January 2026 Edition
January 2026 Edition
“The Crickets” sang, “I Fought The Law, And The Law Won.” I fought two ladies in church, and the results are mixed. The first was a long-time volunteer with our children’s ministry who wanted choir robes for the boys and girls. The cost was about $5,000. This idea never took fire. The children normally sang at Christmas and Easter when their parents adorned them in colorful dresses and navy blazers. Some of the parents thought robes were unnecessary after they went to the trouble of...
This past summer, I experienced a treat I didn't expect would happen again in my lifetime. A covey of bobwhite quail made their summer home in the acreage around our home in Baldwin County. I cherished each "Bob-White" mating call I heard and caught glimpses of them entering several areas with thick vegetation. That thick vegetation that provides protection for brood-rearing is one of the key ingredients for quail to survive and thrive, according to Caleb Blake, the Upland Game Bird Coordinator...
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (JAN. 28, 2026) – The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, is accepting student applications for the Charger Innovation Challenge (CIC): Serious Games Edition, a semester-long 'hackathon' launching in Spring 2026. Open to students of all majors, the challenge invites participants to design and develop "serious games" – games created to educate, train, improve health or drive social impact. Sign up by February 11th. The...
AI-powered mental health solutions: What helps and what's hype? The need for lasting, effective mental health support is growing. For example, Gen Z is far more likely (27%) than millennials (15%) and Gen X (13%) to report their mental health as fair or poor. This increased demand is fueling an increased interest in scaling care with AI-powered mental health solutions. But with this potential comes risks, as many healthcare leaders have pointed out. With AI-powered tools playing an increasingly...
February may still feel like winter across Alabama, but seasoned gardeners know this month is the quiet engine that powers the entire spring growing season. With soil temperatures beginning to rise, daylight slowly increasing, and early buds swelling on fruit trees, February offers a narrow but valuable window to prepare beds, start cool‑season crops, and get ahead of the chores that become overwhelming once March arrives. Across the state-from the Tennessee Valley to the Gulf Coast-February...
