Alabama News

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2024 NFL Draft Day 3 free live stream (4/27): How to watch online, TV, time

The 2024 NFL Draft continues Saturday, April 27. The draft will be live streamed on Sling (half off first month), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and fuboTV (free trial).

Heading into the lightning rounds Saturday, 54 offensive players and 46 defensive players have been drafted.

There could be more wheeling and dealing at the start of the fourth round Saturday as teams jockey to select some of the best players who were considered top-100 talent.

Those include former Texas tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, who had a dozen catches of at least 20 yards this season, just one fewer than Georgia’s Brock Bowers, the 13th overall selection in Round 1.

Two other offensive players sure to go quickly are record-setting wide receiver Troy Franklin of Oregon and running back Jaylen Wright of Tennessee, who averaged better than 6 yards a carry over his college career. Franklin set school records last year with 1,383 yards receiving, 14 touchdown receptions and eight 100-yard performances.

Then there’s a trio of cornerbacks available who will tempt teams to move up: D.J. James of Auburn, Kris Abrams-Draine of Missouri and Khyree Jackson of Oregon.

When is NFL Draft’s on Saturday?

The NFL Draft is set for 11 a.m. (noon ET) on Saturday, April 27.

Will it be live streamed?

Sling

Sling Orange is $40 a month (half off the first month) and offers ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3.

DirecTV Stream

DirecTV Stream offers a free trial.

There are four options of DirecTV Stream:

The Entertainment Package, which consists of 65+ channels, is $69.99 until the promotion runs out April 30. It’s the basic package for can’t-miss entertainment – including ESPN, TNT, Nickelodeon and HGTV.

The Choice Package has more than 90 channels and is $84.99 during the promotion. The channels in ENTERTAINMENT, plus MLB Network, NBA TV, college sports networks, and more. Enjoy Regional Sports Networks with no additional fees.

The Ultimate Package has more than 130 channels and is $114.99 during the promotion. Everything in CHOICE, plus Oxygen, Golf Channel, NHL Network, Universal Kids and more.

The Premier Package has more than 140 channels and is $159.99 during the promotion. Everything in ULTIMATE, plus HBO Max, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax and more.

DirecTV Stream offers a free trial that doesn’t require much effort.

To sign up, enter a phone number, email address and credit card, and you’ll receive five days of the service without charge.

In addition, enhance your experience with the DirecTV Stream device. While it doesn’t include a free trial, it give you access to thousands of apps like Netflix and more on Google Play. You can search using the voice remote with Google Assistant, and you can enjoy a traditional live TV channel guide. It is sold separately.

FuboTV

The game will be live streamed on fuboTV, which offers a free trial. The most basic of plans is the “fubo pro” package, which comprises 146-plus channels for $74.99 per month. Like all cord-cutting alternatives, there are plenty of options, especially for sports. It comes with more than 1,000 hours of cloud-based DVR, and up to 10 screens at once.

There is also the “fubo elite” package, which comprises 205-plus channels for $84.99 per month. It comes with fuboExtra (48 more channels) and News Plus (11 more channels). Plus, more than 1,000 hours of cloud-based DVR, and up to 10 screens at once.

The “fubo premiere” package is “fubo elite” with the addition of Showtime for $94.99 per month.

Will it be televised?

The NFL Draft will be televised on ABC, ESPN and the NFL Network.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Nebraska tornado levels homes; injuries reported as buildings collapse

By Josh Funk, Margery A. Beck and Heather Hollingsworth | Associated Press

Tornadoes wreaked havoc Friday in the Midwest, causing a building to collapse with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging hundreds of homes, many around Omaha, Nebraska.

As of Friday night, there were several reports of injuries but no immediate deaths reported. Tornado warnings continued to be issued into the night in Iowa.

Three people were hurt in Nebraska’s Lancaster County when a tornado hit an industrial building, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated and the injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

One of the most destructive tornadoes moved for miles Friday through mostly rural farmland before chewing up homes and other structures in the suburbs of Omaha, a city of 485,000 people with a metropolitan area population of about 1 million.

Photos on social media showed the small town of Minden, Iowa, about 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) northeast of Omaha also sustained heavy damage.

