Biz Updates On The Strip; Vintage Market Today In Northport

Good Morning Tuscaloosa!

In today's Daily, we have the results from No. 5 Alabama's road match against Georgia on Saturday to close out the men's basketball regular season, along with a couple of big headlines for two businesses on The Strip and a look into some of the storylines Tuscaloosa Patch is watching.

First, today's weather:

Sunny in Tuscaloosa, with a high near 67 degrees and a low near 36.

Here are the top 5 stories today in Tuscaloosa

1. Cecil Hurt gives his expert analysis following No.5 Alabama men's basketball closing out regular season play with a 89-79 road win against the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday in Athens. (Tuscaloosa News)

2. The Benjamin Barnes YMCA recently hosted the finale of Tuscaloosa’s Gospel Best Singing Competition at Cornerstone Baptist Church. Indya Joyner won the junior competition and Kristian Simmons took home the title of Tuscaloosa’s Gospel Best. (Karris Harmon, WVUA 23)

3. PJ's Coffee will open for business Monday on The Strip in the building that previously housed Expeditions, which closed last summer. (Meg Summers, Tuscaloosa Thread)

4. Twelve25 — a restaurant and sports bar on University Boulevard along The Strip — is now reportedly accepting Dining Dollars from University of Alabama students. (Isabel Hope, Crimson White)

5. Shelton State Community College says it will begin offering evening nursing classes this summer after increased interest in health care careers due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Kelvin Reynolds, WBRC Fox 6 News)

Today and this week

- Sunday, March 7: 5th Street Vintage Market will hold one of its five annual events, featuring numerous vendors. The market will be from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., with free admission and concessions available. There will be vendors from around the region who specialize in vintage and handmade items, artworks and vinyl records. Click here to learn more.

- Tuesday, March 9: Alabama Crimson Tide baseball takes on South Alabama in Tuscaloosa. First pitch at 6 p.m. Tuesday, before playing Jacksonville State on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

- Thursday, March 11: Live Music On The Rooftop at Hotel Indigo with Soapy & Andrew from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.

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Weekend Notebook

- The City of Northport will resume its police department fingerprinting services Tuesday after temporarily suspending the offering due to the coronavirus pandemic. Read my prior coverage here.

- Jackson Halcomb, a Northridge Middle School seventh grader, recently finished first in the district middle school division of The Governor's App Challenge. His award-winning program included creating an app to help people manage their utilities, while saving both energy and money. Watch a video of Halcomb here.

- The University of Alabama System on Friday announced that no new positive coronavirus cases had been identified at the University of Alabama in Huntsville over the last week, with only a small number of positives at The University of Alabama (16 students and 5 faculty/staff) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (5 students and 1 faculty/staff).

- The University of West Alabama played its first football game in over a year at Tiger Stadium Saturday, defeating Limestone University 27-17. The Tigers put up 515 yards of total offense and allowed less than 200 yards rushing and passing in the win.

- The Tuscaloosa Police Athletic League this week announced its first PAL Spring Baseball League, with an eight-week season set to begin in April. It is open to all children 3-12 and the Tuscaloosa Police Department hopes to offer the league for free, but is in need of sponsors to make it possible. Click here for more.

- Tuscaloosa County Public Works closed Hannah Hill on Saturday between Highway 216 and Mountain View Circle, which will remained closed for approximately a week while a pipe replacement takes place. The detour will be through Phyllis Drive and Blue Gill Lane.

- Hillcrest High School was recently selected as a 2020 CLAS School of Distinction for its Character Education program. The honor recognizes schools or programs that serve as outstanding educational models for other schools in Alabama. Read more about it here.

- Bryant Bank and LifeSouth Community Blood Centers will host a blood drive on Thursday, March 11, with LifeSouth's bloodmobile parked outside of the bank's main Tuscaloosa branch on McFarland Boulevard from 9 a.m. -4 p.m.

- Crestmont Elementary School, Maxwell Elementary School, and Vance Elementary School were each recognized this week as 2021 Legislative School Performance Recognition Program Schools. The program recognizes schools that demonstrate exemplary progress by improving the overall annual accountability mark of the school by at least one letter grade.

Now you're all caught up for the weekend and the week ahead, which promises to be a busy one, so follow me on Tuscaloosa Patch and its social media platforms for more.

I'll see you around!

- Ryan

About me: I grew up in Tuscaloosa, am a University of Alabama graduate and the founder of Tuscaloosa Patch. You can find me at public meetings, events in the local arts community and wherever live music is played!