Jul 19, 2024

Happy Getaway Day, everybody. Don't forget the review quiz at the link below. And environmental reporter Dennis Pillion is our guest on the podcast today.

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Ike Morgan

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Folks have dealt with oil spills, sewage overflows and gas leaks. In Bessemer recently, grease and animal fat ended up in a waterway, reports AL.com's Dennis Pillion.

"Grease and animal fat" is my favorite combo meal at the drive-thru, by the way.

But this was a spill at a BHT Resources rendering plant. That's where they use grease and fat to make animal feed, recycled cooking oil and other things. You might've seen their black grease containers behind restaurants.

Alabama Department of Environmental Management External Affairs Chief Lynn Battle said contractors on BHT's dime have been able to remove most of the stuff from Valley Creek, which flows into the Black Warrior River. Battle also said they haven't seen negative effects on wildlife.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke said it looks like the material poured out of wastewater ponds that are located next to the creek.

The State of Alabama executed Keith Edmund Gavin Thursday evening after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his handwritten appeal over filing fees, reports AL.com's Kent Faulk and Ivana Hrynkiw.

Gavin was executed by lethal injection.

He was convicted of capital murder in the Cherokee County shooting death of William Clayton Jr. in 1998. Clayton was at an ATM to withdraw money to take his wife out to dinner when Gavin shot him dead. At the time, Gavin was out on parole for a murder in Illinois. Gavin also shot at a law-enforcement officer while he was trying to get away.

A committee for the University of Alabama System is meeting today to consider what some sources are saying would be a name for the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, reports AL.com's Nick Kelly.

The Honorary Degrees and Recognition Committee listed in its agenda “the consideration of resolution approving a naming at Bryant-Denny Stadium at UA.”

Those sources are saying it'll be Nick Saban Field, according to Kelly. Check al.com/alabamafootball today to see whether that went through and whether the Tide will open its season Aug. 31 against Western Kentucky on Nick Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Been keeping up with the news? The weekly quiz is ready for you.

Environmental reporter Dennis Pillion joins us as a guest to talk about the work he's done with al.com and to take the review quiz.

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