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Plan to ease Homewood flooding gets $1 million boost

Homewood Mayor Patrick McClusky ran on a platform of addressing flooding and stormwater problems.

McClusky, who was elected mayor in 2020, is planning to leave office in November, but he can point to progress on the flooding front.

On Tuesday, he and members of the Homewood City Council gathered to celebrate a $1 million federal grant for a stormwater project. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, whose district now includes Homewood after recent redistricting, helped bring the funds to the city and joined officials at Homewood City Hall to discuss details.

“We bid this project out two years ago and we’re really excited to start work on it,” McClusky said. “We’ve already put our own money into a lot of other stormwater projects. This is one we knew this was going to be a large sum of money to complete.”

The grant will help pay for a culvert that will be built on Huntingdon Road, to alleviate flooding on Griffin Creek, which flows into Shades Creek. The federal grant will go toward the $1.8 million construction cost.

“Every year we’re budgeting money specifically for stormwater projects like this,” said McClusky.

“These are issues we hear on a daily basis,” McClusky said. “These are problems we have every time we have a bad rain and we have these stormwater issues. Hopefully this project will go a long way toward alleviating some of these issues.”

Sewell, an Alabama Democrat and close ally of Vice President Kamala Harris, secured $13.1 million in grants this year for several projects around the state, and this month she’s been handing out the symbolic cardboard checks representing the funding.

“The water and sewer infrastructure issues have plagued my district in the Black Belt, but it’s indiscriminate,” Sewell said. “It’s not just in rural small towns, it’s in big cities, and towns like the City of Homewood.”

The entire Birmingham metro area is rife with flooding and stormwater issues, said Dr. Hamed Moftakhari, assistant professor for civil, construction and environmental engineering at the University of Alabama.

Birmingham sits in a valley, Jones Valley, and stormwater drainage is directed to both the Black Warrior River watershed and the Cahaba River watershed. Major creeks include Shades and Little Shades Creeks, which drain into the Cahaba, and Five Mile, Valley and Village Creeks, which drain into the Black Warrior.

Birmingham and its suburbs suffer from overdevelopment in flood plains, which leads to dramatic flash floods and flooding incidents.

In wooded areas, heavy rains are absorbed into the soil and can be absorbed into underground aquifers. In urban landscapes, water runs from impervious surfaces such as concrete and asphalt streets and into drainage systems that lead directly to waterways such as creeks, rivers and lakes.

“When you develop, as a side product of urbanization we remove pervious surfaces,” Moftakhari said. “We replace it with impervious surfaces.”

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Alabama man allegedly forced sexual abuse, kidnapping victim to ‘marry’ him on church steps

A man from Mobile County is currently in jail after alledgedly kidnapping a woman, sexually assaulting her and forcing her to “marry” him.

According to court records, on Friday evening Roy Clowder stood in the middle of State Route 188 with a gun and forced an oncoming vehicle to stop.

Clowder alledgedly took control of the vehicle by holding the victim at gunpoint and forced her to get into the passenger seat.

Clowder then proceeded to drive the car to a church where he made the woman “marry” him on the steps outside, officials said.

“At some point they stopped at a church and he made her recite wedding vows as if they were getting married,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch told Fox10 News.

After her family called the police, officers called her phone. Clowder allegedly answered and then abandoned the vehicle.

Clowder faces three charges for sexual abuse, robbery and kidnapping — all in the first degree. He is currently held at Mobile County Metro Jail without a bond.

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Mortgage giant to pay $9.9 million for alleged redlining in Black Birmingham neighborhoods

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. must pay nearly $10 million in a settlement over allegations by the U.S. Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that the lender engaged in keeping credit from predominately Black Birmingham neighborhoods.

The Justice Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced today that Fairway has agreed to pay $8 million, and a $1.9 million civil money penalty, to resolve allegations of redlining, or lending discrimination.

The Justice Department and CFPB allege that Fairway, through its marketing and sales actions, discouraged residents of Black neighborhoods from applying for mortgage loans.

Fairway will provide $7 million for a loan subsidy program to offer affordable home purchase, refinance and home improvement loans in Birmingham’s majority-Black neighborhoods.

It will also invest $1 million in programs to support that loan subsidy fund, and pay a $1.9 million civil penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

Headquartered in Madison, Wisc., Fairway operates in the Birmingham area under the trade name MortgageBanc.

Attempts to contact Fairway for comment were not immediately successful.

“Birmingham lies at the heart of our nation’s civil rights struggle but is also a community that bears the legacy of discriminatory redlining and other exclusionary policies,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said.

