New Castle’s ThruPore raises $540,000 from local investors
Technically Delaware – Feb. 21
ThruPore Technologies, a catalysis technology company headquartered in New Castle, has raised $540,000 in a seed round led by Philadelphia-based angel investor group Robin Hood Ventures alongside Delaware Crossing Investor Group (DCIG). The investment marks ThruPore’s first institutional funding round. ThruPore Technologies was cofounded in 2012 at the University of Alabama by CEO Dr. Franchessa Sayler and professor Martin Bakker. As a graduate student, Sayler was approached by a staff scientist who was dissatisfied with the performance of current catalysts.
Philadelphia Business Journal – Feb. 21
Lives depend on keeping up fight for gun control
Seattle Times – Feb. 21
Over the past week, everything that can be said about gun violence has been said. It needs to be said again and again until this country no longer has a gun held to its head … The comparison was based on work by University of Alabama professor Adam Lankford. The U.S. has 270 million guns (more by some estimates) and during the period used for the study, 1966 to 2012, the U.S. had 90 mass shooters. No other country in the comparison had more than 46 million guns or 18 mass shooters.
The fame factor: Alabama expert urges media not to use names of mass shooters
AL.com – Feb. 22
University of Alabama professor Adam Lankford has studied hundreds of mass shootings and found that many killers have three things in common – access to high-powered guns, suicidal thoughts and strong desires for fame. Mental illness and guns dominate the political debate, but lately Lankford has been trying to figure out how fame fits in, and whether the media can help curb the violence. Recently his research has become more urgent as shootings become deadlier and more frequent. Three of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history have occurred in the last six months – an escalation Lankford said is driven by shooters’ desires to emulate and outdo each other, leading to bigger headlines and more fame.
CNN – Feb. 21
Good News: Vacaville students join University of Alabama president’s, dean’s lists
Solano Daily Republic (California) – Feb. 21
Emily McKinney of Vacaville made the president’s list and Mackenzie Shrock of Vacaville made the dean’s list for the fall semester at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the university announced.
Oswego News (New York) – Feb. 21
Good News: Richardson of Vacaville earns degree from UA
Solano Daily Republic (California) – Feb. 21
Hannah Marie Richardson of Vacaville received a bachelor of science degree in human environmental sciences from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the university announced.
For 1st time, NBC’s Pyeongchang Olympic coverage beats Sochi
Associated Press – Feb. 21
WOMEN FIRST: NBC is on the brink of a historic accomplishment: These games will mark the first time female athletes have been featured more than men on a U.S. network’s prime-time Olympic coverage. That’s the prediction from three professors who have been tracking the gender breakdown of coverage for each Olympics since 1994. It’s a turnaround not just from tradition but from the first 10 nights of Pyeongchang telecasts, when men had a clear edge. That was erased with the focus on American skiers Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, and the trend is likely to continue with women’s figure skating a big feature of the second week. Women have won a majority of Team USA’s medals so far. While not perfect, “it’s clear that NBC’s Olympic coverage is leading any advancement for women athletes,” said Andrew Billings, a University of Alabama professor who conducts the study with James Angelini of the University of Delaware and Paul MacArthur of Utica College.
Idaho Statesman – Feb. 21
Theatre Tuscaloosa’s ‘Cabaret’ emphasizes edginess
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 21
A handful of classic musicals can be summoned in just a few words: Demon barber. Living hills. Dancing gangsters … Well, that could be either “West Side Story” or “Guys and Dolls,” depending on how you define gang. Here’s another: Liza’s lingerie … “He’s kind of a different role because he’s very passive,” said Skeean, a musical theater major at the University of Alabama, taking his first role with the company. “Everything is unfolding around him and falling apart before his eyes.
‘Alt-right’ escalates war against Silicon Valley, pledges to expose bias against conservatives
KVUE ABC (Austin, Texas) – Feb. 21
Far-right conservatives are escalating their campaign against Silicon Valley with a new series of volleys against the social media gatekeepers that control the flow of information in the digital age … An effort by the alt-right to create an alternative ecosystem of Internet companies has met with limited success, says George Hawley, a University of Alabama professor and author of Making Sense of the Alt-Right. “Tech companies that deny the alt-right access to their services can cause the movement serious harm,” Hawley said.