Jeff Theulen, chief deputy of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, said at a late Friday briefing that 40 to 50 homes had been completely destroyed. Two injuries were reported but none was life-threatening.

School buses have been brought in to give residents a ride out of town if they need one, he said. He asked others to stay away, as it’s a very dangerous area with power lines down and piles of debris where homes used to be.

“It’s heartbreaking to see these people who have lost houses, cars, essentially their life until they have to rebuild it,” he said.

The forecast for Saturday was ominous. The National Weather Service issued tornado watches across parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Forecasters warned that large hail and strong wind gusts were possible.

“It does look like a big outbreak again tomorrow,” said Becky Kern, the warning coordination meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office. “Maybe slightly farther south.”

Hundreds of houses sustained damage in Omaha on Friday, mostly in the Elkhorn area in the western part of the city, Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said.

“You definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said, adding that many of the homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

Police and firefighters went door-to-door to help people, going to the “hardest hit area” with a plan to search anywhere someone could be trapped, Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman said.

“We’ll be looking throughout properties in debris piles, we’ll be looking in basements, trying to find any victims and make sure everybody is rescued who needs assistance,” Bossman said.

In one area of Elkhorn, dozens of newly built, large homes were damaged. At least six were wrecked, including one that was leveled, while others had their top halves ripped off. Dozens of emergency vehicles responded to the area.

“We watched it touch down like 200 yards over there and then we took shelter,” said Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn. “We could hear it coming through. When we came up our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood’s gone.”

Kim Woods, his wife, added, “The whole neighborhood just to the north of us is pretty flattened.”

Three people, including a child, were in the basement of the leveled home when the tornado hit but got out safely, according to Dhaval Naik, who said he works with home’s owner.

KETV-TV video showed one woman being removed from a demolished home on a stretcher in Blair, a city just north of Omaha.

Two people were transported for treatment, both with minor injuries, Bonacci said.

Crews were doing a second search of homes. Fire crews would work throughout the night to check all the unsafe structures and make sure no one is inside, Bonacci said.

“People had warnings of this and that saved lives,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said of the few serious injuries.

The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area on Friday afternoon just as children were due to be released from school. Many schools had students shelter in place until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting children home.

“Was it one long track tornado or was it several tornadoes?” Kern of the National Weather Service said.

The agency planned to send out multiple crews over the next several days to determine the number of tornadoes and their strength, which could take up to two weeks, she said.

“Some appeared to be violent tornadoes,” Kern continued. “There were tornadoes in different areas. And so it’s like forensic meteorology, we call it, like piecing together, all the damage indicators.”

Another tornado hit an area on the eastern edge of Omaha, passing directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city’s airport. Officials halted aircraft operations to access damage but then reopened the facility, Omaha Airport Authority Chief Strategy Officer Steve McCoy said.

The passenger terminal wasn’t hit by the tornado but people rushed to storm shelters until the twister passed, McCoy said.

After passing through the airport, the tornado crossed the Missouri River and into Iowa, north of Council Bluffs.

Nebraska Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Katrina Sperl said Friday afternoon that damage reports were just starting to come in. Taylor Wilson, a spokesperson for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said they hadn’t seen any injuries yet.

In Lancaster County, where three people were injured when an industrial building collapsed, sheriff’s officials also said they had reports of a tipped-over train near Waverly, Nebraska.

Two people who were injured in the county were being treated at the trauma center at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, the facility said in a news release. The hospital said the patients were in triage and no details were released on their condition.

The Omaha Public Power District reported nearly 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area. The number had dropped to about 7,300 by Friday night.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen posted on the social platform X that he had ordered state resources to be made available to help with the emergency response and to support first responders as they assess the damage.

“Nebraskans are no strangers to severe weather and, as they have countless times before, Nebraskans will help Nebraskans to rebuild,” Pillen said.

Daniel Fienhold, manager of the Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, said he was outside watching the weather with his daughter and restaurant employees, recalling “it looked like a pretty big tornado was forming” northeast of town.

“It started raining, and then it started hailing, and then all the clouds started to kind of swirl and come together, and as soon as the wind started to pick up, that’s when I headed for the basement, but we never saw it,” Fienhold said.

