With College Football Playoff, ESPN Plans to Reinvent New Year’s Eve
New York Times – Dec. 31
In an ESPN promotional ad for the College Football Playoff, a gaggle of partyers led by Jimmy Kimmel and Robin Thicke sings, “Yes, New Year’s Eve will be so awesome watching college football through confetti,” to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne.” … ESPN wants to dominate New Year’s Eve, much as the N.F.L. takes over Thanksgiving Day and the N.B.A. deploys five games in its bid to wrest control of Christmas from Santa Claus. But playing games on national holidays is one thing; seeking dominion on New Year’s Eve is another … Andrew Billings, director of the sports communication program at the University of Alabama, said the Playoff games and New Year’s Eve shows were similar in that they were all communal events. “People often opt to consume megasports en masse, and New Year’s Eve may provide some natural synergy for doing so,” he said. “Perhaps the same party occurs, with the game unfolding in one room for those who wish to consume it.”
Fox Business – Dec. 31
Coordinator chosen for UA program
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 24
The University of Alabama’s Office of the Provost has selected Shannon Hubbard to be the new coordinator of Alabama REACH, a program that assists foster-care and other disadvantaged children in attending and succeeding at the university. Hubbard, formerly the senior social work supervisor at the Tuscaloosa County Department of Human Resources, has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from UA. Her work for Tuscaloosa County has involved working with foster-care children as well as supervising foster-care resource workers. Alabama REACH is a comprehensive support program designed to empower current and former foster youth, orphans, emancipated minors and wards of the state of Alabama to pursue higher education and graduate from college.
University of Alabama Honors college to expand program
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 27
The University of Alabama Honors College is expanding its education outreach program beginning in 2016. Education Outreach pairs Honors College mentors with underprivileged students in the Tuscaloosa County and Tuscaloosa City school systems to provide them with guidance and positive influence. Some 265 Honors College students participate in three mentoring initiatives: a literacy program for elementary students; a character development program for middle school students; and a science, technology, engineering, arts and math program for pre-kindergarten children. By the start of the spring 2016 semester, the number of student volunteers is expected to increase to more than 400 as the program adds more schools to its scope and doubles the number of shifts during which mentors work with children. The program is estimated to reach some 1,000 children a week next year.
Realizing the Dream Concert honors legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 2
Tickets for the the 2016 Realizing the Dream Concert at the University of Alabama featuring South African musician Jonathan Butler will go on sale Wednesday. The concert, part of the annual series of events celebrating the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 17, at the Moody Music Building Concert Hall on the UA campus. Butler, an award-winning singer and songwriter who grew up in apartheid South Africa, is known for his pop, urban, contemporary jazz, adult contemporary and gospel repertoire. The series is jointly sponsored by the Tuscaloosa Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Shelton State Community College, Stillman College and UA. This year’s theme is “Realizing the Dream Through the Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person.” Ahead of the concert, Birmingham attorney G. Douglas Jones will give the Legacy Banquet lecture at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 15, at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Tuscaloosa.
UA website relaunches with new design
Crimson White – Dec. 23
The University of Alabama launched its newly redesigned website on Dec. 21. The new design is more compatible on all screen sizes and is highly visual and more focused on user navigation. “The new UA.edu utilizes responsive web design, which optimizes the site to function well on all screen sizes for mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop devices,” said Andy Rainey, director of Web Communications for UA. “It is a highly visual site that closely integrates video and social media. The new UA.edu is also a very user-focused site in terms of its content and navigation, and it really emphasizes helping users effectively search and find any resources they seek.” Due to the evolution of web design technology in the last few years and an increasing trend in mobile browsing, the University’s Office of Web Communications saw this as an opportunity to ensure a positive experience for visitors to the site who are using smartphones and tablets. While the home page always focused on user experience and guiding the audience to the information they were seeking, the Office of Web Communications saw opportunities to enhance the architecture of the site.
Biologists think they’ve found a new dwarf crayfish species in the Black Warrior River
Al.com – Dec. 23
Alabama already boasts more species of crayfish than any other state, but the number of distinct species seems likely to go up in 2016. Biologists working within the Black Warrior River floodplain in Hale County say they’ve found a new species of dwarf crayfish that is previously unknown to science, and plan to publish their findings and name the species in the spring of 2016. University of Alabama PhD candidate Michael Kendrick led the surveys along with Rebecca Bearden from the Geological Survey of Alabama, with assistance from conservation group Black Warrior Riverkeeper. Kendrick said he first found the tiny mudbug in 2014 and suspected it may be a new species. With the help of Nelson Brooke of Black Warrior Riverkeeper, he was able to locate more potential areas that would be suitable habitats for the new critter and turned up more specimens.
