Councilman’s plea deal

A Huntsville councilman is banned from Walmart, reports AL.com’s Paul Gattis.

Councilman Devyn Keith reached a plea deal just before his trial was set to begin on Tuesday.

Keith was facing four counts of misdemeanor shoplifting. In the agreement he pled guilty to two counts and was given a suspended jail sentence and two years probation.

Plus the aforementioned Walmart ban.

Even though he had two of the charges dropped, he’s ordered to pay $464.31 restitution, which reflects the amounts from all four cases.

Despite the guilty pleas, Keith released a statement in which he referred to the thefts as negligence and claimed he never intended to fail to scan all those items.

All clear at A&M

Huntsville police said that a shooting at Alabama A&M Tuesday afternoon turned out to be an isolated incident between the two people who were injured, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.

A campus alert had warned of an “armed person on campus” and told those at the university to “go to nearest room and lock door,” but it was shortly followed by an all-clear. Police said it was never an active-shooter situation. One person was taken to Huntsville Hospital and the other detained at the scene.

The incident occurred at the Ernest L. Knight Complex, a five-story residence hall that houses around 800 undergrads.

Hot tickets

The University of Alabama football team might not be ranked atop in the preseason polls, but when it comes to ticket demand, the Crimson Tide are No. 1 in the land, reports AL.com’s Mark Heim.

It’s the third time the Tide has been the most in-demand team based on StubHub ticket sales. Last season Ohio State was the hottest ticket (note that the Buckeyes were at home against both Michigan and Notre Dame in 2022). This season, Alabama is back to No. 1, outselling No. 2 Michigan by 24 percent.

The most-demanded Alabama home game is the Sept. 9 matchup with Texas, followed by the Tennessee game on Oct. 21 and the Ole Miss game on Sept. 23.

Auburn is seventh on the StubHub list. The Tigers’ most demanded tickets are for home games against Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss.

Hot weather

Today could turn out to be the hottest of the year in Alabama — with some all-time record highs potentially in jeopardy, reports AL.com weather reporter Leigh Morgan.

Forecasted highs in many places are around 100 degrees, with heat indexes some 10 degrees higher.

Mobile has already seen record highs this week. Forecasters are expecting a high of around 101 today and have noted temperatures could register a little higher.

Let’s hope Mobile doesn’t reach its all-time high, however. Back in late August 2000, temperatures in the Port City soared to 105 degrees.

Quoting

“If you’re interested in the old Montgomery, that old Montgomery ain’t coming back. That old Montgomery is gone, never to be seen again.”

— Steven Reed, Montgomery’s first Black mayor and the son of longtime Alabama Democratic Conference leader Joe Reed, after winning re-election Tuesday night.

By the Numbers

The number of 96-gallon garbage bins the City of Birmingham is holding for customers  (out of 100,000 expected to be delivered by now) as the city awaits garbage trucks capable of picking them up.

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