What's going on in Alabama
Good morning, folks. It's Flag Day, so if you display the Stars and Stripes at your home, make sure to put it out today. We continue to have political and sports news of note, as well as a few other topics, and the word "Wawa" makes its Down in Alabama debut. Ike Morgan |
|
|
Senate vote or Trump appearance? |
|
|
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville is reportedly on the outs with some Washington Republicans after he missed a vote on Tuesday, reports AL.com's Paul Gattis. The vote was a call to end debate on President Biden's nomination for chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. Republicans view the nominee, Jared Bernstein, more as a partisan behind Biden economic policy than as an analytical and objective economist. The result was that the Democrats won the vote 50-49. Tuberville's vote would've forced Vice President Harris to cast a tiebreaker. The reason Tuberville didn't vote? He was heading to Donald Trump's Bedminster golf club in New Jersey to support the former president, who later Tuesday addressed supporters in the wake of his arrest on charges related to his handling of classified documents. |
|
|
Harvey Glance, a successful sprinter who also coached track and field at both Auburn and Alabama, passed away recently, reports AL.com's Creg Stephenson. Glance won a gold medal with the 4x100 relay team at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He competed collegiately at Auburn, winning two 100-meter titles and one 200-meter championship at nationals. He became Auburn's first Black head coach in any sport when he took over the track program in 1991. He led the Tigers to second place at the 1997 NCAA Indoor Championships, then left for Alabama, where he coached until 2011. Harvey Glance was 66 years old. |
|
|
Major League Baseball appears to be coming to Alabama -- for one game, anyway. CBS Sports reports that the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will play the Field of Dreams game next year at Birmingham's Rickwood Field, which stakes its claim as the oldest professional baseball park in America. Major League Baseball had "Field of Dreams" games in 2021 and 2022 in Dyersville, Iowa, on the field where they filmed the Kevin Costner movie and where we found out that South Carolina's Shoeless Joe Jackson sounded a lot like Ray Liotta. |
| If Buc-ee's isn't cultural phenomenon enough for you, crews have broken ground on the state's first Wawa. No, I didn't just break into baby talk. Wawa is a convenience-store chain that has swept the East Coast. The first Alabama location will be on Highway 98 in Fairhope, reports AL.com's Lawrence Specker. A Wawa is smaller than a Buc-ee's, and it's a different kind of store. It touts things such as fresh groceries and deli items, and it's more of a destination for locals than a travel center for those passing through. The CFO said on Tuesday they're looking at seven to 10 locations in Mobile and Baldwin counties. |
“Maybe peach isn’t as attractive to people?” |
| The Interstate 95 bridge collapse in Philadelphia after a tanker truck caught fire brought to mind a couple of similar incidents at an Alabama location in the early years of the century. Malfunction Junction (the interchange of I-65 and I-59/29) in Birmingham is where both wrecks and fires took place. First, on Jan. 5, 2002, a gasoline tanker hit the I-65 Southbound bridge and caught fire. The heat caused the steel in the bridge to sag. Here's a Birmingham News file photo of workers spraying fire-retardant foam at the site: |
Then, on Oct. 21, 2004, a truck overturned on the ramp heading from northbound I-65 to southbound I-59/20 and caught fire, weakening the bridge. It took over a month to rebuild. Here is demolition taking place just hours after the accident: |
1943: Spooner Oldham of Lauderdale County, keyboardist on many classic R&B and rock-and-roll songs you've heard through his session work in Muscle Shoals. 1971: Fred Baxter of Brundidge, tight end in the NFL. |
| Today is Flag Day. It's been 246 years since the United States adopted the design of its flag. |
|
|
The “Down in Alabama” podcast is short and free. Listen to it by clicking on the player above or subscribe by looking for “Down in Alabama” on the device of your choosing. You can find “Down in Alabama” wherever you get your podcasts, including these places: |
|
|
We appreciate you for taking the time to read today. Hope you're able to check back soon. Meantime, reply to this email with any suggestions you might have. If you're so inclined, we'd love it if you'd forward to friends who might be interested in reading. (And if you're someone who's been forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe to this and others at the "more newsletters" button below.) |
|
|
|