“This settlement will provide Birmingham’s Black neighborhoods with the access to credit they have long been denied and increase opportunities for homeownership and generational wealth.

“This settlement makes clear our intent to uproot modern-day redlining in every corner of the country, including in the deep South,” Clarke said.

According to the Justice Department, the company’s own data showed that it was failing to serve Black neighborhoods as far back as at least 2017. Before October 2022, it took no meaningful actions to address redlining risk.

Between 2018 and 2022, only 3.7% of Fairway’s applications were for properties in majority-Black areas, compared to 12.2% for Fairway’s peer lenders.

The disparity was even higher in neighborhoods with 80% or more Black residents, where Fairway made loans at less than one-eighth the rate of its peer lenders.

Between 2015 and 2022, the Justice Department contends, Fairway operated three retail loan offices and three loan production desks within real estate offices in the Birmingham metro area, all of which were in majority-white areas.

Most of Fairway’s referral sources and referred consumers were located in majority-white areas.

Fairway predominantly directed its marketing to majority-white areas and failed to train or incentivize its loan officers to better serve majority-Black areas, the Justice Department stated.

The $1.9 million penalty is to be paid into the CFPB’s Civil Penalty Fund, also referred to as the victims’ relief fund.

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22-year-old injured in Midfield shooting; investigation ongoing

An investigation is ongoing after a weekend shooting in Midfield left one person injured.

The shooting happened shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday in the 900 block of Ninth Street, Jefferson County sheriff’s officials announced Tuesday.

Deputies arrived to find the 22-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds. Midfield Fire and Rescue transported him to UAB Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Sheriff’s spokesman Henry Irby said no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Bruce Pearl discusses nonconference schedule, praises strength of SEC

Auburn’s nonconference schedule has caught the eye of many going into the 2024-2025 season.

The discussion isn’t without reason either. The Tigers play four top 15 teams out of conference and have a chance to see a couple more during the Maui Invitational.

The tough games aren’t just in the nonconference, though. The Southeastern Conference is loaded this season, featuring nine teams ranked in the preseason AP Poll.

Auburn will play all eight of the other ranked teams and will play two of those teams twice.

“The league is probably gonna beat each other up pretty good,” Bruce Pearl said Tuesday at SEC Basketball Media Day in Birmingham. “Handling losses, getting to the next play, getting to the next game is going to be really, really important.”

Pearl also acknowledged that with the gauntlet Auburn faces in nonconference play, there could be more early losses than other years.

“We’re gonna lose some games in the nonconference perhaps more than we have in the past, just because of the strength of schedule,” Pearl said. “How do we handle that?”

Those early tests could benefit Auburn later in the season. Pearl referenced that as one of the reasons behind the schedule, along with believing the players “deserve the opportunity to play against the best.”

“Adversity doesn’t always build character, but adversity will reveal character,” Pearl said. “We’re gonna have some adversity.”

For Auburn’s players, the challenge is welcomed. All-American forward Johni Broome acknowledged how it heightens the team’s preparation.

“Obviously, the strength of schedule does play a factor because you can’t have nights off,” Broome said.

Auburn only played one ranked team in the nonconference last season, an 88-82 loss to Baylor. The uptick in big nonconference games this season also gives the Tigers a number of early Quad I opportunities away from home.

The other big reason behind Auburn’s challenging schedule is an emphasis from Pearl on taking the next step as a program.

Pearl has mentioned that he wants Auburn to “act like” a top 10 program, given its recent success, and a large part of that comes from who the Tigers play.

“You can’t always control recruiting. You can’t control the transfer portal. You can’t control a lot of things that are happening, but you can control your schedule,” Pearl said.

In making that statement, Pearl mentioned how much it means for the program to have showcase games against teams like Houston and Purdue.

“The fact that Kelvin Sampson thought enough of Auburn’s basketball program to want to get involved in that neutral, neutral game or that Matt Painter coming off a national championship game, thought that bringing Auburn back to Indianapolis in a year was gonna be a game that they could draw… it’s what we work for.”

Fans will get their first look at the Tigers in just over two weeks when Auburn hosts Florida Atlantic in a charity exhibition game on Nov. 1.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m

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Fire warning affecting Mobile and Baldwin counties Wednesday

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning at 3:02 p.m. on Tuesday valid for Wednesday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. for Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Expect winds to be north 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and relative humidity as low as 25 percent.

“Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly. Outdoor burning is not recommended,” comments the weather service.

What is the significance of a red flag warning?

