Weekend Digest – June 20, 2021

1. Crash “likely” due to storm, kills 10 in Alabama

• Tropical Depression Claudette claimed 12 lives in Alabama as the storm swept across the southeastern U.S., causing flash flooding and spurring tornadoes that destroyed dozens of homes.
• Ten people, including nine children, were killed Saturday in a 15-vehicle crash about 35 miles south of Montgomery on Interstate 65, according to Butler County Coroner Wayne Garlock.
• He said the vehicles likely hydroplaned on wet roads, with eight children, ages 4 to 17, killed in a van belonging to a youth ranch operated by the Alabama Sheriffs Association for abused or neglected children. A man and a 9-month-old baby died in a separate vehicle. Multiple people were also injured.
• Meanwhile, a 24-year-old man and a 3-year-old boy were killed when a tree fell on their house just outside the Tuscaloosa city limits Saturday, Capt. Marty Sellers of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit told The Tuscaloosa News.
• The deaths occurred as drenching rains pelted northern Alabama and Georgia late Saturday.
• Read more HERE.

2. Reports: Alabama higher ed relies more on tuition, less on state support

• Revenue at Alabama’s higher education institutions in 2020 was greater than the national per-student average and ranked seventh in the nation, but students’ tuition dollars made up significantly more of that total than the national average.
• About 67% of Alabama’s higher education’s total revenue came from tuition, according to information from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. In 2008, the “student share” of total revenue was 41.7%, according to a report from the association.
• “The hard part is 67% of our total revenue is dependent on tuition, which means parents and families have a bigger share of that,” Alabama Commission on Higher Education Executive Director Jim Purcell told commission members at their quarterly board meeting this month.
• “Alabama has a lot of low-income people, but our tuition revenue is twice the national average,” Purcell said.
• State support for Alabama institutions in 2020 was $8,023 per full-time equivalent student, referred to as FTE, about $600 less than the national average. The report notes support for community colleges is slightly higher than that for four-year schools.
• Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, chairman of the Senate education budget committee, said institutions’ current rates are largely a response to previous decreases in state funding.
• Read more from ADN’s Mary Sell HERE.

3. Juneteenth, recalling end of slavery, is marked across US

• Parades, picnics and lessons in history were offered Saturday to commemorate Juneteenth in the U.S., a day that carried even more significance after Congress and President Joe Biden created a federal holiday to observe the end of slavery.
• A new holiday was “really awesome. It’s starting to recognize the African American experience,” said Detroit artist Hubert Massey, 63. “But we still have a long way to go.”
• In Detroit, which is about 80% Black, students from University Prep Art & Design School dodged rain to repaint Massey’s block-long message, “Power to the People,” which was created last year on downtown Woodward Avenue.
• The ‘o’ in “Power” was a red fist in memory of George Floyd and other victims of excessive force by police, Massey said.
• “We did the original,” said Olivia Jones, 15, leaning on a long paint roller. “It’s important that we return and share that same energy.”
• Read more HERE.

4. Slave owner descendants sell property for new Africatown hub

• Descendants of the white Alabama businessman who financed the voyage of the last slave ship to land in the United States more than 160 years ago have agreed to sell a building that will become a hub for Africatown USA, the community settled by the freed Africans after the Civil War.
• A long-closed credit union building owned by relatives of Timothy Meaher will open within weeks as a food bank and as home of the Africatown Redevelopment Corp., officials told a news conference Thursday. The family sold the brick building to the city for $50,000, well below its appraised value of $300,000.
• The family, which tax records show owns millions of dollars worth of land around Mobile, issued a statement that described selling the building as a way “to give back to the community.”
• “We all look forward to watching this endeavor become a reality with a lasting positive impact on the community for years to come,” it said.
• Read more HERE.

5. FAA considering plan to land space vehicles in Alabama

• The Federal Aviation Administration is considering a plan to land commercial space vehicles in Alabama.
• The agency recently released information about a proposal by the Huntsville airport and Nevada-based Sierra Space to use the site roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of downtown to land ships that resemble a small space shuttle with upswept wings, WHNT-TV reported.
• The spacecraft would be launched elsewhere and land on an existing runway in Huntsville, which has the largest commercial airport in north Alabama and is a hub for the aerospace industry.
• The Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority said the FAA is conducting a preliminary review of the proposal.
• Read more HERE.

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