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Charter Communications to Keep WSFA News 12 in Auburn

By Callie Garrett/ Staff Writer | July 2

Charter Communications mistakenly included Auburn in their news release about removing the local channel WSFA news 12 from Chambers County and Lanett."WSFA - NBC will remain on our line-up in the City of Auburn and in Lee County, but not in Chambers County and Lanett," said John Miller, director of communications for Charter Communications.A press release was sent to newspapers and put up on the screen for Charter subscribers to view, Mark Wilder, WSFA director of operations, said."When Charter put out the information to its subscribers, they made a mistake in the wording and included the word Auburn within Chambers County as to the area it was going to be taken off," Wilder said.

Auburn Theatre Department Targets Younger Audience

By Sarah Phillips/Staff Writer | July 2

A person finding a hole in his or her coat may think it normal wear and tear or a reminder of an event that created it.

Auburn University Offers Services for Veterans

By Courtney Johnson/Staff Writer | July 2

Auburn has a long-standing history in encouraging and accommodating military students after service.An example was in the post-WWII era, when Auburn was overwhelmed with veteran students taking advantage of their G.I.

Corrupted-Files.com Offers a New Type of Homework Excuse

By Natalie Nettles/Intrigue Editor | July 1

Gone are the days of forged doctor's excuses and computers that crash the day an assignment is due.A new Web site, www.corrupted-files.com, promises to do away with excuses of the past by allowing students to e-mail purposely corrupted files to professors in order to buy time to finish their work.The site, which offers Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents for $3.95, does not identify its Webmaster and states on the home page to keep the site a secret.Joey Burns, a sophomore in supply chain management, said he thinks students who use this site to buy time are cheating."Everybody has to be dealt with on the same time line," Burns said.

Fawcett, Jackson Die Leaving Enduring Legacies

By Christian Becraft/ Associate Intrigue Editor | June 25

Two American icons passed away Thursday, one terminally ill cancer patient whose career excelled as an "Angel" and one unexpected death of a revered music legend that will soon take his place among Elvis Presley and the Beatles.Michael Jackson, 50, died Thursday afternoon of cardiac arrest.

Auburn Community Gathers for Art Walk

By Jennifer Beckett/Staff Writer | June 25

Hula hooping, face painting, dough tossing, scavenger hunting - a mere glimpse of the array of activities and attractions at the 2009 SummerNight downtown art walk held Friday, June 19 on College Street and Magnolia Avenue.Started by the Auburn Arts Association, SummerNight features artists from Auburn and surrounding areas gathered downtown to display and sell paintings, pottery, quilts, jewelry and other artistic wares to students and families of the Auburn community."This is an opportunity for the entire community to support the arts," said Sarah Hand, art specialist and cultural director of the Auburn Parks and Recreation Department.

Admissions Office Creates Facebook Page

By Sarah Craft/Associate Copy Editor | June 25

The Auburn University Admissions department is working to better serve its students by creating a Facebook page where students can ask questions and have them answered by an admissions counselor."The class we're recruiting was born in '92 or '93 and have always had access to the Internet," said Jim Parrish, assistant director at the Office of University Recruitment.

Congress Signs the Credit Card Accountability and Disclosure Act for 2010

By Sarah Craft/Associate Copy Editor | June 25

Students under the age of 21 who hope to soon be paying with plastic may have to wait a little longer.Congress signed the Credit Card Accountability and Disclosure Act of 2009 into law, which will go into effect February 2010.H.R.

Foy Building to Reopen Food Venues

By Sarah Hansen/Associate News Editor | June 25

Fear not Auburn students, War Eagle Food Court is returning -- have your Tigercards out and ready to go.Although the food court area of the Foy Student Union building has remained unused for the past year, it is now ready to make a comeback.

Cumberland Plastic Systems LLC and Donaldson Company Inc. Add Jobs to Auburn

By Jordan Brantley/Staff Writer | June 25

Two Auburn manufacturers are planning to expand their production and employee base.Cumberland Plastic Systems LLC and Donaldson Company Inc. will be adding additional employees within the next two years.Alison Petersen, human resources representative for Cumberland, said Cumberland plans to hire at least 51 employees over the next two years.Jim Noreault, plant manager for Donaldson, said Donaldson Company plans to hire 25 employees starting in January 2010.Petersen said it is not an immediate physical expansion, but a production expansion where the company will buy new machines and hire more employees to work them."We are a new company, and we've been working hard the past few years to get business," Petersen said.

New Terminal at Auburn-Opelika Robert G. Pitts Airport

By Jordan Brantley/Staff Writer | June 25

Last Thursday was the ground-breaking for a new terminal at the Auburn-Opelika Robert G. Pitts Airport.The airport has been operational since 1930 and has been in need of repair since the 1980s, said Bill Hutto, airport director.He said planning for the new addition started in 2002, but once construction begins, the terminal should be completed within one year."The building is too small to accommodate the demands that we have today in personnel and the people in the community," said Hutto.

Scholarships Offer Relief to Economic Woes

By Justin Dorman/Staff Writer | June 25

With the economy on the fritz and tuition prices on the rise, it is becoming ever more difficult to afford a college education.Fortunately, Auburn University students have available to them a plethora of scholarship opportunities, ranging from general university scholarships to department, freshman and transfer scholarships.Every year Auburn awards approximately 6,000 scholarships through the Office of University Scholarships.In addition to the general scholarships awarded at the university level, Auburn also offers scholarships individually through the departments of each one of the 12 schools and colleges.The money for these scholarships typically comes from donors and the Board of Trustees.Ryan Villarreal, an undeclared sophomore in science and mathematics, thinks the scholarships are a blessing to families who may be suffering because of the rapidly declining economy."There are plenty of ways that Auburn helps it's students," Villareal said.

