al.com
Mercedes-Benz plant workers In Vance, Alabama announce majority of workers have signed union cards.
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- Mercedes-Benz plant workers In Vance, Alabama announce majority of workers have signed union cards.
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- Workers from the largest Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama, the largest Mercedes-Benz plant in the US, announce that the majority of workers have signed union cards in support of joining the UAW. Plant worker Jeremy Kimbrell was surrounded by several coworkers as he announced: "There comes a time when enough is enough. “Now is that time. We know what the company, what the politicians, and what their multi-millionaire buddies will say. They’ll say now is not the right time. Or that this is not the right way. But here’s the thing. This is our decision. It’s our life. It’s our community. These are our families. It’s up to us.”
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- Former MVP Ryan Howard invites Birmingham Negro League Players to MLB game at Rickwood
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- Ryan Howard came to Birmingham to invite former Negro League players to the MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues on June 20, 2024. Howard's parents are from Birmingham and his grandfather turned down an invite to paly in the Negor leagues to take a job in the coal mines.
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- Dead 13-foot great white shark washes up on Florida Beach
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Video provided by South Santa Rosa News
A dead Great White shark washed ashore on Navarre Beach in the Florida Panhandle, according to multiple media outlets and local officials.
The shark was measured at about 13 feet and estimated to weigh about 1,500 pounds.
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- Al.com reporter Amy Yurkanin discusses Alabama Court Decision halting IVF #alabama #news
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- A majority of justices on the Alabama Supreme Court, in a decision released Friday, ruled that fertilized eggs and embryos have the same status as children. The opinion referred to embryos, which are often stored in cryogenic freezers, as “extrauterine children.“
Medical experts warned the decision could limit access to IVF in Alabama. UAB is the first clinic to announce that it is pausing the procedure while officials evaluate potential legal consequences.
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- Denied: Alabama's Broken Parole System: How Alabama became one of the worst prison systems in the US
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Why does Alabama have some of the most overcrowded prisons in the country? One reason, you'll find, is Alabama has one of the lowest parole rates in the country.
According to the Alabama parole board’s data, in fiscal year 2023, there were 3,583 parole hearings. Just 297 were granted.
That’s despite the parole board’s own guidelines suggesting more than 80% of the prisoners should qualify for a second chance. The board even rejected all 10 people over 80 who were up for parole in 2023.
It wasn’t always this way.
Just five years ago, more than half of those who had a parole hearing were granted release.
This project was completed with the support of a grant from Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures.
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- The largest hospital in Alabama has paused IVF in the wake of state Supreme Court Decision
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system has paused in vitro fertilization procedures following an Alabama Supreme Court decision due to fear of criminal prosecution and lawsuits, a spokeswoman said.
A statement emailed by UAB spokeswoman Hannah Echols said they are “saddened” for patients who want to have babies through IVF. She said patients can continue the process up through egg retrieval, but fertilization and embryo development is paused for now.
The process, which involves fertilizing eggs outside the body and then transferring embryos to the womb, accounts for about 2 percent of births in the United States, according to RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. The UAB Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility made the move after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos had the same status as children in wrongful death lawsuits.
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- Al.com reporter Amy Yurkanin discusses the impact Alabama Court Decision has halting IVF
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- A majority of justices on the Alabama Supreme Court, in a decision released Friday, ruled that fertilized eggs and embryos have the same status as children. The opinion referred to embryos, which are often stored in cryogenic freezers, as “extrauterine children.“
There are many reasons families turn to IVF treatment. Some women may have blocked fallopian tubes that won’t allow fertilized eggs to travel to the uterus. In other cases, families can carry genes that cause fatal diseases and may want to create embryos that can be tested. In those cases, families will transfer healthy embryos and may discard or donate those that carry genetic diseases.
Medical experts warned the decision could limit access to IVF in Alabama. UAB is the first clinic to announce that it is pausing the procedure while officials evaluate potential legal consequences.
The case came about after three families in Mobile sued a fertility clinic and hospital in 2020. All t...
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- Birmingham Police Department Body and Dashcam footage of 2019 Fatal Shooting of Jamarcus Moore.
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- On June 15, 2019, Birmingham police officer Aric Mitchell launched a car chase of a silver Toyota Camry after attempting a traffic stop because the officer said he smelled marijuana coming from the car.
When the driver of the Toyota Camry, Jamarcus Moore, didn’t stop, Mitchell called in for backup. The chase ended in Hueytown, when Mitchell’s patrol car collided with the car Moore was driving, which also had a front seat passenger, Samantha Hardin.
Mitchell jumped out of the patrol car and shot into the vehicle, apparently without warning or delay. He shot Moore twice and Hardin once. Moore was pronounced dead at the scene.
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- Alabama prisoner’s brain missing after UAB autopsy
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- Another family claims their loved one was missing organs after dying in an Alabama prison. At the time of his death, 74-year-old Charles Singleton was incarcerated at the Hamilton Aged and Infirmed prison in Hamilton, Alabama. His family claims in court records that Singleton’s brain was missing, along with his other internal organs, after his body was returned from an autopsy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Go to al.com for more. 🎥 Produced by Amanda Khorramabadi
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- 200-foot radio tower stolen in Alabama
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- A small radio station in Jasper, Alabama had it's giant radio tower stolen and no one knows what happened. We look at the theories and a little bit of a positive update for the small radio station.
