Aug 13, 2024

Fans of rock music will want to check out the podcast today -- AL.com's Matt Wake interviews guitarist Slash, who plays Huntsville's Orion Amphitheater tonight.

Todays news follows. Thanks so much for reading,

Ike Morgan

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Over the past week there has been a bit of a dust-up, at least on social media, over photos of charter buses bringing people to Albertville. What are they doing here? Are they being secretly bused in? Are they in the country legally?

Officials in law enforcement, government and a poultry business have been responding to the concerns, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

Albertville Police told the public last week that the buses carried workers who were being transported by a local company contracted to bring them to and from work.

In a statement, city leaders emphasized that Albertville is no sanctuary city and expressed concern over area students returning to school under what it called a "climate of controversy, baseless accusations and hurtful rhetoric" toward families of the students' classmates.

State Rep. Brock Colvin (R-Albertville): "While personally I am frustrated with the policy failures of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their impact to our community, I will not tolerate the racist and hateful comments I have seen.”

Meanwhile, Pilgrim's Pride, a poultry processor, said it has had a job-applicant waitlist of workers in the area, and that jobs opened up with an expansion at its Russellville plant. So it's been transporting workers to and from Russellville.

The company said the workers are legal employees.

How much money is in working for a nonprofit? Obviously, that depends on the job you land and where you work.

AL.com's Hannah Denham did some reporting for The Birmingham News daily digital edition on Alabama's highest paid nonprofit employees for the 2022 tax year. She found that most are physicians, as you might expect. The top 13 were men.

Coming in at No. 1 on the list was PowerSouth Energy Cooperative's chief operating officer and vice president, Damon Morgan (no relation). He pulled $6.7 million.

The state's top revenue-generating nonprofit was the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, which brought in more than $900 million. It had four of the state's top 10 earners.

The biggest celebrity on the list was Greg Sankey, the Southeastern Conference commissioner, who made more than $3.5 million.

If you have a Regions Bank debit card, you might've had it declined if you tried to use it Monday morning.

That's always fun. You had to give the cashier that innocent look and ask to try it again. While the cashier and the person behind you in line wonder to themselves how you can go through life so irresponsibly.

It turns out that you were right: It was the card's fault. (At least in many cases). There are no cyberattack concerns, though. AL.com's William Thornton reports that a Regions spokesperson said it was a system error and no information has been compromised.

Every now and then in this business we have to share news that is extra painful for some members of the community to hear.

So make sure you're sitting down right now.

Wesley's Boobie Trap in Sumiton has announced that it is temporarily closed, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

The reason given for the closure was "some much-needed and overdue vacation time."

So especially to you enthusiasts of the art of dance: Try to hold it together.

“St. Vincent’s Hospital is the first hospital in Birmingham, so we have this important history here and it’s sad to see that chapter close. ... UAB does an immense amount of charity work for the indigent and others in the community who need it. In many ways they’ll be able to carry forth a similar tradition even if it’s not specifically Catholic.”

Rev. Bryan Jerabek, pastor of St. Paul’s Cathedral and chancellor of the Diocese of Birmingham, on UAB Hospital's buying of St. Vincent Hospital (and the removal of religious symbols).

In 1973, former Alabama and Dallas Cowboys running back Sherman Williams of Mobile.

In 1990, pro basketball player DeMarcus Cousins of Mobile.

A conversation with the guitarist Slash.

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