What's going on in Alabama
Welcome back. Today we have a little more discussion about the weather -- both about today's potential for severe weather and spring in Alabama in general -- on the podcast, so if you're interested in those things I'd encourage you to click below and check it out. You can also check this link throughout the day for weather news and updates. Be safe and have a great day. Here's some more news. Ike Morgan |
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Ellen McNair has been in her job as Alabama's secretary of commerce just three months, but she's already established a position opposite the attempted union surge in Alabama, reports AL.com's William Thornton. The Kay Ivey administration has pushed an anti-union message in response to efforts by the United Auto Workers to pull southern-based auto factories into its sphere. Ivey appointed McNair as commerce secretary at the beginning of the year. We know that other unionization efforts in the state have failed. The UAW's plan is to sign up nearly 70 percent of workers at non-union plants, then petition the companies to recognize the union. If that doesn't work, it'll ask the National Labor Relations Board to set up a vote. That's exactly what's happening at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga this month. The UAW is going after auto workers and electric-battery workers, and it's spending $40 million nationally over the next two years. Over the past several years Alabama has seen automakers move into the state and expand. The message from Ivey and McNair is that turning union will be a threat to that growth. McNair even warned that “the days of Alabama being a premier destination for industry investment may be coming to an end.” |
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A witness in the murder case of former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles was killed in a motorcycle crash over the weekend, reports AL.com's Carol Robinson. The 24-year-old Shu'bonte Tyler Greene was there on the Tuscaloosa Strip on the January 2023 night when investigators allege Michael Davis fired Miles's gun and killed Jamea Jonae Harris. Greene was described as a close friend of Harris's boyfriend. Defense attorneys have claimed that someone took a shotgun from Greene's trunk and fired it during the shooting. |
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Last living USS Arizona survivor |
We're going a little outside Alabama here, but it's a moment, and we have so many local and family connections to the military and World War II that I didn't want it to slip through the cracks. The Associated Press is reporting the passing of the last living survivor of the USS Arizona, which was sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. About half of the fatalities during that attack were service members aboard that ship. It lost 1,177 sailors and Marines while a little more than 300 survived. The Arizona still lies where it sank, with more than 900 bodies still inside. Conter's death leaves 19 living survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack out of the 87,000 military personnel stationed on Oahu, according to historians. Conter's close calls weren't over after Pearl Harbor. He earned his wings and flew combat missions in the Pacific. In 1943 his plane was shot down, and he and his crew treaded water and fought off sharks until they were rescued. He was born in Wisconsin and passed away at his home in Grass Valley, California. Lou Conter was 102 years old. |
“Like it’s almost like an unhealthy obsession in the South. I was that way growing up. I thought it was life-or-death football." |
In 1941, Admiral and former United States Surgeon General David Satcher of Anniston. In 1945, Hall of Fame pitcher and late Braves broadcaster Don Sutton of Clio. In 1947, singer/songwriter Emmylou Harris, originally from Birmingham. |
Here are the answers and how we did on yesterday's Week in Review Quiz: Lately there has been buzz about the desire to bring pro hockey back to Mobile. Though it's speculation at this point, what familiar team name has been mentioned by city officials Mysticks (CORRECT) 36.2% BayBears 34.2% Tiger Sharks 20.6% IceGators 8.9% Which party gained a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives after a special election in Huntsville last week? Democratic (CORRECT) 87.2% Republican 7.4% Libertarian 5.4% Whig 0.0% Assuming that Birmingham-Southern College follows through on plans to close at the end of May, people are wondering what might happen to the campus. A spokesperson has already spoken up to announce this entity is NOT interested in buying it. UAB (CORRECT) 93.8% Dollar General 4.3% Tik Tok 1.6% Forever Alabama 0.4% A local development-board member's recent quote -- “You’ve got an elderly woman going to jail. You’ve got the mayor and a councilman going back and forth. You’ve got the mayor talking about how he wants to do something sexual to the councilman’s wife. You’re really dealing with people who don’t know how to get along.” -- was in reference what what Alabama city in turmoil? Tarrant (CORRECT) 75.1% Clanton 10.5% Florence 8.9% Elba 5.4% A Shelby County lab tech was recently arrested and accused of trying to sell this. Urine (CORRECT) 73.9% Xanax 14.4% Blood 10.1% Cotton swabs 1.6% |
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