TUSCUMBIA — A Colbert County couple have donated a nearly-700 acre preserve to Land Trust of North Alabama. Jim and Faye Lacefield have donated Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve, a 693-acre site in northwest Alabama. This will be the Land Trust’s ninth public nature preserve and first in northwest Alabama. “The Land Trust is truly […]

With Mardi Gras fast approaching, king cake season is in full swing. Cutting into a king cake, decorated in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold, and green, is a favorite ritual for many in the weeks leading to Lent. Traditionally, king cake is served throughout the Carnival season, which runs from Epiphany on January […]

On Monday, a ground breaking ceremony was held in Gautier, Mississippi for a new amphitheater that will become operational in 2024. The Sound Amphitheater will be located a short drive from Mobile and other parts of the Alabama Gulf Coast. The $6 million dollar amphitheater holds more than 6,500 people and will host America’s top […]

Paul Martini has traveled to 37 nations and 5 continents to share the love, and gospel, of Jesus Christ. He has a strong anointing for evangelism, and he carries the gift of healing, and his desire is to see the lost turned to the heart of the Father. At a young age, Paul ran away […]

Metter, Ga., sleeps somewhere between Savannah and Macon, and just north of Interstate 16. Though I have driven I-16 a number of times, I had never stopped in Metter. This changed last fall when I was asked to speak at the annual “Metter Men’s Retreat.” This event is sponsored each year by the First Baptist […]

Top Guy Weekend is coming to the Rocket City this summer. The event by AdFreeShows.com brings hundreds of professional wrestling fans together for one epic weekend. “It’s a gathering of our most ardent listeners to our podcasts,” said founder Conrad Thompson. Thompson, frequently referred to as “The Podfather” online, began podcasting in 2015 about “old-school, […]

At the Woodlawn Marketplace in Birmingham, economic empowerment can be both beautiful and delicious. The marketplace is a business incubator created by REV Birmingham, a revitalization and economic development nonprofit. Under a single roof, entrepreneurs pursue their dreams to build businesses around their handmade crafts and food-related products. All are veterans of the periodic Woodlawn […]

As Mykola and Olena Vyshyvanyuk escort new friends to their car, the stillness of the suburban night is briefly interrupted by an almost imperceptible sound in the distance: the wail of an ambulance siren headed to a nearby hospital. Yet on this winter evening, no one notices. That itself is a miracle. For the past […]

Yea Alabama, the official name, image and likeness (NIL) entity of the University of Alabama, will serve as the gateway to link fans, donors and businesses with Crimson Tide student-athletes to facilitate NIL opportunities, university officials announced Thursday. “Yea Alabama’s approach is both cutting edge and sustainable in an ever-changing NIL environment,” said Greg Byrne, UA’s […]

We’ve been working through the book of Genesis at midweek Bible study in our church. It’s been refreshing to look at the old stories I learned as a child, and to consider them with more maturity and, I trust, more insight. Genesis 37 begins the Joseph chronicles that essentially take the remaining chapters of the book, but this saga is interrupted […]

This week’s weather offered the perfect backdrop for a groundbreaking event on a long-awaited hotel project in downtown Huntsville. Located neatly beside Big Spring Park and across the street from the Von Braun Center will soon stand an Autograph Collection hotel by Marriott. Georgia-based Ascent Hospitality and Huntsville-based JS Building Company teamed up on the […]

Coffee lovers know the best cup is made with recently roasted beans—the fresher the better. Buying from a local roastery, especially one in the neighborhood, guarantees that freshness.  Although Birmingham’s regional giants Royal Cup and Red Diamond are more than a century old, today’s modern coffee culture traces to 1993 when O’Henry’s Coffee opened in […]

This week, I traveled to UAB hospital to visit a dear friend who had just undergone a significant surgery. On my way north on I-59, I passed an exit where a big red sign proudly announced a Krystal restaurant. We don’t have a Krystal in Guntersville, but I really wish we did. I stopped. As […]

After 10 years as a history professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Dr. John Kvach decided to flip his script and embark on a new pursuit that would focus on the future rather than the past. As the executive director of the Singing River Trail nonprofit, Kvach oversees a project that will create […]

David McCullough, who died last August, gave us books about the Panama Canal, the Wright Brothers, the Brooklyn Bridge and the American Revolution, and won Pulitzers for “Truman” and “John Adams.” The latter was made into an HBO miniseries that earned 13 Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes. In a “behind the scenes” feature on […]

It’s an unusually cold night in downtown Birmingham, but the chilly temperatures haven’t deterred the small groups of people trickling into Hi-Wire Brewing. The city’s newest brewery has only been open for a couple months, but it’s already built a reputation for itself thanks to its excellent craft beer selection, expansive space, and fun selection […]

When Emil Ekiyor Jr. was being recruited by the University of Alabama to play football, community service wasn’t at the top of his list – but it did matter to somebody whose opinion mattered. “It was definitely something my mom was asking about during the recruiting process – if there would be any opportunities to do community service when […]

DECATUR – Warren Buffet said someone is sitting in the shade today, because someone planted a tree a long time ago. The City of Decatur has been planting trees for years and continues to do so with a multiprong approach to growing and maintaining the city’s tree canopies. The city’s efforts are paying off after […]

The Super Bowl is in a matter of days. Leading up to that final game, every game was more important than any of the previous games of the year. To lose a playoff game is to end the entire season. When you lose, you go home. If you win, you take one more step toward […]

The new year often brings new resolutions, the majority of which are centered around physical health or weight loss, research shows. Diet and nutrition fads flood the internet with promises of quick weight loss, but many dieters find the regimens difficult to maintain. Instead of focusing solely on a restrictive diet, researchers at the University of Alabama […]

Anthony Ricciardone charted his current entrepreneurial course as a gardener. Today, he’s a farmer. Oysters are his crop, boutique bivalves that he and partner Chris Head grow in water off Fort Morgan where the salty Gulf of Mexico meets more subtly brackish Bon Secour Bay. A lifelong outdoorsman and fisherman, Ricciardone began by raising oysters off […]

Biscuits are a way of life in the South. From fast food favorites to family heirloom recipes, there’s not a meal that can’t be made better by a hot, buttery biscuit. In December, Birmingham added another biscuit purveyor with the opening of Nashville-based, family-run breakfast and lunch spot Biscuit Love. The new spot on Dolly […]

The recent sub-zero weather at Christmastime reminded me of the difficulties of weather-casting for churches, and how often we get it wrong. We planned an outdoor Easter worship during Covid spring, but church leaders decided on Good Friday that the forecast monsoon on Sunday would prevent this. However, Sunday came as a bright and sunny […]

Once all the presents are unwrapped, the last of the leftovers have been polished off, and the endless boxes of lights and ornaments are safely stowed away, the holidays can seem like a thing of the distant past. But just because December has come and gone, that doesn’t mean the magic of the “most wonderful […]