WVAS Local

   Alberto is now a subtropical depression as it plows through Alabama today. For several hours this morning the storm spilled copious amounts of rainfall on the state. Flash flooding occurred in several counties earlier this morning.  A flash flood watch does remain in effect until this evening. The saturating rainfall coupled with strong winds has resulted in trees toppling over – and that means downed power lines.  Alabama Power Company says at one point today almost 12-thousand residents were without electricity in Central Alabama.

   No relief in sight from recent heavy rains and in fact, a tropical system in the western Caribbean bears watching in the coming days. Flash flooding has been a problem in several southeastern states this week including Lee County, Alabama. Emergency management officials there say at least two bridges have collapsed and several roads were barricaded because of the high water. 

   An agreement between the Alabama Education Association and the State Department of Education means that Chisolm Elementary in Montgomery is going to be open for at least the next five years. Because of that change in the intervention plan for Montgomery County Public Schools, the rezoning informational meetings that were going to begin tomorrow night will be rescheduled. The community meetings to provide information on the new zones are now scheduled for May 31st at Park Crossing High School, June 4 at Carver High School and June 7 at Lee High School.

   The city of Montgomery is set to honor a significant figure in the civil rights movement this afternoon. Mayor Todd Strange and other community leaders are holding an event to recognize 80 year old Bruce Carver Boynton of Selma. Boynton, a black man, was arrested in 1958 for sitting in the whites-only section of a bus station restaurant. His conviction and appeal led to the Supreme Court case that ended racially segregated travel in the U-S and inspired the Freedom Rides movement.

   Montgomery City Councilman David Burkette won yesterday’s special general election in a landslide vote over Republican DJ Johnson for the District 26 state senate seat. The final tally was reportedly around 38-hundred votes for Burkette and just under 450 for Johnson. Burkette has very little time to celebrate as he must run for re-election in the June 5th primary.

   Montgomery police have released more information regarding a fatal shooting from last night. In a statement, police say officers were flagged down by a motorist near the intersection of Chisholm Street and Lower Wetumpka Road around 7:30pm. The driver told police he was attempting to take a man with a gunshot wound to the hospital. Fire medics were called to the location and soon determined that the adult male had died from the injury. Investigators say the victim has been identified as 28 year old Jamichael Stokes of Montgomery.

   There is an election tomorrow for the Alabama District 26 Senate seat. Montgomery City Councilman David Burkette won the Democratic nomination earlier this year while candidate Darrell “DJ” Johnson is representing the Republican party in the race. The special election is being held to fill the seat left vacant when former Senator Quinton Ross left the position to take over as President of Alabama State University.

 Tuition is going up for Alabama's community and technical colleges. The Alabama Community College System on Wednesday approved a $10-a-credit-hour increase set to go into effect this fall. System officials say the increase brings the average tuition and fees at community colleges to $153 an hour and will generate about $14 million in additional tuition revenue each year. Half of the additional funding will be divided among the 25 community and technical colleges and half will be used for statewide college support.

   A Montgomery teacher brought home the award for Alabama Teacher of the Year last night. The State Department of Education bestowed the title to Zestlan Simmons, an 11th grade English instructor at Booker T. Washington Magnet High School.

She will spend the next year as an ambassador for education and for teaching. Simmons will conduct workshops to various groups. By virtue of her win, she becomes a candidate for National Teacher of the Year. Simmons had also already landed the designation of AP English teacher of the year by the National Math and Science initiative.

   The Alabama Fraternal Order of Police took time to honor law enforcement officers Friday who have died while on the job. A ceremony was held on the south lawn of the State Capitol that included remarks from Governor Kay Ivey and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. One officer lost his life last year in the line of duty. That was Lowndes County Sheriff’s Deputy Levi Pettway. Pettway worked as a resource officer in a Lowndes County School. He was killed in a single-vehicle accident in April of 2017.