A red flag warning means that extreme fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly, according to the weather service. Warm temperatures, very low humidities, and stronger winds are expected to combine to produce an increased risk of fire spreading rapidly.

So, what actions are necessary during a red flag warning?

During a red flag warning, it is crucial to exercise extreme caution and be prepared to take immediate action in case a fire starts. The weather service offers these steps you can take to lower the risk of fires igniting and ensure your safety:

1. Bolster burn barrel safety:

  • If burning is permitted in your area, ensure that all burn barrels have a weighted metal cover, complete with holes no larger than 3/4 of an inch.

2. Mindful handling of smoking materials:

  • Steer clear of haphazardly discarding lit cigarette butts and avoid flinging cigarettes or matches from moving vehicles. These innocuous-seeming actions can kindle dry vegetation, potentially spawning a wildfire.

3. Properly extinguish outdoor fires:

  • To thwart accidental fires, diligently extinguish all outdoor fires. Suffocate them with an ample deluge of water and stir to ensure complete cooling. Submerge charcoal in water until it’s entirely devoid of heat. Never leave live charcoal unattended.

4. Never leave fires unattended:

  • Avoid leaving any fire unattended. Even sparks or embers carried by the wind can ignite nearby leaves or grass, triggering a fire that spreads rapidly.

Understanding the gravity of a red flag warning and adhering to these precautions is pivotal in mitigating the risk of wildfires during these perilous conditions. Prioritize safety, stay well-informed, and act responsibly to safeguard lives and property.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.

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Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2024: How to watch, where to stream free

After almost a six year hiatus, the iconic Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will finally return in 2024 and is set to premiere live Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Central Time).

According toreports, the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was initially put to an end after its 2018 show due to several factors, including poor ratings, declining viewership and criticism as sexist and out of step with the #MeToo movement. However, Victoria’s Secret has stated that this year’s reboot of the show will shift in a more positive direction and reflect who they are today.

“Victoria’s Secret has always been synonymous with fashion and entertainment and we are thrilled to reintroduce this iconic entertainment property with all the glamour, wings, fashion and musical entertainment our customers know and love – with our values and brand mission of today at the forefront,” the brand recently stated.

Where can I watch the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show?

The 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is set to premiere on Prime Video Tuesday night. Although Prime members will already have access to the streaming platform, those without a membership can use Amazon’s 30-day free trial and watch for free before committing to a paid subscription.

However, those who are students can get an extended 6-month free trial with Amazon Student which also comes with a unique set of benefits for a discounted price after the trial period ends, including access to Prime Video.

Those interested can check out the full rundown of Amazon Student member benefits here.

Who is walking in the VS fashion show?

Celebrity models who will walk in the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show include Gigi Hadid, Barbara Palvin, Ashley Graham, Candice Swanepoel, Taylor Hill Jasmine Tookes and more.

Who is singing at the Victoria Secret Fashion Show 2024?

Joining the models on stage during the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show include the legendary Cher along with Grammy-winning artists Lisa and Tyla.

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Alabama native stars in number-one hit movie: ‘My mind is blown’

Art the Clown’s had no shortage of kills in the “Terrifier” horror franchise, and now he’s added The Joker, Beetlejuice and the Transformers to the carnage.

“Terrifier 3″ is the number-one movie in America right now.

According to film reviews/news website Rotten Tomatoes, the splatter-fest took in a debut weekend gross of $18 million, besting: animated sci-fi “The Wild Robot” ($13.4 million, $83.7 million to date), “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” ($7 million, $275 million to date), “Joker: Folie à Deux” ($7 million, $51.6 million over two weeks) and musician/producer Pharrell Williams’ animated biopic “Piece By Piece” ($3.8 million in its first week).

For Oct. 11 – 13, “Transformers One,” an animated prequel to the robot-toy-inspired action franchise, clocks in at number six ($3.6 million, $52.8 million to date).

Actor David Howard Thornton, a Huntsville native, portrays sadistic jester Art the Clown in the “Terrifier” franchise.

On Sunday, Thornton posted on social media, “My mind is blown. Never in my life would I have imagined my film would beat out a film about my favorite villain, the Joker, at the box office, let alone, be the number one film in America. Thank you all that came out to support our little indie film that could. You made history this weekend!”

In a recent interview with Games Radar, Thornton expressed his interest in one day taking on the role of Joker, the iconic Batman archnemesis from DC Comics.

“So hopefully,” Thornton told Games Radar, “someone like [DC Studios CEO] James Gunn gives me the opportunity to tackle that character because I would like to do a lot of fun things with him.”

