Alabama
Alabama senator says Space Command prefers Huntsville for HQ, but command has no comment
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville said in a tweet Wednesday that the top general in charge of U.S. Space Command told him during a meeting that Huntsville, not Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the preferred location for its new headquarters.
Tuberville’s tweet, which his office also issued in a press release, is the latest twist in the ongoing brawl over where U.S. Space Command should be located. The decision that has become entangled in a far larger political fight between Tuberville and the Defense Department over reproductive health care for service members, which is now jeopardizing the promotions of hundreds of military officers.
The senator tweeted that Gen. James Dickinson “confirmed Huntsville is the preferred location of Space Command headquarters. Enough is enough, it’s time to bring U.S. Space Command home to Huntsville.”
U.S. Space Command had no comment on Tuberville’s statement.
Tuberville is fighting for a basing decision that could bring hundreds of lucrative jobs to his constituency. The Air Force and Space Force initially recommended that the headquarters be placed in Colorado Springs, but in the final days of his term President Donald Trump decided the new headquarters would be based in Huntsville.
Huntsville scored higher than Colorado Springs in a Government Accountability Office assessment of potential locations and has long been a home to some of earliest missiles used in the nation’s space programs, including the Saturn V rocket. It is home to the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command.
Colorado Springs is home to the Air Force Academy, which now graduates Space Force guardians, and more than 24 military space missions, including three Space Force bases and the temporary home of U.S. Space Command. Proponents of keeping the command in Colorado argue that moving it to Huntsville and creating a new headquarters would set back its progress at a time it needs to move quickly to be positioned to match China’s military space rise.
The basing decision, while not directly connected, has become part of a larger political fight. The Biden administration has not moved forward with assigning the headquarters to Huntsville as the decision went through a series of congressional and inspector general reviews. Meanwhile, Tuberville has used a Senate privilege to essentially stop any military officer nominations or promotions until the Defense Department rescinds a policy that would allow and provide support for service members to seek reproductive care outside their current assignment area.
The Biden administration has not said whether it will overturn the previous decision to award the headquarters to Alabama, which has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country.
However, the holds are having significant trickle-down effects on military families who would be now getting ready to move to their next base and getting their kids set up in a new school.
The Florida Atlantic University softball is headed to its first regional in eight years.
The Owls will play in Gainesville against South Alabama on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
The team notched 41 wins this season and took home the regular season conference title.
This will be their first regional berth since 2016.
“I knew that this team had unlimited potential, and to do it in the second year is bittersweet,” head coach Jordan Clark said. “It’s a testament to our staff, to our support staff, just really believing in the vision that I had when I took the job.”
But the job isn’t done yet.
“Our problem at the end of the season is that we were looking too far ahead, so this time we are just looking at that one game,” Presley Leebrick, a graduate senior right fielder, said. “Not trying to make it any bigger than it is. It’s just the same game that we have been playing all year.”
This is the softball team’s 12th regional appearance.
“I think it’s great. The effort that we’ve had since the fall, all throughout the entire year,” Kiley Channel, a freshman infielder, said. “It’s just rewarding knowing that all of us have put so much work in to get to where we are today.”
The players said they are satisfied with a regional berth and are hoping to make for a super regional appearance.
“Taking it one game at a time. I think throughout the year our defense and offense have been solid,” Kamryn Jackson, a graduate student outfielder, said. “If we just play our game, I think we will be in good shape.”
The winner of the FAU-South Alabama game will play the winner of the University of Florida-Florida Gulf Coast match up in the double-elimination tournament.
Scripps Only Content 2024
Alabama
West Alabama’s largest hospital starting shuttle service while new parking deck is constructed
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) – DCH Regional Medical Center will begin providing its own shuttle service Wednesday after using money donated to the DCH Foundation to pay for the two shuttles, affectionately called “shuttle bugs.”
One of the new shuttles is red and black while the other is yellow and black. They’re wrapped to resemble a lady bug and a bumble bee, thus the nickname shuttle bugs.
Each shuttle can carry as many as six people.
“We have the guest service team staffing the shuttles,” said Mallary Myers, Senior Vice President and COO for DCH. “They’re driving around, actively available to pick up patients, visitors, and team members.”
Parking at the DCH campus has been disrupted during the construction of a new parking deck.
The shuttles will serve people who must park in parking lots farther away from the hospital’s entrances due to the construction.
“I love the shuttle service because I wear high heels and it saved me today because I was parked way in the far end,” Ottia Phillips said.
Shuttles will run routes to all parking lots on the Regional Medical Center campus.
Drop off locations include the north and south entrances of the hospital, the Outpatient Center lobby entrance, and the Manderson Cancer Center.
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