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UA In the News — Aug. 20

Poor school districts are funding the state’s cyber charter schools, research shows. That wasn’t always the case
Pennsylvania Capital-Star – Aug. 20
As nearly 2 million children across Pennsylvania return to school this month, thousands will do so from behind computer screens.  Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools — taxpayer-funded, privately managed schools that offer their curriculum online — enrolled close to 39,000 students in the 2018-19 academic year, according to a Capital-Star analysis of state Department of Education data. Researchers David Baker of Penn State University and Bryan Mann of the University of Alabama say the trend jeopardizes public school quality across the state, since the districts losing the most students to cyber charter competitors are also the least able to afford it.

Mother Who Subjected Child To 13 Surgeries Pleads Guilty, But Son’s Future Hangs in Balance
D Magazine – Aug. 20
Ryan Crawford was driving with his son Christopher to Walmart last Friday when he told him the news. The day before, Christopher’s mother, Kaylene Bowen, appeared in Dallas County criminal court to plead guilty to a second-degree felony charge of recklessly causing injury to her child. As part of a deal with Dallas County prosecutors, the charge was reduced from a first-degree felony charge of intentionally injuring her child, and it carries a potential sentence of 2 to 20 years with the possibility of parole. The sentencing hearing will be held on Oct. 11. Rehabilitation is also difficult because few perpetrators ever admit that they intentionally harmed their child, says Mark Feldman, a clinical professor of psychiatry and adjunct professor of psychology at The University of Alabama and one of the country’s leading experts on medical abuse.

UA researchers awarded grant to study opioid morbidity in four West Alabama counties
Crimson White – Aug. 19
Opioid overuse rattles West Alabama communities that don’t have the medical resources to treat and prevent drug epidemics, furthering economic and quality-of-life concerns in areas that once made the state prosperous. But with a new grant, UA researchers are working to provide homegrown solutions to a nationwide problem. Sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program was funded by a $200,000 planning grant at the end of June to clear the way for a year of researching the opioid epidemic in Marion, Walker, Winston and Franklin counties.

Sorority remembers Nancy Parker as a woman committed to public service
NBC (New Orleans) – Aug. 20
Nancy Parker was a woman of grace, a woman of class. She was a woman of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.  “Nancy epitomized what it means to be a Delta,” said Deborah Augustine Elam a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. “She joined our sisterhood in the Fall of 1985, at Lambda Zeta Chapter, University of Alabama.” Delta Sigma Theta is an international sisterhood that’s made up of more than 200,000 college-educated women.

Sports publishers continue to grapple with politics
Digiday – Aug. 20
Politics has always been likened to sports: Elections are “horse races,” policy squabbles are “inside baseball,” and debates feature “knockout” performances and “home runs.” While political rhetoric is happy to draw from sports for the most apt analogies, new data from ESPN says viewers want their sports strictly isolated from the politics of the day — and advertisers agree. Andrew C. Billings, executive director of the University of Alabama Program in Sport Communication, acknowledges that “people look to sports for distraction” but finds there’s a lot of news that falls in the gray area between sports and politics. “When an international player’s travel visa is delayed, this is noteworthy on the game, but has political undertones,” Billings said in an email.

Let the good Tides roll: Tidechella welcomes Alabama students
The Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 19
Incoming University of Alabama students enjoyed an evening of entertainment Monday as part of the “Yea, Alabama! Weeks of Welcome,” designed to welcome freshmen and transfer students to the Capstone. Coleman Coliseum hosted the Monday festivities, which included live music, a fashion show, free food and beverages, games and interactive activities. Monday’s four-hour event was called Tidechella, after the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival held annually in California. “Yea, Alabama! Weeks of Welcome” continues Tuesday night with a convocation at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Photo gallery

Study says #rolltide is nation’s top hashtag
The Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 19
Instagram’s most popular college hashtag nationwide is #rolltide, according to a report by AT&T.  Nearly 60% of the University of Alabama’s more than 33,000 students have made at least one #rolltide post on Instagram, a photo and video-sharing social networking service owned by Facebook.  AT&T’s nationwide study examined the most popular hashtags for universities with more than 7,000 full-time students in fall 2017.

