Norfolk Southern hub gets OK for McCalla hub
Birmingham News – Dec. 31
… The job creation that will follow the opening of the hub is what has Birmingham economic development officials most excited about the hub project. An economic impact analysis by the University of Alabama commissioned by Norfolk Southern predicted the project will help create and retain 8,000 jobs for the metro area and have a $4 billion economic impact in its first decade of operation…
SUV sales up but oil prices raise concerns it might not last
Birmingham News – Dec. 31
… Gas prices, however, have been climbing due to rising demand for oil worldwide as the economy improves, said Peter Clark, a University of Alabama chemical engineering professor who follows the energy markets. Another factor is the weakness of the dollar compared to the euro, as crude is traded in dollars. “China and India are huge markets that are bouncing back quickly,” Clark said. “Crude has been trading around $91 a barrel today (Thursday) and one OPEC oil minister said the world can handle $100 a barrel oil. Demand and speculators are driving up the price of oil.”…
Next week marks 150th anniversary of Alabama leaving the Union
Birmingham News — Jan. 2
Alabama withdrew from the United States and became ”a sovereign and independent state,” according to its secession declaration, 150 years ago next week. The Jan. 11 anniversary is likely to pass quietly in Alabama. But the decision made on that day was “fateful,” said George Rable, a professor of Southern history at the University of Alabama. ”Does it inevitably lead to war? Probably so, and the Civil War was an absolute disaster for the state of Alabama, economically, socially, politically,” Rable said…
Tusk’s best of 2010
Tuscaloosa – Dec. 30
Quidditch on the Quad. A muggle interpretation of the Harry Potter magical sport of Quidditch held on the University of Alabama campus. I laughed so much at the yellow-dressed “Snitches” evading capture. I may have read all the books alone, but this event brought a lot of kindred spirits together. A definite must-do again in 2011…
Why Your Child’s School Bus Has No Seat Belts
NBCWashington.com – Dec. 29
… Cost. Separate studies by the NHTSA and the University of Alabama concluded that installing seat belts would add anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000 to the cost of a new bus while having little to no impact on safety. Seat belts would also take up room that’s now used for seats, meaning “fewer children can be accommodated on each row,” according to the Alabama study. That could require school systems to increase their bus fleets by as much as 15 percent just to transport the same number of pupils, it suggested. “The cost of installing seat belts on every bus at once is prohibitive,” said the authors of the Alabama study, the October release of which was highly anticipated by school officials nationwide because it is among the first large-scale analyses of the subject. Seat belts would have to be phased in over a decade at a minimum cost of $117 million per state. That cost could be prohibitive, “especially when the nation is dealing with an economic downturn,” the study said…
Exhibit, speakers focus on healthy living habits
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 29
… in addition to the art exhibit, the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, along with the University of Alabama Department of Psychology, will sponsor a series of discussions led by experts that will focus on mental health issues during the exhibit’s duration. Topics will include coping with chronic pain, tips for families of veterans returning from deployment and how to age successfully…
They’re with the bands: Vestavia Hills brother, sister take field for Alabama, Auburn at halftime
Birmingham News – Jan. 2
… That’s paid off the past couple of years as Joe, a senior in Alabama’s Million Dollar Band, played in the national championship game last year; and Sarah, a sophomore in Auburn’s band, is going to do the same on Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz…
MY VIEW: ARAC helps strengthen rural areas
Birmingham News – Jan. 2
… ARAC is also proud to strongly support efforts to develop more physicians from within rural Alabama and to encourage them to locate more medical practices in rural, underserved communities…We have worked closely with the University of Alabama’s Rural Medical Scholars Program, which is extremely successful with its pipeline programs designed to develop rural doctors and place them back in rural Alabama. Working with UA College of Community Health Sciences faculty and other rural health professionals, ARAC drafted legislation to increase Alabama’s rural physician tax credit to encourage more physicians to practice in rural, underserved Alabama. We also worked to reinstate the Rural Medical Scholarship Program in the state budget, ensuring that more rural students have the opportunity to attend medical school…
Signs of hope for 2011
Tuscaloosa News
