Pat Duggins

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Gov. Robert Bentley is praising progress in integrating the racially segregated Greek system at the University of Alabama. Bentley says it's a "positive first step" that a few traditionally white sororities have accepted minorities as members. The governor's office issued a brief statement late Friday after the university said four blacks and two other minority students have accepted invitations to join white sororities at Alabama. President Judy Bonner says she expects the numbers to increase as the school year continues in Tuscaloosa.

With the sound of Denny Chimes in the background, there were more reporters than students for today’s planned anti-racism rally on the large grassy park, known as the “quad” at the University of Alabama--at least at first. A grassroots student campaign was begun shortly after reports surfaced in the campus newspaper "Crimson White" alleging that two African-American sorority candidates were rejected because of their race. Alabama student Archie Creech was part of the “boots on the ground” effort to get participation.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama today issued a statement following allegations that two female African-American students were denied acceptance to two on-campus sororities because of their race.

Board President pro tem Paul Bryant, Junior said… “The Board of Trustees does not support the segregation of any organization at our institution on account of race. “We support the efforts of our administration to effect the change necessary to bring this principle to reality in the entire University of Alabama system.”

This Wednesday will be the 100th birthday of legendary Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. The Center for Public Television and Radio at the University of Alabama will premiere a new documentary titled "Mama Called," on the life and times of "The Bear," Wednesday on WVUA-TV. Here are some memories of Coach Bryant...

A controversial election for School Board in the city of Tuscaloosa may have violated state law. Published reports state that fraternities and sororities on the campus of the University of Alabama offered free drinks to member students who participated in Tuesday’s election. The incentive was reportedly a wrist band which entitled the bearer to a free drink at a local restaurant. If the offer is proven to be true, that could be in violation of Alabama Code 17-17-39. APR asked the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University to study the issue.

26 members of the National Transportation Safety Board, and an FBI evidence recovery team, will fan out today at the site of Wednesday’s crash of a United Parcel Service Airbus A300 aircraft. Both pilots were killed in the accident, which knocked local residents out of bed just before 5 am. <P>“When I saw the big flash in front of the trees, I saw of the flash of the explosion,” says eyewitness Peter Torres. “And, the big banging, the big explosion."

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — State education officials say they expect to assemble a new list of failing schools before the end of the year. Alabama Department of Education spokeswoman Malissa Valdes-Hubert told AL.com test scores from last spring are likely to be released this fall and the data will help state officials recalculate schools' test scores. Valdes-Hubert says parents have until Jan. 1 to let schools know if they plan to transfer students based on the new failing schools list. She says parents are eligible for a $3,500 tax credit to help pay for private school tuition.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The launch of an initiative aimed at addressing childhood obesity in Alabama has slowed an increase of overweight children compared to other states, but hasn't improved Alabama's childhood obesity rate. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that obesity rates in Alabama's children and teens have increased by nearly 5 percent since 1999 despite an effort by the Alabama Department of Education to control what types of snacks are sold in vending machines on school campuses.

When people go to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., they seem to have a checklist of what they want to see. At the National Air and Space Museum, visitors frequently start at the Apollo 11 capsule that carried astronauts to the Moon. After that, it’s the “Spirit of St. Louis,” that Charles Lindberg flew across the Atlantic. For many, the next stop is upstairs, to an airplane with tan canvas wings and a wooden frame, which flew for just twelve seconds.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A small number of U.S. states are joining a fight against the nation's leading name in green building, saying its standards discourage builders from using wood grown in their own forests. The U.S. Green Building Council's program is called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. It's so popular it grants voluntary environmental certification to roughly 1.5 million square feet of new construction daily. But some governors and lawmakers say strict standards for what LEED considers sustainably grown wood are hurting growers in their states. Georgia Gov.

CULLMAN, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Cullman County have arrested nearly 60 people following an investigation into drug activity. The Cullman Times reports the county-wide roundup came after a six-month investigation by local law enforcement. Ninety warrants were served, and 58 people were arrested over a two-day period. The charges include distribution and manufacturing of a controlled substance, as well as a variety of lesser drug charges. Officers from the Cullman County Sheriff's Office, Cullman Police Department, and Hanceville Police Department participated in the effort.

GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — A historic black cemetery in Gadsden has been named to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register. The Gadsden Times reports that the Alabama Historic Commission says the largely abandoned cemetery has been known by several names, including Sixth Street and Sunset, but Southern Hills is the most familiar. The earliest known headstone in the cemetery dates to 1888. The commission says burials at the cemetery stopped in the 1940s when the city took the neighborhood by eminent domain. Area residents moved to another part of town, abandoning the cemetery.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Gov. Robert Bentley says he believes Alabama's new private school tax credits should not apply to students who never enrolled in a failing school. Bentley says the tax credits should only apply to a student who transfers out of a failing school, but he says the final determination is up to the state Department of Revenue. He expects that to be done before school resumes in August. Exactly who will qualify for the tax credits has been in question since Bentley signed the Alabama Accountability Act in March.

In June of 1963, Vivian Malone and James Hood finished the trail Autherine Lucy blazed. Lucy was the first African American to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1956. She lasted only a few days after facing segregationist protesters who burned an effigy copy of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown V. Board of Education, which ordered schools be integrated. Malone and Hood’s ambitions to go school at the Tuscaloosa campus in 1963 prompted a political cash of titans. “It was an iconic time,” says Dr. Culpepper Clark, author of the book The Stand in the School House Door.