These are some stories from the 10/2/12 version of Tennessee Valley news update (633, 733, 833am, 304, 404, 504, 604pm) …
MONTGOMERY AL - Gov. Robert Bentley says he won't implement part of the federal Affordable Health Care Act in Alabama. Bentley says he sent a letter to Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius saying he's an opponent of the act and that the law lacks options for innovative approaches and for saving money. For that reason, Bentley says he doesn’t want to confine Alabama to an ‘essential health benefits’ plan.
HUNTSVILLE AL - NASA has awarded Huntsville-based Dynetics a contract to improve the affordability, reliability and performance of an advanced booster for the Space Launch System (SLS). WAAY reports that Dynetics will demonstrate the use of modern manufacturing techniques to produce and test several primary components of the F-1 rocket engine originally developed for the Apollo Program. NASA wants to up-size the heavy-lift rocket now being developed at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center.
HUNTSVILLE AL - For the second year in a row, enrollment has dropped at Alabama A&M University for fall classes. This, despite a statewide campaign to raise the number of students on campuses. Alabama A&M was the only school that saw a drop in enrollment in an annual survey conducted by The Huntsville Times. All other colleges, including the University of Alabama in Huntsville, saw modest to steady gains in enrollment. Calhoun Community College saw the biggest jump in enrollment among area colleges with an enrollment increase of 2.5 percent
HUNTSVILLE AL - Be sure to join us tomorrow night from 8 until 10 for NPR’s special coverage of the presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. The coverage will be led by NPR Senior Washington editor Ron Elving and analysts EJ Dionne and Matt Continetti. We’ll also carry the three other presidential and vice president debates on October 11th, 16th and 22nd.