The South Alabamian News Podcast

s mentioned last week, theArace for lieutenant governor will be one of the best on the ballot next year. It will pit two very popular constitutional officeholders striving to capture another secondary constitutional office. Secretary of State Wes Allen and Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate will be the two horses in this contest. It is so close that it is difficult to say which is the favorite. One of the factors that will play out is if one of them can do a better job than the other in fundraising. Money is the mother’s milk of politics. It could separate the...

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Destiny Monteiro of McIntosh earned a Bachelor of Science degree in cybersecurity technology from the University of Maryland Global Campus in spring 2025. Monteiro was one of 6,770 students worldwide who earned degrees from UMGC in the spring 2025 term.

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THOMASVILLE — The 2026 Clarke County Distinguished Young Women program is Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Thomasville Civic Center. Tickets are each and can be purchased at the door. Since 1958, Distinguished Young Women has provided life-changing experiences for more than 782,000 women across the country and awarded more than 2 million in cash scholarships at the local, state, and national levels.

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Molly Mosley, the daughter of Andy and Allison Mosley of Jackson, completed the “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” program presented by White Smith Memorial Library. It took almost two years to read the 1,000 books and Mosley said her favorites were the books about cats. Pictured are Mosley and children’s librarian Teresa Carter Marks. For more information about the program, call Marks at the library at (251) 246-4962.

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Jackson High School quarterback Landon Duckworth, who recently committed to South Carolina, was honored recently by the Jackson Senior Center. While senior center manager Cindy Howell said it is tradition for the center to honor all of its local athletes, about 35 seniors welcomed Duckworth because “he’s like one of our own,” Howell said. Duckworth’s grandmother, Marion Campbell, is often visited at the center by her famous grandson. “We adopted Duck as one of our players,” Howell said. “We always recognize their players but he is special to us because he’s come by here so much. We just had a big...

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Jackson and Clarke County high schools are included in a national grant to build tiny houses. The grant was awarded to Rebuilding Together of South Alabama. The program’s goal is to introduce students to the skills needed to construct a home. The need for such houses has become increasingly necessary, according to Trista Stout-Walker, Rebuilding Together’s executive director. “It’s a housing design competition,” Stout-Walker said. “They are looking to build tiny houses. California and Washington state have been doing this for years because of their housing shortage. We’re working with high school students. It’s a group effort with the participating...

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A Clarke County jury deliberated 33 minutes before finding Tasha Nicole Merrick guilty of interference with custody following a three-day trial. Merrick was charged following the disappearance of then 14-year-old Leah McDonald on Mother’s Day 2023. On May 14, 2023, McDonald told her grandfather that she was going to the park to play basketball and left on her bicycle. When her grandfather went to the park to check on her 15 minutes later, she was gone, according to state’s evidence presented at trial. Her grandfather contacted the Jackson Police Department, which initiated a nationwide search involving the National Center for Missing...

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Do it while you can; do it while you feel like it. The chances of you doing something now are greater than 10 years from now. First, you may not be here 10 years from now. If there is a career change you want to make, make it as soon as possible. The sooner the better. If there is education or training you are thinking about pursuing, begin now. The longer you wait to start, the longer it will take to finish. The younger you begin a career, the better the chance you have of it being better, bigger and...

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My six-year-old triplets share a room and they just love to pile into the same bed at night. You can imagine that when a stomach bug sneaks in, it levels all three at once — and turns two working parents into round-the-clock nurses and laundry staff. Now imagine what something like the flu, RSV or COVID-19 could do to a household with young children. Yikes! Vaccines spare my family that chaos, giving us the health, time and paychecks we can’t afford to lose. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, and its 2025 message lands just as Alabama braces for another...

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Student voice, policy changes stand out at district event GROVE HILL — Clarke County School District leaders offered advice for about 350 employees at the annual teacher institute on Aug. 1 but a 17-year-old may have stolen the day. Jackson High School senior Zymiria Powell spoke to her peers about all she is looking forward to during the 2025-26 school year. Classes began at campuses in Grove Hill and Jackson on Tuesday. “I’m mostly looking forward to all of the senior events like homecoming, prom and the senior kickball game,” Powell said. “Watching my peers experience it over the years was...

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