NJN/am for April 6, 2015

Published 8:44 am Monday, April 6, 2015

Good Monday morning, and we hope you found all the real Easter eggs before they go bad and stink in a few days…

Weather: Falling on my head like a memory. Here comes the rain again, as the song by Eurythmics goes. There’s an 80 percent chance of showers and a few thunderstorms today, with highs in the lower 70s. More showers tonight, with lows in the lower 60s. A slight chance of showers on Tuesday with highs in the lower 80s, and the rain finally moves out Tuesday night.

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Tragic weekend. An incident Saturday night left one person dead, after he left his disabled car and tried to cross Interstate 65 on foot. The victim, whose identity has still not been released, was struck and killed by multiple vehicles in the northbound lanes. There’s still no definitive word from investigators as to why the victim left the vehicle, or if anyone else was involved. The death comes on the heels of a crash just outside of Cullman on Friday, in which a Hayden man perished. Christopher Brandon Payton, 21, was killed in a three-vehicle wreck on Alabama 157, about four miles northwest of downtown Cullman.

Sports: A new coach at last. Barring any last-minute complications, Avery Johnson is expected to be named later today as the new men’s basketball coach at Alabama. Johnson is a former head coach with the Dallas Mavericks (where he was named the league’s coach of the year) and the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets, as well as serving as an analyst at ESPN. Meanwhile, the men’s basketball season comes to an end tonight in Indianapolis, as Duke takes on Wisconsin – who knocked off previously-unbeaten Kentucky in Saturday night’s semifinals – in the national championship game. Tip-off is shortly after 8 p.m. (CBS-WIAT 42)… Softball: A big weekend for some former local high school standouts now playing at the next level. Former Hayden pitcher/infielder Katie Parr smashed four home runs in a doubleheader Friday for Wallace State-Hanceville, Three of them came in the opening game at Southern Union. Meanwhile on Saturday, former Mortimer Jordan stars Haylie McCleney and Danae Hays each smacked homers in sixth-ranked Alabama’s 7-3 win at No. 14 Kentucky, in the middle game of a three-game series. Hays hit a solo shot in the third inning, while McCleney smacked a three-run home in the seventh that gave the Crimson Tide the win. Bama took the series two games to one after a win on Sunday.

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