ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta) — A body was found beside a recreational center Wednesday in Atlanta. A maintenance worker discovered the man’s body. Authorities say the man was fatally shot. Check GBNF back for updates.
June 25, 2008
Noted Tuscaloosa geologist dies at 88
By Jason Morton Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:02 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:02 a.m.
Dan Lopez / The Tuscaloosa News (photo)
Philip LaMoreaux was a state geologist for Alabama and founded the Tuscaloosa based P.E. LaMoreaux & Associates.
TUSCALOOSA| It’s not easy to find water in an Egyptian desert.
But Philip E. LaMoreaux did, just one of his many notable achievements in a career as a scientist and businessman that spanned more than four decades.
LaMoreaux, a former geologist for the state of Alabama and founder of Tuscaloosa-based P.E. LaMoreaux & Associates, died at his home Monday after a long battle with heart complications. He was 88.
Specializing in hydrogeology, LaMoreaux built his company into an international environmental and engineering consulting firm. Continue Reading.
`Big Bird’ costume creator Kermit Love dies at 91
Kermit Love, the costume designer who helped puppeteer Jim Henson create Big Bird and other “Sesame Street” characters, has died. He was 91. Love died from congestive heart failure Saturday in Poughkeepsie, near his home in Stanfordville, Love’s longtime partner, Christopher Lyall, told The New York Times.
In addition to his work with Henson, Love was a designer for some of ballet’s most prominent choreographers, including Twyla Tharp, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine.
Love also designed costumes and puppets for film and advertising, including the Snuggle bear from the fabric softener commercials. “Sesame Street,” public television’s groundbreaking effort to use TV to teach preschoolers, premiered in 1969. Henson designed the original sketches of Big Bird, and Love then built the 8-foot, 2-inch yellow-feathered costume. It was Love’s idea to add a few feathers designed to fall off, to create a more realistic feel. “The most important thing about puppets is that they must project their imagination, and then the audience must open their eyes and imagine,” he told The New York Times in 1981.
Love also helped design costumes and puppets for Mr. Snuffleupagus, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster, among other characters. He even appeared on the show himself as Willy, the fantasy neighborhood’s resident hot dog vendor. But Love always insisted Henson’s famous frog wasn’t named for him, according to The New York Times. Caroll Spinney, who has played Big Bird since “Sesame Street” began, said he knew Love was gravely ill but didn’t know he’d died until Tuesday. “Kermit was definitely a totally unique person,” 74-year-old Spinney said. “He looked very much like Santa Claus but was a little bit more like the Grinch.” In addition to designing the Big Bird costume, he added, “Kermit really helped me with dramatic coaching, and he was wonderful at that.” Born in 1916, Love began making puppets for a federal Works Progress Administration theater in 1935. He also designed costumes for Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater. From there he began working with the New York City Ballet’s costumer. In his 2003 book, “The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons From a Life in Feathers,” Spinney recalled that after a year on “Sesame Street,” he felt he couldn’t live in New York on his salary. Love told him to give it a month; the next week, Big Bird was on the cover of Time magazine and Spinney couldn’t imagine leaving.
Leonid Hurwicz, oldest Nobel winner, dies at 90
The Associated Press
Leonid Hurwicz, who shared the Nobel Prize in economics last year for developing a theory that helps explain how buyers and sellers can maximize their gains, has died at age 90, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Hurwicz died Tuesday, said Mark Cassutt, spokesman for the University of Minnesota, where Hurwicz was an emeritus economics professor. He did not have any details. Hurwicz was given his prize in Minneapolis last December because he couldn’t make the trip to Stockholm. At age 90, he was the oldest person ever to win a Nobel, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of sciences. He shared his prize with Eric S. Maskin, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, N.J.; and Roger B. Myerson, 56, a professor at the University of Chicago. The award was announced last October, and Hurwicz said he was surprised to win.
“There were times when other people said I was on the short list, but as time passed and nothing happened, I didn’t expect the recognition would come because people who were familiar with my work were slowly dying off,” he said. In its announcement, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the three “laid the foundations of mechanism design theory,” which plays a central role in contemporary economics and political science. Essentially, the three men, starting in 1960 with Hurwicz, studied how game theory can help determine the best, most efficient method for allocating resources, the academy said. Hurwicz – pronounced HER-wich – began teaching at the university in 1951. University President Robert Bruininks says he was “an extraordinary man” who left “a proud and lasting legacy.” “Not only were his economic theories groundbreaking, but he was a renaissance scholar, with a keen interest in many disciplines, an incisive mind and quick wit and a natural grace that endeared him to so many people,” Bruininks said in a statement.
The award, known as the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, is not one of the original Nobel Prizes. It was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in Nobel’s memory. The winners share a $1.5 million prize. When the award was announced last year, Hurwicz was still doing research, analyzing welfare economics and other topics, the school said.
Police seek roommate of homicide victim
UPDATE:
Police believe victim to be 69-year-old resident of apartment at Leland Arms
By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer
Police are looking for Matthew Scott McClellan, age 35.
TUSCALOOSA | A man was found dead at an apartment in the 800 block of 26th Avenue East on Tuesday morning, and police are still seeking his roommate.
Investigators consider the death a homicide, but aren’t disclosing how the man was killed, pending an autopsy.
“The death does appear to be suspicious,” said Tuscaloosa Police Chief Ken Swindle. The victim’s name was not released Tuesday, but police believe he is a 69-year-old resident of the apartment at Leland Arms. The apartment manager found the man dead in his bed, Swindle said. It appeared that the man had been dead for a few days.
Though they have not publicly named him a suspect, police are looking for Matthew Scott McClellan, 35, who stayed at the apartment for a few nights, said Capt. Loyd Baker, commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit. McClellan is from the Akron area of Hale County.
The victim’s early 1970s-model light blue Chevrolet or GMC pickup is missing. Baker released a photograph of McClellan and a photo of a similar truck Tuesday afternoon.
“Anyone with information about this vehicle or person should not approach, but call us or the police department,” he said. The death is the 12th homicide in Tuscaloosa County this year.
Anyone with information can contact Tuscaloosa Police at 205-349-2121 or the Tuscaloosa County Homicide Unit at 205-752-0616.
