LSU provost Stuart Bell is top pick for next University of Alabama president
Tuscaloosa News – June 9
The University of Alabama System chancellor is expected to recommend a top administrator at Louisiana State University as the nominee to be the next president of the Capstone when the UA board of the trustees meets on June 18. “I am honored by the recommendation that Chancellor (Robert) Witt will be making, and I am just very excited to sit down with trustees on the 18th and talking about the position,” said LSU Executive Vice President and Provost Stuart Bell, the university’s chief academic and operating officer. Witt is scheduled to make the recommendation on June 18 during a specially called meeting of the full board of trustees, system spokeswoman Kellee Reinhart confirmed. The trustees will meet in the morning ahead of their regularly scheduled committee meetings at the Bryant Conference Center on the UA campus on June 18. The full board is also scheduled to meet for its regular meeting on June 19. Bell and the system office confirmed he would officially start July 15 if approved by the board of trustees.
Al.com – June 8
Greater Baton Rouge Business Report – June 8
Bayou Buzz (La.) – June 8
Alabama writers gather for inaugural induction into hall of fame
Tuscaloosa News – June 8
Harper Lee was unable to attend, but 270 other literary figures, academics, friends, family and lovers of literature witnessed the induction ceremony of the first 12 members of the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on Monday. Fittingly for an evening about writers, the word took precedence, as, following a cocktail hour and dinner in the Bryant Conference Center, performers from Theatre Tuscaloosa, along with historian, writer and educator Wayne Flynt, read from the works of the diverse first class of honorees, poets, essayists, novelists and memoirists from across the state’s centuries: Johnson Jones Hooper (1815-1862); Augusta Jane Evans Wilson (1835-1909); Helen Keller (1880-1968); Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960); William March (1894-1954); Albert Murray (1916-2013); Helen Norris Bell (1916-2013); Andrew Glaze (born in 1920); Harper Lee (born in 1926); Sonia Sanchez (born in 1934); Sena Jeter Naslund (born in 1942); Rick Bragg (born in 1959).
Montgomery Advertiser – June 8
Al.com – June 8
Tuscaloosa News (gallery) – June 8
Michigan Live – June 8
The Economic Times (India) – June 8
Chattanooga Times Free (Tenn.) – June 8
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – June 8
Fox6 (Birmingham) – June 8
Alabama’s income tax hits poor harder than most, but it wasn’t always so
Al.com – June 8
Alabama’s relatively flat income tax hits low-income residents harder than in most states, but it wasn’t always so, according to a budget primer produced by the anti-poverty Arise Citizens’ Policy Project. “The Alabama Tax & Budget Handbook,” an update from the first publication in 2005, notes that the state income tax started out highly progressive. When the state Legislature first levied the income tax in 1935 – using authorization from a 1933 constitutional amendment – the tax did not kick in until after the first $3,600 of income for a family of four. That was high enough to keep most people from paying taxes. Arise notes that the average teacher salary, for instance, was about $500. Only about 7,000 people, less than a quarter of 1 percent of the population, earned enough to be taxed, according to the report … Susan Pace Hamill, a University of Alabama School of Law professor who has studied the state’s tax system, said then-Gov. Benjamin Meek Miller barnstormed the state to build support for his tax initiative. She said he would ask folks for a show of hands who paid the federal income tax, which at the time was a levy only on the extreme wealthy. Almost no one would raise his hand. “He would say, ‘If you don’t pay Uncle Sam, you don’t pay Alabama,'” Hamill said.
Choosing child care? 5 tips for finding the best place for your child
Deseret News – June 8
It’s summertime, and that means school is out. While some parents may enjoy the luxury of spending all day, every day, with their children, others have careers that require finding someone to keep their child during the workday. Whether you are hiring a nanny or leaving your child at a child care facility, trusting someone else with the care of your child can be a scary thing. Many try to find a family member to babysit their child, but sometimes life situations require that you turn to strangers in caring for your most precious possession. Here are a few tips when looking for the perfect person or facility to care for your child: Make a list and check it twice Before you begin visiting care facilities or asking friends for recommendations, be sure to make a list of qualifications or qualities you would like your caregiver to possess. Some of the items on your list may be essential qualifications, while others may be negotiable, but you can be the judge of that. A list will give you a better idea of what is most important to you … The fee for child care will obviously be important to discuss, but other numbers should be set in stone. First, a consistent schedule is essential in a child’s development. Discuss hours from the beginning and create an agreement. According to the University of Alabama, this consistency is vital because it frees a child’s mind of worry and teaches him accountability for his actions.