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Dauphin Island Sea Lab to get settlement money, Slide the City comes to Florence

The Dauphin Island Sea Lab will benefit from a multi-million dollar settlement with a Norwegian shipping company.

DSD Shipping Company was found guilty of dumping thousands of gallons of harmful bilge into the Gulf of Mexico.

Helene Hassell is the Executive Director for the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. She says the money from the settlement will be put to good use…

“They were fined two and a half million dollars. 500 thousand of that is going to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Foundation. The Foundation supports and promotes the Sea Lab. And so, we plan to fund special projects with a portion of this money.”

It is estimated that this is the worst water contamination in the gulf since the 2010 BP Oil Spill. DSD was charged with obstructing justice, violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, tampering with witnesses, and conspiring to commit these offenses.

Things are about to get slippery in Florence this weekend. APR student reporter Mary Roberts has more on the summertime event…

A 1,000 foot water slide will transform a section of Poplar Street into a giant Slip-and-Slide this Saturday. Slide the City is a family-friendly event featuring live music, food, and drinks.

The company started on an experimental basis in 2014. In 2015, the attraction toured over 70 cities. Company owner, Spencer Hunn, says Florence is one of over 100 cities that the water slide will be touring this year.

Riders must be at least 5 years old and 46 inches tall to ride. Slide the city has one more stop in Alabama after Florence. The slide will be in Huntsville on July ninth.

Dry weather has led to an extreme drought in parts of Alabama.

The latest update from the National Drought Mitigation Center says two counties in northeastern Alabama are in an extreme drought as of this week. So are small parts of northwestern and eastern Georgia.

Neither state had any acreage included in the extreme drought category last week.

Nearly 60 percent of Alabama is in a drought affecting areas with a total population of about 2.5 million people. As in Georgia, conditions are worst in the northern half of the state.

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