West Alabama Monday Briefing

It is Monday April 1, 2024. It is no April Fool Joke; the Crimson Tide is headed to the NCAA Basketball Final Four!

The Alabama team returned to T-Town yesterday to find a large crowd waiting at Tuscaloosa National Airport with signs, shakers, flags. drums and even an Easter Bunny waiting for them.

Michael Gaddy summed it succinctly, ""I'm so proud of them, we're among the last four standing and not many other fans can say that." That was the general feeling among the crowd. But Sophie Greenhaw from Athens, AL added, "The basketball team is finally getting some fans and we are not just a football school anymore."

The Tide will face defending national champion UConn Saturday night in Phoenix, AZ as a 11.5-point underdog.

The game will be televised by TCS and can be heard on Tide 100.9, 95.3 The Bear and 1230 AM from the Crimson Tide Sports Network.

Before we turn our attention to Saturday, we have got to get through a forecasted severe weather outbreak tomorrow. The threat for strong to severe storms has been raised to a Slight (2 in 5) Risk for areas north of Demopolis and is at a Marginal (1 in 5) Risk for the area south of Demopolis.

Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are forecast to develop in the northwestern section of the state late tomorrow afternoon. They will spread southward during the evening hours and be gone by daybreak Wednesday.

Computer models have begun indicating an increase in instability tomorrow across all of the northern half of Alabama. Increasing wind shear will support potential tornado development.

The greatest threat however will be straight-line damaging winds to 60mph in most of West Alabama. Rainfall is not expected to be excessive thus is not a flooding threat indicated at this time.

Find more details at: Damaging Winds, Hail & Tornadoes Threaten Parts of Alabama Soon (tuscaloosathread.com)

The Forecast:

Today

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 84. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. South wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tuesday

A slight chance of showers before 1pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1pm and 4pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 84. South wind 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tuesday Night

Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 1am, then a slight chance of showers. Low around 51. Southwest wind around 10 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Wednesday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Remainder of Week

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Topping the News:

The Tuscaloosa Fire/Rescue Service continues to investigate the cause of yesterday's fire that raged through Lennox Square Apartments on Crescent Ridge Road in Alberta.

Four people trapped by flames had to be rescued by firefighters. Two people were injured with one of them being transported to DCH Regional Medical Center.

Eight units and 26 residents were impacted. West Alabama Red Cross is assisting.

60-year-old Richard L. Hudson of Echola tragically died yesterday when the ATV he was operating crashed into a Ford Escape. ALEA Troopers report he was not wearing a helmet when the incident happened on Tuscaloosa County Road 140, about two miles west of Buhl.

The Northport City Council is expected to name a new District Five Councilman at tonight's meeting at city hall.

Anwar Aiken, Danny Higdon and Gary Leddo were interviewed last week for the position that was vacated by the resignation of Council President Jeff Hogg amid controversy over the University Beach Water Park and Resort project.

If the council fails to select one of the three, state law allows Gov. Ivey to make the decision.

24-year-old Shu’bonte Tyler Greene died Sunday in a motorcycle crash in
Birmingham. He was a witness in the capital murder case against former Alabama Basketball player Darius Miles in that fatal shooting of a Birmingham woman in January 2023.

Greene was a friend of Cedrick Johnson, the boyfriend of Jamea Harris who died during a shootout just off the UA Strip.

Greene was the driver of a Chevy Impala that night that had stopped and had its trunk open. Miles' attorneys claim there was a weapon in the truck of Green's car.

Green had been relative uncooperative with police and the court.

More information is expected today from the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes unit concerning circumstances surrounding an early morning shooting at Dave's Crimson Bar on James I. Harrison Parkway.

An altercation inside apparently spilled outside where a man began firing shots, wounding two men. No arrests have been made.

The Salvation Army plays a major role in providing shelter to the homeless and in assisting those in need across West Alabama. Now the organizations new Advisory Board Chairman Quinn Roe wants to raise the public's awareness of the army's community involvement.

Roe points out that the Salvation Army is actively involved with the West Alabama Food Bank and the Tuscaloosa County Volunteers Active in Disasters (VOAD) organization.

Gas prices are on the rise after a couple of weeks bouncing up and down. The increase is blamed on uncertainty over the war between Ukraine and Russia, setbacks in the Russian oil market and expensive longer routes for giant tankers sailing around areas with terrorist threats.

Click Here for the latest West Alabama prices.

You may be getting notification from AT&T about the theft of personal data recently discovered online.

The telecommunications giant said Saturday that a dataset found on the “dark web” contains information such as Social Security numbers for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders.

The company said it has already reset the passcodes of current users and will be communicating with account holders whose sensitive personal information was compromised.

It is not known if the data “originated from AT&T or one of its vendors,” the company said in a statement.

Topping Sports News:

From UA Athletics: Mark Sears, was named the West Region Most Valuable Player Saturday night and led five UA players in double figures, finishing with a game high 23 points on 7-14 shooting from beyond the arc. Nick Pringle collected a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards while Jarin Stevenson added a career-best 19 points on five made threes. Rylan Griffen (13) and Aaron Estrada (10) also scored in double digits to lead the Tide (25-11). In addition to Sears, Alabama's Grant Nelson was named to the West Region All-Tournament Team.

The Tide now prepares for its first NCAA Final Four appearance ever Saturday night in Phoenix.

Alabama baseball's ninth-inning comeback fell just short in a 9-8 loss to 10^th-ranked South Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Following the series finale, the 15^th-ranked Crimson Tide moved to 21-7 overall and 4-5 in Southeastern Conference play.

UA travels up the road to Samford for a midweek matchup tomorrow night for a 6 p.m. first pitch at Joe Lee Griffin Field with the game airing on ESPN+.

I hope you had a safe and blessed Easter Weekend, and the new week will be a good one. ROLL TIDE! Be sure to monitor for severe weather tomorrow.

Source: West Alabama Monday Briefing

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