Connect with us

Alabama

Alabama Gymnastics Drops Third Straight Meet, Posts Best Score Since Opener

Published

on

Alabama Gymnastics Drops Third Straight Meet, Posts Best Score Since Opener


Alabama gymnastics coach Ashley Johnston wanted to see a strong response from her team Friday night at Georgia after struggling in the previous two meets. The No. 14 Crimson Tide did improve on its overall score, but it wasn’t enough on the road against the No. 12 Bulldogs, who won 196.975-196.575.

“They continued to chip away and try to do everything in their power to come away with a win,” Johnston said after the meet. “Unfortunately it didn’t go that way, but I do feel like we learned a ton from this meet. I think this team turned up the intensity this week in training, and they’re continuing to jsut dig in. And they’re hungry to keep getting better.”

It was a close meet all night between Alabama and Georgia with the home team holding a tenth lead heading into the final rotation. As the road team, the Tide had to finish on the balance beam, and Alabama had its worst rotation of the night and third-worst of the season. No gymnasts fell, but several had big balance checks that led to sizable deductions and an overall score of 49.025 on the apparatus.

For the second week in a row, Alabama’s only routine that scored 9.9 or higher was Gabby Gladieux’s floor routine in the anchor spot. Only scoring one 9.9 is not going to win many meets in the SEC as the Crimson Tide has now dropped its third straight conference meet.

Advertisement

Alabama actually held a slight lead at the halfway point of the meet after a solid, but not great, start on the uneven bars and vault. The Tide didn’t have any major mistakes until the final rotation, but it struggled to find stuck landings throughout the meet on each rotation.

Georgia pulled ahead after the third rotation with a strong 49.425 on the balance beam. Alabama had its best rotation of the night in the third rotation as well with a 49.275 on the floor exercise, its highest score on floor since the season opener. Chloe LaCoursiere made her debut in the floor lineup and the all-around and scored a 9.85 on floor. Gladieux (9.9) led the charge with her fourth straight score of 9.9 or higher on the floor this season.

“This was a big breakthrough for Chloe,” Johnston said. “She has been wanting to jump into all-around for a year-and-a-half now, and it was really about helping her develop the confidence and self belief to be prepared to be ready for those moments.”

Overall, the 196.575 was Alabama’s highest score since the 197.025 in the season opener, but Johnston will still want more out of her team. The Crimson Tide hasn’t come anywhere close to yet reaching its ceiling or potential.

With Oklahoma joining the SEC this season, one of the conference’s nine gymnastics teams will get left out of the SEC championship meet in Birmingham. It will not be determined by league standings, but by National Qualifying Score (NQS.) Right now, Alabama is last either way and will need to start scoring higher in future meets if it wants to avoid being in the danger zone of missing out on the conference championship meet.

Advertisement

“Overall, I think we accomplished a lot tonight,” Johnston said. “To lose by just a couple tenths where we gave quite a few away, especially right there at the end, I think that gives them a chip on their shoulder and something to really work towards as we go into another tough matchup agianst LSU this week.”

See also: Alabama Basketball Guard Listed as Questionable for Georgia Game

Recruiting Rundown: Alabama Locks in Junior Day Visitors

Walsh: Should Alabama Have a Crimson Tide Hall of Fame, and Who’s Worthy of First Class?



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Alabama

Missing Alabama realtor Ronald Dumas was abducted, Huntsville police say: 5 suspects sought

Published

on

Missing Alabama realtor Ronald Dumas was abducted, Huntsville police say: 5 suspects sought


The case of missing 37-year-old Huntsville realtor Ronald Leslie Dumas Jr. has escalated from a missing person case to an active abduction investigation, according to the Huntsville Police Department (HPD).

“HPD obtained critical new evidence indicating that [Dumas] was abducted on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024,” the release reads.

“This development marks a significant shift in the investigation, which has now escalated from a missing person case to an active abduction investigation.”

Dumas was last seen on surveillance footage entering a liquor store with two women on Dec. 15, according to the release.

Advertisement

It continues that he left the store with them, appearing unharmed.

Through the investigation, HPD says they received information that led to the identification of the women and traced them to their apartment. Further investigation confirmed their connection to Dumas and revealed additional evidence of his abduction.

As the case progressed, the police determined multiple individuals were involved in the incident

“Since uncovering these findings, HPD investigators have worked diligently to establish probable cause and hold those responsible accountable,” the release says.

As a result, arrest warrants have been issued for the following individuals:

Advertisement
  • Quintarius Shikelion White, 32, of Memphis is wanted for first degree kidnapping.
  • Toure Laron McLaurin, 33, of Memphis is wanted for first degree kidnapping.
  • Sabrina Rochelle Chambers, 27, of Huntsville is wanted for first degree kidnapping.
  • Kierra Symone Clark, 27, of Memphis is wanted for conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
  • Carissa Cash, 33, of Memphis is wanted for first degree receiving stolen property.

