Veteran Displays Remarkable Courage
Forbes – Dec. 14
America’s military veterans are amazing people. Not only do they deliberately put themselves in harm’s way to defend us overseas, but also go out of their way to be positive role models for us here at home. To show you what I mean, consider the story of Shaun Castle, a medically retired Army sergeant who is providing all of us with a remarkable example of courage … Now a student at the University of Alabama, he is a sports star who plays for both the university’s men’s wheelchair basketball team and the USA Developmental team. He also has played professional wheelchair basketball in Lyon, France, and is a Paralympic Games hopeful for 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
How Jeff Sessions, as U.S. Attorney General, would oversee the federal probe of Alabama prisons
Al.com – Dec. 15
If U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions is confirmed as the nation’s next Attorney General, he will oversee an ongoing federal probe into the dangerous, overcrowded conditionsof the prisons in his home state … Stephen Rushin, assistant professor of law at the University of Alabama’s School of Law, said he believes a Sessions-led DOJ will be similar to those under President George W. Bush’s administration. In other words, Rushing said, an investigation into Alabama’s prison won’t be altered but the recommendations following it will differ than what could have occurred under a Democratic administration.
University of Alabama Women’s Cross Country athlete exceeds in the classroom and in her sport
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – Dec. 14
University of Alabama athletes are driven to succeed on the field of play, but they are also motivated in the classroom as well. A perfect example is women’s cross country star Hannah Waggoner. The transition into college can be challenging on its own, but one Crimson Tide athlete seems to work just as hard on the track as she does in the classroom. Hannah Waggoner has gone from a walk-on freshman to Alabama’s number one cross country runner. She spent most of her life playing tennis, but made the transition to track when she came to college….Getting accustomed to a new sport takes time, but there was something else that pulled Hannah to the University; it’s engineering program. Taking after her father with mechanical engineering, she added a heavy load of classes to her schedule.
The Challenges of Safely Aging in Place in Rural America
New America Media – Dec. 14
Looking out the window of her home in the small, coastal city of Manzanita, Ore. – where only about 600 people permanently reside, and many more vacationers visit–Leila Salmon described the scene before her: “I’m looking right now at Neahkahnie Mountain, which goes right down to the ocean and the rainbow that just came out over the ocean and the mountain.” … Having a strong support network is critical to aging in place — particularly in a rural area, said Cassandra Ford, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. She has lived in rural areas and worked with rural populations as a nurse and researcher for much of her career. “Sometimes that can be family, sometimes that can be friends, sometimes that’s neighbors,” Ford said.
Heroes and Scholars: Bama to graduate 137 veterans this weekend
Yellowhammer News – Dec. 13
22,000 diplomas will be handed out to University of Alabama graduates on Saturday; 137 of them will be awarded to U.S. Military veterans. According to rankings website Collegefactual.com, “The University of Alabama is a good choice if you are interested in a quality education coupled with factors we think are important to veterans.” Of the 30,752 undergraduate students at UA, 1,598 of them are Post-9/11 G.I. Bill recipients, as stated in the most recent Veterans Affairs report.
Mobile set to greet President-elect Donald Trump, eat the expenses
Al.com – Dec. 13
Mobile city officials don’t expect to be reimbursed for any security-related costs involving President-elect Donald Trump’s visit on Saturday … Meanwhile, William Stewart, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, called Trump’s “Thank You” tour a mixed bag of both “official” and “political.”
THE PORT RAIL: ‘Retirement’ a word that means little in my life
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 14
“I thought you were retired,” is something I hear occasionally from friends and acquaintances. Sometimes I think they are thinking, but not saying, “you still alive?” Let me indulge myself a bit here, for “retirement” is just another word with little meaning in my real life, as I suspect for a lot of baby boomers. Baby boomers are, demographically speaking, the 76 million people born in the U.S. from 1946-1964. Eleven million of this cohort had died as of 2012, leaving about 65 million today — except that immigrants have restored the total to about 76 million, which represents about a quarter of the population. (Larry Clayton is a retired University of Alabama history professor. Readers can email him at larryclayton7@gmail.com.)
Alabama engineering teacher on the shortlist for $1 million prize
Al.com – Dec. 14
Alabaster City Schools engineering teacher Brian Copes, named one of People magazine’s teachers of the year in 2012, is on the shortlist for a prestigious global prize … Copes’ students have also worked in the University of Alabama Engineering Department, where they helped build cryogenic freezers used on the International Space Station.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Dec. 14
UA Student Places in Student Design League Competition
Arkansas Traveler – Dec. 14
The UA Identity Design class finished with one winner out of six at the second annual Student Design League competition, a senior graphic design and drawing major said. … The other five winners included one from the University of Alabama, one from West Virginia University, one from the University of Tennessee, one from Auburn University and one from Florida State University, according to the official Student Design League project website.
Meet family moving into Nick and Terry Saban’s 16th Alabama championship Habitat for Humanity home
Al.com – Dec. 14
Tony, I need you to be sitting down. Anthony Taylor thought he was going to lose the house. He was driving, as he does, almost always. He was on I-20 one day last January, heading toward Tuscaloosa from the Birmingham airport. The owner of a sole proprietorship, On-Time Transportation, Taylor had dropped off yet another customer–a University of Alabama student heading out of town–when his phone buzzed. He saw it was Ellen Potts, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Tuscaloosa. Just a few months before, she’d called him as he was driving, yet again, along I-20 and told him his family had reached the top of the list for a new home and they were ready to proceed.
Firestone Is Now Selling Limited Edition Alabama Tires
Tiger Droppings – Dec. 14
There’s always money to be made off the SEC. Firestone Tires have gotten in on the acting signing a licensing deal with the University of Alabama. Now Crime Tide fans can literally Roll Tide.
YellowHammer News – Dec. 14
Larry Brown Sports – Dec. 15