___

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, Jeff Martin in Atlanta and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.

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This Georgia resort is built around the eerily beautiful ruins of a historic mansion

Barnsley Resort near Adairsville, Ga., is perfect for people who like to ride, shoot or golf. The 3,000-acre resort has beautiful lodging and is known for its outdoor activities. But did you know it was built around the spooky abandoned mansion? Yep. How cool is that?

First, let’s discuss the lodging: The resort includes a beautiful lodge with rooms that can be booked here. In addition, the grounds are dotted with numerous cabins and homes to rent for short-term stays. Check out the deals on TripAdvisor.com.

History buffs, take note: The brick ruins are what’s left of the 1848 manor house, initially called Woodlands and later Barnsley Gardens. It was built by Godfrey Barnsley for his wife, Julia, who died before its completion. Barnsley came to America from Liverpool in 1824 and quickly became one of the wealthiest men in the South with his shipping business and cotton trade. He bought 4,000 acres in Bartow County, Georgia, near Adairsville, with the plan to build a mansion for his beloved wife, Julia. She died in 1845 of a lung ailment, according to the Barnsley Resort website. In 1846, “Barnsley returns to the estate. While there, he dreams of Julia visiting him in the formal garden. In the dream, she instructs him to finish the estate for their children and future generations,” the timeline said.

The Italianate-style home featured indoor plumbing and French and Italian marble.

The home was damaged by the occupation by Union troops during the Civil War and again in a 1906 tornado. But descendants of Barnsley lived in the home until 1942, after which it fell into disrepair. In 1988 the estate was purchased by Prince Hubertus Fugger of Bavaria. He expanded the garden to include 200 varieties of roses and preserved the remaining brick walls, all that was left of the manor. It became a resort in 1999.

A kitchen next to the manor still stands and serves as a museum filled with artifacts from the Barnsley family. Supposedly, Godfrey and Julia haunt the ruins and grounds to this day.

Each year, the resort decorates the ruins – including the exterior, interior walls and remaining fireplace mantles – for Christmas. Anyone can tour the site, even those who aren’t staying at the resort. There is a fee for non-guests to tour.

If you go, be sure to eat of one of the resort’s three eateries: Woodlands Grill, Beer Garden or Rice House. There are also gift shops in the lodge. Be sure to check before going for business hours.

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25 saltiest fast-food orders in America

If you frequent fast food chains, odds are you’re eating a lot of sodium. To help fast food fans put a cap on their salt intakes, Eat This, Not That rounded up the saltiest fast-food orders at the drive-thru and ranked them all in order.

Number one was claimed by Pizza Hut Buffalo Chicken Melt.

It had 3,820 mg of sodium and 1,100 calories. If you eat the entire thing, you’ll consume 66% more sodium than what you should eat in an entire day, the rankings showed.

Number 15 on the list was Chick-fil-A Chicken, Egg & Cheese Biscuit.

“Chick-fil-A’s southern fare-inspired breakfast offers up 1,870 milligrams of sodium, which is about as much sodium as 103 pretzel sticks. You’ll get a triple dose of salt from the chicken’s seasoning as well as in the American cheese-folded egg and the buttermilk biscuit,” writes Eat This, Not That.

Coming in at number 25 was Papa John’s Philly Cheesesteak Pizza, with 1,250 mg of sodium and 350 calories.

“Just a single slice of Papa John’s Philly Cheese Steak Pizza packs more than half a day’s worth of sodium. Go for seconds, and you’ll reach a full day’s worth of sodium in one sitting,” writes Eat This, Not That. Number 22 on this list is the McDonald’s Big Mac Combo meal.

Read the full list here.

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‘Gone completely rogue’: Lawyer asks feds to investigate Alabama police force

By David Gambino | The Decatur Daily, Ala. (TNS)

After Steve Perkins’ widow was handcuffed and three others were arrested during a peaceful demonstration at last week’s 3rd Friday event in Decatur, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt wrote a letter Thursday requesting a meeting with the Northern District of Alabama’s U.S. Attorney’s Office and called for an investigation into the city police department.

