Almost two dozen non-profit groups in Alabama’s Black Belt are expected to collect grants totaling sixty thousand dollars. APR’s Pat Duggins has more on where the money is meant to go…
The Black Belt Community Foundation is providing the grants through its Black Belt Arts Initiative. Sixty thousand dollars will go to local museums, community theaters, and festivals among other recipients. The group believes up to fifteen thousand residents of Alabama’s Black Belt will be positively impacted by the extra funding. This is the ninth annual round of grants from the foundation. Since its foundation, the group has invested over three million dollars to help regional non-profits and over a million dollars for arts groups in the twelve county Black Belt region. The arts grants are administered through a collaboration with the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
The Alabama Department of Public Health wants pet owners to be aware of the threat posed by rabies. The agency wraps up its annual Rabies Awareness Week today. The week-long campaign focuses on rabies prevention tactics and vaccination requirements. Dee Jones is the state public health veterinarian. He reminds residents that Alabama law requires all dogs, cats, and ferrets kept as pets to be vaccinated.
“The biggest concern about a pet not being vaccinated is that the animal can be exposed to rabies. That animal could not only become infected but shed the virus to its owner or other caretakers.”
Jones says that while animals and people are at risk, rabies is one hundred percent preventable. He urges anyone who is bitten or scratched by an unknown or wild animal to seek immediate medical attention.
The May jobless rate released today jumped three-tenths of a percentage point from 5.8 percent in April. State unemployment hasn't been as high since it was 6.1 percent in December.
But Governor Robert Bentley's administration says the news isn't bad because more people entered the workforce as summer approached.