Hope you didn’t spend too much of your Labor Day sitting on the interstate. And even if you did, welcome back.

Usually, having a spending problem would mean that you’re spending money you don’t have. In our first topic below, Alabama’s legislature has money to spend and wants to make sure it gets spent.

Use it or lose it

Back in the day, when your folks dropped you off at the mall and gave you a little money for the arcade, you probably didn’t come home and hand them a five-dollar bill that you didn’t spend. Not when Donkey Kong was still toting off ladies that needed saving.

Similarly, in government, if funding is allocated your way, if you can’t bank it, find a way to spend it.

Responsibly. Of course.

AL.com’s John Sharp reports that Alabama legislators still need to make sure they’re able to spend all their American Rescue Plan Act funding. There’s a December 2026 deadline on using that money.

The state has allocated more than $900 million toward water, sewer and broadband projects, and that much government-led progress doesn’t happen overnight.

Out of a few hundred water and sewer projects, only 79 have signed agreements to move forward, and that doesn’t mean they’ve started the actual work.

Some lawmakers are starting to push for re-allocating money toward projects that are ready to roll, and the Department of Environmental Management is assessing the projects partly based on whether they’ll be able to make deadline.

And Bobby Singleton, a Greensboro Democrat, told the oversight committee that some small cities are concerned about getting stuck with debt they might incur to pay for finishing the work.

ADEM External Affairs chief Lynn Battle has said funding will be prioritized on “a needs basis where it is unlikely the project would be implemented without state-funded assistance.”

She said ADEM — that’s the Alabama Department of Environmental Management — has procedures that will keep money from going back to Washington.

Tuskegee Airman’s remains

The U.S. and Italian archeologists have identified the remains of an American pilot that crashed in Europe during World War II, reports AL.com’s Sarah-Whites-Koditschek.

Lt. Fred L. Brewer was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Black pilots who trained in Tuskegee, Alabama, and flew and fought during World War II. He was in his P-51 fighter, escorting B-24 bombers from Italy to Germany, when he crashed in overcast weather. His remains were found near the Italy-Austria border and were moved multiple times in the 1940s. Just over a decade ago, reports about the crash were discovered, and an investigation followed by DNA testing revealed the remains belong to Lt. Brewer.

Brewer, who was 23 years old when his plane went down, was originally from North Carolina. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency shows that 25 Tuskegee Airmen remain missing.

Unprecedented

The Auburn volleyball team is ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 for the first time ever, reports AL.com’s Ainslie Lee.

The Tigers have jumped to a 5-0 record this season, and this week slipped into the poll at No. 25.

More Alabama news

Born on this date

• In 1939, Claudette Colvin of Montgomery, who as a Black 15-year-old girl was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus some nine months before Rosa Parks’ higher-profile arrest.
• In 1963, former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jeff Brantley of Florence.

Monday’s quiz results

How big a cut did Alabama make this month to the sales tax the state charges on groceries?

• 1% (correct) — 77%
• 2% — 9%
• 3% — 7%
• 4% — 7%

Last week on Orange Beach, a woman’s leg was impaled by:

• an umbrella. (correct) — 70%
• a tournament-winning blue marlin’s bill. — 17%
• a palm frond. — 8%
• a flounder gig. — 5%

In which city is a GOP presidential primary debate reported to be taking place this fall?

• Tuscaloosa (correct) — 58
• Montgomery — 19
• Mobile — 16
• Cullman — 7

What’s the new all-time high temperature ever recorded in Mobile?*

• 106 degrees (correct) — 37%
• 102 degrees — 24%
• 105 degrees — 24%
• 110 degrees — 15%

A new souvenir available to fans attending University of Alabama football games this season is:

• a souvenir paper gate ticket (correct) — 86%
• a souvenir hip flask — 8%
• a souvenir Nick Saban paycheck — 5%
• a souvenir Bachelor of Science degree — 1%

* – On many quizzes that were taken, the fourth question — “What’s the new all-time temperature ever recorded in Mobile?” — did not appear. We were able to get that fixed yesterday morning, but not before scores of people had already taken the quiz. I apologize for the mistake. Also, the vast majority of quiz-takers selected an answer even without a question, an impressive display of confidence that makes me wonder how many readers were sharp enough to figure out the question based on the answers.

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