"Spring Checkup at CheckUps" promotion offers 50 percent discounts through
end of June

NEW YORK, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of mothers and fathers
everywhere, CheckUps, the retail-based, non-emergency walk-in medical
facility, is offering 50 percent discounts on both basic and advanced
physical exams to mothers and fathers from now through the end of June.

"This is the perfect way for a child to honor a parent for both
Mother's and Father's Day," said Jack Tawil, chief executive officer of
CheckUps. "It is a unique opportunity to show love for parents -- by giving
them a Spring Checkup at CheckUps. Best of all, they can get their exam and
checkup in the course of a regular shopping trip to Wal-Mart."

CheckUps operates 23 walk-in retail clinics inside Wal-Mart Stores in
Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Diesel of Alabama, a subsidiary of International Truck and Engine Corp., will be the lead tenant in the newly completed first building of the Airport Distribution Center in Huntsville.

Birmingham's Graham & Co. recently completed the 208,000-square-foot facility at the Huntsville International Airport. International Diesel will take 129,000 square feet of the space to store and distribute its diesel engines and parts, which are manufactured in Huntsville less than a mile away.

Birmingham's Designform designed the Phase I building and designed a master plan for the 68-acre development, which will include three additional buildings. Jim Cooper Construction, also of Birmingham, served as the general contractor.

In March, International Big Bore Diesels LLC, also a subsidiary of International Truck, announced it would build a 300,000-square-foot facility on 30 acres in Huntsville's Jetplex Industrial Park North, adjacent to the Airport Distribution Center Phase I. It was reported the company's capital investment in the new manufacturing plant is estimated at nearly $42 million.

Hillary Clinton to hold fundraiser at home of Daphne supporters Wednesday, May 09, 2007From staff, wire reportsHuntsville Times
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will visit Huntsville today for a luncheon fundraiser and a stop at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

The Republican candidate for president is also making campaign stops in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.

Giuliani is to attend a $1,000-a-plate luncheon and photo op fundraiser at The Ledges in south Huntsville. It is a closed event, said Elliott Bundy, regional communications director for Giuliani's campaign.

WBCNA provides assistance to start-ups or existing businesses who need to borrow money for their small business. To date, the WBCNA has helped small business owners in North Alabama receive over $1,000,000 in small loans.

The SBA recognized that many segments of the small business community continue to have difficulty in accessing capital from traditional lending markets. These businesses are generally newer, smaller businesses that need small size loans accompanied by technical assistance.

To assist these small businesses, the SBA developed the Community Express loan program, an innovative approach to bring SBA financing to areas where commercial loans have been difficult to get. Additionally, lenders use expedited loan review and approval procedures to process these loans.

The largest building permit issued during the week of April 23-27 in the city of Huntsville went to Doster Construction Co., $15.34 million, for a building for International Diesel at 485 Short Pike Road.

The 300,000-square-foot plant to assemble International Truck and Engine Corp.'s new "big-bore" diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks is expected to be completed by March 2008.

By Patrice Stewart
pstewart@decaturdaily.com · 340-2446

Mooresville will have more homes and gardens than ever open to the public during Saturday tour hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The town, which only holds tours every other year, changed its format this year. Chairwoman Shirley McCrary said they have had requests for more homes to be open, as other cities offer during their home tours.

“Since we have a limited number of workers in our small town of 20 families, we are using them as hostesses in the additional homes this year, rather than as committee members working with exhibitors,” she said. “It takes all of us to put this on.”

They are raising the price of admission to $20 for adults to try to make more money, “which is desperately needed for the constant preservation and restoration of our historic public buildings.”

ROBINSON-News staff writer
Bank robberies in the Northern District of Alabama more than doubled in the first four months of this year compared with last year and, with summer fast approaching, that number could rise.

But federal authorities warn would-be criminals to think twice before they plot a heist. Few bank robbers get away with much money, they say, and fewer get away with the crime at all.

At least 85 percent of all bank robberies locally are cleared by arrest, said Birmingham FBI spokesman Paul Daymond.

"The bottom line is, if you rob a bank, you've got a real good chance of getting caught," Daymond said. "The chances are greater than not, and you're going to go to jail for a while."

Associated Press
ORANGE BEACH - The Dothan Eagle and The Huntsville Times won news cooperation awards and Graham Hadley, managing editor of The Daily Home in Talladega, was elected president of the Alabama Associated Press Managing Editors as the state newspaper group completed its annual convention.

The organization, made up of Alabama newspapers that are members of the AP newsgathering cooperative, presented awards to winners of its annual journalism contest Saturday night at the Gulf State Park pavilion.

The Dothan Eagle won the Ron Autry Award, named in memory of the late AP chief of bureau in Atlanta, for its consistent efforts to provide member AP newspapers with stories and photos of news events with state and national interest. The Huntsville Times won the AP's Real Time award for its fast work providing AP subscribers nationally with news and photos when a school bus carrying Lee High students plunged off a highway overpass in an accident that killed four.

Contact Uhuru Tour Representative
Kobina Bantushango
(256) 348-6478

Dr. Aisha Fields, physicist, and Omavi Bailey, independent media activist, will bring the “All Diamonds Are Blood Diamonds” Tour to Huntsville, Alabama, Saturday May 6th at 1:00 p.m. They will speak to community groups about the growing movement for African control over Africa’s vast natural resources. The “All Diamonds are Blood Diamonds” events follow on the heels of the Uhuru Movement’s 2006 tour of Africanist Movement leader Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone.

The program utilizes dynamic multi-media presentations and expert testimony to show that even the so-called legitimate diamond trade is dripping in the blood of African people. They are calling for individuals to donate their diamonds and for corporations to relinquish profits from the diamonds and other industries based in Africa’s resources, to be used to fund basic needs in Africa, such as clean water, electricity and health care.

marian.accardi@htimes.com

The director of the Army's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization expects the 2005 BRAC decisions will lead to a growth in contract opportunities for small businesses in the area.

"There's going to be a lot of contracting activity here" as a result of BRAC, said Tracey Pinson, director of the office since April 1995.

The Army is relocating three major command headquarters - the Army Assistance and Security Command, the Army Materiel Command and the Space & Missile Defense Command - to Redstone Arsenal as part of the BRAC decisions. The majority of the Missile Defense Agency is also being moved to Redstone.

Pinson spoke Thursday at the North Alabama Small Business Conference 2007 and gave a breakdown of the amount of money that the Army obligated or awarded in contracts in fiscal 2006: more than $72 billion to all U.S. businesses and, of that, about $17 billion, or 23.5 percent, to small businesses.