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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

NOTE ON FORMATTING: When stories are transferred from the Web, certain punctuation marks and other marks in this report don't carry over and result in symbols and other formatting errors. To see or print the story in full without these translation errors, simply click on "full story" at the end of each item."

Total Clips: 11

	Date	Outlet
Carlisle: Dismissed suit doesn't solve 'term limit problem'	12/12/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
AU hoping to fill trustee seat	12/12/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Auburn Doesn't Plan to Forward Its Audit	12/12/2006	New York Times
Riley moves on filling Auburn trustee vacancy: Tells selection panel to choose District 5 nominee	12/12/2006	Huntsville Times
Business owners told to prepare for bird flu	12/12/2006	Press-Register
December 25 is not winter solstice day	12/12/2006	Gadsden Times
State gets an 'F' on higher ed	12/12/2006	Montgomery Advertiser
BRIEFLY: Johnson atop cart before fall	12/12/2006	Atlanta Journal Constitution
Congress to cut projects	12/12/2006	Birmingham News
Auburn announces scholarship program	12/12/2006	Montgomery Advertiser
Scientists Discover First Egg-based Vaccine Against Bird Flu	12/11/2006	Nigeria Guardian


Carlisle: Dismissed suit doesn't solve 'term limit problem' 12/12/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
The lawsuit over term limits of the Board of Trustees at Auburn University may be over, but the question it raised is still unanswered. Although the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed the suit last month brought by Trustee Dwight Carlisle of Tallassee against AU President Ed Richardson, Gov. Bob Riley and other board members, Carlisle said it was worth it. "Even though we did not even get our case heard, we had the courage to file," he said. Both the university and Carlisle spent numerous hours and money to reach an end, and yet all the effort did not result in an answer to what Carlisle calls the "term limit problem." Carlisle's suit started in March when he questioned the October opinion of Attorney General Troy King, which claimed the term limits of some board members were different than expected. According to King, the term of Charles Ball of Gadsden ended much sooner than expected, while Montgomery banker Bobby Lowder would serve until 2011, not 2007 as previously believed. King said Ball was not supposed to fill a full seven-year term since he had been appointed to fill a partial term in 2004. Ball subsequently left the board, Feb. 9, 2005, the day before King said his term would end. Carlisle's suit continued throughout the summer as the defense team for AU claimed he didn't have the right to bring forth a suit questioning King's opinion. Once Lee County Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker said he did, the matter was sent to the Alabama Supreme Court. The high court ruled last month, claiming Carlisle did not have the standing to file the suit, consequently ending the debate. Brian Ketter, AU director of public affairs, said the university spent approximately $230,000 on the suit, most of which covered the cost of retaining outside legal counsel. Other costs were roughly $5,000 for King’s opinion, $100 fee for filing with the supreme court, and about $10,000 for miscellaneous fees. Carlisle would not divulge specific amounts he paid, but insisted it was "only a modest amount." If the suit ever drew lines among Carlisle and other board members, he said that is not the case any more. "At this time, the trustees are united in moving Auburn forward on several fronts," said Carlisle, including recruiting a new president, the new Auburn Research Park, the initiative to improve academic accountability of Auburn students and the alternative fuel initiative. "This can be the most important project that we can accomplish in the immediate future," he said of the latter. "This project can be of enormous benefit to our nation’s well being. We must move this project ahead with all deliberate haste. We have the expertise in fuels, conversion processes and research to move forward quickly."
