NJN/am for Monday, April 23

Published 3:45 am Monday, April 23, 2012

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Good morning, let’s take a breath and start off another work week…

Weather: Brisk. The sun will shine brightly, but temperatures will be rather cool for this time of year, and Sunday’s wind will still be with us. Highs today will top out around 64, and lows tonight will be in the lower 40s, maybe in the upper 30s in spots. A warm-up trend starts tomorrow as we get back into the 70s, then into the 80s Wednesday and Thursday.

Traffic: The normal delays through the Corridor X construction zone on I-65. ALDOT plans rolling roadblocks on the northbound side Tuesday and Thursday afternoons because of more blasting. They will begin at the I-20/59 interchange around 1:30 p.m.

Zimmerman out on bond. The man who has admitted to shooting unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin is out on bond, but his whereabouts are being kept a secret. George Zimmerman put up 10 percent of his $150,000 bond and was released around midnight on charges of second-degree murder.

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Watergate figure passes. Chuck Colson, who served as special counsel to President Richard Nixon and was the first major Watergate scandal figure to be imprisoned, died Saturday at age 80 from complications resulting from a brain hemorrhage. Colson, who served his seven-month term at the minimum security federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base near Montgomery, became a born-again Christian while in prison. After his release, he went on to for Prison Fellowship, which ministers to inmates worldwide; he was also a well-known speaker within evangelical circles.

Sports: Two and out. The AHSAA baseball post-season didn’t last long for Gardendale or Fultondale, as both were swept in their first-round doubleheaders Friday. The Rockets fell to Vestavia Hills, while the Wildcats were shut out in both games at Ranburne…. College gymnastics: Sarah Patterson tied Paul “Bear” Bryant for most national championships by a University of Alabama coach Saturday, as her Crimson Tide gymnastics team captured its second NCAA team title in a row at the championship meet in suburban Atlanta. Patterson now has six titles to her credit, four away from the record set by her now-retired rival, Suzanne Yoculan at Georgia, and also Greg Marsden at Utah.