State health officials say three people are dead from tuberculosis in the west Alabama town of Marion. The Health Department says twenty people from the community south of Tuscaloosa have been diagnosed with the respiratory illness in the last year. Four others have been diagnosed with TB around Tuscaloosa, and two in Centreville. That’s one hundred times the average tuberculosis rate for Alabama. Health officials are planning a community meeting about the outbreak in Marion on Thursday. It's offering twenty each to Marion residents who come in for TB blood tests.
Alabama’s 2016 legislative session is three weeks away, and state lawmakers are starting to make preparations. More than a dozen bills have been pre-filed for the upcoming session, including measures to restrict abortion, expand gun rights and protect Confederate monuments in the state. But State Representative Mac McCutcheon says lawmakers’ top priority for the upcoming legislative session is pretty clear.
“It’s going to be the budgets. We spent almost nine months last year, in a regular session and two special sessions, trying to come up with revenue to fund the General Fund. And we were still $80-something million short, and we had to cut some agencies.”
One potential new source of revenue is an increase in the state gasoline tax. The Joint Transportation Committee is holding a series of meetings across the state to gauge interest. The next meeting will be held a week from today in Montevallo.
Crews are cleaning up University Boulevard as fans poured out of the bars in Tuscaloosa after Alabama beat Clemson 45-40 last night to win the national title. Cheers of Roll Tide and screaming in jubilee could be heard all up and down the strip as Bama won the program’s 16th National Championship. U-A Junior Landon Jones was out in the crowd celebrating…
“It’s pretty exciting. I wanted to see one during my team here and now I have. It’s a lot of fun! Everyone was out in the street so we were all chanting. It is very crowded, very exciting and a little intense.”
Alabama Tight End O-J Howard was named the Offensive MVP of the National Championship game with five catches and 208 yards and two touchdowns. He caught the go-ahead score with 9:48 left in the game. This is the fourth championship in seven years for the Crimson Tide and Coach Nick Saban.
State health officials say a tuberculosis outbreak in west-central Alabama has created one hundred times the normal case rate for the illness in the state. Twenty people from the Perry County city of Marion have been diagnosed and three are dead from it. Four others have been diagnosed with TB around Tuscaloosa, and two in Centreville. The health department is planning a community meeting about the outbreak in Marion on Thursday. It's offering twenty dollars each to Marion residents who come in for TB blood tests.
