Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce

It looks like November is turning into the month for medieval festivals. Last week, we told you about the very first event of this type to take place in Scottsboro. Now, it’s the turn of the Gulf coast with the Mobile Renaissance Faire and Pirate Festival starting this Saturday in Robertsdale.

Rafael may be gone, but forecasters are now watching a new disturbance in the Caribbean. That new system could become a tropical storm by mid November. Rafael was no threat to Alabama’s Gulf coast. But, the National Weather Service says that past storm is a reminder that a tropical system doesn’t have to hit Alabama directly to have an impact.

This story is about first impressions, dispelling stereotypes, and a smidge about politics. That is to say, how one overseas traveler views Alabama and the US. Last month, Croatian writer and radio producer Tomica Šćavina traveled more than five thousand miles to settle into the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts’ brief residency program

Along with long lines at precincts on this Election Day, voters in Mobile County need to be on alert for West Nile Virus. The local Health Department is asking residents to take extra precautions against mosquitoes. For the second time in a week, a sentinel chicken in the county tested positive for West Nile Virus.

A law that went into effect this month now requires visitors from outside the state to have a boating license before getting behind the wheel of a vessel.

The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, including Mobile, has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) is expanding wildlife conservation efforts by buying 79 acres of the Fort Morgan peninsula. ADCNR said the price of this underdeveloped beach front property was $16 million, purchased with funds from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, and the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act.

Hurricane Francine struck the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening as a dangerous Category 2 storm that rapidly knocked out electricity to more than 100,000 customers and threatened widespread flooding as it sent potentially deadly storm surge rushing inland along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast. The hurricane center said parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and the Florida Panhandle were at risk of considerable flash and urban flooding in coming days.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Austal USA, an Alabama-based shipbuilder that makes vessels for the U.S. Navy, has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay a $24 million fine to settle an accounting fraud investigation.

Alabama Emergency Managers are warning beach goers that the current tropical storm Debby could generate stronger rip tides along the Gulf coast as it threatens Florida’s “big bend” area. The system is expected to grow into hurricane strength before making landfall in the Sunshine State.