Tuscaloosa Police Look For Answers in Shooting
Tuscaloosa Police Look for Answers in Shooting
Tuscaloosa’s police chief says yesterday’s shooting in a downtown bar may have involved a dispute between rival motorcycle gangs. Chief Steve Anderson says the suspect, 44-year old Nathan Van Wilkins (pictured above), turned himself in yesterday afternoon. At least 17 people were hurt in the incident, many wounded by bullets that ricocheted through the bar or by glass shards and brick chunks that fell around the nightclub. Van Wilkin has been linked to other incidents. Authorities say he also allegedly shot someone at a private home about 45 minutes before the bar shooting and is suspected of setting fire to equipment and property owned by his former employer, an oil and gas company. There are signs Wilkins’ life was unraveling. He divorced his wife of 16 years in 2005, and last year a credit union tried to garnish he wages but couldn’t because he’d declared bankruptcy. For more on the shooting, click here.
In other news:
More fireworks in the Birmingham Board of Education. At last night’s meeting, board members defied explicit state orders and voted to fire superintendent Craig Witherspoon. Board member Tyrone Belcher voted in favor of firing Witherspoon. He wondered why the state board of education is meddling in Birmingham City Schools and not in other districts that have recently fired their superintendents.
After the vote, the man who leads the state intervention team stood up to object, but the board president told him he was out of order and couldn’t speak. The president then called on security guards to intervene. WBHM’s Dan Carsen caught up with Deputy State Superintendent Craig Pouncey after the meeting.
State Schools Superintendent Tommy Bice immediately rescinded the Birmingham board’s vote to fire Witherspoon, but many school district employees say they’re very confused about who they actually report to. For a blow-by-blow of last night’s meeting, as well as background on how the situation developed, see Dan Carsen’s full-length story.
July 18, 2012
Q&A: Bobby Carter on leading Tiny Desk, his time at Jackson State, early career advice
Carter, a Jackson State alumnus, took over as the new series host and producer for NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” series in April.
Alabama to begin working with a consulting company that’s under criminal investigation
McKinsey & Company, an international consulting business, will help the state of Alabama develop a new strategic economic growth plan. The company is undertaking that project, while also dealing with a probe into whether it engaged in a criminal conspiracy.
‘Stupidity of politics’: Medicaid expansion effort dies in Mississippi
Mississippi lawmakers couldn’t come together to pass a bill that could have expanded Medicaid for thousands of residents.
This spiky-stemmed invasive grass is taking over Alabama
Classified as one of the worst weeds in the world, cogongrass aggressively crowds out native species and costs Alabama landowners tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Gambling bill in doubt with three days left in the legislative session
Alabama lawmakers are coming down to the finish line for this year’s legislative session. Many bills await passage, but perhaps the biggest one up in the air is a lottery and gambling bill.
Pro-Palestinian demonstration draws counter-protest at University of Alabama
Students gathered demanding the school call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire and to push the school to sever ties with defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
