Aug 06, 2024

Thanks for coming back. We're going to lead with a fight against an invasive species from Brazil that can double in size every two to four days.

Today's report follows.

Ike Morgan

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The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is aggressively fighting an aggressive invasive species that showed up in the Washington County Public Fishing Lake.

AL.com's Mike Cason reports that the state has closed the lake and will draw it down through the winter to dry out the perimeter while using an herbicide to kill off giant salvinia, a free-floating fern that's native to Brazil.

Wildlife officials said the giant salvinia can double in size every two to four days and that it forms thick mats on the water surface to block out sunlight and reduce water oxygen levels.

The state will keep the lake closed until the wicked weed is under control.

The Biden Administration said it has distributed money to 10,907 minority farmers who faced discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reports AL.com's Hannah Denham and The Associated Press.

They're part of a nationwide payout of more than $2 billion.

According to the USDA, payouts ranging from $10,000 to $500,000 went to thousands of current Alabama minority farmers and thousands more who reported that they planned to have a farm or ranch but didn't receive a USDA loan.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the money “is not compensation for anyone’s loss or the pain endured, but it is an acknowledgment by the department.”

Discrimination cited by the USDA includes refusing to process loans from Black farmers, approving smaller loans for Black farmers than white farmers, and foreclosing on loans quicker for Black farmers.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. is selling its majority ownership interest in Brookwood Baptist Health to Orlando Health for $910 million, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

Brookwood Baptist Health includes five hospitals in the Birmingham area along with affiliated physician practices. The hospitals are Brookwood Baptist Medical Center, Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Walker Baptist Medical Center, Shelby Baptist Medical Center and Citizens Baptist Medical Center. The system involves 1,500 affiliated physicians and more than 7,300 employees.

Orlando Health is a private, not-for-profit organization. The faith-based Baptist Health System is still part of the partnership. The system will be called Baptist Health.

Jana McGinnis has stepped down after 31 season as Jacksonville State's softball coach, reports AL.com's Creg Stephenson.

McGinnis is from Cherokee County and was an all-conference guard on the Gamecocks' women's basketball teams of the early 1990s. She was Jana Bright at the time, and she and her twin sister, Dana, both had their jerseys retired by Jacksonville State.

She said she's leaving her coaching job to spend more time with her family. She and Russ McGinnis have two daughters.

Her tenure as softball coach earned her 1,038 victories, 18 conference championships, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and seven conference-coach-of-the-year awards.

The softball facility at JSU is named Jana McGinnis Field.

“All users of TikTok must understand that every click, location, and recording is used as intelligence that we have ample reason to believe is available to the Chinese Communist Party.”

Twenty one state attorneys general, including Alabama's Steve Marshall, in a legal brief urging a U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold the law that would force TikTok's Chinese company to sell the app or face a ban in the United States.

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