Maine bankers give cold shoulder to medical marijuana industry
Press Herald (Portland, Maine) – Jan. 3
Once a month, Dawson Julia walks into Wal-Mart to pay his $3,000 electric bill in cash. His medical marijuana caregiver business occupies a prominent location in a 14,000-square-foot warehouse in Unity, and he gives public testimony to the Legislature on marijuana issues. But when it comes to managing the finances of his business, Julia leans heavily on cash transactions and tries to use his bank account as little as possible … “If you look at the guidance, all it says is that if you follow this guidance, they might decide prosecution or regulatory action isn’t warranted. It might be OK or it might not,” said Julie Anderson Hill, a University of Alabama School of Law professor. “Banks can hope that federal prosecutors leave them alone and that regulators that have an interest will leave them alone or overlook it. The bottom line is, it’s still money laundering to accept that money and will be as long as federal law says it is illegal.”
Daily Home columnist Hardy Jackson will be honored by University of Alabama
Anniston Star – Dec. 25
The University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences, along with the Journalism Department, have named award-winning author Dr. Harvey Jackson III winner of the 2016 Clarence Cason Award in Nonfiction Writing. Jackson, a 1966 alumnus of UA, is the author, co-author or co-editor of 15 books on Southern history, including “The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera: An Insiders History of the Florida-Alabama Coast,” and “Inside Alabama: A Personal History of My State.” He served on the editorial board of The Anniston Star, was the past president of the Alabama Association of Historians and the Alabama Historical Association, and retired from teaching at Jacksonville State University in 2013. He lives in Seagrove Beach, Florida.
Atmore News – Dec. 30
Award-winning gospel artist Byron Cage will headlne Gospel Fest
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 1
Grammy-nominated gospel artist Byron Cage will be headlining Tuscaloosa’s third annual Gospel Fest concert on Jan. 10 at Moody Music Building Concert Hall on the University of Alabama’s campus. Cage, a six-time Stellar Gospel Music Award winner, is one of several artists will be performing at Gospel Fest. Other artists are award-winning gospel singer Shirley Murdock, Thomas Davis Jr., Christa Yow, Valerie T. Smith, Red Washed and the winner of the talent showcase that takes place Jan. 9. Isis Jones from radio station Kiss 98.7 is hosting the event. The concert is free and open to the public. The show starts at 5 p.m. Doors open at 4 p.m.
Daily Journal (Franklin, Ind.) – Jan. 3
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 3
Alabama CIO Brunson White Resigns
Government Technology – Dec. 29
Alabama’s CIO and secretary of technology, Brunson White, will resign at the end of the year, explaining that it is time for him to put his family ahead of the 175-mile daily commute needed to lead IT in the state. His replacement, Joanne Hale, a professor of management information systems at the University of Alabama, will be sworn in on Jan. 4 as the new leader of the state’s technology policy and infrastructure. White called Hale an “eminently qualified” replacement, and also noted that his three year, nine month run with the state was a success — especially when compared with his first run at serving Alabama state government.
State Scoop – Dec. 29
5×5 Five Minutes, Five Questions Zachary Stolz
Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette – Jan. 1
No skiing or sleeping or binging Netflix for these college kids. Instead, the founders of the Crude Mechanicals, a company devoted to presenting Shakespeare’s classics, spent their Christmas vacation putting up a play. Neither did they take the easy way out: They chose “Macbeth” — because as Zach Stolz says, “who doesn’t want a bit of a red Christmas?” So it’s no surprise when he promises: “The Crude Mechanicals haven’t forgotten their roots either, and have taken care to find the humor in even this tragedy.” Stolz, a graduate of Fayetteville High School and the University of Arkansas, alumnus of Arts Live Theatre and graduate student at the University of Alabama, took a moment to answer these five questions for What’s Up!
UA opens 3 storm shelters ahead of weather threat
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Dec. 28
The University of Alabama has opened up three on-campus storm shelters in preparation for severe weather. The North Campus Storm Shelter, the East Campus Storm Shelter and the Magnolia Parking Deck Best Available Area of Refuge will be open to all students, faculty and staff until the threat of severe weather is over. The National Weather Service issued a Tornado Watch for Tuscaloosa County until noon.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Dec. 28
Crimson Tide Visit To Children’s Medical Center
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 28
Coach Nick Saban wears headphones shaped like bunnies while doing a radio show for children during a visit to Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Monday, December 28, 2015. At right, Derrick Henry wears headphones with teddy bears on them.
