| Local voters: No, No, No
Voters in Auburn, Opelika and Lee County rejected a 7-mill school tax increase in a special election Tuesday, sending school officials back to the drawing board. The largest percentage of voters against the special school ad valorem tax hike was in the unincorporated county, where just over 82 percent voted no. Turnout in Lee County was just over 10 percent. Lee County Schools Interim Superintendent Stephen Nowlin said the county board of education will reassess its priorities. "We have $50 to $60 million in building needs and there's just no way that we'll be able to come up with all of it," said Nowlin. He said the BOE may choose to not fill certain positions within the school system. In Opelika, 64 percent voted against the school tax increase.
Reynolds students’ fingers to do the talking
The Reynolds School District has instituted a meal plan payment system whereby elementary school students can be identified through fingertip scans. Elementary school students will now have the option of having their right index fingertips scanned to identify them as they line up for meals, according to Don Richardson, nutrition services coordinator for the Reynolds district. "This is a way to quickly identify a student who is wanting to get service," he said, noting the new system will decrease the amount of time students stand in line. In certain cases, students whose index fingerprints are not developed enough to be scanned can have their right thumbs scanned, Richardson said. Students at nine of the 11 schools affected have already been enrolled in the system, he said, noting Troutdale Elementary School tested the system on the last day of school in June "and it went quite well." Earlier this week, Richardson and other school officials demonstrated how the finger-scanning device works at Alder Elementary School, 17200 S.E.
Delta's new CEO: Smooth turbulence-tackler
Former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale thinks he knows why a one-time Texas prosecutor named Richard H. Anderson — a man who went to law school at night while helping raise two younger sisters — is now piloting Delta Air Lines. Mondale, who served on the board of Northwest Airlines when Anderson ran the Delta rival, said he was surprised at first to hear his longtime friend had landed in Atlanta. The 52-year-old Anderson, after all, quietly exited the airline business three years ago and had a comfortable, $4.3 million-a-year gig at the Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group, where he was executive vice president. .
Local grocery stores near Wal-Marts will face major challenge
Glenn MacDonald, a professor of economics and strategy at Washington University's Olin School of Business, lives near the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Eureka, which competes with a Schnucks 2 miles away. So when MacDonald discusses the probable impact of Wal-Mart expanding full-service grocery departments into the St. Louis area, he also speaks as a shopper.
As MacDonald describes the constantly packed parking lot at the Supercenter in Eureka compared to the less-busy lot at the nearby Schnucks, he predicts that Schnuck Markets Inc. and Shop 'n Save will be hurt the most by the retailing giant's growth, while Dierbergs Markets will continue to draw more-affluent customers.
"I think Schnucks is going to get pinched. I think they've got trouble," he said in an interview last week.
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