Zeta: Storm cancellations, closures

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — The following is a list of cancellations and closures due to Zeta.

This list will be updated as new information comes in.

SCHOOLS:

All Mobile County Public Schools campuses and offices will be closed on Wednesday, October 28. This closing includes all school-sponsored events and activities. MCPSS will closely monitor conditions throughout the day Wednesday to inform decisions regarding Thursday.

Baldwin County Schools will dismiss at 1:30 Wednesday afternoon. School will remain closed on Thursday. All after school care, sports and extracurricular activities are cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday. 

Archdiocese of Mobile Catholic Schools in Mobile and Baldwin counties will remain open Wednesday, Oct. 28. However, all afterschool activities will be cancelled. A decision regarding school Thursday will be made later as the Archdiocese of Mobile will continue to monitor the weather forecast.

All University of South Alabama classes scheduled to begin at noon or later on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and prior to 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, will be conducted remotely.

All Escambia County (FL) schools will dismiss an hour early, and after school activities have been canceled for Wednesday, October 28, 2020. Updates and announcements regarding attendance on Thursday, October 29, 2020 will be provided on Wednesday, October 28.

Washington County Schools will dismiss at 1:00 PM tomorrow (Wednesday) due to the threat of severe weather.

Gulf Shores City Schools will dismiss tomorrow, Wednesday October 28th at noon. There will be no school Thursday, October 29th.

Clarke County Schools will dismiss tomorrow, Wednesday October 28th at 1 p.m. Stay tuned for plans for Thursday.

Santa Rosa District Schools Wednesday evening activities canceled, school to remain open Wednesday and Thursday.

George County Schools to dismiss early Wednesday, October 28. Please call your local school for exact dismissal times. George County High School will continue to have their regularly scheduled Distance Learning Day on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. On Thursday, October 29, 2020, all schools will have a Distance Learning Day. For PreK through 8th grade, instructional materials may be sent home. For grades 9-12, assignments will be issued via student emails and Google accounts. Again, instructional materials may be given out as well.

University of Mobile classes beginning at noon Wednesday, October 28 through Thursday, October 29 will move to an online format. All Wednesday evening university activities are canceled. Bedsole Commons and university staff offices will close at 4:30 pm on Wednesday. University dining hall will remain open with normal hours. Unless otherwise notified, university employees will report to campus at their regular time on Thursday. On-ground classes will resume in normal campus locations on Monday, November 2.

St. James Episcopal School in Fairhope will dismiss at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and be closed on Thursday, October 29 due to Hurricane Zeta.
Pensacola Christian Academy will dismiss Grades 1-12 classes, after school activities, and ESD one hour early on Wednesday, October 28, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Zeta. Kindergarten will follow regular schedule, but Grades 1-12 will dismiss at 2 p.m. The early dismissal allows for the completion of bus routes prior to the arrival of strong winds, therefore all afternoon bus schedules will be one hour earlier than normal. Sports practices will end at 4 p.m. and Extended School Day will close at 4:30 p.m. Information regarding Thursday’s schedule will be communicated Wednesday.

EVENTS:

The Pensacola Interstate Fair will open Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Fair will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 28, in anticipation of strong winds and heavy rainfall from Hurricane Zeta. Fair officials will monitor the storm’s track Wednesday to determine when it is safe to reopen again, but feel confident that the fair will reopen Thursday at 4 p.m.

OTHER CLOSURES:

First Judicial Circuit courts in Escambia County will close at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, due to anticipated effects from Tropical Storm Zeta.  Courts in Santa Rosa County will close at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.  Court officials will continue to monitor the situation as it develops, and will announce any closures for Thursday as soon as possible. 

Due to potential storm impact from Hurricane Zeta, the Department of Health in Okaloosa County COVID-19 testing sites scheduled on October 28, 2020 and October 29, 2020 are cancelled.  

FEMA Mobile Registration Centers in Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties will close temporarily at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020 as a precautionary measure for Hurricane Zeta. The centers will reopen when weather conditions permit.

All Mobile Community Action Head Start Centers and Community Services Centers will be closed on Wednesday October 28 due to Hurricane Zeta.
Mobile Museum of Art and offices will be closed to the public on Wednesday, October 28. The museum plans to reopen at 1 pm on Thursday, October 29.

Baldwin Courts will remain open FULL hours Wednesday as well as absentee voting at the courthouse in Bay Minette FULL hours Wednesday. Other county facilities closing at 1pm Wednesday, remain closed Thursday and resume Friday.

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Barrett sworn in at court as issues important to Trump await

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amy Coney Barrett was formally sworn in Tuesday as the Supreme Court’s ninth justice, her oath administered in private by Chief Justice John Roberts. Her first votes on the court could include two big topics affecting the man who appointed her.

The court is weighing a plea from President Donald Trump to prevent the Manhattan district attorney from acquiring his tax returns. It is also considering appeals from the Trump campaign and Republicans to shorten the deadline for receiving and counting absentee ballots in the battleground states of North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County filed legal papers at the court Tuesday arguing that Barrett should not take part in the Pennsylvania case. It’s not clear if she will vote in the pending cases, but she will make that call.

Barrett was confirmed Monday by the Senate in a 52-48 virtual party line vote. She is expected to begin work as a justice on Tuesday after taking the second of two oaths required of judges by federal law. No justice has assumed office so close to a presidential election or immediately confronted issues so directly tied to the incumbent president’s political and personal fortunes.

Barrett declined to commit to Democratic demands that she step aside from any cases on controversial topics, including a potential post-election dispute over the presidential results.

At 48, she’s the youngest justice since Clarence Thomas joined the court in 1991 at age 43.

Other election-related issues are pending at the high court, which next week also will hear a clash of LGBTQ rights and religious freedoms. The fate of the Affordable Care Act is on the agenda on Nov. 10, and Trump himself last week reiterated his opposition to the Obama-era law. “I hope they end it,” he said in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”

On Friday, Barrett, the most open opponent of abortion rights to join the court in decades, also could be called upon to weigh in on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. The state is appealing lower court rulings invalidating the ban. Abortion opponents in Pittsburgh also are challenging a so-called bubble zone that prevents protesters from getting too close to abortion clinics.

The court put off acting on both cases before Barrett joined the court, without offering any explanation in the Mississippi case. It ordered Pittsburgh to file a response to the appeal filed by the protesters, who call themselves sidewalk counselors.

It’s not clear that the public will know how Barrett voted in the two abortion cases because the court typically doesn’t make the vote counts public when it is considering whether to grant full review to cases.

Barrett is joining the court at an unusual moment. The justices are meeting remotely by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, both for their private conferences and public argument sessions, at least through the end of 2020. The public can listen to the arguments as they take place, a change also resulting from the court’s response to the pandemic.

After her first private conference with her new colleagues on Friday, two weeks of arguments begin on Monday. In an institution that pays strict attention to seniority, Barrett will go last in the private and public sessions.

As she settles into her new office at the court, Barrett will be joined by four law clerks, usually recent law school graduates who have experience working for federal judges.

When the court reopens to the public and the justices return to the courtroom, Barrett is expected to assume several duties reserved for the court’s junior justice. She will be a member of the committee that oversees the court’s public cafeteria, and the person who takes notes and answers the door when someone knocks during the justices’ private conferences.

https://apnews.com/article/ele...