“It seems like a department that has gone completely rogue,” Merritt said Friday. “And so, we’re asking for the Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division there in north Alabama to come and take a look.”

[Read more: How a police shooting changed a north Alabama city]

In his letter to U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona, Merritt requested she meet with Perkins’ widow, Catrela Perkins, as soon as possible.

“The Decatur Police Department is engaged in a pattern of civil and criminal abuses that require immediate intervention,” he wrote.

Reiterating his claims made in a civil lawsuit against DPD last year on behalf of Perkins’ estate, Merritt wrote that ” Decatur’s policies and procedures ‘promote the use of excessive and unconstitutional force against citizens.’”

The letter also claims that the events of 3rd Friday marked a “sharp escalation by officers who have agitated the community since (Mac) Marquette’s criminal indictment.”

Former officer Marquette, accused of shooting and killing Steve Perkins on Sept. 29, was indicted by a Morgan County grand jury for murder on Jan. 5.

The Decatur Police Department referred questions to Mayor Tab Bowling on Friday, who said the city is aware of Merritt’s comments.

“The DPD is reviewing last Friday’s events,” he said. “As a city, we’re constantly looking to ensure that everything we do is to the highest standard. Law enforcement duties are extremely challenging, and we want to be sure that we’re doing all we can to help them do their job and to keep our community safe. We are exploring available resources to help us to that end.”

Bowling declined to comment on the possibility of a DOJ investigation.

From reviewing video recordings, police complaints and social media, Merritt said officers such as Lt. Joe Renshaw have made public statements showing support for Marquette after he was indicted.

An Instagram account appearing to belong to Renshaw includes a picture of him standing next to Marquette, captioned: “For those wondering where I stand? I stand for my brother.”

“The people of Decatur, as expressed through the grand jury comprised of citizens of Decatur, have determined that there’s probable cause that Marquette committed a crime — the most serious crime in our jurisprudence, which is murder,” Merritt said Friday. “The DPD are pretending that this didn’t occur.”

Merritt’s firm was involved in the case of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man murdered in 2020 while jogging in Glynn County, Georgia. Former District Attorney Jackie Johnson was indicted on charges of interfering with the investigation into Arbery’s murder. Merritt said the case is an “important analogy” for what’s happening in Decatur.

“What we discovered was that she (Johnson) and the Glynn County Police Department were engaged in all levels of corruption,” he said. “That is what I expect to come out of this. I think that, as a result of the murder of Perkins and the light that it’s putting on the city, we’re going to find a lot of people who are used to doing the wrong thing and getting away with it.”

‘You just don’t do that’

Merritt said the way Decatur police officers are responding to “peaceful, lawful, and First Amendment-protected protests” shows that they believe themselves to be above the law.

“Last Friday was a very peaceful demonstration,” he said. “It was just a peaceful gathering of people. They weren’t blocking anything; the roads were already shut down. It (DPD’s actions) seems reflective of a police department in crisis.”

He said the handcuffing of Catrela Perkins last week was “constitutionally offensive” and showed a “high disregard and disrespect” for the community.

“I’ve represented families all over the country, and the one thing that we try to treat sacred — on both sides of the argument — are the victims’ families,” Merritt said. “You just don’t do that. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Around 26 nonviolent demonstrators have been arrested and charged mostly with disorderly conduct since Perkins was killed. Merritt said this treatment of demonstrators is continually proving his claims against DPD in the lawsuit.

“I have lost faith in Chief Todd Pinion’s ability to lead this particular department that seems out of control,” he said. “It’s a complete lack of leadership. It seems that the officers are not only allowed to disobey his orders but to take independent actions and insist that he ratifies their actions.”

In a footnote to Merritt’s letter, he claims that Marquette avoided the requirements of Aniah’s Law — which requires defendants charged with severe crimes to be held without bond pending a hearing — and received an unusually low bond of $30,000.

District Attorney Scott Anderson, who is prosecuting Marquette’s case, agreed to the bond amount set by Circuit Judge Jennifer Howell. Anderson did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. A hearing on a temporary gag order in Marquette’s case is scheduled for May 17.

