UA students travel to Wiregrass to learn more about the area
Dothan Eagle – Oct. 30
Ozark native Catie Malone, a second-year law student at the University of Alabama, said she always looks forward to learning about different communities throughout the state. She said she was especially excited when the Blackburn Institute, a leadership development and civic engagement organization of which she is a part at the university, decided it would visit Ozark and surrounding areas for its travel experience. Dozens of students in the institute visited areas in Pike Road and Troy on Wednesday before visiting Enterprise and the Alabama Aviation Center in Ozark on Thursday. On Friday, students are expected to have a panel on faith in communities in Dothan while also hearing from local business officials in the city. Their visit also included a panel on home education. Mary Lee Caldwell, the Blackburn Institute’s director, said the trip to southeast Alabama was part of the Burt Jones Travel Experience in which students and fellows travel to rural and urban areas in the state to explore current challenges and means for potential growth in the different communities.
Alabama exceeds projection of new jobs
WALA-Fox (Mobile) – Oct. 29
A new report from the Alabama Department of Labor says the state is already exceeding economists projections for the whole year. In January, the Center for Business and Economic Research at The University of Alabama projected 33,000 new jobs would be created this year. In reality, 35,000 new jobs were created in just the first nine months of the year. Alabama is also seeing better salary growth than expected with 1.9% increase compared to a predicted 1.8%,
Vintage photos of 1931 killing tell new story, generations later
Al.com – Oct. 30
There were no witnesses to the killing of Jefferson County prison guard William Lee Taylor on April 29, 1931. In fact, there was no one living in a one-mile radius of the crime scene. Taylor, 62, commuted to work that afternoon on a lonely stretch of highway between what are now Pinson and Morris, Ala. A passer-by, F.G. Ryan, found his body slumped over behind his car with a single bullet hole in his left side. Four more bullet holes dented the frame of his car, and the running board glistened with Taylor’s blood. By the next day, four members of the Baggett family were taken into custody as suspects. Only two of the men were charged, however: Drennen Baggett, the admitted shooter, and his first cousin, Cecil Baggett. . . . “Lost Stories” is a digital storytelling partnership between the University of Alabama journalism department and Alabama Media Group. Together, we’re telling the stories behind the photos in our archives. Samantha Auer is a junior from Danville, Calif., double majoring in Journalism and Spanish. Maggie Rocker is a senior from Robert, La., double majoring in Journalism and Political Science. Hanna Curlette is a junior from Birmingham, double majoring in Journalism and Art.
Jewish life in a Southern college town
Alabama Public Radio – Oct. 30
Over the past couple of years, the University of Alabama has seen an increase in the number of young people on campus. As a part of that increase, the number of Jewish students has nearly doubled in the last 15 years. We looked what it is like for these students of a different faith to go to school in the heart of the Bible Belt. “I was nervous at first and especially going through sorority rush and being one of the only schools that doesn’t have a Jewish sorority that scared me a lot.” University of Alabama junior Kerri Fogel is from Atlanta and she’s Jewish. Along with the usual butterflies associated with leaving home, there was the concern that there would not many ways to remain connected to her faith. “The second I got onto campus all of those worries went away, which was an amazing feeling and I realized that people don’t really care about your background they care about who you are.” However, Fogel found a place to keep that connection. It’s 6:00 in the evening at the University of Alabama’s Hillel in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There is close to over 100 students and faculty celebrating the coming of the Jewish New Year. Hillel is a non-profit organization that serves as the Jewish Student Center at Alabama. It’s also a home away from home for students. Lisa Besnoy is the director of Hillel. She wants her organization to be an inviting place for students to come to.