Here’s what’s going on for this Thursday, Feb. 9…

Look what we found! Remember last week when several local police agencies plus Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies went on a chase to find someone suspected of stealing ATVs from a Gardendale home? On Wednesday, deputies went to a house in the 2800 block of Morris Majestic Road, on a tip that the suspect might be there. He wasn’t, but when deupties searched the property, they found an active methamphetamine lab. They arrested Michael David Hare, 47, on charges of manufacturing a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Hare is housed in the Jefferson County Jail in lieu of $251,000 bond.

And his new temporary home might soon be…: Sheriff Mike Hale, Birmingham Mayor William Bell and Police Chief A.C. Roper have reached an informal agreement that would allow the new, unused jail at the Bessemer Cutoff courthouse complex to open, and let the city close its own jail. Nothing has been signed yet, but if the deal goes through, Hale would move about 400 inmates from his downtown jail to the new facility, and Birmingham would then move all its inmates to the county jail downtoan and close its own. The new Bessemer jail was opened nearly two years ago, but the county budget crisis resulted in Hale not having enough manpower to operate it, so it has stood empty ever since.

It’s a three-way race. A new poll of Alabama Republican voters by an arm of the Alabama Education Association shows that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum are in a statistical dead heat. The poll, taken earlier this week, showed 27 percent favoring Romney, 23 percent for Gingrich and 22 percent for Santorum, all within the poll’s margin of error. The GOP primary will be held March 13. Romney continues to lead the RealClearPolitics.com average of major national polls, but Santorum is climbing, thanks in large part to his sweep of the Missouri primary and caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado on Tuesday.

Hayden girls ranked sixth as playoff begin. The final edition of the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s high school basketball top-10 has been compiled, and Hayden’s girls team is ranked sixth in Class 5A, their highest ranking of the season. The Wildcats go into playoff action tonight at 7:30, as they host Curry in the first round of the Area 11 tournament. Mortimer Jordan plays Walker in the 6:00 game at Hayden. In other girls area tournament games, Fultondale takes on Vincent at Altamont in Class 2A Area 10, Corner plays Dora in Haleyville at 5:30 in Class 4A Area 11, and Gardendale plays Jackson-Olin at Minor, 7:30 in Class 6A Area 11.

Weather: The S-word. Yes, we have a chance of snow flurries in our forecast, but not until Saturday morning. There will be little or no accumulation and not travel issues, though. Friday will feature a chance of showers in the afternoon, with ah high in the mid 50s. Nighttime lows will be in the 30s tonight, and the low 20s Satuday and Sunday. Temperatures moderate and rain returns Monday.