Last Spring a handful of kids in and around Huntsville, Alabama came down with the flu.  As you would expect, they were too sick to go to school, so they stayed home.  But what might surprise you is that nearly 51,000 kids joined them.  All over the city school was closed.  Doors were locked.  Classrooms were empty, playgrounds deserted.  The only sign of life in three school districts for days were cleaning crews scrubbing everything from floor to ceiling with the hopes of stopping the H1N1 virus.

Some parents in North Alabama publicly criticized state, county and federal health officials for telling three entire school districts to close, calling it an overreaction.  Many were left scrambling to provide care for their children who, for the most part, were healthy.

But Danny Walker disagrees.  He has a son in the fifth grade at Harvest Elementary School just outside of Huntsville.  Walker says he wasn’t surprised when all the schools closed in the area.

“I think the schools erred on the side of caution because of the health risks that were involved,”  Walker told me in the school library.  “Overall I think it turned out to be a good plan because it stabilized the spread of the flu.”

Terita St. Julian has a son in the second grade.  She agrees with Walker that health officials and the school districts did what they thought was best last Spring when faced with this new thing called The Swine Flu.

“The school handled everything very well and so I was prepared and able to keep my son home and stay with him.”

Madison County Schools Superintendent Terry Davis calls the decision a collaborative effort between all three school districts, the Madison County Health Department and the State Health Department in Montgomery.

“It was a tough decision because by law we have to go to school for 180 days,”  Davis said.  “So we knew for every day we closed that was one day we would have to push on into the summer.”

But this year is different.  In many cases, school will not be closed.  The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says instead try to keep schools open unless the spread of the flu interrupts the day to day operations within the district.  They are also telling teachers and principals to separate any students that show symptoms and then send them home right away.  And this year, more than ever, kids are being taught in class proper hand washing, using hand sanitizer and using their sleeves to cover coughs and sneezes.

It wasn’t my intention to cover a ceremony unveiling the Civil Rights Trail in downtown Birmingham, Alabama.  Instead, I was assigned to work on a story about Mayor Larry Langford’s announcement that the city of Birmingham would refund civil fines and penalties levied by the city almost 50 years ago during the civil rights movement.  But when I called the Mayor’s office last week, hoping to track down anyone who would file for such a refund, I was told many of them would be at this historic ceremony at the historic center of Birmingham’s Civil Right’s Battle.

We arrived at Kelly Ingram Park about a half hour before the ceremony started. City staff were still busy setting up the speaker’s podium and testing microphones as guests began to fill rows of chairs that were staged near the pavilion in the middle of the park.  When I introduced myself to Mayor Langford, he immediately connected me with a man who was simply sitting among the guests in the audience.  His name was Melvin J. Short.  He was probably in his mid-60’s and I noticed he held an envelope in his hand. As I talked to Mr. Short about why he was here for the trail unveiling, I learned that simple business-sized envelope held a piece of history — a real-life documentation of the struggle for basic human rights in Birmingham four decades ago.  He was born and raised here and remembered clearly what it was like living under the Jim Crow Laws of the segregated South.

“Back in the sixties you couldn’t eat in the restaurant, you had to go to the back door. You couldn’t ride in the front of the bus, in other words you had no rights,” Short said.

Short was known as a “foot soldier” – average citizens who enlisted themselves in the battle to end discrimination, racial segregation and violence. The strategy was to commit acts of civil disobedience, like drinking water from a whites-only drinking fountain, boldly walking into the front of a segregated restaurant and ordering food or taking a seat in the front of a city bus. The idea was to overwhelm the jails and law enforcement resources, a strategy that proved to be very effective. For black residents in 1960’s Birmingham, these simple acts of daily life meant being arrested and fined.

“I had signed up at the church to be arrested because we knew we were going to get arrested…to go to city hall and rink some white water,” Short said, referring to the whites only drinking fountains. “What we wanted was equal rights, our rights were being violated. So that’s what we were going to jail for.”

Short said he spent a total of 12 days in jail for two separate instances of defying Jim Crow laws. Alongside others who “signed up” to be thrown in jail, Short was fined $48, a hefty amount for a young man who only brought home $30 per week. He even had the pink slip of paper dated April 26, 1966 inside that envelope, proving his arrest and the fine he paid to the court clerk. After 43 years, Melvin Short will get his $48 back. Mayor Langford says refunding the fines to people like Short is long overdue.  But for the mayor, it’s not a pardon for the people like Short who marched and struggled for their rights. It’s a pardon for the city who he says wronged so many people so long ago. “

The City is sorry for what it did because it can never be a crime to fight for human decency and human rights,” Langford says. “Healing is not easy and sometimes two words can do more to heal a nation than anything else on the planet. And those two words are simply ‘I’m Sorry.’” Short wasn’t aware that he was entitled a refund of the civil fines he paid in 1966. He says he will fill out forms and wait for his $48 check from the city. The mayor says all requests need to be verified before money is refunded. However, in Short’s case, having a 43 year old receipt is hard to deny.

