Alabama

 WKRG.COM: Tropical depression in Atlantic may reach Gulf next week

Fay Finally felt in Baldwin Mobile over night with 3-4 inches of rain and south wind and storms pushing up from the Gulf flooding and closing the Battleship Causeway to all traffic Monday morning and the Bay Way is tricky with gusts of wind. Pop up tornado warnings in effect.

Julia Reed story of living through New Orleans after Katrina reminds Mobile folks along coastal Alabama how painful it was here and worse there (dogs eating humans so often they were in surprising good health). The Newsweek and Vogue writer tells a great but sad truth that New Orleans is crazier than Mobile, born as a world leader for American food and music, and was dysfunctional before, and still after, Katrina hit August 29. For students considering the city as an exciting place with a heroic gesture toward recovery while attending Tulane, still turn away from the lure knowing that government corruption and eccentric politicians is criminal fraud, not petty theft, and they crumble the grand city just as Katrina did, failing government, failing levy systems, failing recovery.

(Read the full post about ‘Katrina Anniversary Still Black Eye on New Orleans’ Julia Reed’…)

The famous Havana Malecon is the seawall that lines Havana where teens stroll at night. In south Alabama the Causeway (pictured on al.com looking at the bay after Fay swept out the water)is where folks fish and look out at Mobile Bay along a seawall that is almost identical in size to the one in Havana. Mobile is Havana’s (the capitol of Cuba) only sister city in the world in the international program sanctioned by both the US and Cuba.

It was a chaotic scene at Government Plaza as the Mobile City Council was preparing to discuss Mayor’s Sam Jones’ annexation plan. Long lines formed before the meeting. The long line wrapped through the Government Plaza lobby. News 5’s Jessica Taloney reports that so many people showed up for the meeting, the fire marshal had to close the meeting. About 20 people who wanted to attend today’s City Council meeting were turned away.

The annexation issue has been a hot topic. The Mayor unveiled his plan to annex four areas, including part of Theodore-Tillmans Corner and an area near Semmes. (Read the full post about ‘Annexation Anger’…)

Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood resigned from her position.

The *now* former north Mobile County leader says she has turned in her county car and credit card and is moving out of the office immediately.

Ludgood’s departure comes after months of legal wrangling over the position that she won in a special election. Ludgood defeated Republican Juan Chastang in October 2007 after a judicial panel removed him.

The panel agreed that Riley violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by appointing Chastang. Justices have since ruled in Riley’s favor.

On Monday, Attorney General Troy King instructed Mobile County officials to stop paying Ludgood. (Read the full post about ‘Mobile County Musical Chairs’…)

Mobile police are trying to find a man they say robbed the RBC Bank at Moffet and Schillinger Roads in Semmes and threatened to kill the teller.

Take a good look at the pictures taken from the bank’s surveillance cameras. Police say the man walked into the bank around 9:00 a.m. and handed the teller a note demanding money. The note also indicated he would kill the teller if he did not get what he wanted.

The bank robbery suspect is a white male, 5′10″, 140 pounds, with blond, bushy hair. He was last seen wearing dark pants, a long sleeve blue and white shirt, a blue undershirt and a blue baseball cap with lettering.

If you recognize him, please call Mobile Police at 251.208.1784 or 251.208.7211. (Read the full post about ‘Bank Robber Threatens To Kill Teller’…)

DENVER (AP) - Michelle Obama says “I love this country.” Those
were her words, as Michelle Obama addressed delegates at the
Democratic National Convention last night. Michelle Obama described
herself as a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother, no different
from many women. She said she and her husband feel an obligation to
“fight for the world as it should be” to ensure the promise of a
better life for their daughters and all children. The Obama’s two
daughters, Sasha and Malia, joined their mother on stage after the
speech, as Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” played in the
convention hall. Senator Barack Obama made brief, live video
appearance following his wife’s address. (Read the full post about ‘Mrs. Obama Wows DNC Crowd in Denver’…)

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - Superintendent Paul Tisdale says parents
are being notified about a Biloxi High School student’s recent
viral meningitis diagnosis.
Tisdale said the student’s mother said her child was diagnosed
this past weekend. The disease is serious but rarely fatal. Tisdale
said school officials are notifying parents “before any rumors get
started or this incident is blown out of proportion.”
Tisdale said Dr. Robert Travnicek, the local public health
official, also has been notified.
Tisdale said he’s been informed by health officials that viral
meningitis is most often spread by shaking hands with an infected
person or touching something the person has handled and then
rubbing the nose or mouth. (Read the full post about ‘Biloxi Student Contracts Meningitis’…)