Warhol Exhibit Opens at Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

By Jennifer Beckett/Staff Writer | June 24

Most people associate the word "portrait" with a framed painting or photograph of someone standing or sitting in front of a background.Pop artist Andy Warhol, on the other hand, developed a different kind of portrait in his "13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests" shown at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art Thursday night."Warhol was interested in the tension between the image of the person and the actual person," said Scott Bishop-Wagoner, curator of education at JCSM.He produced about 500 screen tests on 100-foot silent film reels between 1964 and 1966, she said.He then arranged them in sets of 13 depending on subject matter and slowed the film speed."Andy Warhol was exploring the repetition of the image and how it, in a sense, loses its identity," Bishop-Wagoner said, "and his screen tests were the opposite -- they helped to show the person's true identity."Warhol invited friends, famous people and strangers to sit in front of the camera for each of the reels in hopes to reveal their true personalities, Bishop-Wagoner said."He believed their real personalities would emerge after being in front of the camera for this period of time," she said.A testament to Warhol's theory, his tests reveal personality traits and mannerisms that could be lost in still photographs.Consider Ann Buchanan, Californian Beat poet: sitting incredibly still, the young brunette with large, brown eyes looks without blinking into the camera.Just before the four-minute film runs out, a tear rolls down her right cheek, then her left.Notice Lou Reed, a radio host and musician: with short, wavy hair and sunglasses, the young man drinks a Coca Cola out of a glass bottle throughout the entire length of film.Watch Jane Hoolzer, an art collector and socialite: while the camera zooms in closely on her face, the blonde with light eyes brushes her teeth and laughs intermittently until the film reel stops rolling.Because the footage has no sound, musicians Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips decided to create unique pieces of music - inspired by the character of the individual on Warhol's films - to accompany each portrait."His work was set to music to contextualize how he used the screen tests for himself," Bishop-Wagoner said.

Auburn Board of Trustees Approves Tuition Increase

By Andrew Sims/Online Editor | June 19

The Auburn University board of trustees approved in it's meeting Friday an increase in tuition for the following school yearTuition would increase by $186, about 5.7 percent, per semester, which would bring the costs to $3,120, before fees, for in-state students taking 10 to 15 hours.The board also approved one-time budget cuts of approximately $15 million and $15 million in permanent budget reductions.

Apartments Suffer Economic Sting

By Sarah Craft/Associate Copy Editor | June 18

With the economy in a state of flux, almost every industry is feeling the effects of the recession.Auburn's real estate market is no exception.Though students will always need places to live, real estate agencies are finding it increasingly hard to entice college students to call their properties home.Even newly built properties like the New Exchange have had to resort to such measures as decreasing their rent and adding incentives to try and attract more renters."We've changed up some of our pricing in buildings where there are lots of vacancies," said Van Northcutt, a manager of Northcutt Realty.Many of these new buildings were built during a time when students outnumbered places to live, but now the opposite is true."Overbuilding is our main problem right now, but I definitely feel like the effects of the economy are coming," said Northcutt.

Auburn Graduate Donates Civil War Letter

By Andrew Sims/Online Editor | June 18

The Auburn Libraries Special Collections announced Friday that on April 10 it received a copy of the terms of surrender by General Ulysses S.

WLGA-TV Goes Digital

By Jaclyn Dunn/Staff Writer | June 18

The nationwide conversion of analog television stations to all-digital stations took place Friday at midnight.The local station of WLGA-TV has shut down its Analog Channel 66 and Digital Channel 31, and now offers Digital Channel 47.WLGA-TV serves over 62,000 viewers in Columbus, Ga., Opelika, Ala., and surrounding areas.For viewers who do not have cable, a digital converter box or DTV tuner will be needed in order to receive the new all-digital channel.Some viewers will need to install an outdoor antenna in order to receive all local DTV stations with the strongest signal."There are a number of places to find them," said Bill Brooks, a WLGA-TV's general sales manager.Converter boxes and outdoor antennas can be found at most local electronic stores.The cost for each converter box ranges from $40 to $70."The one I bought for my home was about $50," Brooks said.The government is giving out two coupons worth $40 a piece per household.There is no cut-off date to buy a converter box, but consumers should check to make sure the coupons do not expire.Those viewers who have already purchased converter boxes will need to re-scan them in order to pick up the Digital Channel 47 any day after June 12.The re-scan is also needed for viewers to be able to receive all other local TV stations' DTV channels after June 13."I used to work for a cable company, so I knew I was DTV ready, I just made sure to re-scan," said Eli McCrory, a junior in building science.The conversion from analog to all-digital only affected the over-the-air and satellite TV viewers whose TV sets are analog."I am a satellite subscriber, so I just checked my TV's owners manual to make sure it was a digital television that would pick up the all-digital stations, because my TV is a few years old," said Channing Leger, a junior in landscape horticulture.The switch to digital from analog should have taken place automatically for current cable customers, Brooks said."If you wake up and see snow on Saturday, that should be a sign," Brooks said.WLGA-TV is prepared for customers who may not understand and do not know how to handle the all-digital switch."We are ready for that, and we encourage them to call us," Brooks said.In addition to over the phone customer service, there are also 150 walk-in clinics across the country.

Auburn Volleyball Begins With 3rd Ranked Recruiting Class

By Jennifer Beckett/Staff Writer | June 11

Auburn volleyball anticipates a successful 2009 season with the talent of new recruits, returning players and coaching staff.The 2009 recruiting class ranks third in the Southeastern Conference and 26th in the nation on PrepVolleyball.com, according to the Auburn athletics Web site."With ten incoming players and no returning seniors, this season is going to be more about increasing SEC wins for 2009," said Wade Benson, head coach of two years.