A patient being treated for Ebola-like symptoms at UAB Hospital has tested negative for the disease.
Jefferson County Medical Director Edward Khan says the patient recently visited a country with active Ebola cases. The patient began developing symptoms and notified authorities, and was admitted to UAB Hospital last night. Authorities have not released the patient’s identity or the country visited.
Two of the patient’s family members had been quarantined in their home in southwest Birmingham. Six Birmingham Fire and Rescue emergency responders were also quarantined after coming into contact with the patient. All eight have now been released.
The patient did test positive for malaria.
The U.S. Senate is looking at a bill that could have some serious implications in regards to the handling of coal ash.
The legislation would largely bypass a federal rule issued last year by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Lisa Evans is Senior Administrative Counsel for Earth Justice. She says Alabama has a good reason to keep an eye on the legislation.
“Alabama is 14th in the country in coal ash generation. The problem in Alabama is that you have many dangerous coal ash impoundments and these are earthen structures that contain millions of tons of toxic sludge.”
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a similar bill. President Obama has threatened to veto either bill if it is brought to his desk.
The Tuscaloosa County Parks and Recreation Authority will hold a ceremony this morning to mark the official opening of the new space net playground in Snow Hinton Park.
Becky Booker is PARA’s Public Relations and Marketing Manager. She says the space net provided exactly what they wanted.
“We wanted to do something impressive, something exciting. We researched a while trying to figure out what we wanted to do. Our director saw this type structure and said that would be something impressive to bring to Tuscaloosa. So it’s kind of a landmark feature in a park that is a gateway to our city.”
Booker says Tuscaloosa’s space net and slide combination is the tallest in the country.
Two former aides to the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will participate in a conference in Montgomery recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
The Rev. C.T. Vivian and the Rev. Bernard Lafayette are among those scheduled to appear later today at an event sponsored by Alabama State University.
Vivian worked in the voting rights campaign in Selma in the mid-1960s and was a senior aide to King.
Lafayette was also in Selma in the mid-60s as director of the voting rights project for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was with Dr. King the day the civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.
The two-day conference in Montgomery commemorates the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.