January 2012 ARCHIVE

Hyundai’s Alabama plant, employees to be featured in Super Bowl ad (video)

(31st January, 2012)

Nearly 200 employees of Hyundai’s Montgomery auto plant will be featured in a TV spot to air during this Sunday’s Super Bowl. The Korean automaker, in its fifth consecutive year as a Super Bowl sponsor, has used the big stage to show off its Alabama employees and products in previous years. This year’s ad, one [...]

Spend less but create more jobs (editorial)

(31st January, 2012)

A NEW poll from the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama could provide some cover for state legislators in the upcoming session. “Jobs and the economy” was cited as the most important issue for legislators to deal with, garnering support from 32 percent of the 541 people polled statewide. But 22 percent offered no opinion, [...]

Trenholm State Awarded Grant to Enhance Emergency Warning System

(31st January, 2012)

Trenholm State Technical College is the recipient of an Alertus Desktop Grant Initiative in the amount of $38,950 from Alertus Technologies. “The grant will be used to purchase proprietary software from Alertus that allows us to expand our existing emergency mass notification system and to deploy the software on all desktops and laptops at the [...]

GSCC to host Etowah County Career Fair

(31st January, 2012)

Gadsden State Community College will host an Etowah County Career Fair on February 3, from 8:00 a.m. to noon in Beck Field House on the Wallace Drive Campus. Juniors and seniors from area schools are invited, and over 1,000 students are expected to attend. The event will provide an opportunity for the students to explore [...]

Lofty plans for career tech future

(31st January, 2012)

Career technical education officials from northwest Alabama admit their plan to secure state funding may seem lofty, but on Thursday night during a meeting with legislators they were promised support in Montgomery. Gary Dan Williams, director of the Center for Technology in Muscle Shoals, …outlined the needs for career technical education to survive and progress [...]

Job availability showing signs of improvement in Wiregrass, state

(31st January, 2012)

Debra Pope hasn’t given up. Despite more than a year of being unemployed after she was laid off from an airport security job she had for five years, the mother of seven is retraining in a 20-day certified nursing assistant program with hopes of employment as soon as she finishes. … Pope said she received [...]

Community Colleges Consider Math Options

(31st January, 2012)

Remedial math is a dream killer for many students, says Robyn Toman, a math professor at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland. More than 70 percent of students start—and often end—in noncredit developmental classes, she says. “Remedial math has become the largest single barrier to student advancement.” Some community colleges are redesigning remedial classes, often [...]

Mike Rowe testifies before US Senate about the skilled trades

(31st January, 2012)

“As the host of a TV show about hard work (Dirty Jobs), people often assume I speak for tradesmen and skilled workers. In reality, I don’t. I can only speak for myself and anyone else who shares my addiction to paved roads, reliable bridges, heating, air conditioning, and indoor plumbing. ‎The initiative also will leverage [...]

Alabama’s December unemployment rate decline best in U.S.

(25th January, 2012)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Alabama’s unemployment rate declined more rapidly than any other state’s in December, providing more evidence that the Alabama economy is rebounding, experts said. Alabama’s jobless rate fell from 8.7 percent in November to 8.1 percent last month, a drop of 0.6 percentage points, the biggest decline among the states, according to a [...]

Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce to hold business marketing workshops

(25th January, 2012)

The Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce will hold two free seminars to help business people market their organizations. The Boost Your Business seminars will be Jan. 31 (Tuesday) and Feb. 2 (Thursday) and conducted by representatives of AT&T Digital Express. Both will be 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Wynfrey Hotel, 1000 Riverchase [...]