President Obama honors Alabama
Associated Press – April 19
President Barack Obama honored the University of Alabama football team for winning the BCS Championship to culminate what he called a “deeply meaningful season for the Tide.” Obama’s message to the Crimson Tide went beyond the team’s second national title in three seasons and a 21-0 shutout of LSU in the BCS Championship Game in January. He praised the Tide coaches and players for their efforts in the Alabama community, noting their role in helping rebuild Tuscaloosa, Ala., after devastating tornadoes touched down in April 2011.
USA Today – April 20
Tuscaloosa News – April 20
Birmingham News – April 20
CNN – April 19
Fox News – April 19
MSNBC – April 19
CSPAN – April 19
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – April 19
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – April 19
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – April 19
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 19
KING (Seattle) – April 19
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KMSP (Minneapolis) – April 19
WHNS (Greenville, S.C.) – April 19
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Bloomberg Radio – April 19
KABC Radio (Los Angeles) – April 19
WSFA (Montgomery) – April 19
WAPT (Jackson, Miss.) – April 19
WVLA (Baton Rouge, La.) – April 19
KMTV (Omaha, Neb.) – April 19
Holt students discuss community’s future with ‘Winds of Change’ initiative
AL.com – April 19
For students in Holt, a vision for recovery from the April 27 tornado goes beyond rebuilding. With “Winds of Change,” a series of discussions about tornado recovery held this week at Holt High School, high school and middle school students have been sharing their ideas on the community’s future a little under a year after the storm devastated the area. Jeffrey Parker, associate professor of psychology at the University of Alabama, and his students have been working with Holt students on pinpointing issues important to them.
Tuscaloosa News – April 20
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – April 19
Researchers at UA find cosmic ray theory flaw
Tuscaloosa News – April 20
A paper co-authored by a team including two University of Alabama researchers has dealt a major blow to a popular theory on the scientific mystery behind the origin of cosmic rays. The paper, published in Thursday’s edition of the science journal Nature, is based on research done at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica…. Dawn Williams, assistant professor at UA in physics and astronomy, and Patrick Toale, UA assistant professor in physics, were part of the research team that co-authored the paper.
‘Chicago’ razzles and dazzles UA stage
Tuscaloosa News – April 20
Razzle-dazzle, merry widows and all that jazz tap onto the Marian Gallaway stage as the University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance presents Kander and Ebb’s Tony- and Oscar-winning musical “Chicago.” Set in the roaring ‘20s, “Chicago” ponders murder, betrayal, greed, corruption, media manipulation and more, with the stories of singing-and-dancing killers Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, their slick lawyer Billy Flynn, prison matron Mama Morton and more, through scenes of hot jazz set to various styles of dance. Music is by John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Ebb and original choreographer Bob Fosse. Some of the familiar numbers in “Chicago” include “All That Jazz,” “Mr. Cellophane,” “Razzle Dazzle” and “Cell Block Tango.”
Orchestra premieres requiem in memory of April 27, 2011, tornado
Tuscaloosa News – April 20
Symphony musicians don’t wield chain saws. OK, maybe some can, but for the most part, what they do with their hands and breath is of a different nature. “I sometimes wish I could fix a roof, but I can’t,” said Liz McGuire, executive director of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. In the aftermath of the April 27 tornado, the musicians of the community gave back as others did, of time and money and other donations. . . . The TSO board spoke with the late Fred Goossen, long-time University of Alabama professor, composer and Tuscaloosa News columnist, about creating a commemorative work last May. . . . Landers completed the work in November, then got choral parts and piano score to John Ratledge, who is conducting the chorus, in January. He sent the full score to TSO music director Adam Flatt in February. (UA students and faculty are singing in this concert.)
About 300 to gather for first Blueprint Birmingham Summit
Birmingham News – April 20
The Birmingham Business Alliance will announce today that the seven-county metro region gained 3,532 jobs and $497.6 million in investment from new and expanding industries since the September 2010 launch of Blueprint Birmingham. . . . The most anticipated portion of today’s presentation will be the “2012 Regional Economic Growth Report” that will introduce regional metrics that gauge how the metro area measures up against its own goals and against 11 other benchmarked cities. Sam Addy, director of the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, compiled the report. It measures the Birmingham area against Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery in the state, as well as Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Oklahoma City and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., from outside the state.