Associated Press

North Alabama Lions (10-6, 2-1 ASUN) at Stetson Hatters (4-12, 2-1 ASUN)

DeLand, Florida; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: North Alabama visits Stetson after Jacari Lane scored 22 points in North Alabama’s 75-70 loss to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.

The Hatters have gone 3-3 at home. Stetson has a 0-2 record in one-possession games.

The Lions have gone 2-1 against ASUN opponents. North Alabama has a 0-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

Stetson’s average of 8.1 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.2 fewer made shots on average than the 8.3 per game North Alabama allows. North Alabama has shot at a 45.7% rate from the field this season, 0.9 percentage points greater than the 44.8% shooting opponents of Stetson have averaged.

The Hatters and Lions square off Saturday for the first time in ASUN play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Mehki is averaging 15.8 points for the Hatters.

Corneilous Williams is averaging 9.8 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Lions.

LAST 10 GAMES: Hatters: 3-7, averaging 74.5 points, 30.5 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 42.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 82.0 points per game.

Lions: 6-4, averaging 76.3 points, 34.6 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 7.3 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey said student’s mental health, and cell phone use are at the top of his priorities this year.

“We certainly have a mental health crisis in families,” he said. “And particularly in youth in this country, and we want to make sure we’re addressing that.”

That crisis, Dr. Mackey said, is fueled by cell phone use and social media. He said this is a concern that he will be very vocal about in the upcoming legislative session.

“It’s really limiting social media. But, the only way we can get social media away from students during the school day is to limit the access to cell phones or smartphones,” Dr. Mackey said.

Rep. Mary Moore (D-Birmingham) said it’s not just about cell phone use in schools. She wants to see a better pay frequency for educators, and recruiting in this session.

“Some of the problems that we have is recruiting the type of; not only educators, but child nutrition workers, custodians, bus drivers, and people that can be committed to the system,” she remarked. “If the system was committed to them.”

Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) said cell phones should be put away from bell to bell. She said she wants to put more money towards the school choice program.

“We probably, with our current budget of $100 million allocated to school choice, only have room for up to 16,000 students,” said DuBose. She said over 11,000 students have applied to the program so far. “So, in less than a week, we’ve almost already utilized our full budget allocation.”

Besides cell phone use, Dr. Mackey said the board wants to see reading and math scores continue to go up. And, he said extended learning programs like after school and summer school will be key in 2025.

“Those times that we have children outside of the regular school day, how are we using that time to make sure that we are promoting learning?” said Dr. Mackey. “But also, promoting high quality childhood, keeping those children off the streets, out of trouble, and in very good, engaging programs.”

Dr. Mackey said he doesn’t know what the solution will be to cell phone use in the classroom. Some bills have already been pre-filed for the upcoming session that address the topic.

The 2025 legislative session starts on February 4th.

For anyone thinking of cooking up warm soup to stave off the winter cold, there’s an important recall you need to know about.

Walmart has recalled 12,000 units of Great Value Chicken Broth sold in 48-ounce cartons in two states – Alabama and Arkansas. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the recall is due to the “potential for packaging failures that could compromise the sterility of the product, resulting in spoilage.”

The products have a best if used by date of March 25, 2026 with lot code 98F09234. They were sold in aseptic paper cartons and a total of 2,023 cases or 12,138 cartons were included in the recall.

The broth was produced by Tree House Foods Inc. of British Columbia.

The FDA did not assign a risk level to the recall and did not report any incidents involving the products.

People with the broth should return it to Walmart for a refund.

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