Female CEOs More Likely Targets of Activist Investors
Cheddar – Aug. 19
Breaking through the glass ceiling and becoming CEO of a company doesn’t mean a top female executive can rest. In fact, women and men have different experiences at the top of corporations. Researcha from the University of Alabama indicates that female CEO’s are 50% more likely to be targets of investor activism than their male counterparts. We spoke to John Stoll, business columnist at the Wall Street Journal about the trend and what it means for female executives.

When a Tornado Hits Your Home: A New Look at Structures, Survival, and Resilience
Weather Underground – Aug. 19
Chasing a tornado is one thing. It’s a whole different matter if a tornado is heading toward your home. How do you deal with the threat? And exactly what happens if the tornado actually hits? A new NOAA-funded study will spend the next two years delving into those questions. The project is bringing together damage experts, meteorologists, and social scientists to find out how people behave when they’re at home during an imminent tornado threat, and what they see, hear and feel when a tornado actually strikes. “Tornado season really has become year-round. We don’t really stand down,” says Laura Myers, director of the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama’s College of Engineering.

UA students have just one more day to prepare before classes start
WVUA – Aug. 19
Students at The University of Alabama and Stillman College will have just one more day to prepare before returning to classes. The fall semester begins Wednesday August 21st for both campuses.

UA students take part in Ripple Effect
Fox 6 – Aug. 19
University of Alabama students worked at different locations today as part of the Ripple Effect program. Today, some of them helped out as reading buddies at Central Elementary School.
WBRC

Million Dollar Band prepares for season
CBS 42 – Aug. 19
The University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band is getting ready for the start of college football. But the dangerous heat we’ve seen is having an impact on their practice.

SPIRIT OF ALABAMA: GIRL SCOUTS HELP POLICE HELP THOSE WITH AUTISM
WVUA – Aug. 19

People who have sensory processing disorders like autism often have a hard time talking with police, but there’s one local Girl Scout troop looking at changing that. Laila Gray and her fellow scouts from Girl Scout Troop 40150 are making what they call sensory bottles. They’re item-filled shakers that can be used to help distract and calm down anyone who needs assistance in tough times. “When you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism because every individual, whether they have autism or not, is unique,” said Sylvia Hollins with the University of Alabama’s Regional Autism Network.

An anti-crash course for college students: Digital Media Addiction 101
Al.com – Aug. 19
Across college campuses, students are being oriented to academic honor codes, residence hall community living standards, healthy relationships and interpersonal violence, and the dangers of alcohol and other drugs. Yet one of the most worrisome and rapidly growing problems of college students is not being addressed: digital media addiction. Alan Blum, MD is Gerald Leon Wallace MD Endowed Chair in Family Medicine at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, where he also directs the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society. Tomasz Gruchala is a senior at the University of Alabama and a student in the Catherine J. Randall Research Scholars Program.

UA students participate in fall 2019 cooperative education
280 Reporter – Aug. 19
TUSCALOOSA – More than 220 University of Alabama students are receiving hands-on, innovative and advanced educational experiences with dozens of companies and organizations across the United States through UA’s Cooperative Education Program for fall 2019.
Gallatin News (Tennessee)

We are more alike than unalike
The Crimson White – Aug. 19
College students are at a crucial time of their lives. All are attending school to prepare for their future life as an adult and effective member of society. Some are rapidly going into debt as their student loans continue to increase with each class they register for and others are finding their spouses and can see their families beginning. It is time for us to be the difference that is needed in our society. As students at the University of Alabama, campus is a great place to start making these differences. Instead of being divided by the things that make us different, let us be united through our similarities.

Joyce Vance comments on Trump administration’s attempt to block illegal immigration (live interview)
MSNBC (National) – Aug. 19
Joyce Vance is a former U.S. attorney and professor at The University of Alabama  School of Law.