"The University of Alabama on Monday announced to staff of student-run publications Alice Magazine and Nineteen Fifty-Six that the magazines would be suspended, effective immediately, in compliance with federal regulations.
In their decision, UA officials cited a memo released by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi this summer claiming that DEI initiatives can be considered discriminatory and may be in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws."
SOURCE: Here
David Sacks, the Trump administration’s A.I. and crypto czar, has helped formulate policies that aid his Silicon Valley friends and many of his own tech investments.
NY Times Story is HERE.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Cat Murphy, a college student, has wanted to be a journalist since she was 11. Many of her friends don’t understand why.
When they engage with the news — if they do — they hear a cacophony of voices. They don’t know who to believe. Reporters are biased. They make mistakes. Besides, why would you hitch your future to a dying industry?
“There is a lot of commentary — ‘Oh, good for you. Look what you’re walking into. You’re going to be screaming into the void. You’re going to be useless,’” said Murphy, a 21-year-old graduate student at the University of Maryland’s journalism school.
She is undeterred. And it’s also why she’s not surprised by the findings of a study this fall that documented negative attitudes toward the news media among 13- to 18-year-old Americans. The press rarely fares well in surveys of adults, but it’s sobering to see the same disdain among people whose opinions about the world are still forming.
Asked by the News Literacy Project for one word to describe today’s news media, 84% of teens responded with something negative — “biased,” “crazy,” “boring,” “fake, ”bad,” “depressing,” “confusing,” “scary.”
More than half of the teens surveyed believe journalists regularly engage in unethical behaviors like making up details or quotes in stories, paying sources, taking visual images out of context or doing favors for advertisers. Less than a third believe reporters correct their errors, confirm facts before reporting them, gather information from multiple sources or cover stories in the public interest — practices ingrained in the DNA of reputable journalists.
To some degree, teens reflect the attitudes they’re exposed to, particularly when the most prominent politician of their age has made “fake news” a mantra. Experts say few teens follow news regularly or learn in school about the purpose of journalism.
Journalists don’t help themselves with mistakes or ethical lapses that make headlines. Opinionated reporters or commentators in an era of political division make readers wonder what to believe.
“Some of this (attitude) is earned, but much of it is based on misperception,” said Peter Adams, senior vice president of research and design for the Washington-based News Literacy Project.
There are ways to turn things around, but it will take work.
Many of Lily Ogburn’s classmates get their information from social media. Their parents didn’t watch or read news reports as they grew up, so they didn’t pick up the habit, said Ogburn, a senior at Northwestern University’s journalism school.
Ogburn is the former editor-in-chief at the well-regarded Daily Northwestern student newspaper. The newspaper’s 2023 reports on alleged hazing and racism within the school’s football program led to the ouster of its coach. Still, she found some students don’t understand the newspaper’s role; they believe it exists to protect people in power rather than hold them accountable.
She frequently had to explain what she did to classmates. “There’s a lot of mistrust toward journalists,” she said. But it has firmed her resolve to stick with the profession.
“I want to be a journalist that people trust,” Ogburn said, “and I want to report news that makes people believe and trust in the media.”
The news industry’s financial troubles over the past two decades have hollowed out newsrooms and left fewer journalists on duty. Along with not seeing much legitimate journalism, young people frequently don’t experience it through popular culture — unlike a previous generation, which learned in detail how Washington Post reporters Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein exposed the Watergate scandal in the Academy Award-winning movie “All the President’s Men.”
When the News Literacy Project asked, two-thirds of teens couldn’t think of anything when asked what movies or TV shows come to mind when they think about journalism. Those who had answers most frequently cited the “Spider-Man” franchise or the movie “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Neither portrayal was particularly flattering.
Upon retiring as editor of Newsday, Howard Schneider helped develop the State University of New York system’s first School of Journalism. But instead of teaching future writers, editors or producers, he became drawn to teaching non-journalists about being news consumers.