“HPD is working alongside the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force to apprehend these individuals and urges anyone who recognizes or encounters them to report their whereabouts immediately to local law enforcement,” the release says.

“With assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a credible lead identifying a 450-acre area south of Memphis, TN, and extending into northern Mississippi, as a potential location for Dumas.”

“A coordinated search effort was conducted on Thursday, Feb. 6, by 20 investigators, including crime scene personnel and drone operators, from HPD, the Memphis Police Department, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office and Southeastern Search Dogs to gather evidence and potentially locate Dumas,” the release continues.

This remains an active investigation and additional charges may follow as more information emerges, according to the police.

“HPD remains committed to pursuing all leads and ensuring justice for Dumas and his family,” the release reads.

Anyone with information on Dumas’ whereabouts has been asked to contact Investigator Stephen Gibbs at 256-427-5448.

Advertisement

To provide an anonymous tip, call 256-532-7463 or submit information to Huntsville Area Crimestoppers at 53-CRIME.



Source link

Continue Reading

Alabama

Alabama puts man to death in the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas

Published

on

Alabama puts man to death in the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas


Michigan resident Beverly Leaf stands in solidarity with Carol Frazier, mother of Demetrius Frazier, as she pleads publicly on Jan. 28 in Lansing, Mich., to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to bring home her son Demetrius, a Detroit man convicted of rape and a separate murder of a 14-year-old in the early 1990s, who was serving a life sentence when he was charged with another murder in Alabama and is scheduled to be executed there Feb. 6.

Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal


hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal

ATMORE, Ala. — A man convicted of murdering a woman after breaking into her apartment as she slept was put to death Thursday evening in Alabama in the nation’s fourth execution using nitrogen gas.

Advertisement

Demetrius Frazier, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m. at a south Alabama prison for his murder conviction in the 1991 rape and killing of Pauline Brown, 41. It was the first execution in Alabama this year and the third in the U.S. in 2025, following a lethal injection Wednesday in Texas and another last Friday in South Carolina.

“First of all, I want to apologize to the family and friends of Pauline Brown. What happened to Pauline Brown should have never happened,” Frazier said in his final words. He finished by saying, “I love everybody on death row. Detroit Strong.”

Frazier in his final words also criticized Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for what he called her failure to step in following appeals for him to be returned to serve out a previous life sentence in her state.

Recently, Frazier’s mother and death penalty opponents had pleaded to Whitmer to take Frazier back to his home state of Michigan to complete his life sentence for the murder of a teenage girl before he was turned over years ago to Alabama authorities. Michigan does not have the death penalty. Police had said Frazier confessed to killing Brown in 1992 while in custody in Michigan.

Whitmer told The Detroit News before the execution that her predecessor, Rick Snyder, “unfortunately” agreed to send Frazier to Alabama and it was in the hands of officials there.

Advertisement

“It’s a really tough situation,” she told the media outlet. “I understand the pleas and concerns. Michigan is not a death penalty state.”

Prosecutors said that on Nov. 27, 1991, Frazier, then 19, broke into Brown’s apartment in Birmingham while she was asleep. Prosecutors said he demanded money and raped Brown at gunpoint after she gave him $80 from her purse. He then shot her in the head and returned later to have a snack and look for money, they said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a post-execution statement that justice was done.

“In Alabama, we enforce the law. You don’t come to our state and mess with our citizens and get away with it,” Ivey said. “Rapists and murderers are not welcome on our streets, and tonight, justice was carried out for Pauline Brown and her loved ones.”

Frazier was sentenced to life in prison in Michigan for the 1992 murder of Crystal Kendrick, 14. Then in 1996, an Alabama jury convicted him of murdering Brown and recommended by a vote of 10-2 that he receive a death sentence. Frazier remained in Michigan custody until 2011 when the then-governors of the two states agreed to move him to Alabama’s death row. Frazier suggested in his final statement that his confession to the killing of the Michigan girl was false.

Advertisement

Alabama became the first state to conduct nitrogen gas executions, putting three people to death last year with the method. It involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen. Frazier, like the first three people to be executed by the method, shook or quivered on the gurney, although to a lesser degree than the others.

Frazier was strapped to a gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask covering his entire face. The execution began at about 6:10 p.m. after a corrections officer did a final check of the mask.

Frazier moved his outstretched palms in a swirling circular movement for the first minute or two. At 6:12 p.m., he stopped circling his hands. He appeared to grimace, quiver on the gurney and take a gasping breath. A minute later, he raised both legs several inches off the gurney and then lowered them.

His breathing slowed at 6:14 p.m. to a series of sporadic breaths. He had no visible movement by about 6:21 p.m. The curtains to the execution chamber closed at 6:29 p.m.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said afterward that the gas flowed for about 18 minutes and that instruments indicated Frazier no longer had a heartbeat 13 minutes after the gas began.

