UA In the News — March 22

Drive Sober Alabama App developed by UA researchers
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – March 21
There’s an app to help people get home safe if they’ve had too much to drink. It’s called the Drive Sober Alabama App. It offers tips on alerting police if you see a drunk driver. Researchers from the Center for Advanced Public Safety at The University of Alabama developed this app.
WTVM-ABC 9 (Columbus, Ga.) – March 21
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 21
WAFF-NBC 48 (Huntsville) – March 21
 
UA’s ties with Cuba
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – March 21
President Barack Obama is the first U.S. President to set foot on Cuban soil in 88 years. These are exciting times across the United Staes and Cuba, and you may be surprised to know that Alabama and Havana have already forged deep ties. Steven Miller is the co-director of a little known treasure, the Center for Cuba Collaboration at The University of Alabama. Since 2002 they have been in a deep cross-cultural exchange. And his co-director and 13 students from Alabama are in Havana today.
 
Down Syndrome Awareness Day celebrated at Rise 
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – March 21
A national day of awareness is special to some students and educators here in West Alabama. National Down Syndrome Awareness Day at the Rise School at The University of Alabama campus allows students to recognize how everyone has different skills and abilities.
 
Book donations needed for Black Belt schools
Tuscaloosa News – March 21
Students in Black Belt schools desperately need quality books. To help, the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development is conducting a Books for the Alabama Black Belt campaign on the UA campus now through April 1. The book drive will benefit more than 42,000 students in the Black Belt, which includes Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Pickens, Perry, Sumter and Wilcox counties.
 
Shell Artist At Moundville (gallery)
Tuscaloosa News – March 18
Artist Dan Townsend carves a sea shell during a demonstration at the Moundville Archeological Park Museum, March 19, 2016. Townsend, who is affiliated with the Florida tribe of the Eastern Creeks, carves the shells after traditional patterns used throughout the Mississippian Period. The shells were a form of currency and status among tribes and were traded. Most of the shells used for the carvings from the Mississippian Period were taken from the Gulf of Mexico and were traded through the southeastern native American nations.