In addition to writing a letter to Escalona, Merritt said he’s also reaching out to the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke.

A “pattern or practice investigation” is a “thorough and independent investigation conducted by civil rights attorneys at the Justice Department to search for any patterns of misconduct within a given police department,” according to a DOJ fact sheet.

The DOJ launched a a pattern or practice investigation last year into the Memphis Police Department following the killing of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, by five police officers.

During such an investigation, in addition to interviews with community members and police officers, the DOJ observes officers during shifts, reviews documents and bodycam video and evaluates specific incidents relevant to the investigation.

Escalona’s office could not be reached for comment Friday.

— [email protected] or 256-340-2438.

(c)2024 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)

Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at www.decaturdaily.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Birmingham kicker comes for week, staying for season

Ramiz Ahmed of the Birmingham Stallions has been a kicker in professional football long enough that he understands the itinerant nature of the job for so many chasing their dreams

“When they called me, they said, ‘We’ve got you guaranteed for a week,’” Ahmed said. “And so I packed a bag for the rest of the season. It’s just something that you got to be prepared for. You never know what’s going to happen in the kicking game or in football in general, so I was prepared for whatever. If they wanted to send me home after a week, I could just check the bag on my way home again, so I’d rather be prepared for it then not prepared.”

It turns out, Ahmed is going to be with the Stallions for more than a week, starting with Birmingham’s game against the Houston Roughnecks at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday at Rice Stadium in Houston.

Ahmed joined the Stallions last week with regular kicker Chris Blewitt out with a leg injury.

Ahmed made a 46-yard field goal with four seconds to play to keep the Stallions unbeaten in the United Football League with a 20-18 victory over the D.C. Defenders on April 20 at Protective Stadium in Birmingham.

Ahmed also connected from 46 yards on the final snap of the second quarter to give Birmingham an 11-6 halftime lead, then added field goals of 32 and 27 yards in the second half as the Stallions stayed the UFL’s only undefeated team four weeks into the season and extended their winning streak to 11 games.

“A lot of great individual efforts,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said, “obviously, none more than our kicker, Ramiz, and the job that he was able to do, especially as a pretty much rent-a-kicker for the week. When you look at the way the rules are put together, Chris Blewitt had an injury, so you’re allowed to bring a kicker in for a week and then make a decision if you want to keep him or not.

“When we got back after the game, the significance of Blewitt’s injury to his quad, it’s going to be a substantial injury, it’s going to be a six- to eight-week injury, so we went ahead and made the transition to make him our permanent kicker. So he was kind of on trial this weekend, but I thought he did excellent.

“Let’s hope he can continue to kick that well as we go through the rest of the season.”

Unlike in the NFL, where Ahmed likely would have been brought in for a tryout with other kickers, the Stallions had to make their pick for a replacement kicker without working out any.

“They have to kind of get somebody in quick,” Ahmed said, “and so they got to be pretty sure about the guy, so they called me, which I’m very thankful for the opportunity. …

“It’s something that you just got to be ready for if you want to do this at the highest level, and that is something that I’d like to do and I know that I can do and I’d love to get back to and keep going. You just got to be ready for any situation that’s thrown in front of you.”

A Las Vegas native who kicked for Nevada in college, Ahmed was the Pittsburgh Maulers kicker in the USFL in 2022, which led him to the practice squad of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers later that year.

Ahmed handled the kickoffs in a 31-28 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 13, 2022, as a practice-squad elevation. He was supposed to give Mason Crosby a break again against the Minnesota Vikings on Jan. 1, 2023. But Ahmed suffered a groin strain during warmups, and he didn’t play during 2023.

Ahmed said he didn’t consider that he wouldn’t get another opportunity.

“I had just one focus in mind and that was to get healthy and get myself back kicking at the level I know I can kick at,” Ahmed said. “And so whether or not I get an opportunity or if my career’s done, I don’t know, unless I feel that I need to think about that, I just put it on the back-burner.”

Houston gave Birmingham its most recent loss – a 27-20 setback in the USFL on May 13, 2023, when the franchise was called the Gamblers. FOX will televise Saturday night’s game.