Advertisement

Hamm said he believed that Frazier lost consciousness quickly. He said he believed other movements, including the raising of the legs and periodic breaths, were involuntary.

A federal judge last week refused to block the execution. Defense attorneys had argued the new method does not work as quickly as the state promised. Media witnesses, including The Associated Press, previously described how those put to death with the method shook on the gurney at the start of their executions.

The judge, however, ruled that the descriptions of the executions did not support a finding that any of the men “experienced severe psychological pain or distress over and above what is inherent in any execution.”

Abraham Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action said the method of execution is “experimental gas suffocation.” He said it needs more scrutiny in the federal courts before Alabama uses it to carry out another execution.

Some of Brown’s family members witnessed the execution but declined to make a statement to the media.

Advertisement

Hours ahead of his execution, Frazier visited with his mother, sister and legal team. He had a final meal from Taco Bell that included burritos and a Mountain Dew soft drink.



Source link

Continue Reading

Alabama

New ‘Camp Hill’ virus discovered in Alabama is relative of deadly Nipah — the 1st of its kind in the US

Published

on

New ‘Camp Hill’ virus discovered in Alabama is relative of deadly Nipah — the 1st of its kind in the US


A close relative of the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses has been detected in North America for the first time — specifically, in the U.S. state of Alabama.

The pathogen, which scientists have named Camp Hill virus, was detected in four northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda). The animals were caught in 2021 near a town of the same name in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. After being captured for a study, the animals had been dissected and their organs frozen for later analyses; it was in those analyses that the virus was discovered.

Camp Hill virus is a type of henipavirus, a broad group of viruses that typically infect bats but have been known to “spill over” into various mammals, including humans. In people, henipaviruses can cause severe respiratory illness and a type of inflammation of the brain known as encephalitis.

Prominent henipaviruses known to infect humans include Hendra virus and Nipah virus. The former virus was first detected in Australia in 1994 and has a case-fatility rate of around 60%. The latter germ has caused disease outbreaks across Southeast Asia since being initially detected in Malaysia in 1998, and it kills between 40% and 70% of people infected.

Advertisement

Deadly Nipah virus kills boy in India, prompts worries over outbreak

The detection of Camp Hill virus is significant because it marks the first time a henipavirus has been detected in North America. That’s according to the scientists who discovered it, who released a paper Jan. 17 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The discovery raises concerns that henipaviruses may be more widespread than once thought. In particular, it provides evidence that B. brevicauda shrews — which can be found across central and eastern North America — can harbor these types of viruses, along with other germs already confirmed to cause human disease. It’s possible that Camp Hill virus may pose a risk to humans, perhaps spreading through direct contact with infected animals or their feces and urine, the researchers suggested.

However, despite these possible concerns, the authors of the new paper have cautioned against leaping to such conclusions.

Advertisement

As yet, there is no evidence to suggest that Camp Hill virus will spread from shrews to humans. (Image credit: NajaShots via Getty Images)

“There is no evidence to suggest that the provisionally named Camp Hill virus has infected humans, and the likelihood of it doing so remains unknown but is likely low,” lead study author Rhys Parry, a molecular virologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, told Live Science in an email.

Although Camp Hill virus belongs to the same genus as Hendra and Nipah viruses — called Henipavirus — it is genetically distinct from both of them, he emphasized. By comparison, Camp Hill virus is more closely related to other shrew-borne henipaviruses seen in Southeast Asia and Europe than bat-borne henipaviruses like Hendra and Nipah, he said.

This distinction is key because bat-borne henipaviruses tend to infect a wider range of hosts and cause them more harm, and they’ve been known to cause severe disease outbreaks in people, he said.

So far, only one other shrew-borne henipavirus has been identified, and that is Langya virus, Parry said. This virus infected 35 people in China between 2018 and 2021, causing symptoms such as fever, fatigue and cough and in rarer cases, impaired liver and kidney function. But importantly, no deaths were reported.

Advertisement

It’s currently unknown whether the B. brevicauda shrews in North America are able to spread Camp Hill virus to humans. They usually inhabit woodland areas where direct encounters with humans would be somewhat rare, the study authors wrote.

Notably, B. brevicauda shrews have been found to carry other viruses that can potentially spill over to people, but these have never made the leap from these critters to humans.

“Given that B. brevicauda shrews already host other zoonotic viruses, such as Powassan virus and Camp Ripley virus, and that veterinary professionals already handle them with appropriate biosafety measures, no additional precautions are required,” Parry said.

Future research should instead focus on trying to isolate the Camp Hill virus and decipher how many types of animals it can and has infected, he said. This information could then be used to better assess the potential risk of a spillover to humans.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending