Students’ work influences new IRS rules
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 6
After nearly three weeks of undercover work last January, students from the University of Alabama hoped their efforts would result in legislation regulating commercial tax preparers in the state. That legislation died in the House of Representatives last spring, but new federal rules, announced by the IRS on Monday, will make the group’s work come to fruition on a national stage… “One of our staff members delivered a report on our undercover work to the commissioner of the IRS in October, and we were incredibly excited at the news,” said Stephen Foster Black, director of the university’s Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility. “In one swoop, the IRS will be protecting literally millions of families across the country from predatory practices of many negligent and sometimes fraudulent commercial tax preparers who purposely target low-income families…
Love in letters lives long past WWI
Birmingham News – Jan. 2 (Print version only)
…nearly a century later those letters are at the University of Alabama, where a history professor and student will study them and make digital copies available to the public…Now at UA (UA history professor Andrew) Huebner and honors student Daniel Bush are archiving the letters, building a searchable database of their contents…
On the road: 215th American Astronomical Society meeting update
Astronomy Magazine – Jan. 6
…Jimmy Irwin of the University of Alabama talked about his team’s discovery of an intermediate black hole ripping a star apart. The black hole lies in a globular cluster belonging to the galaxy NGC 1399. Observations show the globular emits lots of X-rays — a telltale sign in these objects of a black hole accreting matter. Optical spectra show oxygen and nitrogen emission but no hydrogen, which implies the black hole is swallowing material from a white dwarf star. The material’s velocity implies the black hole has at least 1,000 times the Sun’s mass…
Sky and Telescope Magazine – Jan. 6
Million Dollar band members and cheerleaders head to California for BCS National Championship game
CBS42 (Birmingham) – Jan. 5
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 5
…UA cheerleaders and about 300 members of the Million Dollar band left out of Tuscaloosa Regional Airport around lunchtime today…
Crimson-White writers get ready for BCS national championship game
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Jan. 5
…this group of students from the University of Alabama isn’t in California for the view. They’re here on assignment for the school paper…
Dr. Witt and Board of Trustee members to eat dinner cooked by a UA alum in Southern California
WSFA (Montgomery) – Jan. 5
…Chef Tripp Maulding, graduated from Alabama…tomorrow night he is cooking for the president of the University of Alabama and the Board of Trustees…