The drought affecting portions of Alabama continues to reduce flows in rivers and streams that feed Alabama Power’s lakes. The conditions have resulted in lower levels at Alabama Power reservoirs. Scattered summer showers in July and early August helped slow the drop in lake levels. Since then, however, dry conditions have returned. Water levels at […]

By Michael Tomberlin Birmingham’s Pizitz building has a presence about it and that presence has been felt. From its construction in 1923, the massive, six-story home to Pizitz department store shaped retail and helped make that part of downtown Birmingham a shopping mecca for the region. When the last elements of the Pizitz store closed […]

By Alicia Rohan A new school year means new after-school activities, which can lead to a balancing act of schedules for parents. Between sports, music lessons, youth groups and other activities, it is easy for parents and children to quickly become overcommitted. “Busy schedules have become a part of our culture,” said Josh Klapow, Ph.D., […]

More than 12,000 overtime hours worked by Alabama Power’s 12th Street line crews add up to a lot of missed time with their kids on summer vacation. But two of members of Foreman Greg Herbinger’s crew take a philosophical view. “I’ve missed several Little League baseball games as well as family birthday parties due to […]

By Michael Tomberlin UAB unveiled a new video today, kicking off a campaign for the 2016-17 season a year before football returns to the school. The “Together We Are Greater Birmingham” video and promotion taps into the revived interest in football and other sports at the school after the football program was eliminated in December […]

By Wayne Hester Verne Lundquist will be four days shy of 53 years in broadcasting on Sept. 3 when CBS televises the UCLA at Texas A&M game. “Verne is a legend in this business,” said his partner Gary Danielson. “I am thankful to have had the opportunity to sit next to him calling SEC games.” […]

By Karim Shamsi-Basha As football season approaches, the battle cry of the defending national champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide, is rising up from Tuscaloosa to Dallas to New York to Jerusalem. Jerusalem? The last thing one might expect to find on the ancient streets of Jerusalem is anything having to do with American football – […]

Some people might think you’re on Easy Street the year after your football team finishes as the runner-up to the national champion in the Football Championship Subdivision. Don’t count Jacksonville State coach John Grass among that number. “You’ve got to work harder now than what you were working,” said Grass, whose team lost 37-10 to […]

LAS VEGAS – Question: What Southern state just produced the 2016 national trivia champion? Answer: Alabama. But you probably guessed that. On Saturday, Aug. 28, the 2016 National Trivia League finals were held at the Rio Hotel. Sponsored by Challenge Entertainment, the competition brought together 170 teams that qualified by winning weekly trivia contests across […]

The latest master plan to expand the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex goes topless, revealing the new direction to focus on adding outdoor sports to the venue. Kansas City-based Populous presented its latest plans to the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority board of directors, calling for extensive renovations and expansion of Legacy Arena, modernizing the entire complex’s look […]

The Hummus People, Athens The Makers: Allie Clark and Colin Woltmann Winter was coming and the tomatoes were almost gone. Allie Clark and Colin Woltmann had grown up in Wisconsin, but they’d recently moved to Anderson, Alabama, to help Allie’s father raise heirloom tomatoes — and the growing season was drawing to a close. “My […]

Jennifer Stevenson leads a double life of sorts. At home, she’s the wife of John Stevenson, editor and publisher of The Randolph Leader, spending her time at their place in Roanoke tending to donkeys, chickens, goats and more. At the office, though, as head of development and special events for the Lakeshore Foundation, she goes […]

Restaurant owner Jimmy McPhillips describes food as his “passion.” But customers who visit his restaurant on the Alabama coast say it’s more than the food that makes The Southern Grind a hit. The Mango Salsa Chicken Salad received rave reviews and earned a place on the 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. […]

When you imagine Sweet Home Alabama, you don’t typically envision high stress. But an analysis from website Wallet Hub found three Alabama cities among the top 10 most stressed. The rankings of the nation’s 150 largest cities placed Mobile second, Birmingham third and Montgomery 10th. The study collected data from the cities, rating their stress […]

Three of Alabama largest cities, Huntsville, Montgomery and Mobile, are among the top 25 places in the nation with the lowest cost of living, according to the website Niche, with the Rocket City and state capital cracking the top 10. Birmingham, the state’s biggest city by population, made it into the top 30. Huntsville is […]

Honda’s innovative humanoid robot, ASIMO, visited the automaker’s Talladega County plant this week, part of an effort to encourage STEM education among local students and celebrate the advanced technology found throughout the facility. ASIMO, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, was featured at the Honda Manufacturing of Alabama Family Open House on Sunday. […]

For Lillie Leatherwood, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro bring back memories of the highlight of her life – the day 32 years ago when she took her place on the podium as a gold-medal winner. Leatherwood brought home the gold in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as part of the U.S. team […]

U.S. News & World Report’s 2016-2017 Best Hospitals report ranks UAB Hospital No. 1 in Birmingham and Alabama, and nine UAB specialties are listed among the nation’s top 50, up from six specialties the previous year. “We are proud to be one of the best hospitals in America, and located in Alabama,” said Health System […]

Crush and rub. This little-known remedy for keeping mosquitoes at bay – by simply rubbing your skin with the leaves of mosquito-repellant plants – sounds too easy, but the tried-and-true method repels the pesky insects, said Tia Gonzales. With nearly 30 years of experience as a horticulturist, Gonzales, Agricultural Program assistant at Auburn University, knows […]

There have been few darker moments on the Alabama Gulf Coast than when the Deepwater 2010 Horizon oil spill stained the brilliant white sand beaches and clouded the blue water. Hurricane Frederic (1979) and Hurricane Ivan (2004) had taught coastal residents what it would take to rebuild from the most devastating storms. But they had […]

Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm with gamers of all ages. It is giving people a reason to leave the house while reminiscing on childhood. Using a cellphone’s camera and a GPS locator, Pokémon gamers can walk around watching their devices in hopes of a virtual character popping up on the screen. Pokémon […]

In early December of 2014, UAB shut down its football program. It wasn’t a popular move, to say the least. Students protested, fans wailed, coaches and players grieved. And the Birmingham community, which had shown little interest in Blazer football before, realized it had lost something good. There was such an outcry that UAB President […]

Getting Alabama to come out on top of Google’s own search results for its high-tech data center took thousands of emails and texts, 20 visits from the company to north Alabama and the last-minute signature of a mayor named Bubba. The key players in the recruitment of the $600 million Google data center to Jackson […]

The commander of the USS Alabama nuclear submarine doesn’t hesitate to make a nod to the state for which his ship is named. “I tell my crew that our motto is ‘TIDE’ – a play on Alabama’s Crimson Tide,” he says. “T stands for training, I for integrity, D for deterrence and E for excellence. […]