As China’s Largest Freshwater Lake Shrinks, Solution Faces Criticism
New York Times – Dec. 28
Long celebrated as China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang reaches more than three times the expanse of Los Angeles in the summer wet season. It is home to the rare Yangtze finless porpoise, and its mud flats are the primary winter feeding grounds for thousands of birds that fly south each autumn to escape Siberia’s chill, including the critically endangered Siberian crane … “I think you’re proposing a solution without understanding the causes of the problem,” said David Shankman, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Alabama who has studied the lake’s hydrology.
BaWire – Dec. 28
Shout Out: Jack Olorvida, pre-med musician
Chicago Tribune – Dec. 23
Jack Olorvida is a senior at Mundelein High School who accepted a University of Alabama full-ride presidential scholarship. Olorvida said he intends to study pre-medicine and minor in music.
He spends hours underwater looking for creatures you can’t see
Belleville (Illinois) News-Democrat – Dec. 27
Pulling a giant fish or a small octopus from the ocean isn’t a big deal to marine biologist Kevin Kocot. He just throws it back in the water. That’s because he’s after small-fry — life that’s often invisible to the naked eye. “They’re everywhere,” says the Maryville native of his work with a group of molluscs. “Just no one’s looking for them.” The “everywhere” he’s looked has grown from his grandparents’ backyard next door, searching for garden bugs when he was a child, to the deepest parts of the ocean this past summer to chronicle the oceans’ biodiversity. Kevin earned a bachelor of science degree from Illinois State University and a doctorate in molecular biology from Auburn University. He has a second post-doctoral degree from The University of Queensland in Australia. For the past year, he’s been an assistant professor and assistant curator of invertebrates at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Rural Alabama county looks to jumpstart economy with tourism
Al.com – Dec. 26
Coosa County, just outside metro Birmingham, should take advantage of its natural resources to spur economic development, with the goal of making the county a destination for campers and tourists, according to residents and planners tasked with helping the county find an economic engine. “It’s a very low-population-based county” of 12,000 people, said Nisa Miranda, director of UA’s Center for Economic Development, which has partnered with Auburn University to come up with a plan for the county at the behest of Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover. Coosa is “very naturally beautiful, with creeks, rivers bounding it and creeks running through it,” Miranda said.
WDEF 12 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – Dec. 26
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Dec. 27
University of Alabama experts predict changes under Trump
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 25
Looking ahead to 2017, faculty at the University of Alabama offer predictions about what the new year will hold as part of the 36th annual Educated Guesses. The prognostications were dominated by predictions about the Donald Trump’s presidency, with the faculty experts weighing in on his Cabinet picks, his relationship with Congress, his tweets and his campaign promises. The president-elect is scheduled to be inaugurated as the 45th nation’s president on Jan. 20.
Educated guess: Trump, Congress Won’t Mix
Andalusia Star News – Jan. 2
Even though President-elect Donald Trump will have a Republican-controlled Congress when he takes office later this month, he won’t have an easy path ahead. That’s the prediction of Dr. Joseph Smith, associate professor and chair of the political science department at The University of Alabama. Unified party control of the national government never works as smoothly as many people expect, Dr. Smith said. “I suspect it is because political leaders often attempt policy change that is too extreme when they have unified control of legislature and executive branch,” Smith said. “They don’t expect to have to compromise. But it often turns out that there are infra-party disagreements.”
UA faculty offer ‘educated guesses’ on coming year
Selma Times-Journal – Dec. 26
For the 36th consecutive year, The University of Alabama’s Office of Media Relations offers predictions from faculty experts for the coming year.
DOE Offers $7 Million for Sustainable Fuels, Engine Development
NGT News – Dec. 30
The U.S. Energy Department (DOE) has announced up to $7 million for eight universities to accelerate the introduction of affordable, scalable and sustainable high-performance fuels for use in high-efficiency, low-emission engines … The DOE selected eight universities under the Co-Optima funding opportunity … The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala. – The University of Alabama will examine the combustion properties of biofuels and blends using advanced diagnostic techniques under realistic advanced compression ignition (ACI) engine conditions. ACI engines can deliver both high efficiencies and low emissions. The goal is to create a model to predict combustion properties of various fuel blends to help optimize its use in ACI engines.
Transport Topics – Dec. 29
Bunker Index – Dec. 29
Green Car Congress – Dec. 29
Biofuels Digest – Dec. 29
Chemistry consortium uses titan supercomputer to understand actinides
Gas and Electricity – Dec. 26
That same energy also makes actinides highly radioactive. Gas stoichiometry lab Scientists doing early research with these substances in the 1940s and 50s did not fully understand the risks of long-term handling and storage for the resulting waste products … “We put this group together because we were already collaborating on scientific papers,” said professor David Dixon of The University of Alabama. Gas monkey monster truck hellcat “Rather than just saying that we were going to do one reaction and needed computing time, we’re using a team approach to try and get a broad, fundamental understanding of actinide science.”
Marty Lyons graduates from The University of Alabama
JetLife TV (National) – Dec. 25
We follow Jets legend Marty Lyons to his alma mater, The University of Alabama, to fulfill a lifelong promise he made to his legendary college coach Bear Bryant.
LEND A HAND: Five Tuscaloosa groups benefit from state grant
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 31
The University of Alabama’s Child Development Resources is one of five Tuscaloosa organizations to receive a combined $465,000 to help fund community programs committed to the prevention of child maltreatment.
