1. Storm veers west.

• The “tropical cyclone” in the Gulf could be a tropical storm or even a hurricane by the time it makes landfall tomorrow, but its track is now taking it west into Louisiana and Mississippi.
• It looks like Alabama’s coast will be spared the worst of the wind and rain, while many parts of the state could benefit from the rainfall. The storm may also keep an algae bloom from entering our shores and closing beaches.
• It’s a slow-moving storm with a lot of rain, and that’s bad news for New Orleans, which sits in its direct path.
• The Big Easy is already flooding with the worst of the rain yet to come.
• Welcome back to hurricane season. We’ll be dealing with this through November.
• Read more, see the latest charts, and watch James Spann’s analysis from the Alabama News Center HERE.

2. Community Colleges get funding bump.

• Alabama’s 23 community colleges all will see an increase in funding in the upcoming year.
• And for the second year, some will get an extra bump in state dollars based on how well they’re retaining students and getting them to graduation.
• The Alabama Community College System Board met in downtown Montgomery yesterday to discuss and vote on the funding.
• Fiscal 2019-2020 will be the second year the “performance-based outcomes” model is used to distribute a portion of schools’ state dollars.
• “…It’s kind of like a reward, in a way,” Chancellor Jimmy Baker told Alabama Daily News after the board meeting.
• “It works in the reverse as well, so it may look like they got a bigger bump, but someone else may have gotten a lesser amount.”
• Read the full story from Mary Sell and Caroline Beck and see the full community college funding chart HERE.

3. Toyota shifts gears for Huntsville plant.

• Toyota says it will scrap plans to build the Corolla compact car at a new factory under construction in Alabama.
• Instead it will build a new unspecified SUV at the plant it is building with Mazda in Huntsville.
• The company said Wednesday that the decision is being made in response to growing demand for SUVs and light trucks. For the first half of this year, Corolla sales are down 5.3 percent, to just under 153,000.
• Toyota will continue to build Corollas at its factory in Blue Springs, Mississippi.
• The new $1.6 billion Alabama plant is expected to start making vehicles in 2021. Mazda also plans to build a new yet-to-be-unveiled SUV there.
• The combined factories will employ up to 4,000 workers.

4. Skip Tucker: Rolling like Thunder.

• Skip Tucker is back this week with a column about the evolution of news in Alabama, complete with tales from his days as a newsman.
• The Alabama Press Association has been helping support the newspaper industry though good times and bad since the 1870s.
• The organization recently held its annual summer convention in Orange Beach (ADN was proud to be there) and continued its tradition of recognizing the excellent work of writers, editors and publishers.
• Skip toasts those winners and has some great stories from yesteryear.
• Here’s an excerpt:

• Read the full column HERE.

5. AP News Briefs.

• President Donald Trump said he’ll hold a news conference Thursday to talk about the 2020 census and his push to include a question on citizenship.
• A Supreme Court ruling has temporarily barred the question, but Trump has said he may issue an executive order or memorandum to try to force the issue.
• The government has already begun the process of printing the census survey without that question.
• An executive order would not, by itself, override court rulings blocking the question. But such a move could give administration lawyers a new basis to try to convince federal courts the question could be included.

• Alabama cotton farmers will face threats to their crops this year in the form of a new virus with no known cure.
• WSFA-TV reports the cotton leafroll dwarf virus is a new strain of cotton blue disease.
• The Alabama Cooperative Extension System says the virus is transmitted by aphids and diminishes blooms and bolls in the upper canopy, resulting in lower yields, mainly in late-planted cotton.
• The new strain was discovered in Alabama in 2017 but has been observed in Brazil since 2006. It has since been confirmed in Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi.
• The virus reduced cotton yields by nearly 50,000 bales in 2018.
• Alabama Farmers Federation’s Carla Hornady said symptoms include red leaf veins, cupped leaves and sterility.
• Hornady says it will likely take years to develop new resistant cotton cultivars.

• Authorities have asked residents to stay inside after a chlorine leak was discovered near homes and businesses in suburban Birmingham.
• Pelham Fire Chief Tim Honeycutt says a worker discovered a leaky container containing about 150 pounds of chlorine gas inside a water treatment station Wednesday. He says a resident had called after smelling something unusual in the area.
• One person was sent to a hospital with breathing problems, but no serious injuries were reported.
• The chief said workers were able fix the leak. But city officials asked residents of a nearby neighborhood and businesses to shelter in place and to avoid going outside until the gas dissipated.
• Exposure to chlorine gas can cause breathing problems, burning eyes and nausea.

• An Alabama corrections officer has been arrested on charges of accepting money to help smuggle forbidden items into a state prison.
• The Alabama Department of Corrections said Wednesday that Willie Gene McLemore, Jr. was arrested last month on charges of using his official position for financial gain.
• The prison system said investigators discovered evidence that McLemore had received electronic transfers of money that were traced to criminal activity by an inmate.
• It was unclear from court records if McLemore had an attorney.
• A prison spokesman said McClemore resigned following his arrest. He had been with the department since 2013.

Headlines.

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