Search

The article examines the social and political affects in the U.S. Southeast of the region's prolonged drought in 2007. Both citizens, businesses, and governments have been slow to react to the drought, and water conservation measures have been adopted only sporadically. Georgia instituted a ban on outdoor water use in September, after reports that the Atlanta metropolitan area had only a four month supply of water remaining. Alabama, even more severely affected, has done even less.

After residents of the Riverbend Farms subdivision noticed that an oily, fetid substance had begun fouling the Black Warrior River, which runs through their backyards, Mark Storey, a retired petroleum plant worker, hopped into his boat to follow it upstream to its source. It turned out to be an old chemical factory that had been converted into Alabama's first biodiesel plant, a refinery that intended to turn soybean oil into earth-friendly fuel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports that at least eight people were killed in Alabama and Missouri due to a storm that stretched nearly 1,000 miles from the Midwest to the Southeast. Throughout Enterprise, Alabama, cars were upended, trees were flattened and homes flattened. Five people were killed when an apparent tornado caused the roof to collapse at a high school in Enterprise. A 7-year-old girl was killed when a tornado flattened their mobile home near West Plains, Missouri.

The article reports that a school bus plunged off a highway overpass in Huntsville, Alabama, killing three students and wounding 11 others. Rex Reynolds, chief of the Huntsville Police Department, said a compact car driven by a student got too close to the bus, leading to the accident. The driver of the car is in custody.

The article reports on the reactions of peach growers in Georgia on the resolution passed by Alabama representatives including Representative James M. Martin that named peaches as the state's official fruit tree in February 23, 2006.