Here is today's summary of economic development news, a free service of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, representing Alabama's private sector investment in economic development. If you enjoy NewsFlash, thank an EDPA Partner.
For almost a century, life in Alexander City, Alabama, revolved around Russell Corp. The athletic-wear maker was headquartered in the town of 15,000, and employed 7,200 people there.
"I became mayor in 1996, and all the mayor of Alex City had to do was please Russell, to be honest," recalled Don McClellan when I visited last Tuesday.
In 1998, Russell announced that it was cutting 4,000 jobs and shifting production abroad. The job cuts continued after that, the result partly of broader apparel industry trends but also of Russell's struggles to compete with Nike, Adidas and upstart Under Armour. Russell moved its headquarters to Atlanta, then sold itself to Berkshire Hathaway in 2006. Its only remaining presence in Alex City is a warehouse and distribution center that employs 400.
A historic World Series win for the Chicago Cubs turned into a gargantuan work order for a local screen-print manufacturer in Alexander City that has been printing logos on the winning team's shirts non stop since Wednesday.
The printing presses at Alex City's Aprinta Apparel sprang to action on a 300,000-piece shirt order and have been running on a 24-hour production cycle since the Cubs' curse-ending game Tuesday night.
"As soon as the game ended we started printing," said Dolan.
OZARK - The Alabama Aviation Center will give Connor White a chance to travel the world while making a living.
White is attending the AAC to become an aircraft mechanic and with the training he receives there he will likely be able to find a job just about anywhere on the globe.
"Overseas jobs with the military are among the highest paying," he said. "And you get to work on something with armaments, not just commercial jets with passengers flying on them."
The University of Alabama's Economic Research Center, or CBER, this week received two notable honors from the Association for University Business and Economic Research.
The university received the Award of Excellence in Print Publications for its 2016 Alabama Economic Outlook and Award of Excellence in Electronic Publications for the Alabama Business Confidence Index during the Association for University Business and Economic Research's annual meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Alabama Business Confidence Index was written by CBER's socioeconomic analyst Viktoria Riiman and designed by senior graphic designer Katie Howard. This is CBER's 60th consecutive quarter recording the ABCI, a useful, forward-looking indicator of the state's economic conditions.