This weekend in The Star

Check out The Star this weekend for these stories:

On Saturday:

Judge C. Lynwood Smith says Calhoun County Schools can continue with construction of White Plains Middle School. Steve Ivey has this story.

In more education news, Steve also writes about Calhoun County Schools looking at programs elsewhere in the state that get laptops to every high school student. Could a program like this be coming to the area?

Markeshia Ricks attended the Joint Commission on Women and Girls in Prison today and has this story for Saturday's paper: A preliminary proposal by a commission studying women and girls in the state’s criminal justice system recommends closing the doors of the existing Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women.

On Sunday:
A nationwide nursing shortage combines with increased usage of Emergency Departments. That means they are as busy, or busier, as ever, with a limited pool of people available to help the sick and injured. RMC is trying out a new concept that's catching on elsewhere - hiring paramedics to work in hospitals instead of on wheels. We spend a night in the RMC ER where the hospital's first paramedic is now on duty. Check out the online photo gallery to see pictures of the ER in action.

The nation this week reached the destruction of 50 percent of the chemical weapons stockpile it had when it signed the treaty to get rid of them in 1997. In Anniston, there's still a long way to go, though officials say much of the previous risk is gone now that sarin and M55 rockets are gone. With things beginning to feel like there's an end in sight, Todd South talks with workers at the incinerator about how they keep their vigilance up.