University of Alabama law clinic offers free help to area homeowners facing foreclosure
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 11
Organizers of the University of Alabama School of Law Foreclosure Relief Clinic want to spread the word that free help is available for homeowners who face foreclosure. The clinic, which opened Aug. 19, provides free legal advice to people in Bibb, Greene, Hale, Fayette, Lamar, Pickens and Tuscaloosa counties. The clinic pairs homeowners with second- or third-year law students. The clinic is actually part of a class designed to give students hands-on experience … The clinic is open to homeowners going through any part of the foreclosure process, from a down-the-road threat of foreclosure to an immediate notice. The only requirement, Roseman said, is for the homeowner to have a mortgage-related issue.
Five to be inducted into Social Work Hall of Fame in Tuscaloosa ceremony
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 11
Five people will be inducted Friday into the state Social Work Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Indian Hills Country Club in Tuscaloosa. They include: Knox “Gil” Jennings, a longtime Alabama Department of Human Resources employee who was involved in the creation of the Department of Youth Services … Sue Bell Cobb, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, will be the guest speaker at Friday’s luncheon.
Veterans group cleans graves at overgrown Holt cemetery
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 12
The Campus Veterans Association is working to clean up a cemetery in Holt that has become so neglected that many of the graves are covered completely by brush and trash. The first of what will become a monthly cleanup day was held Wednesday from 1-5 p.m. Zach Boyd, president of the Campus Veterans Association, said more people showed up than he expected … The veterans group found the project when the Holt Revitalization Project brought it to the Office of Veterans and Military Affairs. The unnamed cemetery is located in a neighborhood in Holt on 40th Avenue Northeast … The organization plans to take impressions of each of the veterans’ graves to hang in the Office of Veterans and Military Affairs on campus. Eventually, they hope to put an American flag on each of the graves as well. Boyd said he had seen at least 30 veterans’ graves and expects to find more as they clear areas so overgrown it’s impossible to walk through now.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 11
Gadsden State students to benefit from Noyce Scholars Program Grant
Cherokee County Herald – Sept. 11
Gadsden State Community College is among eight community colleges set to benefit from the recent $1,450,000 grant awarded to the University of Alabama. The grant, which was given to benefit the Noyce Scholars Program, involves the Consortium of Noyce Alabama Community Colleges whose membership includes Gadsden State and seven other community colleges across the state. The award will be used to fund scholarships to support secondary STEM teachers as well as fund a summer STEM internship for over 120 freshmen and sophomore students. “This is the beginning of positive reforms to be made in UA chemistry, math, and physics departments, “Dennis W. Sunal, director of the Noyce program at Alabama, said. “It also will consolidate our recruitment pipeline connections with the eight community colleges.” The project is slated to launch October 1 with the first internships beginning in June 2014 for about 30 freshmen and sophomore students. The grant expires in 2018. The University of Alabama Noyce Scholars Program is the second of two grants received by the University of Alabama to fund early STEM recruiting experiences and scholarship for junior and senior STEM majors selecting teacher certification as a graduation goal. UA is currently recruiting undergraduates for this program and is seeking assistance from the Community College Consortium.
Payday, title loan businesses possibly hurting local economy
Anniston Star – Sept. 11
Drive down Quintard Avenue and they are hard to miss. Colorful signs, one after the other with words like “payday,” “check cash” and “easy money.” Last week, the Montgomery City Council approved a moratorium on the issuance of new business licenses for payday loan businesses, following in the footsteps of 11 other cities – including Anniston, for a time – in the state that have done the same. The concern is about how payday loan services might be hurting the local economy and residents … Payday loan stores offer money based on a person’s income, while title pawn businesses hold a customer’s car title in exchange for a cash loan. In Alabama, both types of businesses are allowed to charge between 300 percent and 400 percent annual interest rates on the loans. However, such businesses do not require customers to have good credit or bank accounts to use their services, unlike traditional banks. Check-cashing businesses charge a fee for cashing payroll or other kinds of checks. “The appeal of these businesses is they have no credit check requirements, which makes financing more accessible to people without such regular access,” said Gary Hoover, professor economics at the University of Alabama and a member of the Institute for Research on Poverty in Wisconsin. “But ultimately they hurt people more … the rates charged are extremely out of line with traditional bank rates.”
Miss Alabama Chandler Champion talks Miss America preliminaries and scholarships ahead of Sunday finale (video, gallery)
Al.com – Sept. 11
Fresh off of her first preliminary rounds for Miss America, Miss Alabama 2013 Chandler Champion swung by The Star-Ledger in Atlantic City to discuss her road to the competition, her New Jersey fans and the huge Alabama cheering squad that will be joining her. So far, she said she’s confident about the competition,especially her gown. “I already love my dress, I’m very confident in it,” she said. “And when I walked out there, I got chills. It was an amazing feeling.” She said that people in the surrounding areas have picked favorites ahead of live finale broadcast. Her family even has a pin decorated with her face. “Someone had a pin with my face on it the other day, one of the employees in the stores, “she said. New Jersey residents won’t be the only ones cheering on the Leeds native; she said that 100 people from Alabama will join her in Atlantic City before the competition ends Sunday night.
100th Birthday of a Legend: Remembering Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant
CBS 8 (Montgomery) – Sept. 11
Bama fans are celebrating the centennial of the birth of Paul “Bear” Bryant, who certainly left his mark on the world of college football. He was recognized by the houndstooth hat he wore on the sidelines.
But best known for his reputation for winning, breaking the record at the time for 323 career victories, Paul “Bear” Bryant was a legend. And his former players remember him well. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him and about him. And think of the things he taught. And things he was able to do,” said former Bama player and coach Mike Dubose. Bryant took 29 teams to bowl games and led 15 to conference championships. During the 1960s and 70s, no school won more games than the University of Alabama. But the players knew they had to work hard under the iconic coach.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Sept. 11
WAFF-NBC (Huntsville) – Sept. 11
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Sept. 11
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 11
WHNT-CBS (Huntsville) – Sept. 11
WPMI-NBC (Mobile) – Sept. 11
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 11
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