Jul 02, 2024

On this day in 1776, thirteen colonies officially adopted a resolution severing ties with Great Britain. John Adams said at the time "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." He was off by a few days but we appreciate the sentiment.

It's a holiday week and Ike Morgan is off, so I sure appreciate you reading and listening.

John Hammontree

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We’ve got the Fourth of July coming up, so let’s start with some fun Team USA news. Former Auburn gymnast Suni Lee will soon be heading to Paris, where she’ll represent Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics and defend her all-around title after winning gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

After spending the week in Minneapolis competing in the U.S. Olympic Trials, Lee wrapped up competition on Sunday night having finished second in the all-around competition, finishing behind Simone Biles, who won the automatic qualification bid after winning the all-around competition.

Orange Beach is looking into a ban on vulgar or lewd messages for aerial banners. Those are the messages you see pulled behind an airplane over the beach that usually advertises a crab leg special or parasailing or something. Well, the beach community is apparently feeling flustered that one enterprising Texas woman opted to promote her Only Fans account using the airplane method.

Now if you haven’t heard of Only Fans, I’d tell you to google it but that might get you in trouble with your spouse or employer, so let’s just say it’s a website for adults. And therein lies the problem. Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said “Who am I to judge what adults do? But when you fly advertisement for a pornographic site down the beach in front of thousands of individuals including children, you are a sick individual.”

Now, speaking of body cams...

Three years ago, the city of Birmingham set up a citizens review group intended to provide an independent review of police misconduct in Birmingham. But in the last three years, that committee has heard just three cases, leading some observers to question whether the Birmingham Public Safety Advisory Committee has any real authority.

The committee can hire investigators and mediators, but it doesn’t have the authority to subpoena anyone to testify or to get records like body camera video, police reports or personnel records. In fact, the committee isn’t allowed to consider the most controversial cases, because the committee can’t get involved if there’s an internal police department review, a lawsuit or other reviews by the district attorney or the county personnel board.

School may be out for the summer, but the work of an Alabama Education Lab reporter is never done. Rebecca Griesbach has a new list of principal salaries out that’s sure to grab some attention.

The majority of Alabama’s public school principals made six-figure salaries last school year, with some of the top earners bringing in more than $150,000, new state data shows.

Alabama had 1,380 public school principals in the 2023-24 school year. On average, they made a salary of $108,596 – a 3% increase from the previous year’s average of $105,216, according to data from the Alabama State Department of Education. That includes county, city and charter schools at all grade levels. The five highest paid principals are at the following high schools:

Thompson High School, Alabaster City Schools – $178,500

Auburn High School, Auburn City Schools – $169,341

Hewitt-Trussville High School, Trussville City Schools – $160,000

Hoover High School, Hoover City Schools – $159,569

Vestavia Hills High School, Vestavia Hills City Schools – $158,828

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