As a child, Thornton’s prized possessions included a Joker action-figure. A photo on his Facebook page depicts Thornton reenacting The Joker cover art from legendary 1988 graphic novel “Batman: The Killing Joke.”

The “Terrifier” franchise is famously gory. After the 2022 “Terrifier 2″ release, outlets like Entertainment Weekly, People and Variety have run stories about moviegoers literally vomiting and fainting in theaters from watching Art’s kill scenes.

But what makes the 6-foot-2 Thornton’s portrayal so effective is a pinch of physical comedy he brings to the character.

In our 2022 AL.com interview, Thornton told me, “I think comedy and horror are two genres where you’re supposed to always be pushing the envelope, and trying new things and seeing where you can go forward things. No pun intended, but art isn’t supposed to be safe.”

For Art the Clown, Thornton takes inspiration from comedy actors Charlie Chaplin and Rowan Atkinson, in addition to horror villains like actor Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger.

The budget for “Terrifier 3″ was reportedly only $2 million. The budget for “Terrifier 2″ was only around $250,000.

Still, Art the Clown has slashed his way into pop-culture. In 2023, actor/comedian Pete Davidson, one of the most famous people in the world, was seen wearing an Art the Clown t-shirt.

Asked about the appeal of smaller-budget horror films like “Terrifier,” Thornton, now a Burbank, Calif. resident, told me, “The people making these films are actually the fans of the genre. It’s not some, you know, Hollywood executive just trying to make a quick money grab or something like that.”

A Grissom High School grad, Thornton’s other credits include the lead role in 2023 Grinch horror parody “The Mean One.”

Growing up in Huntsville, Thornton fell in love with acting doing children’s theater at Fantasy Playhouse. Halloween costumes Thornton wore in his youth include a red crayon, a mummy, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Later, Thornton got a degree in elementary education from University of Montevallo, a liberal arts school located in central Alabama. Yep, Art the Clown could’ve been your kid’s elementary school teacher.

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Kentucky man posed as Alabama teen’s father to check her out from school, raped her, authorities say

A Lowmansville, Ky. man checked out a 15-year-old girl from a Lauderdale County school by posing as the girl’s father, before taking her to another location and raping her.

That’s according to court documents filed in Lauderdale County District Court.

Justin Edward Stephens, 43, faces charges of rape, traveling to meet a child for sex, and enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house.

According to court documents, the incident happened on Sept. 18.

Investigators say Stephens called Central High School in Florence saying he would pick up his daughter from school. Security cameras captured images of the girl getting into Stephens’ truck at about 9 a.m.

After picking up the child,Stephens allegedly took the girl to an abandoned building and raped her. The student was picked up by cameras returning to school at 2 p.m.

Police eventually found Stephens at a hotel, where he allegedly confessed to the incident.

According to WAFF, the Lauderdale County School System said of the arrest: “The Lauderdale County School System is aware of the ongoing investigation and is cooperating fully with law enforcement agencies. Out of respect for the privacy of our students, as well as the ongoing nature of the investigation, we will have no further comments.”

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Why Auburn men’s basketball kept the Yale score on its board throughout offseason

Johni Broome remembers it well.

He remembers the excitement around Auburn entering the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and even more so, he remembers the disappointment after a first-round loss to Yale.

“Nobody’s satisfied with how the season ended,” Broome said Tuesday at SEC Basketball Media Day in Birmingham. “Everybody knows that it’s still a sour taste in our mouth. We’re ready to prove otherwise.”

Yale’s upset win ended what many believed would be a deep tournament run by the Tigers. Since that day, Auburn has kept a clear reminder of that disappointment to motivate the team during the offseason.

“We have it on our board: 78-76. We look at it all the time until the season comes up,” Broome said.

It’s a reminder that despite any regular season accomplishments, teams are remembered most by what happens in March Madness.

Auburn won the Southeastern Conference Tournament in 2024, but the game fresher in many people’s minds is the 78-76 shocker against Yale.

“Last year, we didn’t take Yale for granted, but they just played better than us when the time was right,” said Auburn guard Denver Jones. “We know that we have to skill set and the ability to make a run in March. So, I feel like we don’t need to think too much about it, but we just need to play hard and play the best we can.”

Expectations have rarely been higher for the Tigers than they are this season. Auburn was picked to finish second in the SEC and earned a preseason AP Poll ranking of No. 11.

But preseason recognition isn’t what Auburn is after.

“I only got one goal in mind and that’s just win March Madness, win a national championship,” Jones said

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m

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