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AU hoping to fill trustee seat 12/12/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
The Auburn University Board of Trustees is looking to return to a full 14-member board in 2007. Gov. Bob Riley announced Monday that the Trustee Selection Committee will take applications for the District 5 seat previously held by Charles Ball of Gadsden until Jan. 26. The board is comprised of 14 seats - 10 for the nine districts in the state, three at-large and one for board president, Riley. Ball's abbreviated term on the board drew widespread attention this spring when Dwight Carlisle of Tallassee filed suit against AU President Ed Richardson, Riley and other board members challenging what Attorney General Troy King claimed were the actual terms of board members. King found Ball's term to end much earlier than expected because he was filling an unexpired term, while Bobby Lowder, a Montgomery banker, should serve until 2011, not 2007. According to King, trustee terms are for seven years from the date the individual is confirmed by the state Senate, not by the date they were appointed by the governor or when the term of a predecessor ends. Ball told the Associated Press he wouldn't be a candidate for his old spot because he moved to Birmingham last week, subsequently making him ineligible to represent the east Alabama district he served for two years. Ball now works for the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. He had been the planning director for the city of Gadsden. District 5 covers Chambers, Cherokee, Cleburne, DeKalb, Etowah, Marshall, Randolph and Tallapoosa counties. As specified by law, candidates must not only live in the district, but must be less than 70 years old and can't be an employee of AU or be on the selection committee. The Trustee Selection Committee consists of two members from the Board of Trustees, Earlon McWhorter and Paul Spina, and two members from the AU Alumni Board, Nancy Fortner and Dent Williams, as well as Riley. Ball wrote Riley to explain his non-candidacy. Although he can't fill his former seat, Ball did not rule out the possibility of returning to the board in the future. He said he would "love to return" if another opportunity opened up. Since the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed Carlisle’s lawsuit last month, saying he did not have the standing to file or question King’s opinion, Riley could move forward with the trustee selection process. Candidates should submit information to the Auburn University Trustee Selection Committee, Attention: Grant Davis, 105 Samford Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36489. The committee’s selection is subject to approval by the state Senate when it convenes in March.
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Auburn Doesn't Plan to Forward Its Audit 12/12/2006 New York Times Pete Thamel		Return to Top
Auburn University does not plan to forward information from an internal audit to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, a university spokesman said. The audit showed that a grade for a scholarship athlete was changed without the knowledge of the student's professor. The athlete was not identified because of privacy laws. A New York Times article published Sunday showed that the grade was changed from an incomplete to an A in the final semester, allowing the athlete to graduate. In that semester, the student received A's in four classes that did not require attendance. The grade change was made without the permission of the professor, who did not recall even meeting the student, and it nudged the student's grade-point average above the 2.0 needed to graduate. ''This is not an athletic issue,'' said the spokesman, Brian Keeter. ''The N.C.A.A. has not requested this report. We've provided a previous one to them. If they ask us to do for this, we would. But this is an academic issue.'' When asked how an issue involving an athlete's grade change was not an athletic issue, Keeter said, ''This is not an athletic issue.'' The N.C.A.A. president, Myles Brand, said in an interview yesterday that he had read the Times article but could not comment on specifics. He did applaud Auburn for conducting an internal audit, then added ''The second point is that academic fraud is, if not the worst, one of the worst offenses that an institution can commit. I mean that as a general comment. I won't comment on any particular institution.'' Keeter said that the audit was expected to reach the Auburn president, Edward R. Richardson, this week. The audit will include recommendations from the university provost. Keeter said that Richardson would not comment until he read the report, but Keeter said he expected ''substantial news'' to come out of the report. Keeter also stressed that there were now systems in place at the university to prevent a student-athlete from taking four classes that do not require attendance. The student's three other A's that semester were in courses taught by Professor Thomas Petee in a directed-readings format, a one-on-one learning style similar to independent study. After revelations in The Times in July that Petee taught up to 152 of these one-on-one courses in a semester, Auburn overhauled its directed-readings policies. Petee and another department head resigned their positions in the wake of the article. The question now is who changed the grade and how a student whom the professor, Paul Starr, could never recall meeting could receive an A in one of his courses. The report that Auburn has already forwarded to the N.C.A.A. reveals that Petee changed 55 grades from January 2003 to the spring of 2006, more than double the amount of the average faculty member in the sociology department. Although much of the information in the report is divided between athletes and nonathletes, the report does not reveal what percentage of grades changed belonged to athletes. ''I'm certain that there is an explanation for that from those that put that report together,'' Keeter said. ''I will have to get in touch with them to have that answer.'' Vanderbilt's chancellor, Gordon Gee, said Auburn was another example of the problems caused when athletic departments are run separately from the university. ''I applaud them for having fixed the problems,'' said Gee, who has dissolved the traditional structure of the athletic department at Vanderbilt and blended it with the rest of the university. ''I also think the discussion needs to continue, why that culture existed and what we as universities have to do to prevent that culture. That's not just an Auburn problem. That becomes a lot of problems for a lot of us.''
