Alabamians are remembering the April 27th, 2011 tornadoes that rampaged across the state.
Now, the National Weather Service in Alabama is using a new severe weather warning system.
Stephen Latimer is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Huntsville. He says this new system provides more details about the storms.
“If a tornado is moving close to a radar site, we can actually see tornado debris aloft due to our dual polarization radars we have now. We’re actually incorporating some more information as the basis for those warnings and the expected impacts.”
Latimer says the new system has been tested since 2012 in the Midwest. It was just expanded to the Southeast earlier this month. The National Weather Service still recommends people take cover during severe weather warnings, even with the new warning system.
Lawyers for Alabama’s Legislative Black Caucus want new district lines and are asking a federal court to get involved.
Lawyers filed the motion yesterday after the U.S. Supreme Court sent Alabama's legislative district maps back for additional review.
Black legislators are challenging the 2012 plan drawn by the newly elected GOP majority, saying that it illegally packed black voters into designated minority districts.
Caucus lawyers argue that the legislative districts display what they call "unmistakable evidence of racial sorting". They argue the map also improperly split counties and communities of interest.
The Supreme Court sent the map back to a federal court in March.
State Republicans say they believe the districts will be upheld.
Federal prosecutors say the former financial head of two Alabama nonprofit clinics has pleaded guilty of defrauding both the clinics and the government agencies that funded them.
Prosecutors say 48-year-old Terri McGuire Mollica of Birmingham pleaded guilty to wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns. Her sentencing is set for Sept. 11.
Mollica worked as chief financial officer for Birmingham Health Care and the Central Alabama Comprehensive Health Inc. and was charged with helping co-conspirators steal roughly $11 million in federal grant money and other property from the agencies.
Mollica has been ordered to forfeit over $900,000 that had been seized as proceeds of illegal activity.
Former CEO of those nonprofits, Johnathan Dunning, has pleaded not guilty to over 100 charges relating to health care fraud. His trial has been delayed and will start July 6.
Bad weather on the Gulf Coast is making the search for four missing sailors lost during Saturday’s Regatta even harder.
The U.S. Coast Guard says it had been searching 3,000 square miles of water before another round of strong storms yesterday forced them to stop. Crews plan to take up the search again as soon as the weather breaks, but exactly when that will happen is unclear. Up to four inches of rain is expected to fall by tonight, according to the National Weather Service, and forecasters are predicting strong rip currents on the Gulf as well.
A powerful storm hit the area Saturday afternoon during the 57th annual Dauphin Island Regatta, while over 100 sailboats were on the water. Two people have been confirmed dead and four are still missing. Another sailor presumed to be missing was found safe at home Monday.