Ice hockey will finally get its due at UAH
The University of Alabama in Huntsville on Friday announced plans for a dramatic campus expansion that would include a new multi-purpose facility to provide a home to the school’s ice hockey and basketball teams. The school in 2017 purchased 58 acres for $7.1 million west of Sparkman Drive for the expansion — an abandoned office park that would shift the focus of the campus, according to the master plan unveiled to the UA System Board of Trustees by retiring President Robert Altenkirch. – AL.com
Baldwin County condos sell briskly in March
Baldwin County condo sales, which include condos along the Gulf Coast, totaled 179 units during March, up 18.5 percent from 151 sales in the same month a year earlier, according to the Baldwin County Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. March sales were up 92.5 percent compared to 93 sales in February. Results were 19.8 percent above the five-year average of 149 sales. – ANC
Now customers will pour their own beer at bar
Go ahead, make “How could that go wrong?” jokes if you must. Because customers will pour their own beers at a taproom-meets-Mexican-restaurant coming to Huntsville called Hops N Guac. The venture is using technology designed to keep things from going sideways, though. – AL.com
GOP, Dem leaders agree on payday loan measures
In the media room on the third floor of the State House, a self-identified group of liberals and conservatives took the stage to introduce legislation to restrict small consumer payday loans further. In a surprising move, Republican lawmakers at the event voiced their disagreement with President Donald Trump with one stating he is not a “sycophant,” presumedly referring to those who are fully aligned with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda. – Alabama Political Reporter
Arby’s franchise pays teen workers over sexual harassment
The owner and operator of more than 51 Arby’s restaurant franchises in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida has settled a lawsuit filed by the federal government alleging sexual harassment of teen employees. A U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission statement said three female teenage Arby’s employees working at the Atmore restaurant owned and operated by Beavers’ Inc., claim their male team leader made inappropriate comments about his anatomy and “pressed his pelvis” against two of the teens. The settlement includes Beavers’ paying $84,000 to the teens who were harassed. – Legal Newsline
LeBron James: The cure for your public school blues
The anti-public education crowd has to hate LeBron James. Because he and the public school he started last year are destroying every myth, every talking point, every excuse that any of them have ever offered to explain why they’re always so eager to castigate public education and hand tax dollars to private schools and charters. On Friday, the New York Times reported on the early success of James’ I Promise School — a 240-student school that teaches only third and fourth graders for now. – Alabama Political Reporter