“The big aspect is we’re 4-0 and that we’ve come together with so many new faces and that we’ve jelled and we’ve found a way to win four games,” Holtz said. “It certainly hasn’t been perfect every game on offense and perfect every game on defense, but I do feel like we’re getting better. …

“The challenge that we have to keep going with is we have to keep getting better fundamentally and we have to keep improving. We cannot be result-oriented as far as wins and losses because as soon as you start feeling like, ‘Wow, we’re pretty good. Look at us, we’ve won four games’ – that was a two-point football game and the kick doesn’t go through and you lose. You’re that close.

“We’ve just got to keep getting better.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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Alabama librarians facing threat of arrest over books: ‘We don’t have smut’

Librarians are worried about the “chilling effect” on speech and reading if Alabama lawmakers follow through and pass a bill that would police librarians if they don’t remove supposedly “obscene” books in schools and public libraries.

The Alabama House has passed HB385, which overrides local libraries’ book challenge policies and gives librarians seven days to remove material – or potentially face criminal charges and a fine. The bill now heads to the Senate.

“This bill is government overreach, robs parents of their rights, and would have a chilling effect on free speech by potentially incarcerating librarians because particular books are available, including even the Bible,” Gadsden Public Library director Craig Scott said in a statement from the Alabama Library Association.

Scott told AL.com that legislators don’t understand how libraries work. Librarians already have policies to allow people to challenge books, he said. Librarians evaluate books regularly, and if they are provocative or risque, they have procedures in place to catalog them properly.

“We don’t have smut and porn and purely obscene material,” Scott said. He’s been a librarian since 1977 and said he never expected librarians to be targeted for doing their jobs.

“We are professionals,” Scott said.

Alyx Kim-Yohn, circulation manager at Huntsville-Madison Public Library, said circumventing library reconsideration policies is “nothing short of utter erasure” of people and content who don’t fit a narrow standard.

“The writing on the wall couldn’t be clearer regarding the chilling effect this law would have on statewide employment, public library and school funding, public education outcomes, quality of life, First Amendment rights, and countless other metrics,” Kim-Yohn said. “As far as I’m concerned, the only good version of HB385 is a dead one.”

Claims of “inappropriate” books for children have gained attention over the last year in Alabama and elsewhere, as the majority of challenged books are primarily by and about the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups like people of color.

The proposed Alabama law would allow people who object to file a complaint with the school or public library, and the district attorney. The librarian, according to the bill, has seven days to “remove” the book or face criminal penalties.

Scott said the Republican lawmakers who supported the bill want more government interference.

“If this bill is successful on the Senate side and becomes law, you can bet the lawsuits will be coming,” Scott said. “So what do they want? They want to spend more money?”

The bill outlines a first failure to remove material after receiving “valid notice” as a Class C misdemeanor, a second violation as a Class B, and subsequent violations as Class A. According to Alabama Code Section 13, if convicted of giving obscene books to children, librarians could face three months to a year in prison and a fine of $500 to $6000.

Using an old law that targets adult video stories, lawmakers also expanded the definitions of obscene to ban: “Any sexual or gender oriented conduct that knowingly exposes minors to persons who are dressed in sexually revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumes, or are stripping, or engaged in lewd or lascivious dancing, presentations, or activities in K-12 public schools or public libraries where minors are expected and known to be present without parental presence or consent.”

“They are clearly going after transgender citizens and drag performers, but they don’t want to say it out loud,” said Susan Stewart, an organizer with the Madison County Chapter of anti-censorship group Read Freely Alabama.

Emily Jones with the Madison County chapter of Moms For Liberty said she’s glad to see this legislation moving forward. The organization asked legislators this year to “withhold funds for libraries that allow children to check out ‘pornographic’ materials.”

“After months of reviewing content throughout libraries across the state it is clear we needed strong parameters to prohibit children from viewing obscene materials without parental knowledge,” Jones said.

Foley resident Stephanie Williams, who supports taking inappropriate books out of the children’s section, said there’s no need for “hair on fire” reactions.

“I believe strongly in the equitable treatment of offenders under the law,” Williams said. “I do not believe certain classes of persons should be exempt from prosecution because they have a better lobby.” She said there’s a notice period and that speculation on the legislation’s impact is too soon.

