Dothan native’s internship helping deep space travel project
Dothan Eagle – July 7
Great advances in aeronautics aren’t made alone by researchers and test pilots. A variety of professionals contribute to these achievements, each providing insights and experience needed to make these projects a success. Dothan native Andrew Brown is currently helping Boeing develop the latest NASA rocket for deep space travel, working as an intern on the business side of developing the rocket. Brown, 23, an MBA student at the University of Alabama, is working at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility. Brown is using the business expertise he is learning at UA to help with contract issues and to develop systems that allow various parties in the contracting process to examine what other parties are doing. Brown said he is proud to have been chosen for the internship.
UMC-Northport to open this week, grand opening in August
Crimson White – July 8
University Medical Center, which is operated by The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences, opened a new location in Northport July 1. University Medical Center-Northport, located in the Fitness One building on McFarland Boulevard, is a relocation of UMC-Black Warrior Family Medicine. The focus of UMC-Northport will be on providing comprehensive healthcare for its patients, as well as training residents, interns and medical students. The move was done to make more space and be more accessible to citizens on that side of town. “We’re expanding our services that we were giving on the University campus UMC,” said H. Joseph Fritz, clinic director at UMC-Northport. “We’re now in Northport and training family doctors, also providing primary care to this part
of Tuscaloosa.” Fritz will practice with Ray Brignac, Jennifer Clem, Catherine Skinner and nurse practitioner Lisa Bashier as well as resident physicians.
Religious objections to civil laws have a curious history
Tampa Tribune (Fla.) – July 7
The “sincere religious beliefs” objections to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states are getting some traction, particularly in Texas, Alabama and Louisiana. By a not-so-amazing coincidence, these are among the 11 states where there is an unfortunate history of sincere religious objections to previous laws of the land The 13th Amendment for one, the one that abolished slavery. It seems impossible to think now, but throughout the South, and from some pulpits in the North, before and after the Civil War, churches vigorously defended slavery as rooted in the Bible. In “God’s Almost Chosen Peoples: A Religious History of the American Civil War,” the historian George C. Rable of the University of Alabama writes: “Preachers talked about a spiritual and cultural war between true Christianity and Yankee infidelity. Indeed, according to one Georgia Baptist editor, it was northern ‘opposition to plain Biblical teachings, which has dissolved our once glorious Union.’ And just as some northern ministers viewed the secession crisis as a millennial opportunity to proclaim liberty to the captives, so southern Christians maintained that the perfection of a slave-holding society would ultimately lead to what a Georgia woman called ‘the final and universal spread of a Gospel civilization.’ ”
Grand Haven Tribune (Mich.) – July 7
Civil War exhibit shown at Gorgas House Museum
Tuscaloosa News – July 7
The Gorgas House Museum, which now features the “North and South: the Gorgas Family, the University of Alabama, and the divisions of the Civil War” exhibit will continue throughout July. The exhibit will feature information and artifacts related to the Civil War in Tuscaloosa, including items recently unearthed by the Office of Archaeological Research staff and artifacts from Jefferson Hall, a dormitory on the University of Alabama’s original 1831 campus that was burned by Union forces in 1865. Gen. Josiah Gorgas’ coat and ceremonial sword will be part of those artifacts. The exhibit will also explore the themes of division in the Civil War based on Gorgas’ service, during which he became estranged from his family because of his choice to serve his wife’s state of Alabama instead of his native Pennsylvania.
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Awards $25,000 Innovation Grant
Andhranews.net – July 7
The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) today announced that it has awarded its 2015 Brodsky Innovation Grant to Caring Days, an adult day center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., for its “Enhancing Life Through The Senses” program. Designed to improve quality of life for individuals in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease and related illnesses, Enhancing Life Through the Senses employs technology such as fiber optics, bubble tubes, aroma diffusers, vibrating music recliners and low-tech tools like baby dolls and massage therapy, to create a rich, multi-sensory environment. “Too often, because people in the later stages of the disease may be unable to walk or communicate, there is a tendency simply to dim the lights and turn on elevator music,” said Vicki Kerr, Caring Days’ executive director. “But we believe people need fun. We want each day to be its own, not a soothing repeat of the day before. This sensory program ‘cranks it up’ and gives us an opportunity to help improve the lives of our clients and their family caregivers.”
Solar surges in the South, but Alabama Power isn’t playing
Al.com – July 7
Alabama Power Company is notably absent from the growing ranks of utilities across the South that are now investing in affordable solar power to capture cost savings for customers. Those ranks include sister companies Georgia Power, Mississippi Power and Gulf Power, which makes Alabama Power’s absence all the more inexplicable. Today the price of solar panels is a tenth of what it was a decade ago. Buying power from large solar farms is now cheaper than utilities’ cost to generate power using traditional power plants, meaning that investing in solar power is a no-brainer – it produces significant savings for customers. Finally, in northern Alabama, an area served by the Tennessee Valley Authority, an 80 MW solar farm is being developed in Lauderdale County for purchase by TVA just across the river from the retiring Colbert Fossil Plant. According to the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, the solar farm is projected to have cumulative economic benefits of $148 million, including earnings connected to 437 jobs and $52 million in much-needed local tax revenue.
Range Kleen Award 2015-16
Tutorial Finder – July 7
In review of the previous scholastic accomplishments, Range Kleen would like to congratulate Ashley Strawn and Kaitlyn OConnor as the 2015-2016 Range Kleen Scholarship Award Recipients. Ashley Strawn attends Bowling Green State University and Kaitlyn OConnor attends the University of Alabama, both majoring in different areas of Human Development and Family Studies. The Student Scholarship Program is designed to foster excellence to the next generation. Potential recipients are dependents of Range Kleen Associates and are selected based on academic achievements.