NJN/am for Thursday, October 3, 2014

Published 7:44 am Thursday, October 2, 2014

It’s Thursday, and there’s some rough weather ahead…

Weather: Storms overnight. Today we’ll see partly sunny skies with a 20 percent chance of afternoon showers, and highs reaching 90 degrees. The rough stuff comes through in the overnight hours, as a line of heavy storms comes through with the possibility of an isolated severe thunderstorm after 4 a.m., with lows in the lower 70s. Storms continue through early Friday afternoon with highs in the upper 70s; Friday night lows will drop all the way to the upper 40s.

Secret Service head is out. Julia Pierson, who was appointed as director of the agency just 18 months ago, resigned Wednesday in the wake of a stunning breach of security at the White House and a slew of high personnel turnover and other internal issues. Pierson was brought in by the Obama Administration after reports came of Secret Service agents visiting prostitutes just before the president visited Colombia. Pierson will be replaced on an interim basis by Joseph Clancy, a retired agent who headed the president’s Obama’s personal protective detail right after Obama first took office.

Sports: Change of plans. With the forecast of storms looming, officials at Hayden High School decided to move Friday’s homecoming football game up to tonight. The Wildcats will host Lincoln at Robert Reid Stadium with kickoff at 7 p.m. All other local games are staying put on Friday night, including this week’s NJN Big game featuring Montgomery Academy at Fultondale… Baseball: Unlike Tuesday night’s American League wild card playoff game, last night’s National League version was settled early and decisively. Brandon Crawford smashed a grand slam in the fourth inning, and Madison Bumgarner held Pittsburgh to four hits as San Francisco blanked the Pirates 8-0. Bumgarner went the distance, throwing just 109 pitches and striking out 10 Pirate batters. The Giants move on to the Division Series at Washington, which begins Friday night; the other NL series features St. Louis at the Los Angeles Dodgers (Fox Sports 1). The AL Division Series begin tonight, with Detroit at Baltimore and Kansas City in Anaheim against the Angels (TBS).