Student rejects all 8 Ivy League Schools to attend UA
Town Hall – May 17
Ronald Nelson from Memphis, Tennessee, is a senior at Houston High School. He was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools–that’s Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, and UPenn–along with Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and Vanderbilt, among a few other schools. While any of these schools are fantastic options, Nelson made headlines for another reason: he turned them all down. Nelson will be attending the University of Alabama this fall, as a member of the school’s honors program. While it may seem shocking that a student would turn down a prestigious university for a state school, Nelson actually showed impressive maturity and financial foresight with his college choice. Unlike every other school he was accepted to, Alabama offered him a full merit scholarship and waived his out-of-state fees. None of the Ivies offer merit scholarships. As Nelson plans on attending medical school, he figured that he’d rather get a head start on saving money for that rather than take on student loans for undergrad.
ABC News (National) – World News Tonight – May 17
NBC News (National) – The Today Show – May 17
MSNBC (National) – Weekends with Alex Witt – May 17
MSNBC (National) – Morning Joe – May 18
ABC News – May 18
Today.com – May 17
WSET-ABC (Roanoke, Va.) – May 17
WTEN-ABC (Albany, NY) – May 17
WRIC-ABC (Richmond, Va.) – May 17
WMC-NBC (Memphis, Tenn.) – May 17
WGCL-CBS (Atlanta, Ga.) – May 17
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – May 15
A 190-mile ride for Bike to Work Day? It’s part of preparing for a cross-country race
Al.com – May 15
As Hoover’s Brian Toone trains for a grueling cross-country cycling race in June, he jumped at the opportunity today for a ride with some friends from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa for National Bike to Work Day. University of Alabama photographer Zachary Riggins suggested the idea to Toone, who typically rides to his job as a professor at Samford University. But Bike to Work Week, which is happening May 11-15 this year, usually happens after the semester ends for him. “My friend Zach had emailed me and wanted to know if I had a route to recommend for him to get to Tuscaloosa since he works there. He invited me to come along,” Toone said. “Zach always wanted to try it and to raise awareness of the day and the possibility of commuting by bike to work.” Toone met Riggins and another friend, Jason Bierley, in the Birmingham area at 3 a.m. and together they rode a route that led to Helena, West Blocton and Coaling before reaching Tuscaloosa about 73 miles later at about 8 a.m.
WABC-ABC (New York, NY) – May 16
WKPT-ABC (Tri-Cities, Tenn.) – May 15
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – May 15
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – May 15
WDAM 7 (Moselle, Miss.) – May 15
Finalists named for 2015 Harper Lee Prize
Al.com – May 15
Three books have been named as finalists for the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The trio was announced Friday by the University of Alabama School of Law and the American Bar Association’s magazine ABA Journal. The prize annually recognizes a work of fiction focused on lawyers’ role in society. It was created five years ago to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The finalists are: “Terminal City” by Linda Fairstein, “My Sister’s Grave” by Robert Dugoni, and “The Secret of Magic” by Deborah Johnson. The winner will receive their award at a ceremony on Sept. 3 in conjunction with the Library of Congress National Book Festival. Four judges and a public vote through the ABA Journal website will determine the winner.
Tuscaloosa News – May 16
Moulton Advertiser – May 16
WLTZ-NBC (Columbus, Ga.) – May 15
The Republic (Columbus, Ind.) – May 15
University of Alabama dance duo will perform “Twenty-twenty” in Italy
Tuscaloosa News – May 17
University of Alabama dancers are heading to Italy this month to perform a work that debuted earlier this year at UA. Rita Snyder, an UA associate professor of dance, choreographed a contemporary pas a deux, “Twenty-twenty,” which will be performed by two UA senior dance majors at the Teatro Traiano in Civitavecchia, Italy, on May 25. The dance is roughly 7 1⁄2 minutes. It tells the story of a man and woman in an oppressive futuristic society. “Twenty-twenty” details a woman’s decision to trust her companion and escape with him. “Twenty-twenty” premiered during the University of Alabama’s spring Alabama Repertory Dance in February 2015. Shaun Leary performed during the premier. He will be joined by Emily Higginbotham for the performance with the Balleto de Civitavecchia.
