There Is Such A Thing As Rural Development
Daily Yonder – April 9
The Rural Medical Scholars program at the University of Alabama is a great example of staying the course. Started in 1996 to encourage students from rural areas to get a medical degree and practice in a rural location, it took more than a decade for the program to return dividends.
Protect your pretties from a heavy freeze
Detroit News – April 9
When it comes to the weather, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. My snowdrops are still in bloom, and my buddleia bushes are leafing out. The last week in March, I took a morning garden walk wearing my nightgown and a light jacket. Talk about craziness. When the weather breaks early, gardeners get a little loopy and forget that, depending on where they live, it could be several weeks before their frost-free date. Folks are going to garden centers looking for tomato plants. After a long snowy winter, I’m loving this gift of sun and warmth, but I fear a heavy freeze that zaps tender leaves, which emerged several weeks early, so I’m formulating a protection plan. The FreezePruf product I wrote about several weeks ago will be helpful, but timing is key. The lead inventor, David Franko, a biology professor at the University of Alabama, e-mailed me with more information regarding its use.
UA car tags raise $3 million for scholarships
Crimson White – April 9
When someone decides to show their pride in the University by purchasing a license plate, they are contributing to the school’s scholarship fund. Over the 2009 fiscal year, the University’s car tag program raised $3.1 million in scholarships for students. “I think this is a wonderful program that goes to scholarships that help the students here at the University,” said Pat Whetstone, director of alumni affairs. “Not a penny goes toward office supplies or other things. All of the funds are available to help more students.”
New Principle in Material Science Discovered
FARS News Agency – April 9
Engineers discovered a new mechanism that governs the peak strength of nanostructured metals. Materials scientists have known that a metal’s strength (or weakness) is governed by dislocation interactions, a messy exchange of intersecting fault lines that move or ripple within metallic crystals. But what happens when metals are engineered at the nanoscale? Is there a way to make metals stronger and more ductile by manipulating their nanostructures? Brown University scientists may have figured out a way. In a paper published in Nature, Huajian Gao and researchers from the University of Alabama (Dr. Yujie Wei, assistant professor, mechanical engineering) and China report a new mechanism that governs the peak strength of nanostructured metals.
Clem Gryska, the Bryant Museum’s ‘legend in residence,’ to be honored at reception
Birmingham News – April 9
Clem Gryska played at Alabama for coaches Frank Thomas and Red Drew from 1945-48, then spent 32 years at his alma mater as a coach, recruiter and administrator. He served under four head coaches, including many years as coach Paul Bryant’s recruiting coordinator. Gryska has spent the past 18 years as an administrator and unofficial “legend in residence” at the Paul W. Bryant Museum. On April 17, he will retire, just short of 50 consecutive years of service to Alabama. A reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 16 in his honor at the museum.
Housing recovery elusive for area
Decatur Daily – April 9
A study released by The University of Alabama suggests the number of home sales in Morgan County and Athens are about the same as a year ago, but prices are falling. Also clear from the report: Alabama’s housing market remains anemic compared to pre-recession days. The Alabama Center for Real Estate released February’s home-sale figures Wednesday. Morgan County saw a significant upswing in the number of home sales in February compared to January, but sales were about flat compared to February 2009.
A new look at ‘the face’: Play is set at the scene of the famous Alabama ghost story, with proceeds going to help save the historic Pickens County Courthouse
Tuscaloosa News – April 9
Henry Wells, accused — and very likely guilty of — burning down the Pickens County Courthouse in 1876, saved the structure built to replace it more than a century after his death. Residents who didn’t wish to wash Wells’ face from the garret stopped a threatened demolition in 2001. Some of those citizens very likely are descended from the folks who threatened Wells, forcing his incarceration in the attic of the courthouse, leading to the incident some say emblazoned his frightened face in that upper window forever. Starting Thursday, Wells and his story live again, in Barry Bradford’s play “The Face in the Courthouse Window,” whose world premiere will be, fittingly, inside the courthouse. The work was commissioned and is being produced by First National Bank of Central Alabama, which hopes to use proceeds to restore the historic building, and thus keep Wells’ face intact. . . . University of Alabama graduate Sarah Norris directs a cast including local actors Willie Williams as Henry Wells and George Thagard as Sheriff Gates, although the show features a wide range of characters from throughout the community, some near-heroic, some comic, all based on real people of the time.
Black Warrior Model Railroad Society is a “cultural” event
Northport Gazette – April 8
Max Smith is one of many who still play with toy trains. He works the graveyard shift, but it’s not for the railroad. He works in the computer department at DCH Hospital. But, model trains are a hobby of his as well as 13 other members of the Black Warrior Model Railroad Society that is headquartered at the historic Northport Train Depot at 725 25th Avenue. . . . Pete and Kerry Luke brought their 2-_ year-old daughter, Maya, to the train depot this past Saturday. Maya’s eyes told the story of the fascination kids also have with toy trains. Her eyes were glued to a model train that was running on the tracks, being operated by Trevor Bentley, a student at the University of Alabama.
Southern hospitality is in high gear for Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Birmingham News — April 9, 2010
Organizers of the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama plan to rev up the Southern hospitality to syrupy sweet levels this weekend to make sure Birmingham sticks in the minds of drivers and race officials. . . . Students and professors from the University of Alabama’s sports management school have volunteered to survey visitors to learn what they liked, or didn’t like, about the event. Zoom is taking similar feedback through a Web site. “We want to learn from this year and make it even more hospitable for next year,” Hallman said.
Southern GOP faithful meet in Big Easy
UPI – April 9
Republican Party activists and donors from the South met in New Orleans Thursday for four days of strategy sessions on reclaiming Congress. . . . Political scientists suggested speakers use the event to test-drive the viability of party messages, particularly calls for repealing the healthcare law. “It will be a good sounding board to test how strongly the movement to repeal the healthcare law really is,” William Stewart, professor emeritus at the University of Alabama, told The Times-Picayune.
Students walk barefoot for a cause
Crimson White – April 9, 2010
More than a quarter of a million people went barefoot on Thursday, according to an e-mail sent out by TOMS Shoes. A little over 40 UA students walked barefoot on the Quad to show their support for the TOMS nationwide One Day Without Shoes event.