CBS 5 (San Antonio, Texas) – Feb. 21
ABC 12 (Beaumont, Texas) – Feb. 21
NBC 8 (Portland, Oregon) – Feb. 21
CBS 10 (Tampa, Florida) – Feb. 21
WCNC (Charlotte, North Carolina) – Feb. 21
CBS 19 (Columbia, South Carolina) – Feb. 21
WHAS 11 (Louisville, Kentucky) – Feb. 21
How reliably does animal torture predict a future school shooter?
Washington Post – Feb. 21
Inevitably, a mass shooting is followed by a public account of the “warning signs” the killer may have evinced in the months and years before the attack: bullying, isolation, vacant gazes, loss of parents, violent ideations, school expulsion, depression, explosive outbursts … As Adam Lankford, a criminologist at the University of Alabama, lamented: “In many recent cases, law enforcement has known about a future mass shooter before his attack but failed to recognize the threat he posed. With more accurate warnings signs, they may be able to prevent the next tragedy.”
Cetus News – Feb. 21
Joyce Vance comments on Jared Kushner (Live Interview)
MSNBC – Deadline: White House (national) – Feb. 21
There’s nothing normal about this process, Joyce Vance, and I want to ask you if there’s any connection or any overlap between what we know to be true – that Jared Kushner is potentially a witness who is of interest in the Mueller probe, he’s also been up in front of at least one of the Intel committees, I believe it was on the House side – what he knows and what he did, and when he knew it and when he did it is of interest to those investigating Russian collusion. “There can’t be any doubt that the subject of the investigation the FBI is doing also poses difficulties for FBI agents trying to give Kushner a background clearance.”
29 Alabama sites part of new U.S. Civil Rights Trail
Alabama News Center – Feb. 21
A new tourism trail links Alabama and 13 other states from Kansas to Delaware that share a role in the nation’s march to civil rights. Tourism officials worked together to form and promote the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, which they hope will lead to an increase in visitors wanting to retrace some of the most defining moments in American history …Selma: Brown Chapel AME Church, Edmund Pettus Bridge, Lowndes Interpretive Center, National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, Selma Interpretive Center, Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and the Sullivan and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson Foundation and Museum; Tuscaloosa: Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama.
Yale University professor to give lecture on effects of expelling preschoolers
Crimson White – Feb. 21
WHAT: 15 Years Ago Alabama Ranked Third in the Nation for Expelling Preschoolers: What Have We Learned Since Then? WHO: Child Development Research Center.
UA law school pioneer dies at 93
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 22
The University of Alabama School of Law’s first female tenured faculty member, Camille Wright Cook, has died. She was 93. “I write, in sadness, to let you know that Camille Wright Cook died yesterday. Her son (and fellow alumnus) Sydney Cook reported this morning that she passed away at home, surrounded by family, listening to Frank Sinatra,” Dean Mark E. Brandon wrote in a statement released Wednesday by the college.
Conversations about sex enhance long term relationships
Crimson White – Feb. 22
Because they are in a long distance relationship and do not see each other often, conversations regarding sex keep Sarah Chillag and her partner happy and help their relationship go smoothly … Heather Carmack, Associate Professor of Communication studies, said for most people, sex is a really important part of a relationship. “Regardless of what stage you are in in your relationship, sex is such an intimate, vulnerable situation that if you can’t talk about anything before it happens, you’re going to find yourself in a sexual situation where one person or both people become really uncomfortable and then this damages the relationship,” she said.
Health Matters: Flu
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 21
It’s been a bad flu season, there’s no doubt about that. And, we’re not done with it yet. It’s important for people who have not yet been protected by the flu vaccine to strongly consider getting it right away. And also, to know how to recognize the symptoms, because again, we are not finished with the flu season. Let’s listen to this conversation with Dr. Louanne Friend, a nursing faculty member, and a member of University Medical Center, as she discusses influenza.