Aug 19, 2024

Thanks for coming back. Hope everyone had a great weekend. We'll start with some more laws that will be affecting the school in your neck of the woods.

Ike Morgan

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There are a couple more measures signed into law by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey that'll affect schools, reports AL.com's Kayode Crown.

Just last week she signed the John Wesley Foster Act. That one is named in honor of the 9-year-old Gadsden boy who died from cardiac arrest in 2006. It requires school boards and private-school governing bodies, beginning next academic year, to work with emergency-services providers to create a plan for responding to cardiac emergencies. That includes training some staff in CPR and using defibrillators.

Earlier this summer the governor signed into law a measure to mandate the educating of middle schoolers and high schoolers on the dangers of fentanyl.

With fentanyl now having a hand in most teen overdose deaths, the new law calls for instruction regarding fentanyl to be comparable to instruction regarding other drugs and alcohol.

A Eufala man pled guilty last week in New York to violating the Endangered Species Act by importing a stuffed protected bird of prey without notifying the U.S. Department of the Interior, reports AL.com's Howard Koplowitz.

A man from Georgia also pled guilty to that charge plus a conspiracy-to-smuggle charge.

The stuffed bird in question is a Levant sparrowhawk. It's native to southeastern Europe and parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa, and experts believe there are fewer than 20,000 flying around today.

The indictment alleged that the two men bought birds and eggs from around the world on Internet sites to import and add to their collection. It charged the men with importing three packages in 2020 through New York's JFK International Airport containing the sparrowhawk, a grasshopper buzzard-hawk, two gull eggs, two murre eggs and an unidentified bird egg.

Thousands, according to some reports, showed up at the Athens Buc-ee's travel center parking lot Friday evening to catch a surprise Keith Urban concert, reports The Associated Press.

I guess at least some of those folks could've stopped by for some Beaver Nuggets, it being Friday night and all, and found themselves at a country music show.

Whatever brought them, they joined a growing crowd as news of the event worked its way around social media. It was kept quiet until just a couple hours before the show.

While he was there, Urban also spent some time working the barbecue counter inside the Buc-ee's.

(Don't quit your night job, Keith.)

The results and answers from Friday's Alabama news quiz:

This Alabama native has landed a host spot on the new CNN show "Have I Got News For You."

Roy Wood Jr. (CORRECT) 54.1%

Bill "Bubba" Bussey 27.9%

John Archibald 16.3%

Dabo Swinney 1.7%

Photos of people getting off buses in Albertville causes a stir recently, and speculation abounded regarding the reasons behind their arrivals. According to local officials:

They were poultry workers heading to and from the expanded Pilgrim's Pride plant in Russellville. (CORRECT) 93.0%

It was extra labor being put into place by the state for road work this fall. 2.9%

They were tourists taking a tour of small towns in North Alabama. 2.3%

Alabama's libertarians were meeting in rural Marshall County to share coping strategy for making it through this year's presidential election. 1.7

Last weekend an over-pressured railcar full of nitrogen peroxide exploded at the Evonik Chemical Plant overlooking this body of water:

Mobile Bay (CORRECT) 51.7%

Lake Eufala 18.6%

Tennessee River 15.1%

Buzzard Roost Creek 14.5%

COVID-19 cases have risen across the U.S., particularly in Alabama and a few other states, prompting the decision to:

switch at least one high school to virtual learning for at least two days. (CORRECT) 86.0%

give away free test kits at Birmingham Barons games. 9.9%

close state offices for a week. 2.3%

require high school football coaches to "social distance" at least 6 feet from players. 1.7%

The last Alabama location for this retailer has been listed for sale:

Macy's (CORRECT) 89.0%

Circuit City 7.0%

Barnes & Noble 2.9%

Prince Family Paper 1.2%

In 1942, the late U.S. senator representing Tennessee and actor Fred Thompson, born in Sheffield.

In 1973, NBA coach and former NBA and Crimson Tide basketball player Roy Rogers of Linden.

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