The former police officer who injured an Indian grandfather in February appeared in court today.
Former Madison police officer Eric Parker entered a not guilty plea in a Huntsville federal court building today.
Parker is accused of using unreasonable force and violating the human rights of 57 year old Sureshbhai Patel. Patel was walking down the street in suburban Madison in February when he was stopped by police officers.
Police video clearly captures Parker slamming Patel into the ground face-first. He is still recovering from injuries including partial paralysis.
Parker is currently free on $5,000 bond. His federal trial begins June 1. He also faces a state assault charge; the first hearing in that case is May 13.
Auburn University has received its largest donation ever.
The university says John and Rosemary Brown are committing $57 million to Auburn to fund a new performing arts center and a student achievement center in the engineering college. Officials say the gift is the largest received by the school in its 160-year history.
The Browns are both 1957 graduates of Auburn. Brown was CEO of medical device maker Stryker Corp., and his wife taught mathematics for nearly 30 years.
To date Auburn has raised more than $775 million as part of its "Because this is Auburn" capital campaign.
This week marks the five year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The 200 million gallons of oil that leaked into the Gulf caused massive environmental impacts in Alabama and across the Gulf Coast.
Judy Hanar is the Director of the Marine and Freshwater Program at Alabama’s Nature Conservancy. She says the Deepwater Horizon spill, surprisingly, had some benefits as well.
“One of the biggest things has been the partnership between the federal agencies, the state, all of the local nonprofits, the local government really coming together where we link these projects that have great environmental benefit but they also benefit the communities and the economy of the area.”
The Nature Conservancy is involved with over a hundred environmental restoration projects on the Gulf Coast, with funding of over 1.1 billion dollars. Around 12% of that funding has gone toward restoring Alabama’s coast, with a substantial amount allocated toward building a lodge and convention center at Gulf State Park.