Now the executive director of SUNY Stony Brook’s Center for News Literacy, Schneider wasn’t surprised about any of the recent survey’s findings, either.
“The negativity, the feeling that news is biased, is just a reflection of how their parents feel,” Schneider said. “The more exposed to news, legitimate news, the more their attitudes turn positive.”
He has developed news literacy programs for school districts. “Students will say, ‘I get my news from YouTube,’” he said. “I say, ‘No, you don’t,’” and explains where the news originates and how to be discerning about what they see.
That’s one of the lessons that 16-year-old Brianne Boyack has taken from her course in news literacy at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. She had little trust in news going in, but has learned the importance of double-checking sources when she sees something interesting and seeking outlets she’s found reliable.
Her classmate, Rhett MacFarlane, applied what he learned in class to investigate when a friend told him the Louvre was robbed in Paris.
“I’ve learned that there is definitely fact-checking (in journalism),” MacFarlane, also 16, told The Associated Press. “You guys are professionals and you have to tell the truth or you’d be fired. I thought you guys just did whatever you wanted and chose what to say about a topic.”
Still, news literacy programs in schools are relatively rare. Schools already have a lot of subjects to cover to prepare students for the future. And, remember, journalists don’t have the best reputations. It can be hard for educators to stick their necks out for them.
“There’s an inertia here,” Schneider said, “and this is an urgent issue.”
At the University of Maryland, Murphy said she didn’t think there was an inherent hatred toward journalists among her fellow students. “They don’t have any experience reading journalism,” she said.
That’s where she sees the journalism industry needing to make more of an effort. One of the things she finds most frustrating about her chosen field is a resistance to change, particularly an unwillingness or inability to make meaningful use of social media.
“There’s very little movement in the direction of going to where people are, as opposed to expecting them to come to where you are,” Murphy said. “The only way to turn it around is going to be to switch to doing things that captivate people today, as opposed to captivating people 20 years ago.”
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
From a NY Times report, in case you were wondering.
With Birmingham facing such heavy holiday traffic, it's worth seeing how it stacks up against other metros nationwide. Here's a look at the cities rounding out the top 10 spots on ConsumerAffairs' list:
Advertiser Headline:
The concluding sentence in a NY Times editorial in today's paper:
We ask a lot of those who put their lives on the line defending our nation. The least we can do is respect their free speech rights once they’ve retired.
full editorial is HERE.
“This race is already over — but if Comrade Doug wants to get blown out again, be our guest,” Communications director for Tuberville’s campaign Mallory Jaspers wrote.
The Tuberville people seem to be incapable of NOT calling names.....like 4th graders.
DEARBORN, MI - The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation will waive admission and parking fees on Monday, Dec. 1 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ act of civil disobedience.
On Dec. 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and becoming a pivotal moment in the American civil rights movement.
Visitors to the Dearborn museum will have the opportunity to see the actual bus where Parks made history. The museum also features exhibits about everyday people who sparked significant social change, according to a museum press release.
The free admission day runs from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum located at 20900 Oakwood Blvd. in Dearborn.
Generative AI was used to draft this story, based on information provided by The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. It was reviewed and edited by MLive staff.
From The Washington Post:
"Greene is waiting to formally resign until Jan. 5. That’s two days after she crosses the five-year threshold required to qualify for a lifetime congressional pension, which comes with generous health care benefits. Maybe she’s not so different from the politicians she detests. At least she won’t have to worry about paying higher insurance premiums."
"The Crimson Tide will play the Tigers at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Nov. 29. The game will be played at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The broadcast will be on ABC.
This marks the first night Iron Bowl since 2014. It’s also the first night Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium since 200
No. 10 Alabama will first face Eastern Illinois this week. Auburn will play Mercer.
The Crimson Tide (8-2, 6-1 SEC) enters the Iron Bowl in essentially a must-win scenario. A victory all but clinches a playoff spot. A loss likely keeps Alabama out of the playoff."
