Tuscaloosa tops list of best cities for veterans’ education
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 10
When Eric Engquist left the U.S. Army in 2005, he said it was an extremely difficult transition, not only emotionally, but financially, too. Engquist, now an assistant vice president at USAA, didn’t find employment right away, and he didn’t have many resources to help him find a job. Now, there’s a guide for that called Best Places for Veterans, and Tuscaloosa has landed the No. 1 spot in the education category. USAA, a financial services company, partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative to commission Sperling’s BestPlaces and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University to determine the best places for veterans in terms of entrepreneurship, careers and education. Putting Tuscaloosa at the top in education, the study concluded that Asheville, N.C., is the No. 1 place for entrepreneurs, and Oklahoma City, is the best place for veterans to find careers … David Albright, the Hill Crest Foundation Endowed Chair in Mental Health and an associate professor in the University of Alabama School of Social Work, listed some of these factors and more. Albright, who is also an Army veteran who separated from the military over a decade ago, said Tuscaloosa has a multitude of health care options, a low cost of living with a favorable tax rate, a warm climate and many different forms of entertainment from sports to recreation to music and art. But one of the best resources for veteran education is the University of Alabama, he said. “The University of Alabama has really prioritized its veterans,” Albright said.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Nov. 10
Student groups make U.S. Flag on steps of Bryant-Denny Stadium to honor Veterans
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Nov. 10
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 10
Virginia Tech shooting has lessons for strengthening college mental health services
Health Medicine Network – Nov. 10
As the nation reels from another mass shooting on a college campus, analysis of the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech University highlights the need for “comprehensive and coordinated mental health services on college campuses, according to a paper in the November/December issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. The Virginia Tech shooting can be viewed as a “sentinel event,” highlighting the need to improve college mental health services–including an increased role of psychiatrists in assessing and managing students with severe mental illness, according to a perspectives article by Dr. Marisa A. Giggie of University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa. She writes, “Effective communication and the coordination of intervention opportunities among campus mental health and administrative resources are paramount for preventing future tragedies.”
TV-6 Investigates: Government indicates reversal on school bus seat belts
KWQC 6 (Illinois) – No. 10
School buses should have seat belts because they’re safer for kids. That’s the new position from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which for decades said the costs outweighed the benefits. TV-6 Investigates looked at school bus seat belts after getting exclusive video from inside a Louisa-Muscatine school bus that rolled over one year ago … The University of Alabama studied seat belt use among school kids. It found participation could vary widely, with an average of 62 percent of kids buckling up. School bus seat belt rules have been left up to states and school districts. Six states have school bus seat belt laws on the books, but many of those states either didn’t put money in the budget, or left it up to school districts to decide whether buses were equipped with seat belts.