Author: WAKA Action 8 News

Troy University Fraternity Raises $90,000 for Wounded Soldiers

Troy University’s chapter of Alpha Tau Omega presented a $90,000 check to Jeep Sullivan’s Wounded Warrior Outdoor Adventures, a charity that provides hunting, fishing, and myriad of other outdoor experiences to wounded veterans. The charity is located in Bonifay, FL. The ATO project is called “Walk Hard.” Since its inception in 2009, the philanthropic backpacking trip originating on Troy University’s…

Biden Calls on Gene Sperling to Oversee COVID-19 Relief Package

FILE – In this Jan. 31, 2014 file photo, Gene Sperling, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of National Economic Council, left, listens as Vice President Joe Biden speaks during Biden’s meeting with CEO’s in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. Sperling, a veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations, will lead the oversight for distributing…

Huntingdon College Adopting New Class Schedule for Fall 2021, No Friday Classes

When Huntingdon College classes begin in the fall of 2021, Monday-Wednesday-Friday courses and long days with no lunch breaks will be distant memories as a more student-friendly class schedule is implemented. Huntingdon President J. Cameron West announced today that the College is adopting a four-day-per-week class schedule with no classes on Fridays. Furthermore, there will be designated 75-minute midday breaks…

February Unemployment Rate Lowest of Pandemic for Alabama

The state says Alabama’s unemployment rate for January declined to 4.3%, the lowest level since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic a year ago. The rate is still well above the pre-pandemic level of 2.7% of January 2020. But it was was better than the revised December unemployment rate of 4.7%. It was also below the U.S. unemployment rate of…

‘Big burden’ for Schools Trying to Give Kids Internet Access

Schools had to figure out quickly how to get kids online after the coronavirus pandemic shut them down. They had to work with a patchwork approach born of desperation due to the federal failure to get all Americans connected. They scrounged wireless hot spots, struck deals with cable companies, and even created networks of their own. Funding challenges and logistical…

A Year into Pandemic, Bama Tracker Founder Pondering Future

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The creator of a popular website for tracking COVID-19 in Alabama is pondering what will become of his creation once the health care crisis eases. David Marconnet says he sees two options for his site, which presents publicly available data about the virus in easily accessible, understandable charts and graphs. Marconnet says Bama Tracker could remain…

Rain/Storms Return; Severe Storms Likely This Week

A more active week of weather is ahead for Alabama including the threat for strong and severe storms through midweek and it starts today. The Storm Prediction Center has much of Alabama in a “Marginal Risk” (level 1/5) for severe storms later today. The main threats will come from isolated damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph, quarter size hail,…

Juvenile Killed in Wreck West of Tallassee

State troopers say a juvenile from Tallassee was killed in a wreck late Saturday night. The victim’s name and age have not been released. State troopers say the wreck happened on Friendship Road, about one mile west of Tallassee in Elmore County just before 11 p.m. Investigators say the juvenile was a passenger in a car driven by another youth,….