'scope it out for November 24, 2009
Published On: 11/23/2009
Communications professor died Thursday
Kaleidoscope Staff Report
Dr. William Self was found dead in his home on Thursday. Services were held on Sunday. He taught Mass Media Law as an associate professor in the Communications Department. Self was 53.
Bill would give ethics commission subpoena power
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A bill has been prefiled in the Alabama Legislature that would give the state ethics commission the power to subpoena witnesses and records.
Democratic state Rep. Alvin Holmes of Montgomery said he prefiled the bill because he doesn’t believe the commission can properly do its job without the power to subpoena witnesses and documents.
The Alabama Ethics Commission has long sought subpoena power. A bill by Republican Rep. Cam Ward of Alabaster to give the commission subpoena power was approved by the House Judiciary Committee, but died without coming up for a vote on the House floor.
Claude Rains memorabilia give to UNA film library
FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — Keeping her father’s memory alive has become a sort of cause for Jessica Rains.
“I remember going to my local libraries to see if there was anything written about my dad,’’ she said of her father, Hollywood legend Claude Rains. “I found 26 for Bette Davis but none for my dad. That was outrageous to me.’’
To help honor his life and work, Rains, an actress in her own right, donated a number of items from her father’s estate to the archives at Collier Library at the University of North Alabama. Included in the collection that will be on permanent display beginning Monday are three original scripts from some of his more well-known works, “Casablanca,’’ Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious’’ and “The Wolf Man.’’
“Casablanca,’’ which starred Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay in 1942. It joins another Oscar-winning film in UNA’s archives, “Marty,’’ which came to campus compliments of actor Ernest Borgnine. “Marty’’ won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay in 1955.
Although Rains never won an Academy Award, he was nominated for the industry’s top honor four times.
Other memorabilia include photographs with Claude Rains from the sets of some of his films, DVDs of his works and the recent biography on Rains’ life written by David Skal.
Unemployment rate rises to 10.9 percent in Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Just two years after hitting a record low, the unemployment rate in Alabama climbed to 10.9 percent in October, the highest it has been in more than 25 years, state officials announced Friday.
The rate rose from 10.7 percent in September and was worse than the national jobless rate of 10.2 percent for October. The 10.9 percent unemployment rate matches the figure last reached in February 1984 when Alabama was struggling in another deep national recession. It also comes just two years after hitting a record low of 3.1 percent for October of 2007.
Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees said the rate represents nearly 227,000 people who were unemployed in the state in October, up from about 223,000 in September.
Surtees said job gains in October were in government, professional and business services, trade, transportation, utilities and educational and health services. He said job losses were in financial services, manufacturing, natural resources and mining.
Surtees said one bright spot was that Alabama has already begun paying an extension of federal unemployment benefits that was signed into law on Nov. 6.
Sam Addy, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, said he expects the jobless rate to go over 11 percent and continue to rise until late 2010.
He said he expects it will be 2013 or 2014 before the state’s unemployment rate returns to lower levels.
The unemployment rate for October was highest in Wilcox County at 25.1 percent, followed by Dallas County at 21.9 percent and Conecuh County at 20.5 percent. Unemployment was the lowest in Shelby County, with 7.4 percent, Madison County at 7.5 percent and Coffee County at 8.3 percent.
