UA & AU on Kiplinger’s best value list
Birmingham Business Journal – Jan. 5
The University of Alabama and Auburn University are on Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of the 100 best values in public colleges…Average debt after graduation at Auburn is $34,398. At Alabama, it is $18,896. The schools were ranked according to academic quality, including admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios and four-and six-year graduation rates, as well as cost and financial aid…
WSFA.com – Jan. 5
WAKA (Montgomery) – Jan 4
University of Alabama astronomer finds black hole ripping star apart
Birmingham News – Jan. 5
A University of Alabama astronomer has found evidence of a violent cosmic event — an intermediate mass black hole that is ripping apart a star. Jimmy Irwin, an assistant professor in the department of physics and astronomy, presented his data Monday at the national meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington…Astronomers have strong evidence that supermassive black holes lie at the center of nearly every galaxy, and strong evidence for stellarsized black holes that have a mass of about four to 25 of our suns. But “no one has really had good evidence for an intermediate- mass black hole,” with a mass equal to between 100 and 10,000 or so of our suns, Irwin said in a phone interview…
Science Daily – Jan. 5
Discovery.com – Jan. 5
Crimson Tide goes green, recycles 886 tons of refuse
Birmingham News – Dec. 26
The University of Alabama has nearly doubled the volume of waste it recycles on campus in a single year, and is on pace to triple it in two years. That increase would place UA among the collegiate recycling elite, and make it a contender for the Recyclemania championship, which is the BCS National Championship of collegiate recycling contests. Tony Johnson, UA’s director of logistics and support services, said the school collected 886 tons of recyclables — mostly office paper — this year. Last year it collected 475 tons, and its on pace to collect 1,400 tons next year, he said…
WRCBTV.com (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – Dec. 26
Lawsuit against Montgomery school board could clarify open-meetings law
Montgomery Advertiser – Jan. 5
… Matthew D. Bunker, Reese Phifer professor of journalism in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama, said there had been a history of problems with access under the old law because of the ambiguities in that law and that the new law was pushed and ultimately passed because of those problems. “The public business really ought to be done in the open in a democracy,” he said. “It is one of those imperatives.”…
Fewer death sentences in Alabama, nation
Birmingham News – Jan. 5
…Despite national trends, Alabama’s practices in seeking and imposing the death penalty are not likely to wane much — and abolition is unlikely, said Bryan Fair, a law professor at the University of Alabama. “My sense is there are people in Alabama who very much actively promote the death penalty and who see no significant problems with it,” he said. “And in the South, those who champion the death penalty have the ear of the Legislature. Until the Legislature creates a commission to examine what is happening in Alabama, and as long as this is a political issue, I don’t see any change likely.”…
Home construction stats up locally, fall nationally
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 5
…In Alabama, November’s new construction also declined compared with October’s activity, but in the Tuscaloosa area, there was a slight increase in new construction in the month-to-month comparison, according to figures compiled by the Alabama Center for Real Estate at the University of Alabama…Grayson Glaze, executive director of the Alabama Center for Real Estate, said the economy with its high unemployment continues to pose a challenge for the state’s housing market, but he said he sees a trend toward a gradual improvement in the state and Tuscaloosa area housing markets this year. ‘In fact, existing and new home sales, in addition to new housing starts, have an opportunity to shift toward positive percentage changes during 2010,’ he said. ‘Although month-to-month statistical volatility will not disappear, consumers should anticipate gradual improvements that will eventually yield to a broader based housing recovery in the future. A long-term lens is the appropriate perspective in today’s real estate environment,’ he said…
Photos: UA disassembles its Christmas tree
University of Alabama – Jan. 5
Billy Pearson removes the top layers of a large Christmas tree set up in front of the Rose Administration building on University Boulevard on Monday. The tree took about two days to put up and will take about the same to disassemble…