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On the Podcast

You want to listen today, especially if you’re an educator, a student, the parent of a student, the parent of a future student, or the possible future parent of a future student.

We speak with Ruth Serven Smith of the Alabama Education Lab about school life and work this coming fall, and how this recent Legislative session might’ve affected you.

You can find “Down in Alabama” wherever you get your podcasts, including these places:

Revisiting the evidence

It’s pretty common for the attorneys of Death Row inmates to call for a new trial on technical grounds. It hits differently when a District Attorney calls for one.

Jefferson County DA Danny Carr, who was not in office when Toforest Johnson was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to death, has now gone as far as filing an amicus brief in a Jefferson County court to request a new trial, reports AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw.

Johnson was convicted in 1998 in the killing of Jefferson County Deputy William G. Hardy in 1995.

Former and current Alabama lawyers, judges, prosecutors, a former Alabama chief justice and a former Alabama Attorney General have called for a new trial in this case. Part of their problem with the case is that Johnson’s conviction was largely based on the testimony of a witness who said that while she was listening in on her daughter’s phone calls to the Jefferson County jail, she overheard a man who called himself “Toforest” confess to the killing. Johnson’s lawyers later said that prosecutors did not reveal that the witness received a $5,000 reward for testifying (although an appeals court has ruled that it couldn’t be shown that she knew about the reward).

Carr also said the witness served as a key prosecution witness in several other cases as well, and that since the trial several people have submitted affidavits stating they saw Johnson across town the night of Hardy’s killing.

This church building stood from 1850-2024

A 174-year-old church building burned to the ground Monday, reports AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz.

The Blue Springs Methodist Church in Coosa County (note the county because there are things named “Blue Springs in a few parts of the state”) is was built circa 1850. That’s 42 years before Auburn and Alabama had football teams.

The state Fire Marshal’s office has asked everybody to keep away from the scene as the investigation takes place.

Hanging on at BSC

Birmingham-Southern College may be shutting down operations at the end of the month, but its baseball team could still be in the Division III playoffs at that time.

Over the weekend the Panthers won a regional tournament to qualify for this weekend’s Super Regionals against Denison in Grandville, Ohio. The Panthers advanced with a 5-2 win over Transylvania University — or Transy if you’d like — which has the nickname Pioneers but the logo of a bat.

If BSC manages to win its Super Regional series, it’ll advance to the eight-team national championship tournament from May 31-June 7.

Sky’s the limit (maybe)

A team of young rocketeers from Tharptown High School in Russellville won a national championship at the American Rocketry Challenge, reports AL.com’s Williesha Morris.

More than 900 teams across the nation participated in the competition. A team had to design a model rocket, build it, launch it with a payload of one large chicken egg to an altitude of 850 feet, keep it in the air for 43 to 46 seconds and land it safely.

That last part sounds tricky. Even if you and I figured out how to blast an egg a couple football fields into the sky, back on terra firma it would surely end up as quiche Lorraine, and nobody wants that.

The students won $20,000 and a chance to represent the U.S. in July’s International Rocketry Challenge in England.

He had us at ‘Creole hush puppies’

The future of Alabama food is as promising as ever. And a 12-year-old from Auburn just won the MasterChef Junior competition’s Season 9 championship, reports AL.com’s Mary Colurso. That’s a Gordon Ramsey-hosted reality cooking show.

Bryson McGlynn is a sixth-grader at Fox Run School in Opelika. For his final meal on the show, which was featured on last week’s and Monday’s episode, he made an appetizer of marinated prawns with Creole hush puppies, rum marinade sauce and green tomato relish; an entree of Japanese Wagyu filet mignon with a red wine reduction, squash puree and confit turnips; and a dessert of peanut butter mousse cake with chocolate ganache and peanut brittle garnished with edible flowers and gold leaf.

For the victory, Bryson reportedly won a trophy, kitchen appliances and gear, and a $100,000 prize.

By the Numbers

That’s how many babies have been left in a Safe Haven Baby Box in Madison’s Fire Station No. 1 since it was made available about four months ago. The Safe Haven program, which was authorized by the state Legislature a year ago after most abortions were banned in the state, allows babies up to 45 days old to be given up anonymously. The babies can be placed inside a portal from an outside wall of a fire station, and emergency workers would immediately receive them.

On the Calendar

June 19: Juneteenth will be a state holiday again this year, per an announcement from Gov. Kay Ivey. Already a national holiday, Juneteenth has yet to become a permanent state holiday, so the governor has declared it a holiday each year since 2021.

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