A&S in the News: April 1–7

UA group fights human trafficking

Tuscaloosa News – April 3

Alabama Interstate 20/59 has been called a superhighway of human trafficking, a criminal industry involving forced labor or sexual exploitation, according to Wellhouse of Birmingham. The University of Alabama’s Criminal Justice Student Association dedicated its efforts in April, which is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month, to fighting the problem of human trafficking.  “Our No. 1 goal is to spread awareness to everyone on campus and the people in the community because sex trafficking has become a huge problem in our backyard,” said Jazmin Dilligard, Criminal Justice Student Association president.

Mysterious cosmic explosion in the distant X-ray universe surprises astronomers

Know Ridge – April 3

A mysterious flash of X-rays has been discovered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in the deepest X-ray image ever obtained. Researchers say this source likely comes from some sort of destructive event, but it may be of a variety that scientists have never seen before. This X-ray source in the CDF-S has different properties from the as yet unexplained variable X-ray sources discovered in the elliptical galaxies NGC 5128 and NGC 4636 by Jimmy Irwin of the University of Alabama and collaborators.

FDR and Trump: From Radio to Twitter

Lucianne.com – April 2

Over at Reason (unfortunately behind a paywall here) University of Alabama professor of history David T. Beito has written a fascinating look at “Roosevelt’s War Against the Press”. The telling subtitle? “FDR Had His Own Breitbart, and Radio Was His Twitter.”

Alabama senator says he will ‘go to war’ over municipal broadband bill

Watchdog.org – April 4

Alabama state Sen. Tom Whatley recently described his legislation to allow municipal broadband expansion as a “go-to-war bill to me.” The Auburn Republican introduced SB 151 this session, which would let city broadband networks expand, but only within their home counties … Bill Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, told Watchdog.org he doesn’t expect the process to impact Bentley’s ability to sign bills in 2017. He said the governor would be given due process and afforded the ability to present his side. Besides, the gears of governance tend to grind at a leisurely pace. “Things move pretty slowly in Montgomery,” Stewart said.

Also making headlines

PORT RAIL: Marking the anniversary of our entry into WWI – April 1 – Larry Clayton

Southwestern To Host Neurobiology Symposium – March 31 – Rachel Thibodeau