Deaths

The newest internet challenge has already led to 4 fatalities. Simple safety can prevent it.

THIS HAS TO STOP. NOW. Do we want to put another family, students and concerned Tuscaloosa citizens through another gut-wrenching ordeal? NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I spoke with Stephen Dethrage from the Tuscaloosa Thread. He said that this is not the first time, that folks have fallen in the Black Warrior River and drowned.

John Servati, a member of the University of Alabama swimming and diving team, died Monday night at DCH Regional Medical Center as a result of injuries sustained at a house off campus during the storms that swept through the Tuscaloosa area. He was 21 years old.

Tom Clancy, the writer of numerous popular military thrillers, died on Wednesday morning at age 66.

Chet Flippo, a respected music writer who worked for Rolling Stone, Billboard, CMT and others during a four-decade-long career, has died. Flippo didn't write the book on country music, but he did write the book on one of country music's pioneers before adapting to digital media in the late '90s and '00s.