… Economist Sam Addy, director of the Center for Economic and Business Research at the University of Alabama, said part of his belief that 2011 will be better is based on last year not being as bad as many had expected. “We were in recovery in 2010, but because unemployment was high, people did not really see that,” he said. Unemployment remains high today, but there was increased hiring in West Alabama and there should be more hiring this year, he said. Addy said he thinks the economy will continue to improve and that Congress’ recent extension of the Bush tax cuts will stimulate the economy nationally and in West Alabama. “But that does not mean we are out of the woods,” he said. “It will be a challenge in 2011 for governments at all levels.”…Addy said many government programs, which were expanded when the economy was good and revenues were high, will be harder to finance in 2011 because of austere government budgets and the mood among voters against raising taxes. Also, sales taxes that fund much of local government will not grow significantly, because consumers are spending less and are saving more, he said. As an economist, Addy said he sees that as a mixed blessing. It is bad for the short term, because people will buy less, lowering the demand for goods and services that create jobs and economic growth. But he said it is good for the long term because it will reduce consumer debt…And while manufacturing nationally continues to suffer, Tuscaloosa County’s manufacturing as a whole improved in 2010 and should get even better this year, Addy said…
Pediatrician has vision to improve child abuse detection
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 24
… The man with the Snoopy tie is Dr. Michael Taylor, the only board-certified child abuse pediatrician in Alabama and one of just 184 in the United States. Taylor is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Tuscaloosa and is the medical director of the West Alabama Child Medical Evaluation Center, which he founded in 1991…Designating child abuse as a subspecialty means doctors will receive more standardized, consistent training, Taylor said. It also paves the way for more research in the field. “It means that quality improves across the board,” Taylor said. Their expertise will aid both prosecutors and defense attorneys in cases investigated by law enforcement. Taylor calls the field “the dark side of pediatrics.”
Shoppers, gifts plentiful but parking spaces? Not so much
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 24
… Kristy Reynolds, a University of Alabama marketing professor who specializes in retailing, said stores know there will be a lot of last-minute shoppers at Christmas.
“For some people, this is a tradition. They just always go out and shop on the 23rd or even the 24th. These shoppers enjoy the rush of getting out in the hustle and bustle excitement of the last minute,” she said. “They are motivated by the time constraint and view the process as a challenge — the thrill of the hunt under time pressure.
Census data shows businesses owned by women on the rise nationwide
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 26
… Annette Watters, a project manager at the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said that as she pored through the census data, she discovered some interesting things. Like businesses as a whole, businesses owned by women are most plentiful in urban areas, but Watters said she was surprised to find some rural areas like Marengo and Walker counties where these were thriving and making good revenue. “In those areas, they seemed to have found a niche that needed to be met and they were able to do it,” she said… “And we don’t want to overlook the thousands of women in Alabama who own and operate a day care center or offer some kind of social assistance service such as home health care. “Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services are among the thousands of women-owned professional service businesses that women in Alabama. And retailing also is very popular.”…
University of Alabama Student Helps Kids Understand That No One Should Be Bullied
NBC13 (Birmingham) – Jan. 1
University of Alabama student is on a mission to make sure that kids understand that no one should be bullied because of their differences. Abigail harden knows firsthand how painful it can be. Her story is helping young people learn how to make a difference.
Retailers can expect modest growth in 2011, despite increased spending in the 2010 holiday season
Birmingham Business Journal – Jan. 3
… So methodical shopping, or “surgical shopping,” will be key in 2011, said Kristy Reynolds, marketing professor at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce. “Shoppers are likely to continue being careful and methodical with their shopping, even though they have loosened the purse strings somewhat,” said Reynolds in UA’s economic outlook. “Many shoppers are going to be more likely to buy what they need at the moment, as compared to stocking up ahead of time.” To lure reluctant shoppers, retailers will have to resort to some familiar tactics and price drops, she said. Retailers will likely rely on events, educational classes, entertainment and merchandise scarcity to lure shoppers into the stores in the coming months,” Reynolds said. Shoppers “will be hunting for the best bargains, regardless of where they shop or what they are buying. There is increasing evidence that impulse buying is declining.”…
College News
Tuscaloosa News – January 3
… C. Heath Turner was named interim head of the department of chemical and biological engineering, and Tim A. Haskew was named interim head of the department of electrical and computer engineering, both in the University of Alabama’s College of Engineering…