Apr 16, 2024

It's National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day. Let's treat this one like National Canned Biscuit Day ... and opt out.

Here's some news ...

Ike Morgan

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The United Auto Workers president continues to make bold predictions in the media, telling The Guardian, “I truly believe we’re going to see a huge shift this year. I think we’re gonna win in the South,” reports AL.com's William Thornton.

Shawn Fain and his union are looking to capitalize on momentum from last year's "Stand Up Strike" against the Big Three automakers.

Volkswagen plant workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are set to vote in a few days over whether to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board may soon set an election date for the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa County, and the UAW is organizing a union drive at the Hyundai plant in Montgomery. Around 30 percent of the workers there have signed union cards.

A student who was removed from classrooms at Paul Bryant High School in Tuscaloosa is meeting with leaders at the United Nations in Geneva, reports AL.com's Savannah Tryens-Fernandes.

According to information supplied by the student and his family, there was an incident at school in which 8 grams of marijuana was found in a car. Several people were in the car, including the student at hand, identified as CJ.

CJ denied that he had anything to do with it. He was not criminally charged. He was placed in in-school suspension for more than two months and then sentenced to 40 days of alternative school. His parents chose to homeschool him instead.

Savannah and AL.com had the story last year along with reporting that determined that Black students were twice as likely to be removed from schools as white students.

Alabama is one of a few states that do not guarantee the use of due process in school discipline. CJ and his dad have been advocating to have that changed, and now they're taking that case to the world in Geneva.

The Alabama author of "Salvation on Sand Mountain" has passed away, reports AL.com's Greg Garrison. He was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia in 2020.

Dennis Covington, who was originally from Birmingham, wrote a pair of young-adult novels and other nonfiction. But it was "Salvation on Sand Mountain," a nonfiction work about snake-handling in Alabama, that was a finalist for the 1995 National Book Award.

He taught creative writing at UAB from 1978 to 2003. He also taught at Texas Tech and was in Lubbock when he died Sunday night.

Family members described him as an adventurer and someone on a genuine spiritual search. Indeed, during his research for "Salvation on Sand Mountain," he took up snakes alongside his subjects.

That's dedication, folks.

Dennis Covington was 75 years old.

Alabama has an apparent hotspot for credit-card fraud, reports AL.com's Warren Kulo.

USA Today did a study on identity theft and credit-card fraud using data from the Federal Trade Commission, Census Bureau and a survey. The data show that Tuscaloosa is second only to Miami with 296.6 cases of credit-card fraud per 100,000 residents.

You probably just did the math in your head, but that's right at one out of every 337 people.

It's a growth industry in Tuscaloosa, apparently. T-town leads the nation with a 235.3% increase in cases reported from 2019-2023.

Plus, Tuscaloosa was second to Atlanta in fraud cases not related to credit cards.

Here's how we did on yesterday's quiz:

What candidate could arguably be left off November's ballot if the state strictly enforced its certification deadlines?

Joe Biden 96.4%

Donald Trump 2.9%

Shomari Figures 0.7%

Anthony Daniels 0.0%

Authorities say a man who placed stickers on Montgomery buildings with anarchist, anti-police and "antifa" messages also left this outside the Alabama Attorney General's office.

An explosive device 75.9%

His own driver license 10.9%

A public official hanged in effigy 7.3%

A job application 5.8%

The Academy of Country Music nominated what Alabama site for its Outdoor Venue of the Year?

The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach 72.3%

The Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville 19.0%

Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Tuscaloosa 4.4%

Protective Stadium in Birmingham 4.4%

Alabama legislators considered loosening certification for what type of professionals?

Teachers 80.3%

Nurses 8.8%

Real-estate agents 8.0%

Accountants 2.9%

Plans were announced to place a statue of what Alabama native at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.?

Hank Aaron 51.1%

Willie Mays 36.5%

Satchel Paige 10.2%

Don Sutton 2.2%

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