"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will print its final edition on Dec. 31, closing a 157-year chapter even as the newsroom doubles down on a digital future.
But inside and around the venerable institution, another story is unfolding: a chorus of veterans who built the paper — on copy desks and carrier routes, in pressrooms, bureaus and features sections — pausing to say goodbye to the thud on the lawn, the rumble of the presses, the ink that smudged fingers and white linen blouses."
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President Trump has issued a second pardon to a January 6 defendant who remained imprisoned on separate gun offenses, leading to his release on Friday.
Dan Wilson was one of the supporters of Mr. Trump who breached the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Justice Department said in a 2024 news release that Wilson was a militia member who entered the building in a gas mask.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer in May 2024 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
He was pardoned on that charge in January 2025 when Mr. Trump granted clemency for about 1,500 January 6 defendants.
Despite the pardon, Wilson remained incarcerated. Authorities had searched his home in June 2022 as part of their investigation into his presence at the Capitol.
They recovered "numerous firearms and ammunition," the Justice Department said, which he was forbidden from possessing because of previous felony convictions.
Wilson pled guilty to a charge of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and a charge of possession of an unregistered firearm, and was set to remain in prison until 2028.
A White House official told CBS News that Mr. Trump was pardoning Wilson because the home search that led to the discovery of the firearms was part of the investigation into Wilson's January 6 charges.
Wilson's pardon, reviewed by CBS News, was dated to Friday. He was released from prison on Friday evening, his lawyer George Pallas told the Associated Press.
"For too long, my client has been held as a political prisoner by a government that criminalized dissent," Pallas said in a statement to CBS News. "President Trump's pardon rights this wrong and sends a clear message that peaceful Americans will not be persecuted for their beliefs. Mr. Wilson is innocent, he has always been innocent, and this pardon proves it."
Wilson's case became part of a legal debate over whether Mr. Trump's pardon of January 6-related crimes applied to other offenses discovered in investigations related to those charges. Mr. Trump has downplayed the events of the attack and referred to those jailed in connection with it as "hostages."
Wilson planned to participate in the riot at the Capitol for weeks, according to the Justice Department's 2024 news release, and occasionally discussed bringing firearms. He ultimately arrived unarmed.
Throughout the day, he provided information in messaging channels about where people needed support as they worked to enter the Capitol, the Justice Department said. He also spoke to other members of far-right groups, including the Oath Keepers.
The Justice Department initially argued that Trump's pardons did not extend to Wilson's gun charges, but later changed its position, saying that it had received "further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon."
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who oversaw Wilson's case and was nominated by Mr. Trump during his first term, criticized the move and called efforts to extend the pardon to cover offenses discovered in the course of the investigations "extraordinary," according to the Associated Press.
Mr. Trump also pardoned Suzanne Kaye, a Florida woman who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for threatening to shoot FBI agents. Kaye was questioned by FBI agents after saying online that she had been at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to CBS Miami. When contacted by agents, Kaye denied she had been there, but still agreed to speak with them at her home.
In her video, posted to multiple platforms after that conversation but before her interview, Kaye said she would not talk to the FBI without a lawyer and that she would "my second amendment right to shoot your f------ ass if you come here," according to CBIS Miami. A White House official described Kaye's comments as "voicing her displeasure with the FBI using curt language," and said that it was "clearly a case of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence."
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"We had created in this moment a very brand new thing called a citizen, and this has had powerful effects," he said. "It's going to set in motion revolutions for the next two plus centuries, all around the world, all attempting to sort of give a new expression to this idea that all men are created equal, that they're endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that's a big, big deal in world history."
Airing on APT/PBS Sunday.
The largest mass execution in Alabama history may have been Nov. 11, 1825. On that day, six Native Americans, including Tuscoona Fixico, Dancing Rabbit, Chilancha and three others not identified, were hanged for murder.
In his book "The Second Creek War," writer John H. Ellison states Tuscoona Fixico led rebel warriors in a series of ambushes intended to isolate Fort Wilson.
