UA launching five-year plan to spur economic development
NBC 13 – Aug. 8
The University of Alabama is launching a five year plan to spur economic development. This has four different themes, each with several strategic goals. Some of the major aims include increasing the number and percentage of Alabama students who remain in the state after graduation.
Birmingham Business Journal – Aug. 9
UA RESEARCH TEAM INITIATES STUDY ON IRRIGATION IN ALABAMA
WVUA – Aug. 8
Alabama is the fourth wettest state in the country, receiving 58.3 inches of rain on average per year. With that much free water falling from the sky, the state’s farmers have long relied on precipitation to water their crops. In fact, only about 15% of Alabama’s available farmland is irrigated. Researchers at the University of Alabama recently launched a study that could change that. A team led by Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, an endowed engineering professor and the director of UA’s Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research, will be investigating whether more irrigation-fed farms in Alabama could be beneficial to farmers and the state’s agricultural industry.
Grandmother sentenced to life without parole in AL for drugs gets chance at freedom
WBRC – Aug. 8
Attorneys for Geneva Cooley confirm she was granted parole after a hearing before the parole board on Thursday, August 8, 2019. Cooley should get out of prison soon and she plans to return to her family in New York. Susan Burton, a Los Angeles-based activist, was on tour in 2017 for her memoir “Becoming Ms. Burton” about her own struggles with addiction and incarceration. She was invited to do a reading at Tutwiler Prison, where she met Cooley and they immediately connected. Burton tapped into her network of activists and attorneys to try to find someone who could help Cooley challenge her sentence, and finally connected with Courtney Cross, Director of the Domestic Violence Law Clinic at the University of Alabama. Cross went to see Cooley at Tutwiler and immediately decided to take her case. “Geneva is the poster child of a nonviolent drug offender getting an oversized punishment,” Cross said.
WSFA (Montgomery)
CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL TO OFFER AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY COURSE
WVUA – Aug. 8
Central High School students will have the opportunity to research and follow African American history in the Druid City. Central principal Clarence Sutton said since starting Aug. 7, the class already has a waiting list. “We have a partnership with the University of Alabama with the class called ‘History of Us,’” Sutton said. “It’s really following Tuscaloosa’s African American history. The University of Alabama teaches the courses as an elective; they partnered with us to bring the first course to the high school with a partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative.”
Annihilation of ancient Maya city an act of warfare
The Yucatan Times – Aug. 8
Alexandre Tokovinine, the fourth author, a specialist in Mayan writing at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, searched records of Mayan texts for the city name, and found that in the nearby city of Naranjo, a stone column, specified when the city had burned for the second time.
Student with Down Syndrome looking forward to starting classes at UA
Fox (Nashville, Tenn.) – Aug. 8
Megan will be a freshman at University of Alabama with several friends she graduated from high school with.
NBC (Mobile)
Bear Bryant’s Cadillac for Sale
NBC (Montgomery) – Aug. 8
The owner says the car comes with a factory guarantee showing the car was delivered to Bryant at The University of Alabama. Parts of the car are in rough shape, but the owners says it’s a one of a kind.
Fox 6
NBC (Huntsville)
The more gun ownership, the more mass shootings. ‘That isn’t rocket science,’ study says
Global News – Aug. 8
For Adam Lankford, it “isn’t rocket science” to explain the leading factor in mass shootings. “By definition, firearms are needed for people to commit mass shootings,” the University of Alabama researcher wrote in a March paper. “So in countries where it is easier for dangerous or disturbed individuals to legally purchase firearms — like the United States — there is an increased likelihood of an attack.”
In response to Alabama’s all-white appellate court, lawsuit seeks to alter election system
Montgomery Advertiser – Aug. 8
A federal judge will decide whether or not a system of statewide elections for appellate and Supreme Court judges dilutes the voting power of Alabama’s black citizens. Attorneys on Wednesday presented oral arguments in an ongoing lawsuit filed by the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP in 2016 over Alabama’s at-large election system for appellate and Supreme Court judges. The NAACP says the current system, which hasn’t seen a minority judge in over a quarter of a century, violates the Voting Rights Act. But the appellate courts majorly impact Alabama’s legal system, a University of Alabama law professor told the Advertiser last fall, as the buffer between everyday trial courts and the highest bench in the state. “Their decisions really make a difference,” said Jenny Carroll, law professor at the University of Alabama. “Cases are all about interpretation, about making the decisions about which aspects of the law apply and which don’t. We research about who our next senator or governor will be, but in many ways, in terms of day-to-day experiences, these judges wield a lot more power in our day-to-day lives.”
Helena to host ‘Tiara Pennington Day’ to honor Miss Alabama winner
Helena Reporter – Aug. 8
Current Miss Alabama winner and Helena native Tiara Pennington will be honored by her hometown with a meet and greet event this weekend and the organizers of the reception are encouraging everyone to come out to attend the event. . . . Pennington’s other accomplishments include being named Miss Alabama’s Outstanding Teen for 2016, a top 11 finish at Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2017 pageant, Miss University of Alabama and more.
Prince William County Students – Names in the News – July 2019
Prince William County Times (Virginia) – Aug. 8
Collin Raymond Coyne of Bristow graduated from The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.David James Hanggi of Manassas Park graduated from The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts degree. Chelsea Marie Kramer of Woodbridge graduated from The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science degree. William Sexton Parker Mathews of Haymarket graduated from The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science degree in commerce and business administration. Allen James Parker of Triangle graduated from The University of Alabama with a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering.
Wicked Local (Beverly, Massachusetts) – Aug. 8