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Riley moves on filling Auburn trustee vacancy: Tells selection panel to choose District 5 nominee 12/12/2006 Huntsville Times Bob Lowry		Return to Top
MONTGOMERY - Relying on a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, Gov. Bob Riley on Monday cleared the way to fill a controversial vacancy on the Auburn University board of trustees. The seat has been vacant since October 2005 when Attorney General Troy King issued an advisory opinion saying Charles Ball's term expired in early 2005. Riley's action Monday called for the five-member Trustee Selection Committee to select a nominee from District 5 to forward to the Alabama Senate for confirmation. Auburn's trustee seats are drawn from Alabama's old congressional districts. District 5 includes Chambers, Cherokee, Cleburne, DeKalb, Etowah, Marshall, Randolph and Tallapoosa counties. Riley said Monday he would be "actively involved" in the search for Ball's replacement. At issue in Ball's case was whether he was appointed to a full seven-year term by Riley in 2004 or whether he was appointed only to serve the remaining term of former trustee and state Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe. In notifying the Senate of Ball's appointment two years ago, Riley said he was appointing Ball to a seven-year term. Riley reiterated that Monday in an interview that it was his intention that Ball serve a seven-year term. But King's opinion, sought by then-interim Auburn President Ed Richardson, found Ball was appointed only to complete Barron's term, which King determined had two years remaining under an old provision of the Alabama Constitution. That led trustee Dwight Carlisle of Tallassee to file a lawsuit questioning the ending dates of trustee terms. His suit was recently dismissed by the Alabama Supreme Court, which ruled Carlisle did not have legal standing to sue. Auburn spent roughly $230,000 defending the suit. Carlisle's attorney, Bob Harris of Decatur, a former state senator and former Auburn trustee, contended Ball was appointed for seven years and his term does not expire until 2011. "Whether he has resigned or chosen not to serve, I don't know," Harris said Monday. In his view, however, Harris said Ball should continue attending trustee meetings. "The attorney general cannot decide who serves on the board of trustees anymore than you or I can," he said. "He doesn't have that authority. The board of trustees cannot determine what the terms of its members are." King said in his advisory that the terms of trustees John Blackwell of Huntsville, Bobby Lowder of Montgomery and Paul Spina of Hoover would end in 2011, not in early 2007 as originally believed. Harris said, however, in his view, the terms of Blackwell, Lowder and Spina should expire once Riley is sworn into office for a second term. Riley said, however, he will proceed under King's opinion. "Until somebody tells me something differently, I will go with that opinion," he said. Riley also said that if Ball were still a candidate, he would vote to place him back on the board. But Ball has since moved out of the district and now lives in Birmingham. Harris said he has already recommended to Riley a replacement for Blackwell, though he would not identify the individual. Though Carlisle's suit failed, Harris predicted a legal challenge that will ask the courts to answer the "substantive question" and not just the legal standing to file suit. Under constitutional revision of Auburn's trustee selection process, the selection committee consists of two members from the board of trustees, two members from the Auburn alumni board and the governor or his designee. Members of the selection committee for filling the District 5 seat are trustees Earlon McWhorter and Spina, alumni board members Nancy Fortner and Dent Williams, and Riley, who, as governor, is president of the board. "Auburn is recognized as one of the best public universities in the nation," Riley said in a statement. "Selecting a trustee who will help ensure Auburn's continued success and achievement is vital. Our goal is to select the very best and most capable person for this seat." Candidates for the District 5 seat must live in the district, be less than 70 years old when appointed, not be employed by Auburn and not be a member of the Trustee Selection Committee.
