• There is expected to be severe thunderstorms across Alabama today starting this afternoon and lasting until tonight.
• “Intense storms capable of widespread damaging winds, large hail, and several strong tornadoes are possible with several rounds of storms,” James Spann writes.
• Spann says there will be multiple waves of weather throughout today and that the core threat for north and central Alabama will come around 4-10 p.m.
• Read more about the forecast and advice from James Spann HERE.

• Last Thursday, the Business Council of Alabama presented the Small Business Exchange on Alabama Public Television.
• This event allowed small businesses throughout the state the opportunity to speak to experts on a variety of topics, including the CARES Act, small business loans, unemployment and more.
• BCA would like to thank our special guests who contributed to the televised portion, including Gov. Kay Ivey, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, Attorney General Steve Marshall, Carl Jamison of JamisonMoneyFarmer, NFIB Alabama State Director Rosemary Elebash, Jason Isbell of the Alabama Bankers Association, and Secretary of Labor Fitzgerald Washington - all of whom provided invaluable advice and resources to listeners. 
• The Small Business Exchange would not have been possible without the great partnership with Alabama Public Television. BCA would like to thank APT for helping bring the event to life, making it the success it was.

• The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday overturned five of the ethics convictions that ended the political career of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, while upholding six others.
• The all-Republican court’s long-awaited ruling in the corruption case against the once powerful Republican came ten months after justices heard arguments in the case and years after his conviction. Hubbard, 58, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016, but has remained free on appeal.
• Hubbard, the architect of the GOP’s takeover of the Alabama Legislature in 2010, was a legislator from Auburn and former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. He was elected House speaker soon after the Republicans consolidated their control, but was automatically removed from office after his 2006 felony conviction.
• Prosecutors accused Hubbard of monetizing his public office to obtain clients and investments for his businesses. His defense lawyers maintained the transactions were all above-board.
• Read more from Kim Chandler HERE.

• More than 450 health care workers in Alabama have been infected with COVID-19 as the total cases in the state neared 3,000, the Alabama Department of Public Health said Friday.
• The Alabama Department of Public Health said that 464 employees in hospitals and doctors’ offices have tested positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak began in Alabama. Infections in health care workers accounted for more than 15% of all cases in the state.
• Alabama reached nearly 3,000 confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday— increasing by 1,000 over just five days. The virus has been blamed for at least 80 deaths in the state.
• “We are still climbing. That’s why social distancing, staying at home, wearing a mask is so important,” U.S. Sen. Doug Jones said in a Friday news conference with Jefferson County Health Officer Mark Wilson.
• Another 116 employees at long-term care facilities and 97 patients at long-term-care facilities have tested positive for COIVD-19.
• South Haven Health and Rehabilitation Hoover nursing home confirmed to news outlets this week that 17 residents and 19 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. The facility said they began testing residents and employees as a proactive measure to contain the spread of the virus.
• At the end of the week, African Americans accounted for about 55% of COVID-19 deaths in Alabama, although the state is 26% black. Wilson said they are reviewing data for Jefferson County but noted the historical disparities in health and access to health care resources.
• “This pandemic basically puts a magnifying class on existing disparities,” Wilson said.
• Read the full report HERE.

• On Easter weekend, an Alabama nursing officer credited “divine intervention” for the “miracle” recovery of a patient not expected to recover after being stricken by COVID-19.
• So when Gregory Melcher of Guntersville was discharged Friday from Marshall Medical Center North between Guntersville and Arab, hospital staff cheered and celebrated – sending him home through a gauntlet of applause as he left the hospital.
• “It’s a miracle he was able to leave the hospital,” Chief Nursing Officer Kathy Woodruff said in a hospital Facebook post. “The reason we wanted to celebrate his leaving was because he wasn’t supposed to. I believe it was divine intervention.”
• It’s a much needed uplifting story for an area that has been one of the most hit areas in North Alabama.
• Read the full story from AL.com’s Paul Gattis.