Scottsboro is home to the largest gray bat summer cave. They’re leaving for the winter

At Sauta Cave anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 gray bats emerge to feast on insects. It’s thought to be the largest emergence of bats east of the Mississippi River, a spectacle that draws curious onlookers from across Alabama.


‘We got our miracle’: Freed Americans back home in Alabama

Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh had gone missing June 9 in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine while while fighting with Ukrainian forces against Russia.

Birmingham’s new Xpress rapid bus line gives residents a new option to travel across the city

The Birmingham Xpress is a single route that runs east to west between Five Points West and Woodlawn. A total of 32 stops take riders by places like Princeton Baptist Hospital, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Railroad Park and Sloss Furnace.

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Jackson residents claim city’s water woes stem from decades of neglect in new lawsuit

The lawsuit claims that Jackson’s water quality was poor long before the recent pump failure at O.B. Curtis — caused by decades of neglect and mismanagement.

Ahead of its Alabama debut, John Archibald gives an inside look at ‘Pink Clouds’

AL.com columnist John Archibald brings his columns to the stage with the debut of his first play, “Pink Clouds.” It premieres Saturday at Red Mountain Theatre.

Russian separatists release 2 U.S. veterans as part of a prisoner exchange

Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh went missing in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border June 9. They had traveled to Ukraine on their own and became friends because both are from Alabama.


Judge blocks upcoming lethal injection in Alabama

The judge issued a preliminary injunction to block the state from executing Alan Miller on Thursday by any method other than nitrogen hypoxia, an untested method Miller says he requested but Alabama is not ready to use.

Video appears to show Alabama corrections officer beating inmate

The video, circulating on social media, shows what appears to be a distressed inmate on the edge of a roof at a building at Elmore Correctional Facility, while a group of prison staff look at him from the ground.

U.S. Steel used convict labor in Birmingham. Has it reckoned with its past?

A century ago, U.S. Steel was one of the companies involved in Alabama's convict lease system. The steelmaker has a mixed record on acknowledging that history.

New data show how often Alabama uses solitary confinement

Survey numbers from 2021 show that roughly five percent of people in Alabama's prisons are housed in isolation for at least 22 hours a day for 15 days or more.

Memoir explores ‘being Black but growing up white’ after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing

"Dear Denise" follows Lisa McNair's life in a series of letters to the sister she never met. Lisa recounts her experience growing up in the first generation of African Americans after legal segregation.

Alabama could use nitrogen hypoxia for executions in death sentences. What is it?

The state approved the method in 2018, but it has not yet been used or tested. A man awaiting a Sep. 22 execution said he opted for nitrogen hypoxia instead of lethal injection due to a fear of needles, but corrections officers lost his paperwork.