Heads and tales: Mortarboard melancholy
By Wade Kwon
Grad expectations: A new study places Alabama at 44th in the nation in high school graduation rates. Only 60.7 percent of high school students graduate, though the state school officials say the rate is 82 percent. The study says only 42 percent of black men graduate, while 44.5 percent of Hispanic students graduate. The study didn’t include state high school diplomas for vocational or advanced academic tracks. Hmm, we earned an advanced academic diploma (we took AP basket weaving and advanced lunch), but we don’t count. Shucks.
• State ranks low in graduation study [Birmingham News]
A sporting chance: The Southeastern Conference, headquartered in Birmingham, wants to be on TV. Forget the CBS college football package or the NCAA basketball tournament. We’re talking one channel, 24 hours, seven days. Current TV contracts expire in 2009, so it’s never too early to start programming your own network. We suggest “Leave It to Bear,” “So You Think You Can Coach,” “The War Eagle at Home” and “Everybody Hates Finebaum.”
• SEC studies own TV network [Birmingham News]
Bookstore bonanza: If your book club is looking for its next read, Black and White has a few suggestions. Its book issue has reviews of current hot reads, including the memoir from Birmingham’s Howell Raines.
• The book issue [Black and White]
Kill effects: DeWayne Wickham, a columnist for Gannett News Service and USA Today, points out that Birmingham and Charlotte, N.C., were named Most Livable Cities in 2004. Now, rising crime rates in both cities are making them less desirable. One professor blames the real culprits, video games and music video. Last time we checked, “Grand Theft Auto” didn’t rob us at gunpoint and Busta didn’t swipe our DVD player.
• Violence is making the nation’s most ‘livable’ cities less so [Gannett News Service]
Also:
- Hot enough to make meth on the sidewalk
- City budget passes without any fatalities
- Roebuck pawn shops offer baby-sitting, coffee, wi-fi
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Friday, June 23, 2006, 6:30 pm
“Only 60.7 percent of high school students graduate, though the state school officials say the rate is 82 percent.”
Yeah, and according to my license, state officials also say I weigh 115.