It’s National Walking Day, which was brought to use a few years ago by the American Heart Association. Which dovetails nicely with our last news item.

The doctors are out

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the infectious-disease expert who left UAB to replace Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been caught up in the Trump administration’s health-worker layoffs, reports AL.com’s Savannah Tryens-Fernandes.

Marrazzo has reportedly been placed on leave from her job as NIAID’s director and instead asked to join the Indian Health Service, which provides healthcare services to Indian tribes and on reservations. She’s supposed to decide by today whether to take that assignment.

She has been with NIAID since 2023. She came to that job from UAB, where she led the division of infectious diseases for seven years.

You might’ve seen her during the COVID-19 pandemic, doing media rounds to provide updates on the virus and mitigation recommendations.

Don’t bet on it

So much energy was spent on last year’s near-miss lottery/gambling legislative package that you had to wonder whether it would come up at all this year.

Like it does every year.

Well, as state lawmakers returned from Spring Break Tuesday, state Sen. Greg Albritton, an Atmore Republican, said he’s trying to round up the 21 votes needed to pass a measure that would put a lottery and gambling on the ballot for voters to decide, reports AL.com’s Mike Cason.

So far, Albritton said, he doesn’t have the votes yet. Which means Alabamians could be faced with another year of having to drive to another state to make statistically poor spending decisions.

Last year’s gambling package was a comprehensive plan that included a lottery, casinos, sports betting, a compact with the Porch Band of Creek Indians and a commission to regulate gambling.

This year’s proposal is similar minus the full-scale casinos with table games.

Carrying our weight

Here we go again: A new analysis from the financial site WalletHub showed that three Alabama cities were among the most obese cities in the nation, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.

That’s not just based on what the scale says. The analysis used 19 metrics measuring weight, health and fitness. They studied how many people were literally overweight, the frequency of symptoms of obesity such as Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, and how much people get off the couch and move around.

Mobile placed fourth nationally. Birmingham 10th. And Huntsville 32nd.

The top three most obese cities in the nation were McAllen, Texas, Little Rock, Ark., and Jackson, Miss. Also in the top 10 are Shreveport, La., Augusta, Ga., Lafayette, La. and Fayetteville, Ark.

One can only speculate that if the people in the rest of the country knew how to make a southern dinner, they wouldn’t get up from the table so soon, either.

By the Numbers

$2 million

That’s how much Charles Barkley says he’s spending to battle blight in Birmingham and his hometown of Leeds.

More Alabama News

Born on This Date

In 1941, Former Surgeon General of the United States David Satcher of Anniston.

In 1945, Hall of Fame pitcher and former Braves broadcaster Don Sutton of Clio.

In 1947, singer/songwriter Emmylou Harris of Birmingham.

In 1948, former college football coach Danny Ford of Gadsden.

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