It’s Monday so don’t forget the quiz below. In addition, there are various saltwater animal items for your sailor and beach life.
Next stop: the court?
In the biggest surprise since the wet July, a political party took it upon itself to make changes that could benefit its opponent in the next election, and failed to create widespread harmony.
Now that the Alabama Legislature has drafted and passed a court-ordered measure creating a new congressional district map, and Gov. Kay Ivey has signed that measure into law, the next question is whether the courts will weigh in on what Alabama’s Republican majority did.
AL.com’s Mike Cason reports that state Democrats are unhappy with the outcome.
A federal court had found that Alabama’s congressional district map could have defied the Voting Rights Act, that the state’s black population is high enough and geographically dense enough to support two heavily minority districts, and that the legislature should adjust congressional districts so that a second was majority black or something close to it.
So the Republican-dominated state House came up with a plan that would maintain a black majority in District 7 and increase District 2 from 30 percent black to 40 percent black.
This is clearly a change. But it is clearly not a black majority. And it’s clear that suddenly it’s not a mess for Democrats to take District 2.
What’s not clear is how the court will feel about it.
A bite of a shark
It didn’t take long for the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo to produce a fish.
WKRG-TV reported that on Friday, a Dauphin Island fisherman hauled in a 1,019-pound tiger shark. It was 13 feet long and struggled for about 45 minutes until it was brought to the boat. Brett Rutlege hooked him.
For more information on the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, visit al.com/life.
Manatee clock
As folks on the northern Gulf Coast know, we’re in manatee viewing season, and they’ll be around until this fall when it starts to cool off.
(They like to split before most snowbirds get here.)
But for now, researchers want help keeping an eye out for threatened species around Dauphine Island, AL.com’s Mary Helene Hall reports.
Of course, they want boaters to keep their eyes open so they don’t get run over. But they’re also asking people to report sightings by calling 1-866-493-5803, emailing manatee@disl.edu or registering on the website at manatee.disl.edu.
Take the Week in Review test
Back by popular demand. Includes articles on cities and creatures of the state. Click here to take the quiz.
By the numbers
$10,000: This is the reward Rock the South music festival is offering to help authorities investigate a reported shooting that occurred during the event.
More Alabama news
Born on this date
In 1900, Zelda Sayre of Montgomery, later Zelda Fitzgerald, socialite, wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, and author and artist.
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