The University of Alabama has a new President. University trustees approved Stuart Bell as the successor to Dr. Judy Bonner. Bell is currently the provost and executive vice president at LSU. Alabama system Chancellor Robert Witt is recommended him for the top job in Tuscaloosa. Bell says he’s ready to start next month. He was the only person recommended for the presidency following a four-month search. Bonner is retiring after less than three years. She's the first woman to hold the presidency at Alabama.
State lawmakers didn’t pass a general fund budget this year. But Governor Bentley and the House and Senate are taking stock this week of what they did do. The state approved a six billion dollar education budget which expands the Pre-K program. Jeana Ross is the commissioner of the Department for Children Affairs. She says eighteen hundred four year olds can now join up.
“Having a good solid Pre-K goes further, there are long term effects that have been proven. That child is more likely to graduate from high school, go to college, be gainfully employed, and less likely to be a teenage parent or to ever be incarcerated."
Governor Bentley says he will call a special session later this summer to address the general fund budget.
More police officers in the city of Birmingham may soon be wearing body cameras. That is, assuming that help comes from Washington. The City Council approved an application for a six hundred thousand dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Justice grant for the cameras. Buying new technology may not end all the arguments. The ACLU is suggesting that police archive all their body camera video for six months. Some departments say that’s not financially feasible.
Future chess champions are being groomed in Hoover this week during the first session of Chess Kids Nation’s Fourth Annual Summer Chess Camp. A-P-R Student reporter Josh Hollis reports…
The first session of Chess Kids Nation’s Fourth Annual Summer Chess Camp is currently underway. The campers are trained in puzzle solving as well as learning to think several moves ahead. Balagee Govindan is the founder of Chess Kids Nation. He says the camp is open to anyone from kindergarten to high school.
“We take all sorts of players. They can be beginners, intermediate, or advanced. We have about five coaches who will be teaching classes for us and all the coaches are professional chess players and also state champions, both in Alabama and Georgia.”
Govindan says a tournament is held on the last day of camp so that campers can apply the skills they’ve learned throughout the week. At the end of camp, attendees are provided with completion certificates signed by their coaches. ?