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Business owners told to prepare for bird flu 12/12/2006 Press-Register Penelope McClenny, staff reporter		Return to Top
Robert Norton, research leader and professor in the AU department of poultry science, is quoted in this story. South Alabamians need to be prepared to help themselves and their businesses in the event of a bird flu outbreak and should expect the virus to arrive in the state via humans rather than birds, experts said during a conference Monday. Several speakers representing backgrounds in health, poultry science and biochemistry addressed the possibility of an outbreak of avian influenza during a regular meeting of the Mobile chapter of InfraGard. The organization, created by an Ohio office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, pools private, public, nonprofit and other types of businesses to help protect the nation's infrastructure. In its sixth year, the local chapter has about 75 members from a wide variety of businesses and organizations, and is still growing, said President Chris Dow. This month, the group turned its attention to avian influenza, a virus that originates in birds but can infect humans and have a huge impact on an area's infrastructure. "It's a bear. It's hard to wrap your arms around," said Melissa Tucker, director of epidemiology for the Mobile County Health Department. "This is stuff that's really going to affect our economic life here." To get an idea of how a flu pandemic -- an epidemic that spreads around the world -- can affect everyday life, experts look to the 1918 influenza pandemic. That outbreak killed as many as 50 million worldwide and 500,000 in the United States. In addition, many became so sick they could not report to work. So far, the most recent strain of avian influenza has not mutated into a form that can be transmitted from human to human, keeping the number of cases worldwide to around 300. That mutation could occur at any time, however, and Tucker and others are urging business leaders to develop plans for their companies to deal with the potential impact. "Can your company work with half of your workers gone?" Tucker asked, saying that studies predict 40 percent or more of an area's work force could be affected. "We're not going to be able to get help from anybody else. We're going to have to be self-sufficient. "Businesses need to appoint a pandemic coordinator who can begin making plans now for how the most essential tasks could be carried on with a reduction in workforce," Tucker said. Bird flu is most likely to arrive in Alabama on the wings of a jet rather than a chicken, Robert Norton, a research leader and professor in the department of poultry science at Auburn University, said Monday. Once human-to-human transmission is identified, the Atlanta airport and Mobile's port are much more of a threat than the state's poultry farms, he said. "It's not going to come from poultry and cross into people," Norton said. "You're not at risk from chickens; you're at risk from travelers." Alabama is home to more than 3,500 poultry growers, including 19 complexes that process 1 million birds a week. Norton urged people not to be worried about the poultry they eat. "In the same countries where we lost 300 people to avian influenza, we lost 15,000 to malaria," he said. "It's not that we should worry about malaria, it's that we should take the problem of avian influenza and put it into perspective." Julio F. Turrens, a biochemist at the University of South Alabama, also said bird flu is currently much less of a problem than other diseases worldwide. If the virus mutates, however, that will change. "When we cross species, it's a major problem," he said. "All we need is that single step, and then we're in a lot of trouble."
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December 25 is not winter solstice day 12/12/2006 Gadsden Times Gary Palmer		Return to Top
**AU is mentioned in a story about how public entities acknowledge seasonal holidays. Every year starting around Thanksgiving the country engages in what has become an annual annoyance of secular liberals trying to redefine the celebration of Christmas. Such activities were once confined to strongholds of liberalism such as Massachusetts or California. But now the "anti-Christmas" crowd is annoying people in every state, even in Alabama. Last year at Auburn University the student government association announced that instead of a Christmas tree they would be having a "holiday tree." This year the SGA decided to call the evergreen tree decorated with lights what everyone else calls it - a Christmas tree. Unfortunately, sensible reversals acknowledging that we are celebrating Christmas, such as occurred at Auburn, are usually the exception. Public schools all over the country have started referring to the Christmas break as a "Winter Holiday" and many schools have censored all mention of Christmas, including banning students from singing carols that relate Christmas to the birth of Christ. The standard line from public school officials is that Christ-centered carols might invoke images that might offend someone. Songs about a virgin having a child in a stable and angels proclaiming the birth to shepherds out in the field watching their flocks by night might cause some children to ask questions about the baby the angels were so excited about. It could get kind of awkward at that point because a teacher might have to tell a first grader that some people believe the child the angels were referring to was the Son of God. If you think this is an exaggeration, think again. One New York school changed the name of a Christmas fundraising breakfast from "Breakfast with Santa" to "Winter Wonderland Breakfast" because one parent claimed that she and others were offended that the school was sponsoring a program geared toward one religion. You see, one of the earliest references to Santa Claus mentions a fourth century bishop named Saint Nicholas of Myra, who was famous for his giving generous gifts to the poor in his home town of Anatolia, which is in present-day Turkey. This nonsense has now crossed over to the private sector. Some department stores such as Best Buy, Lowe's and Rite Aid have instructed their employees not to say "Merry Christmas." According to the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, one spokesperson for Best Buy said that they consider the use of "Merry Christmas" to be disrespectful. A vast minority Disrespectful to whom? Given that polls indicate that about 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, I think it would be a safe assumption that the vast majority of these stores' customers are doing Christmas shopping and not holiday shopping and that they would not be offended by a salesperson wishing them a "Merry Christmas." As goofy as these examples are they are not the goofiest. This year's prize for politically correct goofiness goes to the city of Chicago. Since 1997 the city of Chicago has hosted "Christkindlmarket," a downtown open-air festival and outdoor bazaar modeled after the German Nuremberg Christmas market. More than a million people will visit the market where Christmas themed items of all types will be sold. The whole festival is Christmas themed, yet the people in charge of the event decided to ban the showing of clips of the New Line Cinema movie, "The Nativity Story," and banned the studio as a sponsor of the event because they were concerned that the film clips of the movie would be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts. In addition, according to Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Special Events, the city does not want to appear to endorse one religion over another. The city of Chicago may not want to appear to endorse one religion over another, but it has no problem hosting a commercial event based on the birth of Christ that will draw a million people in town to spend their money. Even the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune thinks the decision to ban clips of a film about the birth of Christ from the city's Christmas festival is a bit extreme, especially in view of the fact that the ACLU did not object to a Fairfax County, Virginia public high school showing the film. This sort of nonsense is going on all over the country. The problem is that while we live in a pluralistic society, we also live in a democracy in which the few should not get to mess up the things the rest of us enjoy or revere just because they feel slighted or left out. If we want to have a national debate over what to call the trees we decorate at this time of year or the meaning of the carols we sing or the symbolism of the gifts we exchange, fine. But one thing 95 percent of the people will know going into the debate is that, no matter how much the secular liberals try to deny it, December 25 is not a day to celebrate the winter solstice. It is Christmas Day, the day that people all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ.
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State gets an 'F' on higher ed 12/12/2006 Montgomery Advertiser Associated Press		Return to Top
This story is about the ACHE report on affordability of Alabama's colleges and universities. It also appeared on the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Southwest Florida Herald-Tribune, Decatur Daily, Gadsden Times and Tuscaloosa News and was broadcast on WPMI-TV (Mobile). A report from the Alabama Commission on Higher Education gives the state a failing grade for the affordability of its colleges and universities. The report, presented to the commission Friday, follows a national study that gave Alabama an "F" -- along with 42 other states -- in putting the price of a college education increasingly beyond the reach of many students. "Alabama has lost considerable ground in making higher education affordable," said Elizabeth French, director of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning for ACHE, who presented the report to the agency. Because of slow growth in the state education budget and a diversion of money to K-12 schools, Alabama's public colleges and universities began imposing double-digit tuition increases in the mid-1990s, The Huntsville Times reported Monday. In the past two years, tuition at Auburn University and the University of Alabama has increased by more than $1,000 a year. A report in September from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found affordability to be a national problem, with Alabama among 43 states getting an "F" in that category. The San Jose, Calif.-based center is an independent and nonpartisan group that publishes its Measuring Up report every two years. French, in Friday's report, said families in Alabama must devote a larger share of income to tuition than those in the best performing states. For low- and middle-income students in community college, net education costs represent 36 percent of their family's annual income. For four-year public schools, that rises to 39 percent. Only about 20 percent of Alabamians hold bachelor's degrees, but the report said Alabama has shown a high level of improvement in this area. The report also cites some other positive points. In the past 12 years, the state has narrowed the gap between whites and nonwhites receiving bachelor's degrees. And a large percentage of first-year students at four-year schools return for their second year.