The making of a murderer: Expert reveals the psychology behind why people commit violent crimes and mass shootings
Daily Mail (U.K.) – Jan. 4
Men are the perpetrators in a staggeringly high number of homicides, especially mass shootings – up to as many as 97 per cent. But what causes these typically young, male killers to want to commit such violent crimes? A psychologist from Illinois suggests the reason lies in how humans have evolved, and blames it on the effect guns can have a person’s level of testosterone … America has the highest rate of mass shootings in the world because of the ‘dark side of exceptionalism’, a recent study claimed. University of Alabama criminologist Adam Lankford discovered the US has experienced five times the number of mass shootings in the last 50 years than any other country – and he said the ‘cultural propensity for violence’ is to blame.
WEEKEND REWIND — Official: Composite Materials Technology Center gaining momentum with grants eyed, companies taking interest
Peninsula Daily News (Wash.) – Dec. 25
“Little they are,” Yoda might say. But like him, they’re lightweight and strong. Call them doodads or doohickeys if you will, but they’re literally the stuff of which Clallam County’s newest industry may build its future. They’re made from recycled carbon-fiber composite scraps that were cast off by the aerospace industry. The ribbon-like thingamajig is laminated on both sides with genuine maple veneer. A second item, a miniature I-beam, has a design hinting at structural applications. Both were designed and manufactured by students in the Peninsula College Advanced Materials-Composites program. The college hopes to relocate its labs and classrooms to the $5.3 million Composite Materials Technology Center by the fall term. Other schools that include Washington State University, the University of Washington, and the University of Alabama are research partners in the CRTC, which its director hopes to open in July at 2020 W. 19th St. at Fairchild International Airport.
New family of hydrophobic ionic liquid rocket propellants could replace hydrazine-based fuels
Green Car Congress – Dec. 28
Researchers in China have developed a family of hydrophobic borohydride-rich ionic liquids (ILs) which exhibit ultra-short ignition delay times as low as 1.7 milliseconds and the lowest viscosity (10 mPa·s) of hypergolic ionic liquids. The ILs thus show great potential as faster-igniting rocket fuels to replace toxic hydrazine derivatives in liquid bi-propellant systems. Hypergolic propellants ignite spontaneously when they comes into contact with each other. A paper on their work is published in the RSC journal Chemical Communications. Ionic liquids (salts with melting points below 100 °C) have been of interest for a number of years as possible replacements for hydrazine-based rocket fuels based on their attributes such as low volatility. In a discussion of an experimental data-driven design strategy for hypergolic ionic fuels, McCrary et al. from the University of Alabama noted in a 2014 paper that: Currently, the basic design strategy to make hypergolic ILs is to incorporate reactivity in the cation and/or anion through the incorporation of chemical bonds known to induce a hypergolic reaction with common oxidizers …
Letters: ‘Spotlight’ is an important film
Pensacola News Journal (Fla.) – Dec. 28
Tree House Cinema in Gulf Breeze presented the movie, “Spotlight,” beginning Friday, Dec. 18. This is the only showing in Pensacola. Why have theaters here ignored this well-done and important film released several months ago? … Listening to Bernie Sanders’ dream world of free education for all in the recent Democratic debates made me think about the many education options students have today. For example, the case of EDMC, a major for-profit university accused of fraudulent student loan practices that recently settled in court for close to $100 million, forgiving student debt for over 80,000 students; or the recent Corinthian Colleges debacle in which numerous colleges have been closed. These examples demonstrate the troubled higher education system is far more complex than simply giving out free degrees at the taxpayers’ expense … I prefer to spread competition across the board, increase standards and encourage entrepreneur participation in higher education programs, such as the University of Alabama’s Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs Center. (Charles Thies of is a candidate for Congress in District 1.)
Cheerleaders set record for world’s largest game of cornhole
WFTV 9 (Orlando, Fla.) – Dec. 30
Cheerleaders from The University of Alabama and Michigan State University helped set the record for the largest cornhole game ever played with the help of a Goodyear blimp. The Cotton Bowl sponsor built a massive platform and encouraged excited cheerleaders to hurl giant bean bags onto the record-setting cornhole board from 200 feet above. The 64 foot by 32 foot board was located in Pompano Beach, Florida at the blimp headquarters. School mascots got in on the fun at the end of the game … In the final seconds of the video above, the Alabama mascot, Big Al, is shown accidentally throwing the overweight beanbag at the Michigan cheerleaders, hitting them in the head and further fueling the rivalry between the two mascots and schools.
Orlando Echo (Fla.) – Dec. 30