Tuberville-Biden tiff and lessons from a stolen police vehicle: Down in Alabama

Tuberville-Biden tiff and lessons from a stolen police vehicle: Down in Alabama

While you’re beating the heat, we’re bringing you some light politics, some no-duh car-security advice and coaching salaries (that aren’t for head football coaches) that’ll make some of you question your career decisions.

Tuberville vs. Biden

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and President Joe Biden seem to have a bit of a feud going, at least since the president starting using Tuberville’s touting of broadband access money to poke fun at him for actually voted against the broader measure that is sending that money to Alabama.

Tuberville then drew scorn when he touted $1.4 billion that will expand broadband access in Alabama, although that money was on the infrastructure package he voted against, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.

Of course, it’s not the first time a lawmaker has disagreed with the overall impact of legislation but appreciated a little coin making its way into his own constituency.

Tuberville tweeted “Great to see Alabama receive crucial funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts.”

Biden retweeted him, tagging it with a “See you at the groundbreaking.”

Now that’s pretty good trolling, but Tuberville didn’t come off like a rookie in his response, either.

He asked, “The groundbreaking for Space Command in Huntsville?”

De-riding the police

A Mobile Police Department vehicle was stolen this past weekend, reports AL.com’s John Sharp, and there are a couple lessons we all can probably learn from it.

First of all, never steal a police vehicle. Often, charges follow swiftly. And indeed, a woman was later arrested while still inside the vehicle.

The second lesson involves the fancy modern keys that you don’t put into the ignition. According to Mobile police, an officer had left a spare key inside the vehicle so that all it took was for somebody to slide into the seat and push the start button. So don’t leave a spare key in your vehicle, either.

Coaching money

Remember when you had to be a head football coach to make really big money?

AL.com’s Michael Casagrande reports that several University of Alabama coaching contracts were finalized this week.

New Crimson Tide baseball coach Rob Vaughn’s contract involves an annual salary of $900,000 a year. That’s still only the 10th highest salary for an SEC baseball coach, by the way. But it’s nearly twice what former coach Brad Bohannon made in 2022.

The associate head coach, Jason Jackson, got a raise to $300,000.

Among other new deals, (these are just a few of numerous deals finalized) women’s basketball coach Kristy Curry will make $550,000 through 2027; softball coach Patrick Murphy will make $530,000 a year through 2028; head athletics trainer Jeff Allen $400,000 through 2025; and two men’s basketball assistants will make $330k and $275k per.

All the positions also come with vehicle stipends between $600 and $700 a month.

By the Numbers

117: That’s how high the heat index could go in parts of Alabama before this weekend is over, forecasters say.

More Alabama news

Born on this Date

In 1935, Johnnie Louise Richardson of Montgomery. She became a singer and one-half the R&B duo Johnnie & Joe.

The seasoned folks might remember the 1957 hit “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea.”

A little trivia, for those more versed in 80s movies than 50s doo wop: In the movie La Bamba, when Richie Valens’ brother is working on the car, “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea” is the song that’s playing on the radio when the station interrupts to report the infamous plane crash.

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