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BRIEFLY: Johnson atop cart before fall 12/12/2006 Atlanta Journal Constitution Wire Services		Return to Top
This roundup of news briefs cites the New York Times story about AU's internal audit on athletes and grades. Jimmie Johnson was "horsing around" on top of a moving golf cart when he fell off and broke his left wrist, his team told The Associated Press on Monday. The version clarifies what happened during the celebrity tournament in Lecanto, Fla., one day after the Nextel Cup champion said in a statement that he was "in" the cart when he fell out. "I was in a golf cart and the driver took a sharp turn," Johnson said Sunday. "I wasn't holding on tight enough, landed awkwardly on the ground and heard a little pop." That account differed from one in Monday's edition of the Citrus County (Fla.) Chronicle, which had a reporter at the Black Diamond Ranch who witnessed Johnson horsing around during the Mike Hampton Pitching In celebrity tournament. The newspaper said Johnson was sprawled across the top of the cart Friday as it headed toward the 16th hole when his playing partner hit a berm, throwing Johnson several feet. Johnson was unavailable for comment, but a spokeswoman confirmed he was on top of the cart. "Jimmie was horsing around and was on top of the golf cart when he fell off," spokeswoman Kristine Curley said. "He wasn't trying to deceive anyone and is sorry if anyone believes he was being untruthful." BASEBALL: Tigers sign Mesa, Inge Reliever Jose Mesa and the Detroit Tigers agreed to a $2.5 million, one-year contract. Detroit also announced a $24 million, four-year deal with third baseman Brandon Inge. . . . Free agent Jay Payton agreed to a $9.5 million, two-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles . . . Free agent Kenny Lofton reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year deal with the Texas Rangers worth about $6 million. HOCKEY: Air hunt suspended The U.S. Coast Guard's aerial search for the daughter of hockey great Bob Gainey was suspended Monday night, three days after a large wave washed Laura Gainey off the deck of the tall ship Picton Castle into the Atlantic during a storm off Nova Scotia. Petty Officer Larry Chambers said the U.S. Coast Guard's search about 475 miles off Cape Cod was on hold, but the Picton Castle would continue looking for her. COLLEGES: Auburn grade altered An internal audit completed by Auburn University shows a grade for a scholarship athlete was changed from an incomplete to an A without the knowledge of the student's professor, The New York Times reported. The change enabled the student, who was not identified because of privacy laws, to graduate. The audit showed that the student received A's in four classes that semester that did not require attendance. SOCCER: Adu run ends in D.C. Freddy Adu was traded from D.C. United to Real Salt Lake, ending a sometimes tumultuous three-year run in Washington for the highly touted teenager who clashed with his coach.
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Congress to cut projects 12/12/2006 Birmingham News Mary Orndorff, Washington correspondent		Return to Top
AU in included in this story about budget cuts for federally funded local projects. WASHINGTON - Congress will not pay for special local projects in 2007, incoming Democratic leaders announced Monday, a startling move that scraps millions of dollars for construction and research across Alabama, including another $30 million for a new biomedical complex at UAB. Nine of the 11 federal spending bills went unfinished by the Republican-controlled 109th Congress, leaving them for after the Democrats take over in January. But instead of handling partially finished bills laden with thousands of earmarks - money for local use requested by lawmakers and not subject to competition or review - Democrats decided to wipe the slate clean and fund the government in 2007 at the same levels as 2006, without the add-ons. The slashing was announced Monday night by the new Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate appropriations committees, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin. "The outgoing Republican leadership's failure to govern has denied the new Congress the opportunity to start with a fresh slate," Byrd and Obey said in a statement. "It is important we clear the decks quickly so that we can get to work on the American people's priorities, the president's anticipated war funding request and a new budget." Eliminating earmarks for 2007 affects nearly every member of Congress. There were more than 15,000 earmarks worth more than $50 billion last year. Members usually are lauded by constituents for steering money back home. But sometimes projects are ridiculed as parochial and wasteful, such as when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., mocked money to renovate Vulcan atop Red Mountain a few years ago. With three Alabama lawmakers on the House and Senate appropriation committees, the process has been especially generous to cities, counties, airports, colleges and museums in Alabama. Using a narrow definition of earmarks, Congress last year approved 291 special projects worth $345 million for Alabama. A similar amount had been on tap for 2007. Now, they're gone. "This is a huge disappointment for projects that are important to the Fourth Congressional District and for the rest of Alabama," said Hood Harris, chief of staff to Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. On Birmingham's Southside is clear evidence of what earmarks can build and what Monday's decision means. The Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Complex at the University of Alabama at Birmingham already has gotten $60 million in special federal funding over the years and was in line for $30 million in 2007 for the second phase. The building is named for Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and his wife. Shelby, who drops from chairman to ranking Republican on one of the Senate appropriations subcommittees, has been Alabama's most aggressive advocate of earmarking and had tried to convince his fellow Republicans to finish the bills before the end of the year. "This is the decision made by incoming leadership and the senator believes we must look ahead," said his spokeswoman, Katie Boyd. "Senator Shelby looks forward to fiscal year 2008 and plans to work vigorously to secure funding for meritorious projects throughout Alabama." Examples of some of the 2007 items left in the dust are $10 million for a health services facility at UA; $400,000 for the preservation of the Greene County Courthouse Square; $200,000 for Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park; $5 million for a science facility at Alabama State University; $2 million for drought research at several universities; and $13 million for the National Textile Center at Auburn University.
