College News: Number of Ala.-born residents still high, but outsiders double
Birmingham News – Nov. 22
…"In 1960, there just weren't very many interstate highways," said Annette Watters, co-director of the Alabama State Data Center in Tuscaloosa. "... Now, surface travel is not difficult, it's customary, and it just has led people to the notion that 'I don't have to stay here.' "The phenomenon of leaving home is very pronounced now," she said…Longtime University of Alabama political science professor William Stewart says the more outsiders Alabama receives, the better it will be. "I think it's a wholesome development ... because I think we have been too insulated and I think we have been too isolated from what's going on in the rest of the country and the rest of the world," Stewart said…

Stores hope to see black today
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 23
…“That’s what sparks or doesn’t spark the momentum for the rest of the holiday season,” said Kristy Reynolds, Bruno associate professor of marketing at the University of Alabama…

Opinion: We have much to give thanks over this season
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 22
…The University of Alabama's growth has been a significant factor in stabilizing the local economy. President Robert Witt's focus on growth and excellence are paying big dividends far beyond the borders of the campus. The university is attracting top-tier professors and students recruited from across the United States. It has been an up and down year for the sports programs, but the Crimson Tide teams continue to bring national attention to Tuscaloosa…

Digging deep for the truth
Birmingham News – Nov. 23
University Honors students performing an archaeological dig on the banks on the Black Warrior River near campus have found the earliest known permanent settlement within Tuscaloosa's present limits. According Jim Knight, the professor of anthropology leading the dig, the Indians that settled the site 1,000 to 1,100 years ago were from the Woodland-era Baytown Culture, the first to intensively cultivate corn.
The honors class, open to non-anthropology students, has been excavating pits, just yards from Tuscaloosa's Riverwalk, a paved trail running along the river from the campus to downtown…

Early Alabamians had their own Iron Bowl
Birmingham News – Nov. 23
Could there have been an early Iron Bowl among Indians who lived on the banks of the Black Warrior River? Possibly, says University of Alabama's Jim Knight, a professor of anthropology. A game similar to lacrosse is described in early historic accounts. Ball play between rival towns was an extremely important event among our southeastern Indians," Knight said…

Opinion: Task force's goal: Statewide plan for dealing with autism
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 25
…The task force is also using the expertise of researchers from the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in carrying out its mission…Laura Grofer Klinger, director of UA's Autism Spectrum Disorders Research Clinic, agreed parents "are struggling," but said Alabama is not the only state behind the curve when it comes to meeting the needs of the autistic. "We are going to have to look at revamping the continuum of care for autism in the state and, hopefully, getting a coordinated system of care in place," she said.

Tense Thanksgiving?
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 22
…Emily Cochrane Jamison, director of the president’s and chancellor’s events for the University of Alabama, helped provide responses that answer the question and avert disaster. Jamison has taught etiquette classes for more than 25 years…

“Yea Alabama”
WHNT (Huntsville) –Nov. 23
To get ready for the Iron Bowl, a special story on the history of Alabama’s fight song.