Mar. 24, 2025

Welcome back. Answers to Friday's quiz are near the bottom of this report.

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Ike

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Snigdha Pati is the 2025 Alabama Spelling Bee champion, reports AL.com's Savannah Tryens-Fernandes.

The bee has participants spanning the fourth through the eight grades. Snigdha is a fourth-grader at Deer Valley Elementary School in Jefferson County.

This year's state bee, sponsored by the Alabama Kiwanis Foundation, was held Saturday at UAB. It took five rounds for Snigdha to win by spelling the word "jurisprudence."

Next up: The 100th Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 27 in Washington, D.C.

Alabama State Public Health veterinarian Dr. Dee W. Jones has issued a rabies warning, reports AL.com's Greg Garrison.

The warning is in response to the case of a Lowndes County fox attacking a hunter. The fox bit the hunter's shoes. It was captured, sent for testing and tested positive. So the hunter has started receiving treatments.

Whether or not Lowndes County and the Burkville area are anywhere near your location, Dr. Jones said it's a good reminder that as the weather warms up this spring, animals are moving around more and possibly spreading more cases of rabies and so folks ought to make sure their pets' vaccinations are up to date and that they report any oddly acting wildlife.

Remember that, by law, dogs, cats and ferrets that are at least 12 weeks old need to stay current with rabies vaccinations.

A former mayor of Talladega has passed away a decade after he was beaten with a tire thumper just before his last election loss, reports AL.com's Savannah Tryens-Fernandes.

Larry Barton had wide-ranging interests and two colorful stints in office.

Besides being a mayor, he was vice president of a local bank, a barber, a radio host, a student of seven universities and a singer in a gospel quartet.

His first three terms in office ended in a 1995 conviction for stealing from the city. After three years behind bars, he started trying to win his office back and got there in 2011.

A couple weeks before the next election, Barton, then 74, was beaten by his radio show co-host, who claimed Barton was messing around with his wife. That story made its way into the national news and beyond. Barton denied that accusation but lost the election.

Larry Barton was 85 years old.

Just before 11 a.m. Friday, a car crashed through the wall of the Florence Cracker Barrel, according to a report from WAFF.

Nobody was reported as injured in the crash, but you have to think somebody left there wearing hashbrown casserole.

Florence police said someone was parking their car, the accelerator became stuck, and they went right through the wall and into a gift shop. Two diners said it sounded like a bomb going off.

Frog Eye

For our place-name origin this week we're going to share one reported by AL.com's Kelly Kazek a few years ago.

The story we're going with comes from local historian Michele Fortson Waters. Frog Eye is an unincorporated community in Tallapoosa County between Wadley and Daviston.

Waters said the name of the area comes from a ceramic frog that sat in the window of a saloon years ago. The saloon sold legal and illegal liquor, and its owner used it to send a message to those customers who bought the unapproved stuff. If the frog's eyes were both open, it was business as usual. But if one of the frog's eyes was closed, it meant the state law (or, I suppose, federal agents, if ever the occasion arose) were hanging around.

Overall results:

5 out of 5: 31.0%

4 out of 5: 10.8%

3 out of 5: 18.2%

2 out of 5: 6.9%

1 out of 5: 2.8%

0 out of 5: 0.3%

In the past week this state joined Alabama as the only two states to use the nitrogen-gas execution method.

Louisiana (CORRECT) 52.0%

Oklahoma 17.9%

Mississippi 17.2%

Arkansas 12.9%

The only remaining Morrison's cafeteria is located in ...

Mobile (CORRECT) 79.3%

Montgomery 10.3%

Dothan 8.5%

Choccolocco 1.9%

An Odenville native recently won this event.

The Iditarod (CORRECT) 81.2%

Pebble Beach Pro-Am 8.5%

Daytona 500 6.9%

An X/Twitter debate with "Catturd" 3.4%

A bill was signed into law last week that ...

bans "Glock switches." (CORRECT) 92.2%

gives the governor more control over the Board of Education. 6.6%

approves a toll contract for I-65 in Shelby County. 0.6%

requires migrants on work visas to pass monthly evaluations. 0.6%

This college's team played against (and lost to) Auburn in the first round of the men's NCAA Tournament.

Alabama State (CORRECT) 84.6%

Alabama 6.9%

South Alabama 4.7%

Troy 3.8%

In 1964, Drive-By Truckers singer/songwriter/guitarist Patterson Hood of Muscle Shoals.

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