Read Freely Alabama said the focus on gender orientation will criminalize non-explicit books, too.

“This attempted conflation of LGBTQ-affirming books with obscene material must be the focus of any honest conversation about this blatant government overreach and violation of Alabamians’ rights,” the group said.

The Senate has four more legislative days to consider the bill before the end of the session.

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Remembering the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak

Saturday marks 13 years since one of the state’s most infamous, deadly and destructive tornado outbreaks.

On April 27, 2011, Alabama was hit by 62 tornadoes during an 18-hour stretch of horror. According to the National Weather Service an estimated 250 people were directly killed by the tornadoes in Alabama alone, with many more injured.

April 27, 2011, stands as the day with the most tornadoes in Alabama since 1950:

Towns were leveled and the landscape permanently scarred.

At least two of the tornadoes were the most intense on the Enhanced Fujita Scale — EF-5s, with winds estimated as high as 210 mph.

The first leveled parts of the towns of Hackleburg and Phil Campbell, among others, and carved a 132-mile path across north Alabama’s Marion, Franklin, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison counties before heading into Tennessee.

At least 72 lives were lost in that storm, and more than 100 injured, according to the weather service.

The other EF-5 on April 27, 2011, hit northeast Alabama’s DeKalb County. It had estimated winds of 200 mph. Twenty-five were killed in that storm.

But there were many other deadly tornadoes that day, including an EF-4 that destroyed parts of Tuscaloosa and northern Birmingham, killing 65 people and injuring 1,500.

That was one of eight — eight — EF-4 tornadoes to track across Alabama that day.

The storms on April 27, 2011, were the most dreaded long-track tornadoes. In fact of the 10 longest tornado tracks on record in Alabama, five of them happened on April 27, according to the weather service:

The 62 tornadoes left wide swaths of damage behind. According to the weather service the tornado damage paths on April 27, 2011, were almost as much as the years 2010-2018 combined:

Alabama has had so far a much quieter 2024. According to the National Weather Service there have been only 17 confirmed tornadoes so far this year, with the strongest being an EF-2 that tracked from Florida into southeast Alabama’s Houston County:

According to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center the rest of April 2024 may be quiet for Alabama, with no severe weather in the forecast for the next seven days.

May in the past has proven to be a busy month for severe weather in Alabama, but after that the state’s tornado numbers drop from June through August (unless there is a tropical storm or hurricane involved).

Alabama’s so-called secondary severe weather season begins in November. Here is a look at Alabama tornadoes by month:

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A pathway to nursing inside this Birmingham high school

This story is republished with permission from The Birmingham Times

Maria Manuel, a ninth-grade student at Huffman High School, wants to be an ultrasound technician.

“The most interesting thing I learned in this program is about the diet, what people are not supposed to eat, what they can eat, and what’s not healthy for them,” Manuel said.

Jasmyne Miles, also a ninth grader at Huffman, really enjoys the “hands-on” aspect of learning about nursing and literally lit up as she explained why she wants to be a pediatric nurse.

“I realized that I found more pleasure in taking care of younger kids, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to take up health care,’” Miles said. “I’m like, ‘This is something that’s really for me,’ and it was such a passion.”

Manuel and Miles are just a few of the students in Huffman High School’s Academy of Health Science magnet program who are learning the nursing industry with exposure to hands-on, professional experience.

And that, said Birmingham City Schools (BCS) Superintendent Mark Sullivan, Ed.D., will prove invaluable to the “diverse group of students” enrolled in the program.

“One of things we know in the health care field is that people feel more comfortable around those they can relate to, [and] oftentimes African Americans and Latinos don’t really have representation in their nurses and doctors,” Sullivan told The Birmingham Times.

“This [program] is building out a pipeline for young African American and Latino boys and girls who can be in the health care field and have jobs that can really transform their lives.”

Forging A Path

The Pathway to Professional Nursing program, which launched in the fall of 2023 at Huffman High School, is designed to prepare students for post-secondary education.

