Sep 23, 2024

Welcome back, folks. We kick off the week on a somber note with more deadly violence in Birmingham.

Don't miss the answers/results to Friday's quiz down below.

Thanks for reading,

Ike

Looking for the podcast? Click here or check other options below.

Saturday night's shooting outside the Hush Lounge in Birmingham's Five Points South has the city again asking witnesses to step forward and watching the year's morbid statistics continue to climb.

There were four people killed and 17 others wounded during the shooting. It raised Birmingham's homicide total to 122 so far this year (it's gone up since) and put the city on pace to easily break its record of 148 set in 1933. It was the third quadruple homicide in Birmingham this year.

No arrests had been made as of this recording. Police say one of the victims was targeted in a murder-for-hire, that there were multiple shooters and that at least one used a device that converted the firearm into a fully-automatic weapon. That means it sprayed bullets like a machine gun rather than fired one round per trigger pull like a semi-automatic weapon.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called the surge in gun violence an "American tragedy" and called on lawmakers to put tighter regulations on the kinds of weapons that are now being used on the street. He specifically referenced the effects of the former assault weapons ban and a proposed state ban on Glock switches to  back up the federal ban.

Among the agencies helping BPD with the investigation are the FBI and ATF. Anyone with information on the killings is asked to call Birmingham police or Crime Stoppers.

Two traditional vacation destinations for Alabama families have been the Gulf Coast and the Smoky Mountains. Here's a big change for the Smoky Mountain regulars.

The highest peak on the Smokies -- from where they say that on a clear day you can see seven states but in my experience it's never very clear -- Clingmans Dome now has a different name.

Not a new name but an old one.

Last week the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved changing its name to Kuwohi, which is what the Cherokee called the mountain. That means “mulberry place,” according to the National Park Service.

Tribune Media Services reported that two members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Mary Crowe and Lavita Hill, started working on a name change in 2022.  Hill said the official change was a bit of a shock. “What started as a fun idea transpired into reclaiming our native language on a significant mountain within the park,” she said.

The peak was named Clingmans dome in 1859 in honor of U.S. Sen. Thomas Clingman. Clingman served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate before joining the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

You've probably heard the advertisements for saw palmetto berry products. It's currently harvest season, and the berries can bring over $7 a pound, according to recent reports.

These aren't dates, but saw palmetto berries.

But don't just haul off and become a freelance palmetto picker without doing your homework. While Florida has recently regulated the harvest and possession of the berries, even here in Alabama four men were arrested during their harvest, reports AL.com's Patrick Darrington.

Police in Gulf Shores found the Florida men with more than 18 bags of the berries that weighed in around 2,000 pounds. It would've been a felony in Florida, and the men told police here that they didn't think we had such laws.

The problem for them is, they were in the Bon Secour National Refuge, where collecting any plant is against the law.

They were also charged with marijuana possession.

This week is another good one to keep an eye on the tropics. There's a disturbance down in Central America that has a pretty high probability of developing into a depression over the coming days. If it does that, it could end up in the Gulf during the peak of hurricane season. There are still a lot of "ifs" about it, but it's always better to be a few days ahead of these things.

Here are the answers and results from Friday's review quiz:

The Donald Trump campaign has confirmed the former president plans to attend the University of Alabama's football game against this opponent.

Georgia (CORRECT) 96.3%

Tennessee 2.4%

Missouri 1.2%

Mercer 0.0%

When you go hunting or hiking this fall and winter, watch out for this, according to a recent statement by the U.S. Forest Service.

The eastern indigo snake 16.3%

Bats with white-nose syndrome 11.4%

Falling trees (CORRECT) 67.9%

Aggressive groundhogs 4.5%

When compared to two years ago Alabama pediatricians are higher in number across Alabama but smaller in number ...

In rural areas (CORRECT) 95.1%

In larger cities 2.8%

In suburbs 1.6%

In local bars 0.4%

As we've expected for weeks, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate this week. Which Alabama politician has accused the Fed of playing politics by stimulating the economy this close to the presidential election?

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (CORRECT) 93.9%

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt 4.5%

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell 1.2%

Gov. Kay Ivey 0.4% 

The University of Alabama enrolled a record 40,846 students this fall. The number of minority students account for some of the upward trending. Which other group is at a record high and credited for pushing that number?

In-state freshmen (CORRECT) 62.6%

Out-of-state freshmen 32.5%

Athletes from the transfer portal 4.9%

Delta Tau Chi pledges 0.0%

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, we encourage you to subscribe and get this in your inbox every day.)