Disabled workers find pride with Crimson Tide
Tuscaloosa News – June 25
Fingerprints disappeared as Gina Noland swiped a paper towel over a case holding vintage University of Alabama football tickets at the Paul W. Bryant Museum. Patrons glimpsed into the past of Crimson Tide football through the spotless glass before moving on to the TV screen that showed old films from “Bear” Bryant’s coaching days. On the other side of the building, working behind the scenes to bring those patrons that film is Kenny Denton … Noland came to the museum through a job program with the Arc of Tuscaloosa County, and Denton came through a job program with Easter Seals of West Alabama.
Tuscaloosa News (gallery) – June 25
Free civil rights exhibit on display at Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum
Tuscaloosa News – June 26
A free exhibit focusing on a pivotal event in the nation’s civil rights movement will be on display for the first time in Tuscaloosa beginning Tuesday. The Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum, 1901 Jack Warner Parkway, will show a 36-piece multimedia exhibit, “Remembering 4 Little Girls: A Gallery of Creative Expressions.” … Guided tours for school groups are available for $2 per student and $1 per teacher/adult. All payments must be in check form made out to the University of Alabama.
UA Astrobotics Team advances in competition
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – June 24
The University of Alabama Astrobotics team continues to break records in high-profile NASA robotics contests. The team is now the first to advance to Level 2 in the sample return robot challenge on their first try. This latest success came less than a month after the team took the top prize for the second straight year at the NASA robotics mining competition. The Astrobotics team will compete again in September for a shot at a share of a nearly $1.5 million prize.
UA students take part in Eco-CAR 3 competition
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – June 24
If someone handed you the keys to a 2016 Chevy Camaro and someone said, “Make this better,” what would you do? That’s the question some University of Alabama students faced and answered. They took part in the Eco-CAR 3 student competition. It is a competition where students work to improve a stock vehicle and make it better for fuel-efficiency. The University of Alabama team has 150 students, and one student says the experience helped her get a job.
Here’s what Alabama economists are saying about Brexit
Montgomery Advertiser – June 24
The U.K. voted Thursday to leave the European Union, a surprise result that through markets into turmoil and sank the British pound to its lowest value in more than 30 years … So, just how big of an impact will the U.K.’s move have on the United States economy and the Alabama economy? … Ahmad Ijaz, Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama: It won’t really have much of an impact. If you look at our trade partners, Canada, and Mexico, and China are our major trade partners. I think Britain is sixth or seventh depending on the year. It shouldn’t have much impact aside from multinationals (doing business abroad).
UA Political Science professor talks about effects of BREXIT
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – June 24
The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union has created a lot of speculation. Prime Minister David Cameron who was in support of the United Kingdom staying in the EU, said today he would be stepping down. This has analysts wondering what other effects the decision could have on the UK and the world. While most people are worried about the future of the markets, UA Political Science Professor George Hawley says there is a much larger question at hand. “The more interesting question is whether we will see a renewed effort for Scottish independence as a result. As Scotland was one of the regions that voted to stay.”
WV Book Team: New releases explore collision of environment, culture
Charleston Gazette-Mail – June 26
As our economic and natural systems continue on their collision course, “Ecological Governance: Toward a New Social Contract with the Earth” by Bruce Jennings asks whether we have the political capacity to avoid large-scale environmental disaster. Can liberal democracy respond in time to ecological challenges that require dramatic changes in the way we approach the natural world? … Bart Elmore, assistant professor of history at the University of Alabama, has editede a new series titled “Histories of Capitalism and the Environment,” detailing the relationships between two of history’s most vibrant subfields.
Family’s phony tragedy goes viral
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Ind.) – June 27
The Dirrs of Saskatchewan had all the makings of a young power couple. John “J.S.” Dirr worked as an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, while his wife, Dana, was a trauma surgeon at a hospital. The two ran a busy household brimming with adorable, smiling children – 10 in all, including 5-year-old Cliff Elias, nicknamed “Warrior Eli” for his ongoing fight against cancer … “Actually, Munchausen by internet has now become more common than real-life Munchausen syndrome because it’s so easy to do. It used to be that real-life Munchausen patients would have to go to medical libraries, research the illnesses they would feign and go to doctors’ offices to reenact the symptoms,” said Marc Feldman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama who coined the term “Munchausen by internet” in 2000.
How to beat the heat
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – June 24
UA head team physician Dr. James Robinson says if someone begins to experience heat exhaustion, the most important thing is to get them out of the heat to a shaded area or an air conditioned area and try to cool them down.
Abraham Hausmann-Weiss to play wheelchair basketball for UA
KHOU-CBS (Houston, Texas) – June 26
If you tell Abraham Haussmann-Weiss he can’t do something, he’ll likely prove you wrong. His shot on the basketball court is as smooth as you’ll see from anyone. The fact that he’s in a wheelchair makes this story that much more remarkable. Abraham was born with a closed neural-tube defect. A surgery at a young age caused swelling, which resulted in a loss of function from the waist down. Some would have given up, Abraham took the opposite approach…His skills have earned him a scholarship to play at The University of Alabama and to attend the Honors College.
Ryan Jansen to play wheelchair basketball for UA
WBAY-ABC 2 (Green Bay, Wisc.) – June 26
Ryan Jansen knows how to adapt and thrive. Deprived of the ability to run and jump by a childhood car crash, the young man earned a basketball scholarship anyway. Kimberly grad Ryan Jansen has loved basketball from the very beginning. At just three-years-old a car accident left Ryan paralyzed, but at an early age he knew being different didn’t mean he had to be treated differently…Now Ryan is off to the University of Alabama to begin his collegiate basketball career.
COLLEGE NEWS: June 26
Tuscaloosa News – June 24
University of Alabama – Dan Walters, a graduate student pursuing an MBA and a law degree, is one of 60 students nationwide selected for a 2016 Tillman scholarship. Walters is Greensboro native and an Army veteran.
A marijuana businessman has been denied life insurance
Audio Boom – June 25
A successful businessman with a growing footprint in several states says he was shocked when he was refused a personal life insurance policy by Mutual of Omaha, one of the nation’s largest insurers.The company informed Derek Peterson, CEO of Terra Tech Corp., in a letter dated June 13 that “we cannot accept premium[s] from individuals or entities who are associated with the marijuana industry.” … Julie Hill, a financial industry expert at the University of Alabama School of Law, says she believes the company may have concern about violating laws against money laundering. “These and other laws make it very risky to accept any money that you know comes from a marijuana business, regardless of whether you are a bank,” she says. Among the prohibitions are “knowingly engag[ing] in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of value greater than $10,000.”
Bradley partner named to Who’s Who Legal: Corporate Tax 2016
Al.com – June 26
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that for the eighth consecutive year, Birmingham partner Bruce P. Ely has been selected for inclusion in Who’s Who Legal: Corporate Tax 2016, a legal referral guide of the world’s leading corporate tax lawyers. Ely is the only lawyer in Alabama who was identified for this year’s guide, which will publish in September … He also proudly serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse School of Accountancy, teaching SALT and tax policy in its graduate accounting program.
PORT RAIL: We should follow lead of Isabella
Tuscaloosa News – June 25
In 1492 the last Moorish state of Islam in Spain — Granada — fell to a terrific siege laid by the combined Christian armies of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon, the first monarchs of what we know as modern Spain. Moors were what the Spanish called the Muslims who crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711 A.D. and overran the old Roman province of Iberia, which today is Spain and Portugal. (Larry Clayton is a retired University of Alabama history professor. Readers can email him at larryclayton7@gmail.com.)