read the ruling broadly to “extend all family rights” to same-sex couples.
Sweet Home Alabama
U.S. News – July 17
Earlier this month, when the Center for American Progress Action Fund think tank released a state-by-state assessment of democracy, which looked at citizens’ access to the polls, legislative representation and political influence, most observers weren’t surprised that the Deep South ended up on the bottom rung. The seven-state region that seceded from the Union and formed the heart of the Confederacy was under federal occupation for about a decade after the Civil War, and in the post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow-era laws kept African-Americans from the polls – through lynchings and Klan terrorism if necessary. The South saw more bloodshed when, against armed white resistance, activists tried to register black voters during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. And, from 1965 until last summer, several states in Dixie essentially had to ask permission from the Justice Department before making any substantial changes to its voting laws. Richard Fording, who teaches politics and history at the University of Alabama, attributes it to the South’s “traditionalistic” culture, which embraces “a more hierarchical society with strict class divisions.” Politics, he says, are “not really regarded as something that everyday people ought to be concerned about.” That’s largely changed, but “policy change sometimes lag far beyond changes in culture and values,” Fording says.
How a Virtual ‘Mob Boss’ From Texas Became the New Face of Organized Crime
The Epoch Times – July 17
On Oct. 2, 2013, after months of extensive joint federal investigations, the FBI arrested Ross William Ulbricht (aka “Dread Pirate Roberts”) for his role in leading a major online criminal enterprise. In May 2015, Ulbricht—now 31 years old—was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted on multiple felony charges in connection with his operation of the Silk Road website, which had become an anonymous black market for drugs and other illegal items. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest chose to impose the harshest sentence she could, essentially equating him with a mafia boss in hopes of sending a message to other would-be cyber criminals. As she said during sentencing: “The stated purpose [of the Silk Road] was to be beyond the law. In the world you created over time, democracy didn’t exist. You were captain of the ship, the Dread Pirate Roberts. You made your own laws. What you did with Silk Road was terribly destructive to our social fabric.” (Diana S. Dolliver is assistant professor of criminal justice and cybercrime at the University of Alabama. This article was previously published on TheConversation.com).
5 Minutes With Podcast: University of Alabama Training Program Produces Well-Rounded Employees
Facilities Net – July 17
Neal Dichiara, the Director of Building Maintenance for the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, discusses the impact of his department’s training program on employees’ skill sets. The Alabama maintenance staff was the recipient of a 2014 Facilities Maintenance Decisions Achievement Award for in personnel for its program.
Crimson Cabaret visit day campers at Phelps Center
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – July 16
Day campers at Tuscaloosa’s Mary Ann Phelps activity center got some special visitors today…The University of Alabama’s Crimson Cabaret visited the center, presenting their first performance of the year. Crimson Cabaret Coordinator Marion Powell says it is good for the dancers to get in the spotlight to practice.