🌱 Mountain Brook Finances 'Healthy': Audit + Local Author's New Book

Hello, neighbors! It's me, Dashiell Allen, your host of the Patch newsletter. Here's what you need to know about what's happening in the community today, including:

• The City of Mountain Brook's finances are "healthy."
• Residents recall visiting the Golden Flake potato chip factory.
• Mountain Brook author Patti Callahan's new book.

But first, today's weather: A stray morning shower. High: 77 Low: 54.

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Here are the top three stories in Mountain Brook today:

1. An audit report found that Mountain Brook's city finances are "healthy," with an at least six months reserve in funding. In other news, the City Council has decided to remove three of five "rumble strips" placed on Overton Road to warn drivers about an intersection, after residents raised concerns they were too noisy. (Village Living)
2. Generations of Central American school children have fond memories of visiting the Golden Flake potato chip factory in Birmingham, which Utz Brands announced is closing. "We got to try a chip on each conveyor belt," recalled Campbell Scott, a nurse practitioner from Mountain Brook. "They were warm." (AL.com)
3. Mountain Brook author Patti Callahan Henry is preparing to release her eighteenth book and first in two years, "The Secret Book of Flora Lea." It's a work of historical fiction that starts off during the British "Operation Pied Piper" during World War II when children were sent from the city to the country for safety. (Alabama NewsCenter)

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Today in Mountain Brook:

• 'Honor our parents' Shabbat service — Levite Jewish Community Center (11 a.m.)
• Boys Varsity Baseball @ Oxford — 2nd Round of AHSAA Playoffs (4 p.m.)

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From my notebook:

• Michael Clark, a Retired Animal Control Officer Mountain Brook Police Department, who served the city from 1986 to 2012, passed away on April 22. (Mountain Brook Police Department via Facebook)
• Check out the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce's ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating "fifty years of family-owned success in Mountain Brook Village" at "Christine's on Canterbury's 50th Anniversary." (Mountain Brook Chamber via Instagram)
• Mountain Brook Elementary students in fourth to sixth grade got an up-close look at how surgical robots function from Mr. Branden Henderson, who works at Intuitive as an area sales manager. (Mountain Brook Schools via Facebook)

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You're officially in the loop for today. I'll see you back in your inbox tomorrow morning with your next update!

— Dashiell Allen

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Mountain Brook Patch newsletter? Contact me at [email protected]