WVAS Local

President-elect Donald Trump has met with one of the judges on his short list for potential Supreme Court nominees. Judge William Pryor, an Alabama-based judge on the 11th U-S Circuit Court of Appeals, reportedly met with Trump in New York Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Trump said last week that he would select a candidate to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia within his first two weeks in office. He has promised to seek someone in the conservative's mold and said he is working from a list of 21 people, mainly conservative state and federal judges in their 50s.

Former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Sue Bell Cobb is considering making a run for governor in 2018. Cobb said she is getting encouragement to run by supporters, but has not made a decision. She is not the only Democrat eyeing a run. Saying they refuse to cede the state without a fight to the GOP, a number of prominent Democrats are weighing their options in 2018. That includes former congressman Parker Griffith, who unsuccessfully challenged Bentley in 2014 and outgoing House Minority Leader Craig Ford of Gadsden.

The Alabama State Board of Education voted Thursday to begin the process to intervene in the Montgomery County School system because of the system's academic struggles.  A news conference was held after the board voted unanimously to begin the invention process.  Reaction about the resolution was mixed; WVAS News spoke with Reverend Charles Thomas, the Political Director of the Montgomery Ministers Union who disagrees with the resolution.  MPS Board of President Robert Porterfield says the process will take some time.

   The state school board has voted for intervention in the Montgomery County school system because of academic struggles. The board voted unanimously today to begin the intervention process. Superintendent Michael Sentance said a capital city school system should be a "shining example" of achievement. He noted that some schools in the system are very high-performing while others have low test scores. Sentance also praised county school officials' willingness to work on improving schools.

 A group of black lawmakers will speak out against Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, in the second day of Senate confirmation hearings. They include New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who will take the rare step of testifying against a current Senate colleague. Booker's scheduled testimony underscores Democratic unease with the Alabama Republican, who was rejected for a federal judgeship by the Senate Judiciary Committee three decades ago amid accusations of racial impropriety.

   Parts of the South are bracing for a winter storm that is targeting the deep south and eastern United States today. A winter storm warning covers eastern Alabama through north Georgia, including Atlanta, and into the Carolinas and part of Virginia. Alabama Governor Robert Bentley issued a state of emergency that will open its emergency operations center this morning and put 300 Alabama National Guard soldiers at the ready to help if needed.

Members of the Montgomery County Board of Education held a work session discussing the potential intervention by the Alabama Department of Education.  No votes were taken at the meeting; instead the a legal advisor presented an overview of the 2013 Intervention Act, discussed changes to the law and answered board members.  A meeting with the state superintendent is scheduled for January 9, 2017.  A leader with Montgomery's school system tells the Montgomery Advertiser that officials there have been told the state is taking control.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley says a former state representative, who pleaded guilty to bribing a lobbyist, will no longer work at a state liquor store. Bentley said he told his chief of staff Wednesday to advise the ABC Board that former Rep. Terry Spicer will not be employed. Bentley did not elaborate. Spicer pleaded guilty in 2011 to taking cash and a ski vacation from a lobbyist. The Dothan Eagle reported that Spicer had taken a sales job with the agency.

The National Weather Service says a tornado did not directly kill four people who died Monday in southeast Alabama.  A survey team concludes a tree that crashed through a mobile home near Rehobeth in Houston County, killing four, fell by straight-line winds.  The team concludes winds of 85 mph were related to a nearby tornado, though.  That twister touched down in Geneva County and ended 8 miles later in Houston County, creating a 500-yard-wide damage path.  A second tornado hit Bullock County.  

Authorities have reported a sixth death as the result of strong storms that swept through the South: a woman in Georgia. Albany, Georgia, Fire Chief Ron Rowe said Tuesday that he did not have any details about exactly how the woman was killed. Her identity has not been released. Rowe says the approximately 1-mile-wide "violent" storm happened about 11 p.m. Monday, 30 minutes or so after a tornado warning was issued for the area.

Four people were killed in a mobile home in Rehobeth, Alabama during the storms. A Florida man died in the flooding.