SCOTTSBORO, AL (WAFF)- A woman struck by a train while crossing the railroad tracks in Jackson County earlier this month has now filed suit against the city and the railroad.

She is still recovering from her injuries in Huntsville since she was flown there earlier this month and faces a lot of rehabilitation.

It happened May 8th near Mary Hunter Avenue and Cedar Hill Drive in the city of Scottsboro.

Attorneys for Sheila Elliott filed suit Tuesday on her behalf against Norfolk Southern Railway, the city of Scottsboro, and the train's conductor. The suit claims it was negligence that caused the accident.

Attorney Brent Parker said trains must follow federal law in operating.

The suit claims proper signage was not installed, and he has witnesses who say the conductor failed to blow his horn upon arriving at the intersection.

HOUSTON COUNTY, AL (WAFF)- There is a mystery brewing in south Alabama. An illness has hospitalized several people, killing two of them.

It is something that leaves the patient struggling to breathe.

The Alabama Department of Public Health is putting everyone on notice about a mystery illness.  Epidemiologists are conferring with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about a cluster of respiratory illnesses. 

The origin of the illness is unknown, but it is striking people in the Houston County area.  So far, seven people have been hospitalized with fever, cough, and shortness of breath.   Two of those patients have died.  

Lab specimens have been collected and are being studied.   For now, both the Public Health Department and the CDC are recommending hospitals use respiratory protocol when dealing someone with such an illness, meaning masks and gloves.  

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF)- The U.S. military is warning its workers furloughs are coming as the Pentagon deals with budget cuts.

Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel sent out a memo to the Defense Department's civilian employees.

It will be considerably less painful than they have warned, but it will still be a tough blow, essentially a pay cut for hundreds of thousands of workers.

Hagel said the Defense Department will furlough most of its civilian workers by up to 11 days between now and the end of the current fiscal year this fall.

This is part of the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration, which are coming into effect because congressional negotiators could not make a deal to trim the federal budget deficit.

Huntsville defense contractors who have been struggling to deal with, and plan for, sequester cuts say they are a dangerous and irresponsible way to work the country's books.