6 months post-Uber, data shows increased DUI rates in Birmingham
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – July 28
Six months after Uber launched, the Birmingham-metro area does not experience a drop DUI citations or traffic accidents, unlike other cities across the country. David Stephens started driving for Uber when the service became available in Dec. 2015 … Rhonda Stricklin, of the University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety, says it may be too early to draw conclusions from this data. “Don’t discount them because our numbers are up. Maybe [Uber] is starting to work and it hasn’t been long enough to see the effect, big enough effect and maybe not enough people know about it yet,” said Stricklin.
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – July 28
WDAM 7 (Moselle, Miss.) – July 28
Mouser Applauds Winners of TI Innovation Challenge Design Contest
Electronics Maker – July 29
Mouser Electronics, Inc. is pleased to congratulate the winners of the Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge North America Design Contest, including the team from Texas A&M University that took top honors. Mouser is the exclusive sponsor of the contest, which encourages engineering students to invent real-world solutions by submitting design projects that use TI technology … The brace-like device uses a TI ultra-low-power MSP432™ microcontroller to restore upper arm functionality to users suffering from a range of injuries or disorders that weaken muscles and muscular activity. Matthew Bries and Nagaraj Hegde of the University of Alabama took third place with SmartStep, a device that uses a TI Bluetooth® low energy CC2540 wireless microcontroller to monitor a person’s activity through the insoles of their shoes.
State grants to help preserve historical records
Anniston Star – July 28
Two Calhoun County organizations received grants through the Alabama State Historical Records Advisory Board, it was announced Thursday. Those grants, funded by the National Historic Publications and Records Commission, were awarded to the Anniston Museum of Natural History and to a partnership between Hobson City and the University of Alabama.
Rivalry moves from fields to wallets with University FanCards
Vestavia Voice – July 28
Gift cards can be a convenient, but oftentimes impersonal, gift. University FanCards aims to make those cold pieces of plastic warm the heart of college football fans. University FanCards, based in Vestavia Hills, offers gift cards and debit cards emblazoned with a sports fan’s favorite team logo. In July 2015, University FanCards worked with Crimson Tide Sports Marketing of the University of Alabama to secure its first official athletic logo. With that deal, University FanCards, or UFanCards for short, produces reloadable, prepaid debit MasterCards and specialized gift cards emblazoned with the university’s brand. The concept, co-owner Greg Boggs explained, aims to make a monetary gift more specialized, while also working closely with MasterCard to eliminate the possibility of overdrafting.
UA History Professor discusses advertisements for runaway slaves
WAMC-FM (Albany, NY) – July 28
More information on an enslaved people has come from an unlikely place. Joshua Rothmans, professor in the Department of History at The University of Alabama discusses how ads placed for the return of runaway slaves gives us a more complete picture of our history. “Among the millions of people enslaved in the American colonies and the United States, hundreds of thousands attempted to flee their bondage. In so doing, runaways laid down a steady drum beat of resistance, out of sync with the rhythms their enslavers tried to instill. They also imposed a direct threat to their enslavers economic bottom line, withdrawing both their labor and their assets from the command of white people. It’s not surprising then that slave holders keenly placed advertisements in American newspapers offering rewards for the return of their absconded property.