Here’s a tiny silver lining in the bad economic news that’s been smacking us in the face almost every day for the past year. The recession apparently has solved a problem in the healthcare industry, at least temporarily. A study out of Vanderbilt University shows that a decade-long nursing shortage has nearly disappeared in the past year. Researchers found that more nurses are delaying retirement or coming out of retirement because of demolished 401K’s and partners who have lost their job. The nursing shortage might be over for now, but experts warn as the economy recovers and baby boomers age we could see an even worse shortage over the next decade. Check out the story that we shot at Vanderbilt Univeristy Medical Center and Emory University Healthcare.

I have never heard of Cullowhee and didn’t have the faintest idea what a “Catamount” is.  If you have never been to Western Carolina University, you may not be familiar with these terms either.  Cullowhee, home to Western Carolina, sits smack in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Knoxville, TN and Asheville, NC.   It’s also home to the Catamounts, WCU’s mascot. 

I attended journalism school at Michigan State University and love my Spartans (who WILL take the NCAA championship next year,) but if I had to do it over again I would definitely choose a school like this.  In my older years I have grown to enjoy hiking, mountain biking and whitewater rafting, unlike my younger years revolved around beer and sleep.  But the older, wiser me would relish in the opportunity to live and learn on a campus that is surrounded by some of the most amazing natural resources east of the Mississippi. 

Apparently Western Carolina University isn’t just popular because of study breaks floating on the Tuckasegee River or on the hiking trails in the surrounding Nantahala National Forest.  The school has seen a sharp increase in the number of graduate school applications because of the faltering economy.  Scott Higgins is the Dean of the Graduate School and Research at Western Carolina.  He says the school has seen an 11 percent jump in applications and a 30 percent increase in admissions, a trend we found at The University of South Carolina, Texas Tech, Princeton and The University of Alabama.  We found laid off workers who never thought of going back to school for a masters degree until they found themselves out of work.  We also found a graduating senior who had a job offer retracted when the company suddenly posted record losses.  Displaced workers and students fighting for a few jobs are finding that Graduate School is the best place to wait out a hard economy and faltering job market.  Take a look at the story I shot with Reporter Marianne Silber, Intern Becky Hood and Photographer Mari De Carvahlo on a couple of students who have no choice but to get a masters.  By the way, Webster’s Dictionary defines “catamount” as any various wild cats such as a cougar or lynx.  Many species which have roamed this part of the country for years.  In case you were wondering.

Click on link below to watch story:

Lt. Col. Joanna Reagan in Kuwait

in Kuwait.  With their leader being called to duty in the Middle East, The North Carolina Coastal Pines Chapter of the Girl Scouts considered breaking the troop up and transferring the girls to other troops.  But lucky for the girls of 1444, an unlikely person stepped up to help lead the troop and keep Joanna’s girls together.

Keith happens to be Joanna Reagan’s husband and stepped up to help out when she was deployed.  When we attended the Troop’s weekly meeting a few weeks ago the energy in the room was electric.  The girls were obviously close with one another and thrilled to have Keith Reagan as co-leader of their troop.

“He is fun because he just understands me and helps us out a lot,” says troop member Emma Falcon-Voleski.  Whitney Pollard agrees with Emma that Keith brings unique to the troop and provokes them to have fun.  All the girls agree that their troop father brings an exciting twist to troop activities.  “It’s kind of like having a woman lead us, just a different gender.  Sometimes it can be exciting,” Pollard says.

Click here to watch our story:

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According to the United States Girl Scout Council, male leaders are rare, but not unheard of.  Out of about one million leaders nationwide, two percent are men.  The North Carolina Coastal Pines Chapter says the girl scouts value diversity and that every position in Girl Scouting is open to qualified men and

“It came to a point where there was some concern whether the troop would continue,” says Keith Reagan, father and Troop 1444’s stand-in leader.  “The girls might have to be farmed out to another troop in order to remain in the girl scouts and I said I will not allow that to happen.”

Joanna Reagan is the leader of North Carolina Coastal Pines Troop 1444

According to the United States Girl Scout Council, male leaders are rare, but not unheard of.  Out of about one million leaders nationwide, two percent are men.  The North Carolina Coastal Pines Chapter says the girl scouts value diversity and that every position in Girl Scouting is open to qualified men and women.  They do however believe that female role modes are so important to young girls, that men like Keith working directly with girls must have a female co-leader.  Keith runs troop 1444 alongside Heather Walters and her husband Chris, who has been appointed “Cookie Dad” due to his ability effectively manage those famous Spring cookie sales.

So while Joanna is serving in Kuwait, Keith will continue to lead Troop 1444 in the Girl Scout Promise at every weekly meeting.  He’ll plan camping trips with co-leader Heather Walters, strategize fundraisers and help the girls sew those iconic patches onto their “girl scout green” vests.

“We do allow males to work with our girls here.  We understand that there is an important balance between males and females in our roles,”  says Meta Trombley, Membership Executive for the North Carolina Coast Pines Chapter.  “So we just want to make sure that the Moms were okay with it and the girls still knew they were going to get a great girl scouting experience.” 

Troop 1444 with myself and our Fox News Crew

“I hope that my presence, if nothing else, has provided an aspect to girl scouts that they might not have without a male influence,”  Reagan says.