Johnson: Why would Alabama investigate financial app when it doesn’t protect against predatory lending?
Al.com – Oct. 3
Moreover, while 15 states bar predatory lending, the app is served nationwide. At least now. “Interest is interest, no matter how it’s disguised,” Alan Tidwell, associate professor of finance at the University of Alabama, told AL.com’s Lily Jackson.
Miss Unique UA celebrates beauty, disabled women
Crimson White – Oct. 3
The Miss Unique UA scholarship program, a pageant to celebrate diversity and provide opportunities for young women with disabilities in the Tuscaloosa area, will be held on Oct. 20, 2019, at 2:30 p.m. at the Ferguson Center Theater. Katherine Beasley, a junior majoring in political science and the director of disability services for the Student Government Association (SGA), founded the Miss Unique UA scholarship program, a pageant to celebrate young women with disabilities and everything they are capable of.
Opinion: Good luck to the whistleblower who reported Trump’s Ukraine call. He or she needs it
Los Angeles Times – Oct. 3
Even without President Trump’s strident demands for the name of the Ukraine whistleblower, he or she probably will not remain anonymous forever. And then what? The whistleblower is likely to be in for a rough time professionally, since existing protections for whistleblowers are completely inadequate. No constitutional protection exists and statutory guarantees are unreliable. . . . Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr. is a professor and director of faculty research at the University of Alabama School of Law. He is the author of “The Disappearing First Amendment.”
Tech Titans 2019: Washington’s Top Tech Leaders Our guide to the most important and innovative people in Washington’s digital economy.
Washingtonian – Oct. 3
They’re creating more opportunities for women in tech, putting millions of dollars into emerging companies in the Mid-Atlantic, overseeing new federal agencies guarding the nation’s cybernetworks, building robotic fighter jets, renting scooters by the hour, and launching satellites. They are the new members of Washingtonian’s Tech Titans list. For Marillyn Hewson—or, as President Trump recently called her, “Marillyn Lockheed”—pushing tech forward is both professional and personal. Her company relies on high-tech tools to create billions of dollars’ worth of defense products, and Hewson has put up her own money to help others gain tech expertise. In 2017, she gave $5 million to the University of Alabama’s business school to back the Marillyn Hewson Faculty Fellows Program in Data Analytics and Cyber Security.
Wired Focus
School cop pulls strings to get orphaned Florida teen an autographed photo of his hero
Orlando Sentinel – Oct. 2
Thanks to a school resource officer, a Florida teen whose parents both died received a caring gesture: an autographed photo of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban. Travis Moore, an avid Alabama football fan, lost his mother when he was 12 years old, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday. “Then, just before the start of this school year, he lost his father,” the sheriff’s office said. Deputy Garrett Rosner, the school resource deputy at the boy’s DeFuniak Springs school, Walton Academy, reached out to his contacts in Alabama and got the photo for Travis.
UA physician discusses dangers of vaping
WVUA – Oct. 2
The Alabama Department of Public Health has confirmed the first vaping-related death in the state. The CDC has ongoing investigations of over 805 lung injuries across the nation. Seventeen deaths in other states have also been confirmed. Two-thirds are between the ages of 18 and 34. Dr. Alan Blum, a physician in The University of Alabama’s College of Community Health Sciences says, “But we are seeing that most people who are vaping are young people, who are getting a much more rapidly absorbed form of Nicotene. It’s not going to do them any good. Some of them are going to take up smoking as a result of it.”
UA offers help to entrepreneurs who need advertising (live interview)
WVUA – Oct. 2
Our special guest tonight, Jay Waters with The University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. Every week we talk to people associated with the EDGE. We talk to entrepreneurs. But, also in business, advertising plays a big role and that’s where you come in with a new program.
School news
Northwest Arkansas Gazette – Oct. 2
University of Alabama Kasha Katrece Pinkerton of West Fork has received a master of science in nursing from the University of Alabama during summer commencement Aug. 3. University of Alabama Clifford Ethan Bird of Fort Smith was named to the University of Alabama dean’s list for summer 2019, with a 3.5 GPA or above.
Weekend entertainment options will fill football void
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 3
Among the trio of theatrical picks this weekend are the University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance’s “Intimate Apparel” in the Marian Gallaway Theatre, continuing Thursday night through Sunday . . . The UA Department of English continues to bring literature to life with Thursday night’s 7-8 p.m. reading hosted by the Pure Products Reading and Lecture Series, in the courtyard at Monarch Espresso Bar, featuring Luke Niiler, Scott McWaters, Meredith Ramella and Jordan Taylor. . . . The 31st Moundville Native American Festival arrives a little later than usual this year, opening Wednesday and running through Oct. 12; the Moundville Archaeological Park celebration is usually begun in late September.
Alabama esports club helps players get in the game
Crimson White – Oct. 3
When most sports teams prepare for game day, they only have to worry about one game. The Alabama esports (electronic sports) club, however, has to manage roughly 30 teams across 12 different games, including League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Like cogs in a well-oiled machine, every player has a job to fulfill in order for the club to be successful. To manage responsibilities, the team has five officers to oversee the club’s affairs as well as coordinators for each game.