Live Breaking News & Updates on Reynolds In Gulf Shore
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Bonnie with me in studio keeping an eye. tell me what the weather is going to be doing. i m going to start with reynolds in gulf shore, alabama. this is the weekend. memorial day earlier in the year. didn t turn out so well for a lot of folks along the gulf as far as tourism goes. so what do they expect this time around for this weekend? reporter: well, what they can expect this weekend, 32 miles of white sand beaches with that emerald water that has been known to come right up along the shoreline, what they can expect will be in some locations possibly empty beaches. this is a $1.1 billion industry for tourism in this part of the world. and right now i want you to think about this, t.j. a year ago, one year ago it was sold out completely in terms of lodging here. this time you ve got places that are wide open, some spots you ve got just only 50% to 70% occupancy. rooms last year sell for $225, discounted to $150, trying to bring people in here. you know, the issue has really ....
Things but also tourism along the gulf right now. and the bread and butter really for the tourism season down there are these big holiday weekends. yes, people go down and vis at this time whole season but they hope to make a lot of money during the holiday weekends. reynolds wolf is there for us. bonnie nider is live with us as well keeping an eye on the weather. reynolds, i want to start with you though in talking to folks down there. i mean, what are their hopes for this weekend now? are they high, are they optimistic, pessimistic right now? reporter: you know, i think it s a balance of a little bit of everything. there s definitely pessimism. they ve had a tough time this year. it s been three fold. they ve been dealing with the oil field. you also have high unemployment, you ve got a very poor economy, people are trying to save money. the deal is the ones that are spending that money, the people who are planning on coming out to the beach, a lot of people unfortunately are going ....
Been with some of the these tar balls? reporter: to be completely honest with you it s really hard to tell because they ve been doing such a great job cleaning it up. we ve seen i-reports over the past couple of days of the reddish tide coming to shore. not the red tide that can affect sea but the tide of the oil, the water that comes up and tinged with that reddish crude. as it s been coming onshore they ve been doing a good job keeping it clean. still, in speaking of that water you have the double red flags up and down along this beach. people happen to come out and see the double red flags, what it means is you can t get in the water. the beach itself is going to be open but you can t get out there for two reasons. one of course because of the oil but also because of the strong surf. some of that due to the storm that came through on the other half of the gulf. that effect being felt as far east as gulf shores, alabama. t.j.? can t get in the water. that s not good news. still, ....
You ve got some people right now working on beaches trying to clean up and make things pretty for their guests, getting tar balls off the beaches. are they going to be able to win this psychological battle there along the gulf coast, trying to get people to come down this holiday weekend? reynolds wolf is live for us. also this morning, this fourth of july weekend, over seas the new u.s. commander in afghanistan is talking to over 1500 of the troops there in kabul. that happened just a bit this morning. he says he s got an all-star team over there working in afghanistan. but got some tough, tough challenges and he arrives at a time of increasing violence. we ll be live in kabul here in just a moment. but first, let me tell universi you about some stories making headlines, including a recall from toyota. they are going ahead with a recall for 138,000 cars of their luxury brand lexus. this includes the 06 to 08 models. the problem here is with the engine. they say it could stall. ....
It was on autopilot, which was supposed toing do up on its own but some issue and they weren t able to dock up. they are going to try this again at some point they believe tomorrow they have a window to do so. they are discussing their options right now. now, nobody is in danger. there are six astronauts, cosmonauts on the international space station right now. no one is in danger or was ever in danger from this thing. again, it carries some pretty precious car, go resupply items, oxygen, water, all kinds of gipmegi equipment. meanwhile, we ll turn back to the gulf. tourists hopefully heading to the gulf coast beach s than holiday weekend. just don t know how many might show up. they re celebrating the fourth of july. meanwhile, the oil recovery ef fors that oil response efforts continue right now. something that s supposed to help out a lot is what we re told is the world s largest skimmer ship. it s there. it s just not being used yet. reynolds joining me once again with detail tho ....