Feb 17, 2025

Today, the federal government acknowledges George Washington's birthday. The state of Alabama acknowledges Washington's and Thomas Jefferson's birthdays. Sometimes Abraham Lincoln gets drawn into the fold by other state governments or furniture advertising graphics.

For the record: Washington was born Feb. 22, Lincoln was born Feb. 12, and Jefferson was born April 13.

Happy President's Day, everybody. Thanks for reading,

Ike

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At least four tornadoes touched down early Sunday in Alabama, in addition to heavy straight-line winds that came through overnight, reports AL.com's Leigh Morgan.

Three were confirmed in North Alabama -- one in Franklin County, one near Tuscumbia in Colbert County and one in Marshall County. Another twister touched down in Hale and Perry counties.

Look for that number to possibly go higher as survey teams continue to examine damage today.

The severe weather is blamed for three injuries in the state.

Now look for it to get really cold this week. As of this recording, it was looking like there was a chance for some icy conditions in the northern and central part of the state Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Of course, that is subject to change so keep an eye on the weather reports this week.

The Marshall Space Flight Center director who held the position from early in the Space Shuttle program through the Challenger disaster has passed away at his Huntsville home, reports AL.com's John R. Roby.

William R. Lucas, who was born in Tennessee, served in the Navy during World War II. After his discharge he went back to school at Vanderbilt and later worked for Wernher von Braun in the Guided Missile Development Division at Redstone Arsenal.

For NASA he helped design the passive thermal control system for the first U.S. satellite and led the development of the Saturn V launch vehicle's propulsion system.

Lucas was the director at Marshall from June 1974 through July 1986. The Center did key work on the space shuttle during that time and took some of the heat when the Challenge exploded after launch on Jan. 28, 1986. Lucas stepped down a few months later.

He's a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is in the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. He also earned a NASA exceptional service medal (for contributions to the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission) and a NASA distinguished service medal.

William Lucas was 102 years old.

Well, if you go by the strictest definition of "football state" and don't pay much attention to the hardwood, it's not to late to jump in now.

There was a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup this past Saturday in Tuscaloosa, and it didn't start with Lee Corso picking a winner.

Of course, this didn't come out of nowhere. Auburn's and Alabama's men's basketball teams have spent years working toward this moment.

In what AL.com sports columnist Michael Casagrande called "the biggest college basketball game this state has ever seen," Auburn out-fired Alabama 94-85.

That gives the Tigers the rightful claim on No. 1 after heading into the game splitting the top spot in the AP and coaches polls with Alabama.

The two teams square off again in the regular-season finale on March 8.

Here are the answers and how we did on Friday's quiz, which 15.8% of readers aced:

15.8% answered 5 out of 5 correctly

40.5% answered 4 out of 5 correctly

30.9% answered 3 out of 5 correctly

8.6% answered 2 out of 5 correctly

3.4% answered 1 out of 5 correctly

A bill making its way through the Alabama Legislature would extend the death penalty to some convictions in this type of crime:

Child rape (CORRECT) 86.3%

Human trafficking 11.0%

Domestic abuse 2.7%

Driving more than 5 mph below the speed limit in the left lane 0.0%

Former Alabama newspaper sports columnist and current ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum is moving back to Alabama. In what city did he recently buy a home?

Mountain Brook (CORRECT) 84.9%

Fairhope 10.3%

Tuscaloosa 4.8%

Lick Skillet 0.0%

What is the current age of medical consent in Alabama?

14 (CORRECT) 70.4%

21 29.2%

10 0.3%

28 0.0%

A fishing-boat captain caught attention on social media when he posted video of this swimming in the Perdido Pass.

Right whales (CORRECT) 84.5%

An albino bottlenose dolphin 13.1%

A pig 2.1%

Canadian snowbirds 0.3%

Retiring UMS-Wright head football coach Terry Curtis is second on the AHSAA all-time coaching wins list. Who tops that list?

Buddy Anderson 33.3%

Danny Horn (CORRECT) 28.5%

Rush Propst 28.5%

Hank Patterson 9.6%

7

That's how many cows were killed by a single lightning strike in Coffee County last week. Six of the cows were pregnant.

In 1979, former major league outfielder Josh Willingham of Florence, Alabama.

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