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Auburn announces scholarship program 12/12/2006 Montgomery Advertiser		Return to Top
AUBURN -- Auburn University athletic director Jay Jacobs announced Monday the athletic department has committed $100,000 for a new scholarship program to benefit children of former Auburn student-athletes. Funds for the Legacy & Loyalty Scholarship program will be awarded to eligible dependents of former AU varsity student-athletes who excel in the classroom and demonstrate leadership qualities. The program includes "Legacy" scholarships of $5,000 and "Loyalty" scholarships of $3,000 to eligible students planning to attend or those currently enrolled at Auburn. "We have an obligation to honor the legacy of the men and women who have made Auburn great," Jacobs said. "I can think of no better way for us to give back to our former student-athletes than by opening doors of opportunity for their children, especially those who have excelled academically and shown leadership potential. This program also demonstrates our commitment to fulfilling Auburn's mission of creating a diverse and academically superior student body." -- Special to the Advertiser
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Scientists Discover First Egg-based Vaccine Against Bird Flu 12/11/2006 Nigeria Guardian		Return to Top
**This AU avian flu vaccine research story continues to receive national and international coverage. Scientists Discover First Egg-based Vaccine Against Bird Flu The world's first in ovo , or egg-injected, vaccine to protect chickens against avian influenza has been developed. The vaccine was developed by an Auburn University veterinary professor in collaboration with researchers at Vaxin of Birmingham, Alabama, US. The research, which has been published in the scientific journal Vaccine , is expected to provide 100 per cent protection once an outbreak's strain is determined. "We have proven the principle, which is the major step in leading to commercially produced vaccine that could be vital to the poultry industry," said Haroldo Toro, the Auburn University professor. "When an outbreak occurs, we would determine the strain and quickly create a vaccine within three months specifically for it." The researchers inserted a gene from a low pathogenic avian flu virus strain (H5N9) into a non-replicating human virus, which was then injected into developing chicken embryos still in the egg. When protection induced by the vaccine was tested against two highly pathogenic avian flu viruses, a Vietnam H5N1 strain and a Mexican H5N2 strain, the results showed 68 per cent and 100 per cent protection, respectively. "These strains have slightly different genetic make-ups which account for the different percentages in protection," said Toro, who is also collaborating on this project with the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory . "Our results indicate that we can provide effective protection against any strain after incorporating the gene of the field strain into our vaccine construct." In the case of an outbreak of avian influenza, mass vaccination programmes around the perimeter region would help to reduce the risk of further dissemination of the field virus to neighbouring areas. "We can vaccinate lots of birds in a quick, cost- and labour-saving manner which otherwise would not be possible," Toro said. "Most poultry operations already have automated injection machines to vaccinate against Marek's disease, injecting up to 40,000 eggs per minute. Our vaccine is produced through cell cultures, so we can easily make enough vaccine for thousands of birds." Toro's research is funded through a USDA programme set up in 2004 for universities to study avian influenza. The next step is gaining federal approval to commercially produce the vaccine.
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