West Alabama Friday Briefing
It is Friday April 12, 2024.
Tomorrow is A-Day on the University of Alabama campus. It is the time to celebrate past accomplishments and look ahead to the future of Alabama Football with new Tide Head Coach Kalen DeBoer.
Coach DeBoer's end of spring practice game is expected to bring at least 50,000 fans to Bryant-Denny Stadium for the 3:00pm kickoff. If the weather for Saturday is any indication, it will be a bright start for the new Crimson Tide regime. Sunny skies with highs in the 80s for kickoff will be perfect.
The Forecast:
A big assist is coming from grants to help low-income residents reduce energy costs. Gov. Ivey is awarding almost $6 million in grants to agencies that help low-income residents weatherize their homes. The award includes several agencies that serve West Alabama counties.
$398 thousand will go to Community Service Programs of West Alabama for residents in Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Pickens, Lamar, Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties. More than $451 thousand will go to Community Action Partnership of North Alabama for Walker County and 5 other counties and $523 thousand to Central Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission for Perry and 7 other counties.
Priority is given to people with disabilities, elderly and low-income households with children.
For the second year in a row Tuscaloosa City Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Daria has been named Alabama Superintendent of the Year. The award is given by the School Superintendents of Alabama.
The Alabama House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the end of slavery, a state holiday. State offices wouldn't close that day; rather employees could choose to take Juneteenth off or Jefferson Davis's Birthday.
Some lawmakers complained that state employees get too many holidays, so they didn't want to add a new one.
Tuscaloosa Democrat Rep. Chris England supported establishing Juneteenth as the state holiday and abolishing Jefferson Davis's birthday because of his support of slavery and being president of the Confederacy.
A bill that defines male and female as the only two sexes passed in the House Thursday. During floor debate, the bill’s Republican sponsor, Hoover’s Susan DuBose, called the bill protection of women’s rights. But Democrat’s like Huntsville’s Marylyn Lands believes the legislation would have unintended consequences in the LGBTQ+ community.
DuBose hopes the senate will act quickly with the end of the session just days away.
The DCH Community Health Fair is being conducted in Government Plaza in Downtown Tuscaloosa tomorrow. The 10am until 2pm event will include Free Health Assessments, Local Vendors, a Kid’s Play Area, Food Trucks and Educational activities.
The storms that rolled across Alabama earlier this week fortunately left only a lot of power outages and minimal damage. The result next door in Mississippi was worse. A second person has now died, 6 people were injured and 179 homes were damaged in 11 counties. Storm assessments are ongoing, and those numbers are expected to rise.
Jheovanny Gomez and Justin Grimball, the men who co-own and operate Tuscaloosa's popular Jalapeños restaurants have opened what they call the largest tequila bar in the South this week in downtown's Temerson Square.
The Tequila Room is open now at 405 23rd Avenue in half of what used to be the larger 4th & 23rd bar. It connects to Jalapeños Downtown Cocina and is next to Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint.
See: Owners of Tuscaloosa's Jalapeños Open South's Largest Tequila Bar (tuscaloosathread.com)
Topping Sports News:
Kalen DeBoer released a statement concerning his former player, Washington running back Tybo Rogers, who is facing rape allegations. Rogers was arrested and charged in April for two counts of rape that occurred during the 2023 football season.
DeBoer's Statement: “While I am not able to comment specifically on the situation involving an individual at my former institution because of federal privacy laws and the ongoing criminal matters, I do want to make it clear that I take any allegation of sexual misconduct very seriously," DeBoer said in the statement. "I always have and always will follow established institutional policies and procedures to ensure prompt reporting and proper handling of allegations by the appropriate authorities.”
Rogers did not play in the PAC 12 title game but did suit up for the Huskies CFP games.
See: Kalen DeBoer Releases Tybo Rogers Statement (tuscaloosathread.com)
Starting Alabama Basketball guard Rylan Griffen is reportedly set to enter the transfer portal. The 6-foot-6, 190-pound starting guard played in 36 games and started 33 for Alabama, averaging 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists.
See: Starting Guard Enters Transfer Portal (tuscaloosathread.com)
Alabama's A-Day Game tomorrow is expected to draw its largest crowd of fans since Nick Saban came to T-Town and packed Bryant-Denny with 95,000 fans in 2007. Some fans even had to be turned away.
There have been a lot of changes since Kalen DeBoer took the Tide reigns, including coaching staff and players.
There are a lot of other activities surround the game.
The Alumni Flag Football Game, which will consist of two 20-minute halves, is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and will feature former Alabama standouts.
Fans looking to enhance their pregame A-Day experience can do so at Champions Lane, which will open at 11 a.m. on the green space adjacent to the Tuska Statue and Walk of Champions. Champions Lane is free and open to the public and will feature live music, a display of Alabama Football trophies and awards presented by NASCAR and Everwood, student-athlete autograph signings, a NASCAR Pace Car, food trucks and other sponsor activations.
One of the great traditions at The University of Alabama, which is also open to the public, is the annual Walk of Fame Ceremony at Denny Chimes. At approximately 1 p.m. on A-Day, Nick Saban and 2023 captains Jalen Milroe and Malachi Moore will address the crowd. The captains will then leave prints of their hands and cleats in the concrete as they join a long list of Crimson Tide greats at Denny Chimes.
The A-Day Game will serve as the 15th and final practice of the spring. All gates open at noon and admission is free to the public with the first 5,000 fans receiving a limited-edition A-Day poster, courtesy of Golden Flake. The general public may enter at Gates 14-17, 21-24, 34 or 47-53 for lower-level and ADA accessible seating. Upper-level access will be available via the spirals at Gates 7, 30, 40 and 59 and the elevators at 28 and 41.
HERE is all the information you need about attending tomorrow's festivities and the game.
Enjoy the beautiful weekend and let's all turnout at Bryant-Denny tomorrow to show support for Coach Kalen DeBoer, his staff and the 2024 Crimson Tide.
More From 95.3 The Bear
