Associated Press
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A rare bipartisan coalition in Alabama pushes ban on machine gun conversion devices
Conversion devices that speed the firing of semi-automatic weapons are already banned under federal law, but there's currently no state law prohibiting possession.
Alabama seeks to join states that allow the death penalty for child rape
The Alabama House of Representatives voted 86-5 for the bill that would allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty when an adult is convicted of rape or sodomy of a child under 12. The legislation now moves to the Alabama Senate.
Alabama seeks to follow Trump’s lead in defining male and female
Alabama and a small but growing number of other GOP-led states are pushing to enact more laws this year to legally define the two sexes based on observations of genitals at birth. Many trans advocates say the bills feel like an attempt to erase trans existence or a attempt to capitalize on prejudice for political gain.
Alabama set to execute a man with nitrogen gas for 1991 murder and rape
Demetrius Terrence Frazier was convicted of the 1991 murder of 41-year-old Pauline Brown. Prosecutors said Frazier raped and shot her after breaking into her Birmingham apartment. If carried out, Frazier's execution will be the third in the United States in 2025 and the first in Alabama this year.
With leaked footage from the inside, Sundance doc shows horrifying conditions in Alabama prisons
Incarcerated men in the Alabama prison system risked their safety to feed shocking footage of their horrifying living conditions to a pair of documentary filmmakers. The result is “The Alabama Solution,” which premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Federal judge hears request to block an upcoming nitrogen gas execution in Alabama
The state of Alabama urged a federal judge Tuesday to allow the nation's fourth execution with nitrogen gas to proceed next week, but a doctor who witnessed an earlier execution by the new method told the judge the inmate appeared to be in distress and awake minutes longer than officials predicted.
Alabama woman with a functioning pig organ is thriving after a record 2 months
An Alabama woman passed a major milestone Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant – healthy and full of energy with her new kidney for 61 days and counting.
Man charged with 11 homicides — including two mass shootings in Birmingham — pleads not guilty
Damien McDaniel is accused of killing 11 people between July and September of last year in Birmingham — which would account for over 7% of all homicides in the city in 2024.
Trump’s geographic renaming plans leave mapmakers pondering what to do next
Mapmakers and teachers are re-thinking what to call the gulf of water between Mexico, the United States and Cuba after President Donald Trump ordered it renamed from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. There's no agreed-upon scheme to name boundaries and features shared by countries. And map lines are inherently political.
Alabama supreme court grants breastfeeding women exemption from jury duty after public outcry
The Alabama Supreme Court issued an administrative order that requires Alabama judges to have written procedures excusing breastfeeding mothers from jury duty. Previously, state code did not specifically make exemptions for nursing mothers.
Alabama inmate asks court to block nitrogen gas execution
Demetrius Terrence Frazier is scheduled to be executed Feb. 6. His attorneys in a Wednesday court filing asked a judge to block the execution unless the state makes changes to the protocol.
Lawsuit by college professors and students challenges Alabama’s anti-DEI law
The complaint asserts the new law violates the First Amendment by placing viewpoint-based restrictions on educators’ speech and classroom lessons.
Alabama profits off prisoners safe enough to work at McDonald’s, deems them too dangerous for parole
No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. Best Western, Bama Budweiser and Burger King are among the more than 500 businesses to lease incarcerated workers from one of the most violent, overcrowded and unruly prison systems in the U.S.
An Alabama woman is doing well after the latest experimental pig kidney transplant
Towana Looney is the fifth American given a gene-edited pig organ — and notably, she isn’t as sick as prior recipients who died within two months of receiving a pig kidney or heart.
Alabama lawmakers eye change to school funding formula
Lawmakers have no plans to increase taxes but are looking to revamp the formula that divvies out state funds.
College sports reform could advance in GOP-controlled Congress
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is set to take over as chair of the powerful Commerce Committee, said recently that a college sports bill will be a top priority, accusing Democrats of dragging their feet on needed reforms.
