Heads and tales: Two steps forward or back
By Wade Kwon
Graduated success: Auburn’s football team is ranked No. 3. But not in the BCS or the AP, but the APR. That’s the Academic Progress Report issued by the NCAA, avoiding possible scholarship penalties. Only Stanford and Boston College ranked higher among the six BCS conferences. But not so fast: Columnist Ray Melick raises questions about the “improvements”: How did these schools make this kind of drastic improvement? Was it due to really hard work in the classroom by the athletes on the teams in question, or did advisors steer student athletes into easier classes? Has the purpose of college now become doing whatever it takes to make minimum APR score, or is it to graduate students? Well, duh, it’s B.
• Auburn football academic rank is 3rd best in nation [Birmingham News]
For whom Ma Bell tolls: What will AT&T’s $67 billion buyout of Bellsouth mean for Alabama employees? Across the company, it means 10,000 jobs cut. Bellsouth’s Alabama president Thomas Hamby says, “The majority of our 7,000 jobs in Alabama are service-related. While there may be some small reductions, my guess is that about 95 percent of our employees will not be affected.” OK, that’s one way to put it. The other way: a possible 350 jobs cut. But good spin, nonetheless.
• BellSouth’s Hamby says 95% of employees won’t be affected [Birmingham Business Journal]
To have and have less: Alabama is low. How low is it? It’s so low, it’ll tax any family making $4,600 and up. That’s $88 a week. That’s low. So low, that Alabama is the worst state in gouging the poor. The next worst is West Virginia, which doesn’t start taxing until the income level is $10,000 for a family of four. The Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities put out the study.
• Alabama remains top taxer of poor [Birmingham News]
Also:
- Old online dating profile haunts Southside single
- Mulga plant prepares workforce with viral video on forklift safety
- Bad boss believes she’s actually a good boss
• • •
Send us your news tips.
