Oct 29, 2024

It's one week until the election (more on that below).

It's also National Oatmeal Day (for those of you who have already run out of grits this week).

Thanks for reading,

Ike

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UAB Health System's $450 million purchase of St. Vincent's hospitals from Ascension should become official Nov. 1, pending final approval, reports AL.com's Williesha Morris for The Birmingham News digital edition.

UAB President Ray Watts touted the larger medical network as a win for patients.

It includes the downtown Birmingham St. Vincent's Hospital, St. Vincent's East, facilities in St. Clair, Blount and Chilton counties, a freestanding ER in Trussville, the One Nineteen campus, imaging centers and physicians' offices.

In addition to the purchase price, the deal also includes money for capital expenditures that take the cost to $680 million.

The state is distributing $21.6 million toward work to benefit pedestrians and bicyclists and users of other non-motorized means of transportation, reports AL.com's Heather Gann.

The money is from the Alabama Department of Transportation's Transportation Alternatives Program, and it's going to 31 cities across Alabama.

Plans are coming together for sidewalk improvements in Jefferson County, pedestrian safety improvements in Jacksonville and sidewalks along Wire Road at Auburn University.

Check out Heather's story on AL.com or the project list on ALDOT's website for more.

If you've planted okra with at least some success, you know it's a tall plant. A good field of okra makes you feel like you've done something. Stalks commonly reach 8 or 10 feet or higher.

But AL.com's Patrick Darrington reports that Terry and Candace Stevens of Mobile appear to have a world-record okra plant in their yard: 16 feet, 10 inches as recently measured by Byrd Surveying.

Much taller, and they'd need a cherry picker to cut okra.

Terry told FOX10 News that they're first-time okra growers and that they transplanted the plants to the garden in March. And it's still growing. The current official record is a 2022 okra plant in the New Orleans area that stood 6 inches shorter at 16-foot-4.

Valentina’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar in Huntsville is having some fun with election-themed pizza boxes -- available in red or blue trim. (Photo courtesy of Camryn Suggs)

Today we're one week away from the Nov. 5 election. And like all presidential elections, it's the most important one of our lifetimes, and if you don't vote accordingly then democracy will cease to exist.

I've heard something nearly that dire from voices on both sides this election cycle. What if, for the first time ever, they're both right about that? That either option takes us straight to that one-line death page at the back of the Choose Your Own Adventure book?

It won't, though. Our democracy isn't as fragile as they make out. It'll help if we remember that whoever wins works for us -- and you hold your employees accountable, not just root for or against them.

I have a few notes here on the election. Did I mention it's next Tuesday? And no matter what you hear, Democrats and Republicans vote on the same day. That day being Nov. 5. One week from today.

If you want to check your registration status or your polling place -- never a particularly bad thing to check -- you should be able to do that on the Alabama secretary of state's web page at sos.alabama.gov. There is a "Voting in Alabama" link on the main page, and then on the voting page there's a "My Voting Information" link.

Remember that Alabama requires photo ID to vote. I'm going to run through the cards and documents that meet that requirement, as long as they're currently valid:

Things that don't satisfy the requirement include:

If you didn't register, don't steal anyone's identity in order to vote. A nursing-home worker was indicted by a grand jury this month on charges that she forged the signature of an incapacitated resident.

Cullman voters will be voting on a local referendum that would place 15% county sales tax on medical-marijuana products. About two-thirds of the revenue would go to the Cullman County District Attorney's Office and the rest to Cullman County's legislative delegation.

There's no way to estimate what the revenue would be because Alabama's medical-cannabis program is tied up in court over its plan to award business licenses. And once dispensaries open on some undetermined future date, there's no way to know whether any Cullman County businesses would be involved.

“I’m not going to vote for anybody that’s not on board with President Trump. Been there, done that, seen what’s happened.”

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville offers his criteria for Senate leadership.

$1 million

That's how much money Innovate Alabama is investing in the research for all-solid-state batteries by Lonnie Johnson, the Super Soaker inventor who has spent 25 years researching battery technology.

In 1948, actress, TV producer and Charlie's Angel Kate Jackson of Birmingham.

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