Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi Arouses Hope—and Distrust
National Geographic – June 23
When Mississippi decided to build a civil rights museum in 2011, it was hailed as a watershed event for a state that was one of the most virulently racist and violent during the turbulent civil rights era. Former Governor William Winter, a Democrat whose legacy is his work to heal racial divisiveness, says the museum, scheduled to open in 2017, will make an important statement to the nation. … The state’s financial commitment gives the project stability at a time when many museums are struggling to stay afloat. But it also means that some of the same institutions that suppressed Mississippi’s black citizens, often violently, are now in charge of telling their story. Some wonder why an oppressor should be trusted to offer a complete account of what Winter calls Mississippi’s “sordid past.” … As the movement gained momentum, Mississippi gained a reputation as the most oppressive of many oppressive states, says David Beito, a history professor at the University of Alabama. According to the Tuskegee Institute archives, 581 people were lynched in Mississippi between 1882 and 1968, the highest number in any state.
Cyber attacks for ransom becoming more common
Gadsden Times – June 23
The Collinsville Police Department became the victim of cyber crime last week, and it is not the first time computer-savvy villains have targeted the cops. Dr. Diana Dolliver, an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Alabama, said a number of police departments have been targeted by similar attacks and in some cases have paid the ransom to regain access to their files. Dolliver, formerly with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, has experience with attacks on small police departments that “brought them to their knees.” In Collinsville, Chief Gary Bowen said its case has been turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s cyber unit. The attack, apparently launched when someone opened an attachment on an email, left the department unable to access its mug shot files, its vehicle maintenance records and time sheet features, Bowen said. “Our back-ups failed,” Bowen said, so the department is working with its software vendor to straighten out those issues. “We may be looking at starting from scratch,” he said, in reestablishing those programs … Dolliver said in many cases, the stakes could be much higher. This kind of malware attack can lock investigators out of their files, could compromise the chain of command on evidence for cases and put sensitive information into the hands of criminals, she said. The attacks occur, as the one in Collinsville did, via an attachment to an email that appears to be legitimate. “Coming to a police department,” Dolliver said, “it could appear to be, say, from the Birmingham Police Department, saying something like, ‘We’d like you to update your information.’”
SFGate.com – June 24
Seattle Press Intelligencer – June 24
NBC 3 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – June 24
The Republic (Columbus, Ind.) – June 24
Joint program with UA brings interns to WACF
Daily Mountain Eagle – June 24
Six University of Alabama students will spend their summer in Walker County working as interns with the Walker Area Communty Foundation. The internships are part of a joint program of the Walker Area Community Foundation and the University of Alabama’s New College. The interns were introduced during a visit Monday with members of the Kiwanis Club of Jasper. The student interns are Lizzie Ernstberger of Birmingham; Ryan Cummins of Chicago; Mary Caroline May of Tuscaloosa; Summer Upchurch of Montgomery; Ainsley Steweart of Falls Church, Virginia; Katy Turner of Midland, Texas; and Amy Ackerman of Florida. Ernstberger, who participated in the program last summer, is back this year and will serve as a coordinator for the interns. “I’m here to supervise their role and their transition to service in Walker County,” Ernstberger, a recent UA graduate, told Kiwanis members.
Rural Medical Scholars from Jackson County entering medical school
Daily Sentinel – June 24
University of Alabama Rural Medical Scholars Kathryn Cox, of Scottsboro, and Nicholas Cobb, of Bridgeport, completed master’s degrees in rural community health in May and will enter the University of Alabama School of Medicine at the end of July. The Rural Medical Scholars Program (RMSP) is part of UA’s Rural Health Leaders Pipeline, which serves Alabama by producing physicians and other healthcare professionals who can become leaders in developing healthy rural communities. The Pipeline is based at the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences, a regional campus of the University of Alabama School of Medicine. The RMSP provides specialized training and field experiences in addition to a peer network between RMSP students during medical school, with practicing rural doctors who serve as preceptors and mentors and with RMSP graduates who have already entered practice.