Impact Alabama service program seeks donations
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 30
Impact Alabama is trying to raise around $6,000 by the end of the year to secure $60,000 in matching funds from EBSCO. The AmeriCorps service and leadership program housed at the Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility at the University of Alabama has until Dec. 31 to meet its goal of $60,000 in the challenge grant from the company. EBSCO, a company with offices in Birmingham that provides information services to institutions, will match the funds with a $60,000 grant, according to Stephen Black, president and founder of Impact Alabama.
Crimson Tide Women’s Basketball Team encourages young lady with brain injury
WCTV-CBS (Tallahassee, FL) – Jan. 2
Clary Bateman had the dream of coaching for The University of Alabama’s basketball team, and thanks to the kindness of a stranger that dream came true.
Views on mandatory school bus seat belts mixed
Kingsport Times News (Tennessee) – Dec. 26
Modern school buses use “compartmentalization” to protect students. That means the seats are packed closely together and covered with 4-inch-thick foam, whereas seat belt protection obviously requires students to buckle up … A University of Alabama study drew a similar conclusion, saying “enforcement by the driver is almost impossible” and quoting drivers’ concerns that they could be held legally liable if a child were injured while not using his or her seat belt properly.
Increased holiday patrols by State Troopers
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Dec. 21
The Center for Advanced Public Safety at The University of Alabama says that there have been 1,025 traffic fatalities so far this year. That’s a 26 percent increase from the same time in 2015.
Feds Test Rodney King Law With Jail Informants Investigation
Voice of Orange County (Calif.) – Dec. 23
The U.S. Department of Justice is breaking new ground with its civil rights investigation into how Orange County’s district attorney and sheriff have used jailhouse informants to systematically violate defendant rights, according to legal authorities. The investigation announced Dec. 15 marks the first time a 1994 law, which historically has been used against police departments, is being specifically directed at a prosecution agency for constitutional rights violations in criminal cases, say scholars and former federal prosecutors … Stephen Rushin, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa who studies the King law, called the DOJ probe “a super fascinating issue,” as it could guide how the law is applied to prosecutors nationally.
Bama fan hopes for win at Peach Bowl
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Dec. 29
University of Alabama grad student Thomas Frederick has many keepsakes from one of the greatest dynasties in Crimson Tide history. This year, thanks to discounts through Peach Bowl sponsor Chick-fil-A, Frederick will be headed to Atlanta.
Winter Graduation stories:
Richmond County Milestones
Augusta Chronicle – Dec. 28
Winter graduates at Alabama: TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama awarded some 2,270 degrees during winter commencement Dec. 10, 2016. Candidates for degrees from Alabama include: Dondra Faison, of Hephzibah, bachelor’s degree; Jessica Hauger, Martinez, bachelor’s degree.
Inside Nova – Dec. 28
Lebanon Enterprise – Dec. 28
Times Record (Maine) – Dec. 23
Star-Democrat (Easton, Maryland.) – Dec. 23
Sidney Daily News (Ohio) – Dec. 23
LimaOhio.com – Dec. 22
Daily Duncan Democrat (Missouri) – Dec. 22
Marysville (Ohio) News – Dec. 23
The Times (Ottawa, Illinois) – Dec. 24
Trumbull (Connecticut) Times – Dec. 24
Cleveland.com – Dec. 24
Darien (Connecticut) Times – Dec. 24
70 West Sentinel (Missouri) – Dec. 25
Apalachicola Times – Dec. 26
Summerville (S.C.) Scene – Dec. 26
Athens (Georgia) Banner-Herald – Dec. 27
Carroll County Times – Dec. 28
Daily Republic (Fairfield, California) – Jan. 1
Mentor resident graduates from University of Alabama
The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) – Dec. 28
Allison Arthur of Mentor, was among some 2,270 students at University of Alabama who were awarded degrees during winter commencement Dec. 10. Arthur received a Bachelor’s Degree. With this graduating class, UA will have awarded more than 257,000 degrees since its founding in 1831 as the state’s first public university.
UA Tailgate Party raises money for young girl with rare disease
WGCL-CBS 46 (Atlanta, Ga.) – Dec. 31
The fun at one University of Alabama tailgate party was all for a good cause. It was the third one open to the public to raise money for charity and today it supported one of their own. Jennings Emerson was born in September with a rare disease called HHT, which is due to a brain hemmorage and bleeding disorder.
Ringo Starr tweets photo of himself wearing a University of Alabama shirt
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 2
Check out this picture that Ringo Starr tweeted out this weekend. It’s a picture of himself in a University of Alabama shirt.
THE PORT RAIL: ‘I bring you good tidings of great joy’
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 24
The words above are from the Old Testament, the Book of Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6, the New King James Version. It is, of course, a prophecy from one of the most beloved prophets of the Hebrew people, Isaiah (circa eighth and seventh centuries B.C. or B.C.E.) telling us of the eventual coming of a son from the House of David to restore Israel and deliver all humankind from sin and death. (Larry Clayton is a retired University of Alabama history professor. Readers can email him at larryclayton7@gmail.com.)
THE PORT RAIL: Our outrage over hacking is the height of hypocrisy
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 31
I am constantly astonished, even at my age, at the “holier than thou” attitudes of many Americans when it comes to something like the alleged Russian hacking and manipulation of the American elections. We stand back in a saintly state of innocence and not only cast the first stone, but also most of the rest of the pile of rocks at these nasty Russian sinners. Can you imagine that! Someone “interfering in our internal domestic politics” we declaim from our high perch of Mt. Hypocrisy. (Larry Clayton is a retired University of Alabama history professor. Readers can email him at larryclayton7@gmail.com.)
UA National Alumni Association offers National Championship package deals
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 2, 2017
If you are wanting to go to the national championship game, there are several ways to buy a ticket or an all-inclusive package deal…The University of Alabama Alumni Association is offering some deals too, if you are a member.