New Name for DMHMR?

A bill making its way through the Legislature would drop the phrase “mental retardation” from the name of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.  The bill, HB 508, does not change the scope of the agency’s charge, but it does call for all uses of the term “mental retardation” to be changed to “an intellectual disability.”

The bill has passed the House and is currently awaiting approval in the Senate.

After I read about the bill, I decided to visit the ADMHMR web site.  The media center includes educational videos, public service announcements and reference materials that can be downloaded – including a fact sheet on Bryce Hospital, which is adjacent to the UA campus here in Tuscaloosa.  The only other major section of publications I could find was under the ‘Substance Abuse’ section, which did include some statistical publications.

Tuscaloosa continues to grow

According to an article in today’s Tuscaloosa News, the Census Bureau has released data indicating that Tuscaloosa County continues to grow.  Based on estimates, the county added 2,237 people between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008.

Why is this data important?  For starters, it is helpful to county planners and leaders when seeking funding.  Most of the questions on the now-defunct census ‘long form’ were intended to determine how much funding should go to a certain geographic region.  Instead of asking all of those questions once every ten years, the Census Bureau has chosen to  implement the American Community Survey, which is conducted every year and sent to a sample of the population.

If you’re interested in finding more population data for Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, or another location in the United States, visit the Census Bureau’s American Factfinder site.  For more data related to Alabama, you can also check out the State Data Center’s site.  (The State Data Center is located on the University of Alabama campus, just fyi.)

Sunshine Week 2009

Happy Sunshine Week!  In case you don’t know, Sunshine Week is an annual event (usually the 3rd week in March) that draws attention to “the public’s right to know what its government is doing and why.”  If governments are unable to hide less, the public can hold them accountable.

Each year a survey of state government information online is conducted.  The 2009 survey results were released this past Saturday, March 14th.  Between the time the survey results were initially compiled and then published, the Alabama state web site open.alabama.gov was launched – making a large quantity of information accessible for the first time.

For an overview of sunshine-related laws and requests from Alabama and Tuscaloosa governments, see this Tuscaloosa News article.

Spring Break

Spring break is almost here!  The University of Alabama’s spring break begins on Saturday – which means that plenty of people will be leaving Tuscaloosa for more exotic (or at least different) locales.

There are several government resources that may provide some useful information to those who may be traveling:

• For those who will be traveling internationally, the State Department has compiled a list of resources helpful to students.
• The Centers for Disease Control has compiled some Spring Break Health and Safety Tips
• If you’re headed to Mexico, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a flyer, “Know Before You Go” that contains helpful tips to be aware of when leaving and re-entering the United States
• Want to get away, but you aren’t sure where?  the USDA Rural Information Center has an idea: Take a Spring Break in Rural America

If you will be driving to the Gulf Coast beaches, please keep in mind that State Troopers will be targeting the beach routes for traffic violations.  Drive safely and buckle up!

(fyi, the University of Alabama Libraries will be open for limited hours from March 14-21st.

Alabama Area Codes

Today the Alabama Public Service Commission (APSC) approved an overlay of a new area code within the 256 area code that already exists in north Alabama (see the Alabama area code map). Beginning in 2011 (when the available numbers in area code 256 are scheduled to be exhausted) a new area code (yet to be determined) will be implemented in addition to the 256 area code.  An overview of the Relief Plan, including some information on other states using the overlay method, is available on the APSC web site.

What will this mean for people in the 256 area code?  Once the 256 numbers are exhausted, new numbers will be assigned the new area code; the major switch for all users will be having to dial the full 10-digit phone number, even for local calls. (I grew up in Maryland, where this has already happened – and believe me, it does get easier as time goes by.  I’m so used to dialing the full number, with area code, using my cell phone that I wonder how many people will really be affected by this.]

In case you’re wondering about other area codes in the state, according to the AP article, Darrell Baker, telecommunications chief for the PSC said “205 should run short of numbers in 2012 and 334 in 2013.”

Update, 2009-03-13: The PSC has chosen 938 as the new area code.

Alabama’s New Stimulus Web Site

On Friday Governor Riley announced that the web site, http://www.stimulus.alabama.gov/, is now available.  The site was developed to track the funds coming to the state from the federal stimulus package signed into law by President Obama.

The site is organized by “category of funding recipients,” and include the following categories: Local Government, Business, Education and Research, Nonprofits and Individuals.  The site also has a FAQ, which answers questions such as “Who is eligible to receive funds?” and “Who decides how the money gets distributed?”.   Just an fyi, the site lists the information and funds included in the law – and then links out to the agencies in charge of administering the programs.  So don’t get confused if you click on a link and end up at, say, the Department of Education’s web site.

According to the Governor’s message, the web site will be updated – but I couldn’t find an RSS feed to subscribe to, or an email notification list anywhere.  I guess we’ll just have to check back every once in a while to see if there’s some new content!