The program, in its first year at Huffman High School and being offered to ninth graders, will be “expanding next year to include Woodlawn, Wenonah, and Ramsey high schools,” said Sullivan, adding that this is key for students because “they will have credentials and also a leg up when they graduate.”

Previously, the nursing program worked with students in grades 10 through 12.

The program goes beyond nursing, said Crystal Freeman, Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.), who is the Health Science Instructor at Huffman High School.

“Health Sciences is the broad name in terms of what students can pursue in career pathways, so we’re not just focusing only on nursing,” said Freeman.

“There are students who truly have interest in other careers related to health care, but many of the students—particularly the female students—only want to learn more about nursing. So many of the skills overlap, regardless of what career pathway they choose,” said Freeman, who earned her D.N.P. degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2009.

The Power of Partnership

UAB is a key partner in providing this educational foundation, and Huffman High School was an ideal choice for the program because it had an existing designation as an Academy of Health Science, complete with readily accessible resources, such as a health care skills lab with a nursing station and manikins. The program is currently managed and co-directed by UAB School of Nursing Instructor Allyson Sanders, a Registered Nurse (R.N.) who works directly with the students at Huffman.

Students are not only investing in their future education but also creating more opportunities to secure a job in a vital profession, she said.

“The plan is to build a pathway from the high school straight to the university, and the goal is to increase diversity within the nursing workforce,” said Sanders. “The plan is also to engage students at an early age in nursing … [and] Health Sciences in general. We do a lot of the foundational nursing skills at this age, and throughout their high school years.”

While the basics of the nursing profession are important, she said much more is being taught to the 19 freshman students enrolled in this course of study.

“We talk about how to communicate. We talk about finding resolutions and problem solving. … Just learning life skills. I think that’s important,” said Sanders, who earned a Master of Nursing Education degree from UAB in 2018. She comes to Huffman for one hour three days a week to work with students in the program.

Pathway to Professional Nursing students have an opportunity to take advanced and dual-enrollment classes, visit the UAB campus on a scheduled basis, and participate in summer enrichment activities.

They also are trained and certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), equipping them with the skills to administer life-saving assistance to someone whose breathing or heartbeat has stopped. And they are prepared to take the Patient Care Technician certification exam upon graduation.

Sanders has seen some students who previously struggled with attendance not miss a single class while working with the nursing program. What’s even more remarkable, she said, is the way the program helps students overcome learning obstacles.

“Their education piece is difficult,” Sanders said. “There’s a lot of math. There’s a lot of science. When you have students that are coming from difficult backgrounds … [and they have] an opportunity to be exposed to some things earlier, I think that gives [them] a better chance of being successful.”

Taliyah Merritt, another ninth grader in the Pathway to Professional Nursing program, said her mother, who’s a nurse, served as her inspiration.

“I knew I wanted to be a nurse when, whenever I was at home and my mom came home from work, she talked about her days at work and all the different things that she did,” said the student.

But her motivation goes even deeper: “Every day, you get to go home and reflect and think about how many people you’ve helped,” said Merritt.

A Veteran’s Perspective

Deborah Thedford-Zimmerman is the current historian of Birmingham Black Nurses Association, Inc., and one of the organization’s past presidents. She’s also the coordinator of Birmingham Black Nurses leadership and knows the importance of introducing students to the profession.

“As mature nurses, we need to help mold and shape the younger nurses,” said Thedford-Zimmerman. “We need to talk to them just to let them know that we are there to support them, so that we may be able to help alleviate the disparity in the workforce because there are not enough nurses to help our communities.”

She added that programs like the nursing curriculum at Huffman High School “are needed for our students.”

Progressing Forward

Working with BCS has been a fulfilling partnership, Sanders said. “It’s our way of giving back to this community, … which is a big part of not just the hospital but the university itself. … The [UAB] School of Nursing is lucky to be part of that,” she said.

BCS Superintendent Sullivan said, while he’s proud that the program at Huffman High School is building a “pipeline” of nurses to combat an industry shortage, he’s also excited about why students are participating.

During a recent program at Huffman, the superintendent said, “I was listening to one of the students talk about why she wants to be a nurse, and it’s just heartwarming to see the commitment these students have at such a young age to really give back to their community.”

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