Students from 12 high schools in Alabama have been benefiting from a education program founded by the world's largest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM).

Students in the Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Programs in Alabama's Jefferson County and Montgomery saw a very impressive 81% increase in passing scores in Advanced Placement math classes.

Imagine that you're in Jefferson County Alabama, reading the local paper. You see an article that says that Jefferson County is one of the most indebted municipalities in the U.S. So you read a little further and find that there are layers of payments made to local officials, including the mayor, Larry Langford, who received more than $156,000 in cash from a broker hired to arrange bond offerings and swap agreements on the behalf of Jefferson County. You keep reading and discover that the financing was for a $3 billion sewage system.

The financing was secured from various banks, among them JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE JPM). Everything went along fine until the financial crisis hit the bond market. Bond ratings were driven down, forcing lenders to curtail credit for Jefferson County. The county came under pressure and couldn't make their payments on time. Deadlines came and went, and Jefferson County is now ready to blow up. If it does, it will be the largest municipal default in the nation, making Orange County California's problem look like a spec of sand.

As if Detroit needed any more bad news, there are reports that yet another foreign producer of sensible, efficient and fun to drive cars is planning a raid on the domestic market share of the SUV-producing giants.

Apparently Germany's Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY) is considering building a new plant in Alabama to produce Jettas and next-generation Passat sedans, and possibly a small new SUV called the Tiguan, as well as the Audi A5. The plant will cost an estimated $788 million and employ several thousand workers. No decision was made about the plant's location at a meeting on Wednesday by Volkswagen's management board, and VW is reportedly also considering sites in Tennessee and Michigan.

This would not be the first time VW produced cars in the U.S. From 1978 to 1988, the company produced over a million vehicles, mostly Rabbits, in New Stanton, Pa., near Pittsburgh. But VW's quality and reputation suffered in the 1980s, and the company now has less than 2% of the American market. However, VW is making a great comeback across the globe, and senior managers must think the time is right to start selling more cars in the massive North American market, the world's largest.

Nathaniel Hawthorne may be dead, but his spirit still lives on at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), specifically in this store in Attalla, Alabama. You can recognize the store because it's the one with the two petty thieves out front, wearing signs around their necks: "I am a thief, I stole from Wal-Mart." The signs, ordered by a local judge (they were worn for eight hours on a couple of Saturdays) have received positive comments from shoppers, according to the store manager; signs that the 1800s are alive and well.

As William Faulkner wrote, in the south, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

Surely the mainstream retail climate has moved past expending precious management time and justice department resources on the humiliation of those desperate individuals (or, as one of the punishees claims, victims of misunderstanding) who steal items of miniscule value. Most companies who own stores build losses into their forecasted income statement. But at Wal-Mart, the scarlet letter lives on.