UA plans parking lot for unused land
Tuscaloosa News: Dec. 19
University of Alabama trustees approved buying 21 acres from Bryce Hospital, which will become a parking lot for the campus. "This is a project the university has been interested in for some time, and a lot of work has gone into this," said Joe Espy, board chairman from Montgomery, during a telephone conference call meeting of the trustees’ executive committee Tuesday.

More pressure likely in state housing market, University of Alabama real estate expert says
Birmingham News: Dec. 19
A University of Alabama real estate expert says the high number of unsold houses across the state will continue to put pressure on Alabama's housing market. When 2008 begins, there will be an estimated 43,000 houses up for sale across Alabama, a figure that is 8,000 homes higher than at the start of this year, says Grayson Glaze, executive director of the university's Center for Real Estate.

Vercher Joins U. S. Steel as Manager-State Governmental Affairs for Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas
CNN Money: Dec. 19
United States Steel Corporation announced today that Paul E. Vercher has joined the company to fill the newly created role of manager-state governmental affairs and will manage the company's governmental affairs activities at the state and local levels in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. . . . Vercher holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Alabama.

Dan Warren recounts civil rights struggle in new book
Daytona Beach News Journal: Dec. 19
Dan Warren never even clenched his fists when three angry white men accosted him during a civil rights march more than 40 years ago. But fear crept in during the foment in St. Augustine, where he was appointed by then-Gov. Farris Bryant as his personal representative to help overcome resistance to integration. In a new book, "If It Takes All Summer," from the University of Alabama Press, Warren recounts the rage within society and how he, as a government-appointed middleman, rode the difficult position of bringing reason to a heated situation in St. Augustine during the summer of integration in 1964.