Bill Battle, former Alabama AD who founded licensing company, dies
Bill Battle, who was athletic director at his alma mater, Alabama, where he played for Paul “Bear” Bryant's first national championship team, has died. He was 82.
Gunshots at Tuskegee University sent terrified students running for their lives
The shooting left one man dead and injured at least 16 other people early Sunday, a dozen of them by gunfire, authorities said. An arrest was announced hours later. Many of the injured were students.
Racist text messages referencing slavery raise alarms in Alabama and prompt investigations
The messages, sent anonymously, were reported in several states, including Alabama. They generally used a similar tone but varied in wording.
Amazon workers in Alabama will have third labor union vote after judge finds illegal influence
Administrative law judge Michael Silverstein on Tuesday ordered the third vote for Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama after determining that Amazon committed six violations leading up to the second election in March 2022.
Birmingham police chief announces plans to retire
Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond announced at a press conference that he will step down at the end of November, two years into his tenure as the historic city's top cop.
A federal judge halts an Alabama program that purged thousands of legal voters
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco ruled in favor of the Department of Justice and civil rights groups and issued a preliminary injunction against a voter purging program launched by the Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen in August.
Lilly Ledbetter, an icon of the fight for equal pay, has died at 86
Ledbetter had worked a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Gadsden, Alabama, for 19 years when she received an anonymous note saying she was being paid significantly less than three male colleagues.
For small cities across Alabama with Haitian populations, Springfield is a cautionary tale
Amid mounting tension, a bipartisan group of local religious leaders, law enforcement officials and residents across Alabama sees the fallout in Springfield as a cautionary tale. They've been taking steps to help integrate the state's Haitian population in the small cities where they live.
Lawsuit says Alabama voter purge targets naturalized citizens
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced last month that 3,251 people who had been previously issued noncitizen identification numbers will have their voter registration status made inactive and flagged for possible removal from the voter rolls.
Jill Biden and Lloyd Austin visit an Alabama base to tout expanded military benefits
Biden and Austin visited a pre-kindergarten program the first lady has championed that funds universal preschool for children aged 3 and 4. The administration plans to expand it beyond military facilities and into education systems nationwide.
Alabama anti-DEI law shuts Black Student Union office, queer resource center at flagship university
Under the bill signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in March, DEI is defined as classes, training, programs and events where attendance is based on a person’s race, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin or sexual orientation.
Alabama says law cannot block people with certain felony convictions from voting in 2024 election
The Alabama attorney general office wrote in a Friday court filing that the new law, which has a Oct. 1 effective date, cannot be used to block people from voting in the upcoming election, because the Alabama Constitution prohibits new election laws from taking effect within six months of the general election.
Heart disease is rampant in parts of the rural South. Researchers are hitting the road to learn why
Public health experts from some of the nation’s leading research institutions have deployed a massive medical trailer to rural parts of the South to test and survey thousands of local residents. The goal: to understand why the rates of heart and lung disease are dramatically higher there than in other parts of the U.S.
Alabama election officials make voter registration inactive for thousands of potential noncitizens
Secretary of State Wes Allen announced on Tuesday that 3,251 people will receive letters notifying them that their voter registration status has been made inactive.
Conservationists try to protect ecologically rich Alabama delta from development, climate change
Residents, scientists and environmentalists are working to protect the entire Alabama ecosystem considered crucial to the survival of species and the health of the delta and, ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico. They’re acquiring property to prevent development and logging that chips away at forests, worsens flooding and threatens species — and as a buffer against climate change.
The last known intact US slave ship is too ‘broken’ and should stay underwater, a report recommends
The task force headed by the Alabama Historical Commission said Thursday that the Clotilda, the last ship known to transport enslaved Africans to the United States, had been broken in half by a large vessel and severely eroded by bacteria. The 500-page report says that the “responsible” way to memorialize the ship is to protect it under the water where it was discovered six years ago.