Sep 25, 2023

It's Monday, which means we have another review quiz to see what we've retained over the weekend.

It’s quick, it’s fun, it’s fairly easy, and then we'll quickly get started on another week's worth of Alabama news below.

Ike Morgan

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Another week, another odd occurrence related to a high school football game in Alabama.

We've had ballgames delayed and suspended over fighting at the stadiums. We had police tase and arrest a band director after he refused to clear his band from the stands when told to.

And now we've had a visiting school's team forfeit a game after a shooting connected to students from the host school last week, reports AL.com's Ben Thomas.

Last week was Anniston's Homecoming. On Tuesday, according to police, multiple fights broke out among Anniston students at a community center, leading to at least three people pulling guns outside and firing. One person was injured, treated at a hospital and released.

Anniston responded by canceling Thursday's Homecoming parade and pep rally but planned to go ahead with the football game Friday night. White Plains, however, forfeited the game and fell to 0-4 on the season.

Since Huntsville passed Birmingham with the 2020 Census as Alabama's most populous city, it has not stopped growing a bit.

AL.com's Paul Gattis reports that a new population growth estimate by the city indicates there are now 235,000 people living in the Rocket City. That's nearly 20,000 more than was counted during the 2020 Census and a 3.3-percent population increase in the past year.

This estimate isn't an official Census count, of course, but the city uses it to project revenue.

There is a bit of a buzz over the idea to name the Key West, Florida, airport after Mobile's Jimmy Buffett, reports AL.com's Warren Kulo.

Buffett, who passed away early this month, lived in Key West for a time and developed much of the "Margaritaville" theme of his music, persona and, later, marketing on his experiences there. He also was a flying enthusiast -- hence the airport.

Recently someone altered the Key West International Airport entrance sign to add Buffett's name to it. Journalist Gwen Filosa posted a photo of the sign on The Site Formerly Known As Twitter and said it was quickly removed.

You didn't figure that would take. But there's also a petition out to support the name change that finished the weekend with nearly 25,000 signatures.

Monroe County commissioner Craig Cates told the Palm Beach Post it's something that's been discussed. He said they want to be respectful of the family in any process and that the Federal Aviation Administration would have to be OK with it. He said the Monroe County attorney has contacted the Margaritaville Enterprises CEO to talk through any trademark issues. And after all that, the county commission would put it into referendum for voters to decide.

In 1932, Marine Corps major and NASA astronaut Clifton "C.C." Williams of Mobile. Williams died in a plane crash in 1967 while flying home to visit his ailing father. He was on Pete Conrad's flight team and likely would have become the fourth man to walk on the moon when that team flew the Apollo 12 mission.

Saturday was the autumnal equinox, Sept. 1 was the beginning of meteorological fall, and most teams are four games into college football season. So by whatever measure you use, Happy Autumn, everybody. We'll set our clocks back on Nov. 5 this year.

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