West Alabama Wednesday Briefing
Good morning, West Alabama! It is Wednesday August 14, 2024.
Here comes the summer heat again! After a few days of manageable summer highs, a prolonged stretch of heat in the mid to upper 90s with high humidity will stretch across the Gulf Coast States this week and into the coming weekend. The National Climate Center is also forecasting overnight lows in the mid to upper 70s across much of the southeast.
An Excessive Heat Risk runs from limited to elevated across the entire area.
A positive to consider is the return of rain chances. While not widespread there are 20% to 50% chances of showers and thunderstorms beginning later today.
Tomorrow morning's new U.S. Drought Monitor is expected to show continued encroachment of drought conditions in West Alabama.
The Forecast:
New figures continue to reveal overall crime is down in the City of Tuscaloosa, but homicides are up 44% and felony assaults with a gun are up 48%. The numbers come in the wake of the city's 19th homicide of the year this past weekend.
Raevan Howard is chair of the Tuscaloosa City Council Public Safety Committee. She is warning residents to safeguard their guns because so many stolen guns are used to commit crimes.
Read More: Tuscaloosa Mayor Touts Reduced Crime As Weekend Homicide Ties 20-Year High
$4.65 million. That is the goal of this year’s United Way of West Alabama campaign that kicked off yesterday. Brock Jones of Thornhill Capital Management is this year’s campaign chair.
UWWA says the needs of their partner organizations have risen as the economy struggles.
Read More: United Way of West Alabama Sets $4.65 Million Capital Campaign Goal
Tuscaloosa City Schools have seen improvements in test scores. reading, science and math scores have all gone up. Tuscaloosa County Schools have seen increases in reading score but remained stagnant on other scores.
Here are the latest scores for all schools and how they measure to last year's scores.
Tuscaloosa's Ad Valorem School Tax Special Election scheduled for September 24th is in need of poll workers.
Workers must be at least 18 years old, registered to vote in Tuscaloosa County, and available to attend a mandatory training session on Sept. 19.
Officials say a positive vote will add roughly $20.00 a month to cover increasing education costs.
For the 3rd straight year GRO, a local Marketing firm, has landed a spot on the Inc." 5,000 list. The list ranks privately held, for-profit, and independent companies.
The companies are ranked according to percentage revenue growth over the last three years.
GRO ranks 3,746 overall among the fastest-growing private companies in America and No. 34 in Alabama. The company reported 124% growth over the last three years.
CB&S Bank is opening its new downtown Tuscaloosa Branch Bank today. According to a release the bank will offer a range of banking services.
CB&S was founded as Citizens Ban in 1906 in Russellville and has 55 branches in Alabama. Mississippi and Tennessee. It has $2.6 billion in assets.
Some residents of Parrish in Walker County may need to relocate their mailboxes to the end of High Hill Road. A notice to residents stated the deteriorating condition of the road is the problem.
In the notice, The U-S Postal Service informed recipients that unless a plan and resolution can be reached with the county commission by Friday the postal service will begin holding mail for 10 days to give customers time to move their mailbox.
Residents contend the county commission has ignored their requests for road improvement for years.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen is reporting a surge in voter registrations as we move toward the November General Election. Allen says 94% of eligible voters in the state have now registered.
Allen cautions, that doesn't mean 94% will vote but a record voter turnout in Alabama is possible.
The deadline to register to vote is October 21.
The school supplies for parking tickets program in the City of Tuscaloosa over the last month has been successful. Municipal Court reports the collection of 724 items. They were presented to Tuscaloosa City Schools at last night’s council meeting.
Providing back-to-school supplies instead of paying a parking ticket has become an annual event in the city.
The price tag for Gov. Ivey’s new mega-prison in Elmore County continues to rise. The original cost was set at $630 million. It has now jumped to $1.2 billion for 52 buildings spread across a 300-acre site.
The portion of the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover that houses Macy’s is being advertised as available. Though there has been no official announcement, it is a hint that the mega department store is continuing to pare back its nationwide retail operations.
Topping Sports News:
The Countdown Clock to Alabama Football 2024 is ticking. From today there are just 18 days remaining before the Crimson Tide kicks off the inaugural season for new Head Coach Kalen DeBoer in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
It will be a 6:00pm CDT game against Western Kentucky on the Crimson Tide Sports Network (95.3 The Bear and Tude 100.9 locally) and on ESPN. Bama is a 31-point favorite to begin the DeBoer era right.
With just over two weeks away from kickoff, the Crimson Tide Sports Network is looking for a new sideline commentator for Alabama football games. Former Tide star Damian Harris was announced recently as the replacement for Christian Miller. But play-by-play voice Chris Steward has revealed on his radio show on WNSP that Miller is accepting another opportunity.
Miller retired from the NFL this past spring after five years with the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills.
Click TuscaloosaThread.com throughout the day for the latest in West Alabama news, sports and weather. It is free!
Have a wonderful Wednesday!!
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