It’s the last day of the week and the last day of the month. That means a clean slate on Monday, right?

Money questions

Since former state lawmaker Fred Plump pled guilty to federal charges related a a kickback scheme and named two co-conspirators, veteran state Rep. John Rogers, a Birmingham Democrat, identified himself and his personal aide as being named in the indictment.

Rogers has not been charged with anything and has denied any wrongdoing.

There are a couple of news updates since attention has shifted in Rogers’ direction, from AL.com’s Hannah Denham and Joseph D. Bryant:

1. The administrator of the Jefferson County Community Service Fund, which lawmakers use to hand out donations to groups, said that Rogers had allocated more than $15,000 to the Urban League out of the fund and was expected to deliver a check. This seemed to surprise Urban League CEO William Barnes, who said he never received a check, never asked for the money, and “We don’t want a check to be recut to us, certainly under these circumstances.”
2. Varrie Johnson, Rep. Rogers’ assistant and caretaker, was indicted this week on charges of theft and identity theft. Prosecutors allege she has collected nearly $88,000 in her parents’ retirement benefits since they died.

Downtown Mobile

Construction has begun on a building in downtown Mobile that will change the city’s skyline, reports Margaret Kates for The Lede.

An estimated 800 will work in the new office building for the Army Corps of Engineers. The building’s going up on the Mobile Civic Center site and is expected to be completed by early 2025. Later on there will be an accompanying parking garage, and the Civic Center’s renovation is being designed.

A long-term vision here is also to connect the civic center to the waterfront, which means it’ll be connected the Outlaw Convention Center, the cruise terminal and GulfQuest Museum. Plus, once the Bayway is replaced it’s expected that there’ll be more destination space on the waterfront.

Snakebite

A popular TV meteorologist’s daughter was bitten by an apparent copperhead snake, reports AL.com’s Leada Gore.

Jason Simpson of WVTM in Birmingham said his 9-year-old daughter was recovering at Children’s of Alabama.

Quote, “She will be OK, but she’s got some healing to do. Thank you for your prayers.”

Before working at WVTM Simpson was in the Huntsville market at WHNT.

Something squirrelly

We’re going to end the week on one that might stay with you a while.

Mobile’s Bienville Square is full of squirrels. There’s even a Mardi Gras group called the Mystic Squirrels of Bienville. Whether you think squirrels are cute or a bit gamey, we do know they can damage trees and wiring. So a while back the city hired somebody to trap and remove some of them.

AL.com’s John Sharp reports that a mystery briefly arose upon reports that all the male squirrels removed had been castrated. Every one of them.

And there has been a long-held belief that squirrels mother often castrate their young. (I told you this might stay with you).

But now, enter biologists. And they say it’s a myth.

John Koprowski is the dean of the School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming and considered one of the top squirrel guys around. He explained that, except during breeding seasons, the squirrel parts in question shrink up and withdraw into the abdomen.

Which makes sense: A varmint that scurries through trees to escape predators doesn’t need to be getting caught on anything.

Hot as the Fourth of July

Parts of Alabama are forecast for triple-digit temperatures today — we came pretty close Thursday — so we’re reminded to again stay inside or in the shade, hydrate, and check your vehicles for kids and pets.

Good news, though: The heat is expected to ease up a bit before Tuesday’s Fourth of July holiday. Meaning it’ll be like typical Alabama summer hot instead of atypical Alabama summer hot.

Quoting

“This is a Marshall-led program. Make no bones about that.”

— Lisa Watson-Morgan, landing system program director, earlier this month at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville as Blue Origin joined the team in preparation for America’s return to the moon.

According to current expectations, a fly-around “return to the moon” by astronauts could happen next year, and humans might step onto the lunar surface as early as 2026.

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