Good Thursday morning to you…

Weather: Brrrr. Temperatures won’t rise very much today from where they were overnight, with today’s high topping out near 40. Clear and cold tonight, with lows in the lower 20s. Only slightly warmer on Friday, with highs in the middle 40s and lows in the upper 20s. And yes, we’ve seen the s-word in the seven-day outlook – and we’re keeping an eye on it.

Open doors, but an $8.1 million price tag. Leaked copies of State Supt. Tommy Bice’s preliminary ruling on the separation of Gardendale schools from Jefferson County indicate that the new system will have an “open door” policy that will allow all current students zoned for Gardendale schools, plus their siblings, to attend the new system for 10 years. Students who move into the zone for the next five years will also be allowed to attend. But Bice also said that Gardendale schools should pay JefCoEd a total of $8.1 million for the allocated costs of the schools to be transferred – more than the zero cost that Gardendale wanted, but a fraction of the $33.1 million sought by JefCoEd. Both sides are formulating their responses to the ruling, and have a deadline of Feb. 20 to respond, with Bice’s final ruling due on Feb. 23. We’ll have more coverage on this developing story later today.

Sports: Feels like the first time. And it is, for the brand new Mortimer Jordan soccer teams. The Blue Devils play their first-ever varsity girls and boys matches tonight at Pinson Valley, with the girls’ kickoff at 5 p.m. and the boys to follow soon after the girls’ match ends – scheduled for 7, but could be earlier… High school basketball: The regional playoffs are under way, and the Tarrant boys continue their march through the post-season with a semifinal game today at 4:30 p.m. in the Northwest Regional at Wallace State-Hanceville.