Several School Systems Closing Due to Flu Outbreak
The flu outbreak is forcing several school systems in the northern part of the state to close for a few days. This comes as high absences are reported in schools across the state and health officers investigate an estimated 87 deaths, potentially related to the flu.
The following school systems have confirmed closings for the following dates:
- Albertville City Schools – Feb. 8th-9th
- Boaz City Schools – Feb. 8th-9th
- Cullman County Schools – Feb. 8th-9th
- Guntersville City Schools – Feb. 8th-9th
- Marshall County Schools – Feb. 8th-13
Students in Cullman County won’t be in school the rest of this week. About a thousand students were out with the flu Wednesday. Superintendent Shane Barnett says teachers and support staff are out too. The school system, just north of Birmingham, has 9,500 students. Barnett says he’s never had to shut the system down because of illness, but this time he had to do something.
“You know we have a lot of parents who are wore out from their kids having the flu and struggling with that. And some of them are getting better and coming back with weakened immune systems and they’re getting the flu again,” he says, “so I just feel like we’ve got to try something.”
The empty schools will be scrubbed down with disinfectants. Barnett says he’ll reassess the situation on Monday.
Nerd! How the word popularized by Dr. Seuss went from geeky insult to mainstream
Nerd has been part of our lexicon for three-quarters of a century, its geeky meaning embodied by some of the most recognizable characters in film and TV, but its origin story is a bit murky.
Trump’s return to ‘law and order’ highlights a sore spot for Democrats: crime policy
Democrats have struggled to counter GOP efforts to frame itself as the party of "law and order." Some see it as a problem of messaging, while others think past and current policies may be to blame.
Voting officials are leaving their jobs at the highest rate in decades
Some 2 in 5 of all the local officials who administered the 2020 election left their jobs before the 2024 cycle, new research has found.
Israeli military will call up 50,000 reservists as it plans new phase of war in Gaza
An Israeli official said that the military will be operating in parts of Gaza City where the Israeli military has not yet operated and where Hamas is still active.
Walmart recalls frozen shrimp over potential radioactive contamination
The risk from the recalled shrimp is "quite low," said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University. Cesium-137 is a byproduct of nuclear reactions.
Trump expands ‘woke’ criticism from Smithsonian to other museums
"The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of "WOKE," he wrote.
