Jun. 09, 2025

Happy Monday.

The answers to Friday's quiz are near the bottom of the report.

Thanks for reading,

Ike

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The United States Supreme Court may decide whether Alabama can execute convicted killer Joseph Clifton Smith after lower courts determined that Smith could be considered intellectually disabled, reports The Associated Press.

Smith's IQ has been tested, resulting in scores just a whisper above the threshold of 70. Which means that if he scored just a little worse on the test he'd clearly be disabled. The state has argued that he's been tested several times and stayed above 70.

Four years ago, Senior U.S. District Judge Callie Granade wrote: “As the Court stated previously, this is a close case, but the evidence indicates that Smith’s intelligence and adaptive functioning has been deficient throughout his life. Smith's intelligence falls at the low end of the Borderline range of intelligence and at worst at the high end of the required significantly subaverage intellectual functioning.”

Two years ago, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.

Then on Friday, a technological glitch at the Supreme Court released an order early that revealed the court will hear the case.

Oops.

Justices will likely hear arguments in the case this fall.

Smith was convicted in the 1997 murder of Durk Van Dam. Smith confessed, although he gave conflicting versions of the killing. According to a forensic pathologist, Van Dam died from after receiving 35 blunt-force injuries to his body.

The Demopolis Times in Marengo County has stopped publishing, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

In 1905, the Demopolis Express and Demopolis Dispatch newspapers were bought, combined and named the Demopolis Times. It would publish decades as a daily newspaper and in recent years as a weekly, on Wednesdays.

Earlier this year Boone Newspapers sold the Times -- along with the Andalusia Star-News, The Atmore Advance and the Brewton Standard -- to Jeff and Michelle Schumacher.

Said Jeff Schumacher: “It just isn’t feasible to continue with the limited support we’ve received from the community.”

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, the Demopolis Times had to weather a fire in July 1941 that destroyed its newspaper offices and printing plant.

According to the report, the fire was started after gasoline was used to clean the type machine. The paper had to print in Selma.

If you receive a text from the Alabama Department of Vehicles or the "Alabama DMV," it's a scam, reports AL.com's Mark Heim.

So how do you know for sure it's not from the actual Alabama DMV? Because there is no Alabama DMV. In Alabama, we get our driver licenses from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's Driver License Division, and we register our vehicle with the Revenue Department.

ALEA is warning folks about a phishing scam demanding payment for traffic tickets that don't exist. It recently made its way to Alabama.

Remember, if you get a text or an email that tells you that you'd better hurry up and pay them quickly, then you probably need to slow down and not click on a thing.

A storm on Friday brought down the national championship wall outside Rama Jama's in Tuscaloosa. The wall had been up since 1996. (Photo by Matt Stahl/AL.com)

$14.6 million

That's the budget for an extensive upgrade to UAB’s Bartow Arena, where the Blazers play basketball and volleyball.

If you'd like to come on the podcast sometime and take the quiz live, reply to this email, put "quiz" in the subject line and let me know you're interested. We'll try to get you scheduled to record on a future Thursday.

Overall results

Five out of five: 11.3%

Four out of five: 20.0%

Three out of five: 26.9%

Two out of five: 21.8%

One out of five: 14.0%

None out of five: 6.0%

Which Alabama city is ranked 20th in the nation, according to the postal service, for dog bites reported by mail carriers?

Birmingham (CORRECT) 59.4%

Mobile 23.0%

Montgomery 17.6%

Dogtown 0.0%

A court settlement with the state has already tweaked the application of a brand-new law by allowing:

More kinds of vape products to be sold in convenient stores. (CORRECT) 61.5%

Police immunity to be questioned in more situations. 20.9%

Shark alerts to be broadcast in Gulf Coast beach clubs. 14.9%

Teachers to take twice the parental leave passed by the Legislature. 2.7%

Former Thompson High baseball player Drew Avans recently hit safely in his first major-league at-bat. What else is noteworthy about Avans for a rookie?

He's already 28 years old. (CORRECT) 55.2%

He doubles as an ambidextrous pitcher. 24.8%

He played Division I college basketball. 14.0%

His family invented Alabama white sauce. 6.0%

Which of these politicians is NOT a candidate for U.S. Senate?

Wes Allen (CORRECT) 41.0%

Kyle Sweetser 25.4%

Jared Hudson 20.1%

Steve Marshall 13.5%

This Old West personality, who was born 175 years ago this week, was born in Alabama.

Pat Garrett (CORRECT) 58.1%

Doc Holiday 27.2%

Annie Oakley 10.2%

Brushy Bill Roberts 4.5%

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