Oct 03, 2024

You know those people who are currently buying extra domestically produced toilet paper because of the dockworkers' strike? Those people clearly didn't read yesterday's newsletter.

Today is National Techies Day. So it would be a good day for you to share a nice word to the underappreciate IT folks in your life (although they'll probably make you fill out an online work-order ticket before they return your call.)

The report follows. Thanks for reading,

Ike

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

There's a new treatment now in use in Alabama for folks with peripheral aterial disease.

That means people with closing or blocked arteries in the arms and legs.

AL.com's Savannah Tryens-Fernandes reports that St. Vincent's became the first hospital in the state to successfully implant dissolvable stents for those who need to be treated below the knee.

The treatment is named the Esprit BTK System. It's intended for patients whose plaque build-up in leg arteries is so severe that the lack of blood flow might require losing part of the leg. The FDA just approved the treatment in April.

The hospital says the procedure involved is minimally invasive. The stint is implanted through a catheter, emits a drug that helps heal the blood vessel, then dissolves.

A year ago, the Hoover City Council passed a measure to lower the city sales tax on groceries from 3.5% to 3% beginning this October. The council was working under the assumption that it was permitted by state law to reduce the tax up to 25%.

AL.com's William Thornton reports that the tax cut is now on hold because the state actually permits a tax cut of EXACTLY 25%. So the city's only option would've been to reduce the city income tax on groceries to 2.625%. Also, the state requires that the previous year's growth of a municipality's general fund is greater than 2%.

It's hard out there for a tax-cutter.

The Hoover City Council, at its next meeting, is expected to repeal the new ordinance and revert to the previous tax rate for now.

Alabama Power says it's reached a settlement with the EPA over its coal-ash dumping at Plant Berry, reports AL.com's Sarah Whites-Koditschek.

The utility emphasized that the agreement doesn't confirm or allege negative environmental effects from the unlined coal-ash pond near Mobile.

The agreement also doesn't address the coal ash that's still sitting there.

The environmental group Mobile Baykeeper, however, argues that it's still a problem that “millions of tons of coal ash remain saturated in groundwater in the unlined pond, polluting nearby waterways in a manner that does not comply with federal law.”

According to Alabama Power, the settlement requires it to add groundwater monitoring wells and better monitor the ponds.

Mercury, arsenic, cadmium and other toxins are present in coal ash.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament will return to Birmingham in March 2028, reports AL.com's Greg Garrison.

The first two rounds of the 2023 tournament were also held at the BJCC's Legacy Arena when No. 1 seed Alabama came to town. And again, the Southeastern Conference will host the first two rounds of the '28 tournament.

Before that, however, a 2025 NCAA women's regional bracket will be played at Legacy.

The "reimagined" War Eagle Supper Club has reopened, and it's less a dive bar and more a swanky experience. (Marc Mauldin for Graduate by Hilton Auburn) 

In 1790, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation John Ross of the original village of Turkeytown, located along the bottom of what's now Weiss Lake.

In 1854, Surgeon General of the Army William Gorgas of Toulminville, which is still a neighborhood in Mobile. Gorgas is known for his work in yellow fever and malaria abatement.

In 1944, former Gov. Bob Riley.

In 1964, radio talk-show host Rick Burgess of the Rick & Bubba Show.

If you miss that feeling of sitting down with in-depth, local reporting, consider subscribing to the Huntsville Times, Birmingham News, or Mobile Press-Register. 

By subscribing, you’ll get a new daily digital edition in an email link, or you can use an app to download the new edition every day on your smartphone or tablet. You also get exclusive access to stories written for our subscribers. 

“Down in Alabama” listeners get your first month free by going to al.com/digitalsubscription/exclusive and enter the promo code DIA24. 

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.)