It’s Wednesday, and the saga of the Gardendale Schools separation takes yet another turn…

Weather: A little rain must fall. And we’ll have several chances for that over the next few days, starting tonight. Today will be partly sunny with a high near 70, then showers move in tonight with a low in the middle 50s. More showers on Thursday, with chances tapering off that night, with highs in the middle 60s and lows in the middle 50s. Slight chances of rain will continue all the way to next Monday.

Gardendale strikes back. The latest shot in the battle between the Jefferson County Schools and the breakaway Gardendale City Schools was fired late Tuesday afternoon, as the new system filed a lawsuit against JefCoEd in Jefferson Circuit Court. The suit, filed for the Gardendale system by Giles Perkins of the law firm Adams and Reese (which was hired just Monday night during a Gardendale Board of Education special meeting), claims that the county is trying to delay the separation negotiations, in order to keep Gardendale from assuming operations of the schools in the next academic year. The complaint asks the court to issue a preliminary injunction that would force JefCoEd to consider State Supt. Dr. Tommy Bice’s recent “final order” in the case as truly final, instead of being just a “time out,” as JefCoEd Supt. Dr. Craig Pouncey has characterized it publicly.

Sports: The streak ends. The 16-game winning streak by the ninth-ranked Gardendale baseball team came to an end Tuesday night, as Hueytown pitcher Mike Battle held the Rockets to just two hits in a 2-0 shutout, in the first game of a doubleheader. Gardendale came back to win the nightcap 8-2. Elsewhere, Mortimer Jordan turned back Moody 10-0 in five innings, as pitcher Taylor Goodwin allowed four hits in his second straight shutout… Softball: Locust Fork and neighboring J.B. Pennington battled for 10 innings, but it was a sacrifice fly by Madison Colwell that brought home the winning run as the host Patriots prevailed over the Hornets by a 6-5 score. Elsewhere, No. 10 Mortimer Jordan routed Haleyville 10-0, and Pinson Valley edged Clay-Chalkville 4-3. The Indians are scheduled to host Jordan this afternoon at 5 p.m.