West Alabama Friday Briefing

Good morning West Alabama! It is Friday, August 30, 2024.

It is Labor Day Weekend and the first weekend of the college football season in Alabama. That means there will be a lot of people on Alabama roadways. It also means ALEA Troopers will be out in force to help keep us from doing things that endanger our and other people's safety.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) points out the majority of fatalities and injuries that occur over long holiday weekends are preventable. Here is a list of the top hazards over long holiday weekends:

Speeding
Drunk and inattentive driving.
Not wearing a seatbelt
Recreational vehicle accidents
Fire
Drowning
Improper boat usage

According to the U. S. Coast Guard, there are five contributing factors that cause most boating accidents. These include:

Excessive speed
Lack of experience
Not paying attention
Not maintaining a proper lookout
Machinery failure

This is the unofficial end of summer as vacations end with the kids back in school, don't make it a tragic one!

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The weather over the holiday weekend will be hot with widely scattered showers. The thunderstorms should not make the holiday weekend or tomorrow night's Crimson Tide season opener a bust.

It will be hot but not excessively and the rain will be widely scattered meaning many areas will receive no precipitation and the showers that do occur shouldn't last long.

The Forecast:

Today

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Saturday

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Saturday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Sunday

A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph.

Sunday Night

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72.

Labor Day

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 92.

Next Week

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Topping the News:

With the City of Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County edging toward a record number of homicides, faith and community leaders are teaming up for a "Ceasefire Campaign".

Creekwood Village Apartments has been the site of several shootings, some fatal. Yesterday area faith leaders marched around the apartments in an effort to get people to lay their guns down.

The "Ceasefire Campaign" is a joint effort of local churches and the Tuscaloosa Police Department.

Former United Mine Workers regional director James Gale Kerns has been indicted in federal court in connection with the 2022 damage of a Warrior Met Coal gas pipeline in Brookwood. He is charged with one count of destruction of property with an explosive device during the year long strike at the company’s Brookwood mines.

The 52-year-old could be sentenced between five and 20 years in federal prison if found guilty.

Former Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban’s mother has passed away at the age of 94. Mary Saban Pasko is survived by her two children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

She was born in July 1932 in Michigan but spent most of her life in the small town of Farmington, West Virginia. There, while attending Farmington High School, where she was a cheerleader and majorette, she met and later marry Nick Saban Sr.

Read More: Nick Saban’s Mother Passes Away

47-year-old Christopher L. Clark has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentence was handed down after Clark pleading guilty to domestic violence in Pickens County in 2022.

If you are one of the 2.5 million drivers hitting the road for Labor Day weekend your wallet will take less of a hit at the gas pump compared to last year. The national average is $3.35 a gallon, down from #3.82 a year ago. In Alabama a gallon will cost you $2.95, last year it was $3.41. The price is down to $2.95 in Tuscaloosa County. Perry County remains the most expensive in West Alabama at $3.32 a gallon.

Drones and other unmanned systems are a critical weapon in the Ukrainian War with Russia and other conflicts. Camgian, a software firm headquartered in Starkville but with a Tuscaloosa facility, has received a $25-million federal contract to develop systems capable of coordinating neutralization of aerial threats.

Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, who represents much of West Alabama, is blasting the revised indictment of President Trump just over 2-months until the election. In a social media post Aderholt calls the actions of Special Council Jack Smith an obvious effort to weaponize the judicial system in an attempt to influence the election.

A lot of people across the southeast are paying close attention to a tropical disturbance in the tropical Atlanta. A number of computer models are tracking the storm into the Gulf of Mexico late next week. However, ABC334 Chief Meteorologist James Spann cautions its way too early to determine the track.

Depending on steering currents in place in about a week, Spann points out the storm could track southward into Mexico, into southeastern Texas, across the Central Gulf Coast or swing northward along the U.S. east coast.

Spann is warning to not place faith in the doom and gloom social media posts from non-meteorologists.

There is also a new disturbance that just left the west coast of North Africa.

Topping Sports News:

There is a full slate of high school football action across West Alabama tonight and several area teams face big road games. Here is the list of games:

St. Luke Episcopal at Marengo
Framcis Marion hosts Greene County
Holt at Holy Spirit
Chipley lForida at Linden
University Charter hosts Hubbertville
Pickens Academy at Berry
Fayette County at South Lamar
Lamar County hosts Red Bay
Winfield at Sulligent
Oakman at Hale County
R.C. Hatch at Sumter Central
Sweetwater at Thomasville
Bibb County at Gordo
Demopolis at Jackson
Northridge at American Christian
Brookwood visits West Blocton
Northside at Cordova
Tuscaloosa County at Vigor
Sipsey Valley hosts Jasper
Montevallo at Sylacauga
Central hosts Calera
Paul Bryant hosts Minor
Hillcrest travels to Sparkman

In Thursday night Southeastern Conference action Arkansas posted 70-points in their shutout of Arkansas - Pine Bluff in their season opener in Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium. The Razorbacks scored on every offensive possession.

Missouri blasted Murray State 51-0 in their home opener in Columbia, MO. The Tigers posted an 11-2 record last season, and some prognosticators believe they can make the 12-team playoffs this season.

Tonight, Oklahoma begins their inaugural season as a member of the SEC with a 6;00pm CST home game against Temple. The game is on ESPN.

Alabama is putting the finishing touches on their plans for Coach Kalen DeBoer's premiere home opener against West Kentucky at Bryant-Denny at 6;00pm CST tomorrow night.

Alabama is favored by more than 30 points for Saturday’s game. Through the four all-time matchups with the Crimson Tide, WKU has only managed 17 points.

The game is officially listed as a sellout, but second sale tickets are available.

The Southeastern Conference has mandated the league's teams issue injury reports.

Click TuscaloosaThread.com throughout the day for the latest West Alabama news, sports and weather. better yet, download the app.

Have a safe, happy and blessed Labor Day weekend. Thanks to every worker out there than works hard to support their families and help this nation be the envy of the world.