This holiday season, we have a suggestion: Check on your parents. Or grandparents. And make sure everything is OK. Holidays are about family time, but 2020 is decidedly different. Social distancing will be the norm. Unfortunately, scammers don’t follow the rules. And that puts seniors at even more risk. Cold, hard numbers bear that out. […]

Congressman-elect Jerry Carl (AL-01) on Monday announced three key staff hires, as the Republican from Mobile County prepares to take office upon the start of the 117th Congress on January 3, 2021. First, Carl said in a statement he is “proud” to announce his selection of Chad Carlough to serve as his chief of staff. […]

With temperatures projected to drop below freezing as far south as Mobile on Monday and Tuesday, many cities in Alabama are preparing to protect their neediest citizens from the cold. Birmingham and Montgomery both announced warming centers will be open on Monday and Tuesday nights. Charities across the state have put out a call for […]

Birmingham’s pioneering Zyp bikeshare program, which ended its successful five-year run in December 2019, has left some local folks in the city going through micromobility withdrawal. But in a matter of weeks, new players are expected to pick up where Zyp left off and take transportation-sharing in the city to a whole new level. Earlier […]

Dr. Saeed Latif and a group of engineering students at the University of South Alabama are preparing to explore space with a satellite project called SWARM-EX. The plan is to launch three identical CubeSats – miniaturized, light-weight and low-cost satellites – to form a small constellation orbiting around the Earth. The satellites will feature new […]

Dr. David Hicks readily admits that he looks younger than he is. But it doesn’t take long to realize that he brings to his job a wisdom that extends beyond his 42 years. As the deputy health officer at the Jefferson County Department of Health, Hicks plays a key role in organizing COVID-19 testing at […]

James West was hoping to find red snapper when he pulled his boat into Mobile Bay last Thursday. Instead he found one of the world’s largest mammals. At first, West thought he spotted some dolphins. “We saw a bunch of birds and some humps off in the distance,” he said. Then he thought it might […]

According to a report, U.S. Army General Lloyd J. Austin (Ret.) is under consideration to lead the Department of Defense under a Biden administration. Axios on Friday reported that former Vice President Joe Biden has placed Austin on a shortlist to be the next DoD secretary. This comes after the Trump administration began the formal […]

Tuscaloosa and Auburn have a lot in common. That assessment might give pause to passionate fans on both sides of what has been called college football’s greatest traditional rivalry. But if the subject is small-but-thriving communities that continue to expand their established industrial base while nurturing new businesses in emerging innovation sectors, the two cities […]

Alabamians, like the rest of the nation, have already begun their holiday shopping to ensure they can get the gifts they want and that those gifts arrive on time. Through September, Alabama consumers had spent almost 8% more than they did in 2019, based on Alabama Revenue Department reports on all state-taxed sales. That growth […]

Earlier this week, State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Daphne) announced he had no interest in having discussions about a new I-10 Mobile Bay bridge until Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama Department of Transportation director John Cooper were out of office given the way the 2019 toll bridge saga unfolded, which was canceled after the Eastern Shore […]

Mayors across Jefferson County are leading an effort to bring COVID-19 testing to their communities by partnering with Live HealthSmart Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC). Increasing options for testing is critical to reach all population groups, especially those in minority communities. Since August, Live HealthSmart […]

Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) has formally proclaimed November 28, 2020, to be Small Business Saturday. The proclamation issued by Ivey stressed that “the state of Alabama believes that small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the glue that holds communities together.” Ivey subsequently recognized that small businesses comprise 99.4% of businesses in the […]

Not even the COVID-19 pandemic could stop members of the University of Alabama Campus Veterans Association and Auburn University Student Veterans Association from holding the third annual Operation Iron Ruck, an initiative to bring awareness to the rash of veteran suicides in America. Beginning Wednesday and culminating ahead of Saturday’s Iron Bowl, participants from the […]

The University of Alabama Crimson Tide’s game against LSU, which was originally scheduled for November 14, will reportedly be rescheduled to Saturday, December 5. The game was postponed earlier this month because of positive COVID-19 test results and subsequent contact tracing within the LSU football program. It had since become doubtful that the game would […]

Lockheed Martin this week announced it has closed on the acquisition of Huntsville-based Integration Innovation Inc.’s (i3) hypersonics portfolio. Terms of acquiring this portion of the Rocket City software and systems engineering company were not disclosed. A release advised that the acquisition expands Lockheed’s capabilities to design, develop and produce integrated hypersonic weapon systems for […]

In a new study, University of Alabama at Birmingham investigators will recruit family members of people who have died by suicide after a change in prescribed pain medications and survey their experiences. In the United States, suicide rates rose 33 percent from 1999 to 2017, prompting actions by government and nongovernmental agencies, including a new suicide prevention […]

According to a report last week, efforts were underway for the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to put a new I-10 Mobile Bay Bridge proposal back on its Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) after being removed in 2019 to prevent the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) from proceeding with a controversial toll bridge proposal. Under […]

It’s especially important this year for people to shop small on Small Business Saturday, says National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Alabama State Director Rosemary Elebash. A release outlined that Alabamians can do so in person, online or over the phone. Small Business Saturday, as it is annually, is this coming Saturday, the one immediately […]

Alabama Power partnered with utilities across the nation through Utilities United Against Scams (UUAS) to recognize the fifth annual Utility Scam Awareness Day on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Utility Scam Awareness Day is part of International Scam Awareness Week, an advocacy and awareness campaign focused on educating customers and exposing tactics used by scammers. “Alabama Power is joining […]

The University of South Alabama will lead on a pilot program funded with a $710,000 grant from Columbia World Projects to address wastewater treatment in the rural Black Belt of Alabama. The project aims to demonstrate that better wastewater treatment systems can yield health, economic and environmental benefits for rural communities in the United States […]

We see it in the movies all the time: the computer whiz furiously typing at his keyboard to bypass the security system or open the un-openable door for the hero. For real computer whizzes, such as Dustin Fast, computer programming is not that dramatic, but Fast can do things on a computer keyboard that are […]

A Lee County circuit judge on Wednesday issued a ruling that significantly reduced former Alabama House Speaker Michael G. “Mike” Hubbard’s prison sentence. Hubbard in 2016 was convicted on 12 of 23 ethics charges brought against him by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office; he was then sentenced to four years in prison. One of those […]

Last week, state and local officials in the Mobile and Baldwin County areas had reportedly resumed discussions about a new I-10 Mobile Bay Bridge. A now-infamous proposal came to a halt last year after the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to remove the bridge from the organization’s Transportation Improvement Program, which resulted in Gov. […]