Good morning, folks. Today is Juneteenth. Because of the holiday we’ll be brief, but we’ll be back up to full speed the rest of the week. There still are plenty of links below covering news and life in Alabama.

Rainy days in June

It’s been a stormy few days in the Deep South.

Of course, last night we had strong storms roll through parts of the state. But even before that, we already had five confirmed tornadoes touch down over the past week in Alabama, reports weather correspondent Leigh Morgan.

The most recent two came during Saturday’s round of weather in South Alabama. Both were EF-0s, one near Irvington in Mobile County, the other in Baldwin County just north of Interstate 10.

Last week there were two EF-1 twisters that touched down in southeastern Alabama, and then on Friday a rare anticyclonic EF-1 in Mobile County, according to the storm survey. That means it rotated clockwise, the opposite from a typical cyclone in the northern hemisphere.

The Storm Prediction Center believes that severe storms are still in play for southern Alabama today and Tuesday.

Seen a really big cat?

We’ve had more reports of black panthers in North Alabama recently, reports AL.com’s Lee Roop.

For years people in Alabama have claimed to see big black cats.The most likely animals to be described as “black panthers” are melanistic leopards, which are in Asia and Africa, and jaguars, which you find in Central and South America.

In Alabama we have the bobcat, which seems unlikely to be mistaken for a panther. In the U.S., and native to Alabama, is the mountain lion, which depending on location is also known as the cougar, puma or Florida Panther. But the puma/cougar/mountain lion, or whatever you like to call it, isn’t black.

Still, two women in Huntsville, on different mountains, have said they saw what they would describe as a black panther. One was June 7 on Green Mountain in south Huntsville, the other a few days later on Chapman Mountain in northeast Huntsville.

Retired wildlife biologist Mitchell Marks said a possible explanation could be people releasing one or more from captivity, and he made a point that’s hard to argue with:

”Most people aren’t prepared to take care of a cat that weighs over 100 pounds,” he said.

Putting the ‘West’ in ‘West Alabama’

Don’t say we don’t rodeo in the heart of Dixie.

The University of West Alabama didn’t just show up at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming. It also came away with a pair of first-place buckles and a team championship, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.

UWA won the women’s national championship, putting up more points than western schools such as Montana State, Wyoming, Southwest Oklahoma State and Texas A&M did for places second through fifth. Taycie Matthews led the way with an individual title in barrel racing, and Raven Clagg finished fourth in barrels.

Over on the men’s side, UWA finished 31st as J.T. Ellison won the title in steer wrestling.

For Alabama sports fans who don’t follow rodeo, that’s steer wrestling — not rasslin’. They’d have trouble making the steer squirm into a singlet.

Matthews and Ellison’s individual championships give UWA three in program history. Back in 2013, Zach Wilson won the title in tie-down roping.

More Alabama news

Born on this date

• 1916: Pat Buttram of Addison and Birmingham, actor who played Mr. Haney on Green Acres.
• 1921: Howell Heflin, Georgia-born politician who represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate.

On the calendar

Today is Juneteenth. It’s the third year it has been observed on the federal and state levels. While Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has authorized it as a state holiday all three years, the state legislature has yet to pass a bill making it a permanent state holiday.

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