NJN/am for Wednesday, March 19

It’s Wednesday, hope it’s a good one for you…

Weather: Nice. Clouds will gradually give way to sunny skies today with a high in the middle 60s; it will be breezy at times. Nighttime lows will drop to the lower 40s. Thursday’s forecast will be much the same as Wednesday’s.

Getting ready. The new Gardendale Board of Education continued Tuesday to make plans for its first official days in office in April. The board met with Dr. Jodi Newton, associate dean of the Beeson School of Education at Samford University and former superintendent of Homewood City Schools. The board also set its first official work session for April 1 – they day they officially take office – and their first full meeting for April 8.

Unlisted. The city of Gardendale was supposed to issue its list of streets Tuesday that would be included in the first phase of permitted annexation requests under the city council’s new policy. But that list was not made public. Councilman Alvin Currington said in Tuesday night’s organizational meeting of the Board of Education that city department heads “all want to make sure that list is 100 percent correct.” The newly-appointed annexation committee will only consider applications from property owners on these streets in their so-called “first phase.” Currington said the list would be issued today; we’ll have it at njeffersonnews.com as soon as we get it.

Sports: Hulsey rocks Rickwood. Gardendale pitcher Adam Hulsey threw 11 strikeouts as the Rockets shut out Huffman 10-0 in six innings at historic Rickwood Field on Tuesday. Zach Cupps hit a double and a single in four at-bats, driving in three runs for the Rockets (12-10). Elsewhere, Mortimer Jordan won its first area game of the season with an 8-5 decision over visiting Walker, and 10th-ranked Pinson Valley dispensed with Center Point 12-2 in five innings… Softball: Bailey Murphy tallied nine strikeouts, as No.9 Mortimer Jordan took advantage of a porous Walker defense that committed eight errors as the Blue Devils won 10-3 in area play. Elsewhere, Dallas Payton’s bases-loaded triple tied the game, then Nicole Fisher bunted Payton home with what proved to be the winning run as Pinson Valley came from behind to beat Springville 4-3 in a Class 5A area matchup. And in a Class 4A area game, Oneonta shut out Locust Fork 4-0… Girls soccer: Brittany Adair scored off a corner kick from Morgan Goolsby for the match’s only goal, as Gardendale defeated Cullman 1-0.