Nov 11, 2024

The Veterans Day parade in Downtown Birmingham is in the nation's longest-running, and it'll roll for the 77th time from 1-4:30 p.m. today.

If you don't make it downtown you should be able to stream it beginning at 1:30 p.m. on the internet at nationalveteransday.org.

Veterans, we thank you for your service.

Ike

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An arrest was made related to the Tuskegee weekend shooting that killed one and injured 16, reports AL.com's Carol Robinson.

The shooting took place after Tuskegee University's Homecoming.

Killed was Latavion Johnson of Troy. Arrested was Jaquez Myrick of Montgomery, who authorities said was found leaving the scene of the shooting with a handgun with a machine-gun conversion device.

The charge was for allegedly possessing an illegal firearm. As of deadline, there were no charges filed in the death or the injuries.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call 1-800-CALL-FBI and upload any videos or photos at fbi.gov/tuskegeeshooting24.

With a new presidential administration come job opportunities for administration friendlies, and Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers was re-elected last week along with a Donald Trump endorsement.

AL.com's Williesha Morris reports that he's in contention to become Trump's Secretary of Defense. Politico put him on a short list for that job, along with Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, Arkansas U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

One of the biggest open jobs won't be in the White House but on Capitol Hill, where John Thune, John Cornyn and Rick Scott are running for Senate majority leader.

Alabama U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville threw his support behind Scott over the weekend. Scott is the senator from Florida who preceded Ron DeSantis there as governor.

Just last month Bobby Allison was credited a victory in a previously disputed NASCAR race way back in 1971. That win gave him 85 for his career and put him  at fourth on the all-time list.

Less than a month later, Allison has passed away, reports AL.com's Mark Inabinett.

Allison was born in South Florida but goes down in racing history as a member of The Alabama Gang along with his brother, Donnie, and their friend Red Farmer. He said he moved to Alabama early in his career because he had more paved courses to race, rather than the mostly dirt tracks down in Florida.

Hueytown became one of NASCAR's hotspots as The Alabama Gang assembled and Allison became a Cup Series star from 1961 through 1988, when his career ended in an infamous wreck at Pocono.

His son Clifford died in a wreck in 1992. And his son Davey died in a helicopter crash at Talladega in 1993.

Bobby Allison was 86 years old.

James Buskey, who served in the Alabama Legislature for 42 years, passed away on Friday, reports AL.com's Williesha Morris.

Buskey, a Greenville Democrat, was a middle school principal before he was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1976. He represented the 99th District until 2018. He was a key figure along with Republican Terri Collins of passing a bill that allowed Alabama cities to create entertainment districts.

James Busky was 87 years old.

The Atlantic hurricane season is winding down, but we're now in what they call Alabama's secondary severe-weather season. Then there's the possibility of winter weather for a couple months before we hit the primary severe-weather season, which lasts until right around the beginning of the next hurricane season.

I don't say all that to create any weather anxiety but because the firing of the FEMA employee who told workers not to help people with Donald Trump campaign signs in their yards should serve as a reminder to get our ducks in a row as best we can before a disaster shows up.

That is ... to have our insurance up-to-date and to have short- and longer-term evacuation plans. Alternative forms of power, water and heat are pretty good bonuses if you're able to pull it off.

Sometimes we simply need help. But we've learned that help can be slow on the draw, intentionally or not.

Here are the answers and how quiz-takers did on Friday's review:

In Alabama during Tuesday's elections, what was the largest shift in voting for president?

Fewer people voting for the Democrat (CORRECT) 46.6%

More people voting for the Republican 40.9%

More people voting for the Democrat 11.8%

More people writing in "Yella Fella" Jimmy Rane 0.7%

There was a statewide proposed constitutional amendment on Tuesday's ballot that some complained they had trouble understanding. At issue was some out-of-county land that Franklin County's board of education wanted the state's permission to sell. How did the majority vote?

To accept the amendment (CORRECT) 88.9%

To reject the amendment 6.1%

To send the amendment back to the county 3.2%

To receive help locating Franklin County on a map 1.8%

Almost lost in the election news crunch this week was an episode in which this official was treated by paramedics for what the official's staff said was dehydration.

Gov. Kay Ivey (CORRECT) 94.6%

Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter 3.2%

Secretary of State Wes Allen 1.1%

Sen. Tommy Tuberville 1.1%

A judge has ordered a third union election involving this company in this city.

Amazon in Bessemer (CORRECT) 78.5%

Mercedez-Benz in Tuscaloosa 19.0%

Buffalo Rock in Birmingham 1.8%

Facebook in Huntsville 0.7%

Improvements were made recently to small roads in South Alabama as part of an effort to protect this species:

Alabama pearlshell mussel (CORRECT) 76.7%

Saw palmetto 10.0%

Sandhill crane 7.9%

Cahaba shiner 5.4%

“It’s my favorite time of the year. It’s like old home week.”

Songwriter Bo Roberts, from the 40th Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival at the Flora-Bama. The event runs through Nov. 17.

$5.1 billion

The economic impact to Alabama last year from NASA's Moon to Mars initiative, according to a study by the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The study also traced the program to 22,686 direct, indirect and induced jobs in our state.

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