1. State Announces New Existing Industry Pilot Program
Governor Bob Riley was joined by ADO Director Neal Wade, local officials and economic developers for the launch of a pilot program to focus attention on the needs of existing industries at the State Capitol this past week. The pilot program will serve manufacturers in Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Macon, Pike, Russell and Tallapoosa counties. If successful, the pilot program will be expanded to other areas of the state.
2. Alabama To Get $35 Million for Job Training Programs
The U.S. Department of Labor has allotted more than $35 million to Alabama for employment and training programs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The money is part of more than $3.5 billion included nationally for the work force reinvestment system in the stimulus package.
Alabama's allotment is spread out in various programs administered by the Labor Department. The largest share, $13.2 million, will go to assisting training and employment activities in the dislocated worker program.
3. Hyundai Cars Make Magazine’s List of Top Vehicles
Motor Trend recognized the Hyundai Sonata and the Hyundai Genesis in its "America's Top 40 New Cars" list. The magazine evaluated 247 vehicles before naming the best in several categories.
The Sonata was listed in the family car category and the Genesis in the luxury sedan category.
"It's an honor to be included in such a distinguished group of cars selected by some of the foremost automotive experts in the country," Scott Margason, director of Product & Strategic Planning at Hyundai Motor America, said in a news release.
"To have two Hyundai models make Motor Trend's list of cars to buy this year validates our hard work to create vehicles that can compete with the best-of-the-best in the auto industry."
4. Davis Cup Draws 45,000 Tennis Fans to Birmingham
Birmingham’s first venture into the Davis Cup ended last week with rave reviews and a record crowd. The three-day event, won by the United States over Switzerland, produced the most attended first-round tie in U.S. Davis Cup history, with 45,708 fans.
5. Illiteracy Declines in 66 of Alabama’s 67 Counties
Literacy rates have improved in all but one Alabama county since the early 1990s.Data released this year by the National Center for Education Statistics show the percentage of people 16 and older who were functionally illiterate declined in 66 of Alabama's 67 counties from 1992 to 2003, in many cases dramatically.
Jefferson County's illiteracy rate dropped from 17 percent in 1992 to 13 percent in 2003, the most recent year for which data are available. Shelby County's went from 11 percent to 7 percent, the lowest of any county.
Many counties with the highest rates of illiteracy also showed the largest improvements. In Perry County, the estimated rate of illiteracy went from 44 percent in 1992 to 27 percent in 2003, the biggest percentage-point decline for any county. Rates declined by 15 percentage points in Butler, Green, Randolph, Sumter and Wilcox counties.
6. Alabama’s Unemployment Rate Still Lower than Surrounding States
Although Alabama’s January unemployment rate jumped to 7.8 percent in January, the state’s rate remains better than its neighbors, with Mississippi reporting 8.7 percent, and Georgia, Florida and Tennessee posting 8.6 percent.
7. Huntsville Firm Working on Hubble Telescope Doubles Lab Size
A company that is helping NASA develop its next-generation space telescope is also focusing on its Huntsville expansion. NeXolve, formerly known as ManTech SRS, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony today at its new offices in Cummings Research Park. Meanwhile, the defense and space contractor is doubling the size of its lab on Intergraph's campus off Interstate 565.
8. Mercedes Helping Suppliers Get Ready for Economic Rebound
Bill Taylor, chief of Alabama’s Mercedes plant, is working with the managers of supplier plants to show them improvement techniques - the same ones used in the Vance plant. Taylor said the Mercedes plant has been good at training workers to do multiple jobs and that has made the workforce flexible.
"This is a great opportunity to shed things that need to be shed," he told business leaders. "But you also have to put stakes in the ground so you don't lose the gains you make when the good times come back."
Those times will return, Taylor said, and Mercedes already is looking ahead to that day with improvements such as a major facelift to the R-Class crossover and a re-design of the M-Class, known as the 166, due as a 2011 model.
9. Eight Alabama Companies Honored with Trade Awards
Eight Alabama companies were honored by Governor Riley with Trade Excellence Awards at the Capitol this week. The awards program, coordinated by the Alabama Development Office and the Export Alabama Trade Alliance, includes large, medium and small businesses as well as new-to-export companies from different parts of the state.
The recipients of the 2009 Governor’s Trade Excellence Awards are: Atrion Medical Products, Inc. (Arab); Moreson Conferencing (Birmingham); Nidek Medical Products, Inc. (Birmingham); N-TRON, Corp. (Mobile); PlayCore (Fort Payne); PPG Industries, Inc. (Huntsville); Rescue ONE Connector Boats (Huntsville); and The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce (Mobile).
10. U.S. Steel To Move Jobs To Birmingham
U.S. Steel Corp. has said it plans to idle some Canadian operations and move the work to other sites, including the Fairfield Works west of Birmingham. Scheduled for idling are steel finishing and coking operations in Ontario. The company said production will be concentrated in Fairfield, Pittsburgh and Gary, Ind.
Last year, U.S. Steel eliminated 50 jobs at the Fairfield Works. Other than that, the plant has been spared the thousands of job cuts instituted by the country's largest steelmaker, cuts made in response to slowing demand for steel.