CBER Researchers Project a Challenge for Alabama Economy: Aging Population
Al.com – May 15
In light of May being Older Americans Month, the U.S. Census Bureau shared their projections that the number of people 65 and older in the country is expected to increase from 44.7 million in 2013 to 98.3 million in 2060. The Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) staff projected a rising trend in the older population in Alabama which mirrors that of the U.S. The number of state residents 65 years and older is expected to increase from 721,166 in 2013 to 1.2 million in 2040. Using cohort-component methodology and taking into account economic trends, CBER researchers projected Alabama population by age groups. With aging baby boomers and declining birth rates and net migration, the share of older population is projected to increase from 13.8 percent in 2010 to 21.5 percent in 2040 for people 65 years old and over. The share of Alabamians 85 and older is expected to increase from 1.6 to 3.0 percent during the same period.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – May 17
OPINION: Judging McCrory
Times-News (Burlington, N.C.) – May 14
Pat McCrory will likely run for re-election next year as governor of North Carolina against longtime Attorney General Roy Cooper. Both men are capable candidates who will run skillful, well-funded campaigns. Given the larger political context, I see the contest as unpredictable at the moment. But there are a couple of things we can say with confidence about it. The first is that while North Carolinians care about many issues, they are most likely to judge McCrory’s performance as governor as it relates to the performance of the state’s economy. … That’s what a study published in Political Research Quarterly found. Examining gubernatorial elections in 43 states, Kevin Leyden of West Virginia University and Stephen Borrelli of the University of Alabama found that the relationship between state unemployment rates and the vote totals of incumbents or their would-be partisan successors was stronger when the same party also controlled the state legislature. “Voters are more able and/or willing to reward or punish a political party when that party’s responsibility for government performance is complete,” the authors wrote.
Reflector (Greenville, N.C.) – May 15
Rocky Mount Telegram (N.C.) – May 17
60 years later, murder still bedevils Mississippi Delta town
Washington Times – May 17
The body of Rev. George W. Lee rests here in a simple churchyard, surrounded by dandelions and clover. Just blocks from this spot, down Church Street, he was ambushed in 1955 in what remains one of the civil rights movement’s most bedeviling and momentous murders. … At a mass rally here weeks after the murder, NAACP national executive secretary Roy Wilkins hailed the fallen 51-year-old minister for his courage in registering black voters despite threats and economic pressures brought by white resistance leaders … “You almost get the idea that nothing was happening in Mississippi until the murder of Emmett Till. But there was a lot going on,” said David Beito, a University of Alabama history professor who has studied Lee’s May 7, 1955, murder and considers it one of the movement’s watershed moments.
Inside the numbers: 5 startling observations about poverty in Alabama
Al.com – May 16
The big picture of Alabama Possible’s annual poverty snapshot is old news to most Alabamians: The state is the nation’s sixth-poorest, one spot worse than the previous year. Dig deep into the data, though, and some startling facts emerge. Here are five takeaways from the statistics, which represent the most recent available data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other agencies: In some places, people are statistically more likely to be poor than people with lower levels of education in wealthier counties. In virtually every county, the poverty rate decreases as educational attainment rises. But counties with dynamic economies do a better job of providing higher-paying jobs at all education levels. … Ahmad Ijaz, an economist at the University of Alabama, said not all high-paying jobs require college degrees. But the counties with the best economies tend to produce a disproportionate share of those jobs, just as they have a larger share of the jobs that do require college degrees, he said. “Shelby County is a great example of that,” he said. “It’s (the poverty rate) pretty low for everybody.”
Demopolis student receives Shelton State honor
West Alabama Watchman – May 15
Walker Davis, of Demopolis, and Sam Hart were recently selected as Shelton State Community College’s All-Alabama Academic Team representatives. Both students earned a 4.0 grade point average, served as Phi Theta Kappa officers, and were members of Shelton State’s Student Leadership Council. Each student was acknowledged during the All-Alabama Academic Team Recognition Ceremony and received a $1,000 stipend. Also during the Recognition Ceremony, Davis was named by Dr. Mark Heinrich, Chancellor of the Alabama Community College System, as a Coca-Cola Silver Scholar and was awarded an additional stipend of $1,200. Davis and Hart are also recipients of $1,500 NASA Space Grants. These grants enable Shelton State Community College students to work with students from the University of Alabama on research projects.