Statewide system to track causes of car wrecks in Alabama
Birmingham News – Oct. 12
With just a few keystrokes, Dave Brown can find out what led to 123,740 wrecks that snarled traffic, caused 19,137 injuries and ended 774 lives across Alabama in 2009. Brown, deputy director of the University of Alabama’s Center for Advanced Public Safety, compiles the information for eCrash, the state’s electronic crash reporting system that was launched in June 2009 by the Alabama Department of Public Safety. By the end of 2010, all police departments and sheriff’s offices in Alabama will likely be filing all wreck reports electronically through eCrash instead of using traditional paper reports. Brown said eCrash will be a valuable analytical tool to identify what causes the greatest number of crashes and traffic fatalities. Armed with that knowledge, he said, public officials can find the best way to use federal funding to save lives…
EDITORIAL: UA, state will benefit from Cuba Initiative
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 12
During the past eight years, the University of Alabama’s Cuba Initiative has brought UA and Cuban educators together to establish opportunities for graduate student research, teaching and formal course work for undergraduate students at Cuban academic institutions…The latest is Cuba Week at UA, which ends tomorrow. The event, will have attracted more than two dozen Cuban officials, scholars and academics to the Capstone by the time it concludes…The four-day program began Sunday with a keynote address by Ron Sparks, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries and Democratic nominee for governor. Sparks began his own outreach to Cuba at about the same time the Cuba Initiative got off the ground…Dr. Robert F. Olin says the interaction with Cuba was designed to be apolitical, even though he is aware that with Castro in failing health, change in Cuba is inevitable. “Academic scholarship and the sharing of ideas among educators is more important than ever as the Cuban people undergo a period of intense change and new opportunities,” he said. And when Cuba finally does open itself up to the rest of the world, Alabama and its flagship university will be well positioned to build even more extensive ties with the county.
Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive kicks off at UA
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 12
Cans of food and fistfuls of money filtered into the Ferguson Student Center at the University of Alabama as the 17th annual Beat Auburn Beat Hunger drive kicked off Monday to meet rising needs in a tough economy. The Beat Auburn Beat Hunger drive, a six-week initiative to raise awareness and donations, will continue until Nov. 22. “We want to spread the word around campus, and we want to kick this off right,” said Charlotte Brown, UA student and co-director of Beat Auburn Beat Hunger. The drive is a combined effort of UA’s Community Service Center and the West Alabama Food Bank. Jonah Murphy, West Alabama Food Bank’s agency relations coordinator, said the need is greater this year…Murphy added that the food bank collects the food that is donated to the university and divides it among the nine counties that the food bank serves: Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 11
WLTZ (Columbus, Ga.) – Oct. 11
Stevenson woman a finalist to create University of Alabama’s official tartan design
Huntsville Times – Oct. 9
Linnzi Rich, a Stevenson native who is a junior at the University of Alabama, is one of three finalists to design the school’s official tartan…The winning plaid design will be recorded in the International Tartan Index, maintained by the Scottish Tartan Authority, and the National Tartan Registry. The winner will be announced Oct. 15. Students enrolled in UA’s College of Human Environmental Services’ department of clothing, textiles and interior design entered the contest…I wanted it to represent the entire University, so I used 13 lines to represent the 13 colleges that comprise The University of Alabama today…The winning design will later be incorporated into actual merchandise available for purchase.
4 men to join Ala. Business Hall of Fame
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 12
Tuscaloosa businessman Philip Frederick “Fred” Hahn Sr. will be one of four business and civic leaders inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame on Thursday. The induction ceremony will be at the University of Alabama’s Bryant Conference Center…The other inductees are: D. Paul Jones Jr., 68, retired chairman and CEO of Compass Bancshares Inc., and a graduate of UA….He has served as a member of the President’s Council at UA’s campuses in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham and is a member of the Board of Visitors of UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration…Sidney McDonald, 72, a 1961 graduate of UA’s business school and former president of Brindlee Mountain Telephone Co…. David R. Richardson “D.R.” Dunlap, who is being inducted posthumously, helped build Alabama Dry Docks and Shipbuilding Co. in Mobile…The four inductees will have embossed plaques with their likenesses added to the walls of the Hall of Fame Room in Bidgood Hall at UA.
Outlook drops for Ala. real estate pros
Birmingham Business Journal – Oct. 12
Alabama real estate professionals aren’t anticipating much change in the economy as the last quarter of the year begins. The Alabama Real Estate Center at the University of Alabama reported its Fourth Quarter Outlook dropped slightly and remained at a level indicating things aren’t getting much better. The state outlook index fell from 44 for the third quarter to 43 for the fourth quarter. The index also scored at 43 nationally, indicating professionals expect condition to continue to deteriorate modestly. The largest change in the index for the quarter was in south Alabama – a score of 42, still in negative territory on the index but up from 36 the previous quarter – where the Gulf Coast begins to recover from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The north central region of the state, which includes Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and Anniston, dropped two points from the previous quarter to 43. The highest overall score for the quarter continued to be in the northern part of the state at 45.
Students Paint the Town Red As Part of Homecoming Week
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 11
Front windows so students can deck them out in red and white. A winner will be announced later this week.
Tuscaloosa News (photo feature) – Oct. 12
Ron Sparks Speaks at UA
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 11
…Sparks spent part of his Sunday at the University of Alabama to kick off Cuba Week…
Mandy Carter Speaks at UA
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 11
Mandy Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and founding member of the National Black Justice Coalition, will give a lecture tonight at the University of Alabama…