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- Plane crash on the Black Warrior River
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- A single-engine Cessna crashed into the Black Warrior River Friday, February 16, 2024.
Video courtesy of Kurt Harris.
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- Joe Cain's Merry Widows Celebrate 50 years on Joe Cain Day in Mobile
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
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- Joe Cain's Merry Widows Celebrate 50 years on Joe Cain Day in Mobile.
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- Greenville Store Robbery
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Greenville police are trying to identify a suspect in a Feb. 2, 2024 store robbery.
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- Rep. Sewell honors the late Fred Primm
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
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- U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell spoke on the House Floor to honor Fred Primm, former Superintendent of Sumter County Schools and Bessemer City Schools, who died January 19, 2024, at the age of 57.
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- East Lake Home for sale for eye popping price of $569,000
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- A new home on Second Avenue South in Birmingham’s East Lake is catching a lot of eyeballs - not just for its look, but its price tag.
The 2,100-square-foot Caribbean-style long home, with three bedrooms and two baths, has a price tag of $569,000.
It comes fully-furnished, with designer grade furniture, Tempur-Pedic mattresses, a stand-up shower and two tubs, wifi, a side Lanai porch, chef’s gas stove, and other amenities, such as a tankless gas water unit and underground electricity.
It sits in a residential neighborhood among homes in various states of repair that would sell for a fraction of its asking price, and near abandoned houses showing decades of neglect.
Not long ago, this property was an overgrown, unoccupied lot with a ramshackle house “filled with critters,” according to its builder.
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- Horse collapses during Mardi Gras parade
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Crowds were outraged during the Conde Cavaliers when a horse suddenly laid down in the middle of the street before a handler hits the horse to get it stand back up.
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- Kangaroo gets loose in Bessemer
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- A kangaroo was spotted hopping through Bessemer on Sunday night.
Dee Miller, a Bessemer truck driver who took a video of the kangaroo and shared it on social media, said the kangaroo may have escaped from captivity at a home in the area.
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- Kangaroo on the loose in Bessemer
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- A kangaroo was spotted hopping through Bessemer on Sunday night.
Dee Miller, a Bessemer truck driver who took a video of the kangaroo and shared it on social media, said the kangaroo may have escaped from captivity at a home in the area.
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- Snowpacolypse: 10 Years Later
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- We take a look back at the harsh winter storm that blew through the South in 2014, bringing many parts to a standstill for days.
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- Elizabeth Sennett's family and the Alabama Department of Corrections address media after execution
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
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- The family of Elizabeth Sennett said it was “bittersweet” when one of her killers was executed Thursday night by the state of Alabama.
“Nothing happened here today that’s going to bring Mom back,” Sennett’s son, Mike Sennett, told reporters following the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen hypoxia at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet day. We’re not going to be jumping around, hootin’ and hollering ‘hooray’ and all that, that’s not us,” Mike Sennett said. “We’re glad this day is over.”
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- Spiritual advisor to executed inmate Kenneth Smith discusses his experience
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Reverend Jeff Hood, who served as the spiritual advisor to executed inmate Kenneth Smith, talks about Smith's final moments.
Hood prayed with Kenneth Eugene Smith before Alabama executed him Thursday night by nitrogen gas and described it as “torture” that shocked witnesses and the prison officials standing nearby.
Smith became the first inmate to die using the new method of execution never before tested in the United States.
He was sentenced to die in the murder-for-hire plot of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in her home in Colbert County in 1988. Sennett was a pastor’s wife who was beaten and stabbed.
For more, visit AL.com.
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- Witness describes final moments of Alabama prisoner Kenneth Smith killed with nitrogen gas
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- AL.com reporter Ivana Hrynkiw was one of 5 media witnesses at Kenneth Eugene Smith’s execution tonight. In his final 32 minutes of life, Kenneth Eugene Smith, executed tonight by the state of Alabama using an untested method of nitrogen gas, thanked those who supported him in his final year on Death Row.
And, as he breathed his final breaths, witnesses could see him writing and thrashing for several minutes, his face covered by the mask used to administer the gas.
Smith, sentenced to death for the 1988 murder-for-hire of a pastor’s wife, said that he saw humanity “rise up” after he “suffered everything (he) did last year.”
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- Alabama to execute inmate with new nitrogen method
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- A look at the case of a death row inmate who will be executed using a method never tried before. Kenneth Smith will be killed by nitrogen hypoxia. We find out what that means.
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- Lowndes County Robbery
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Authorities are trying identify a suspect in a robbery at a Lowndes County convenience store.
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- Aerial footage of man caught in a garbage can after escaping from Bessemer City Jail.
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
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- Aerial footage show the capture of 22-year-old Tyree Chapman. Mr. Chapman later admitted to officers that he had escaped from the Bessemer City Jail in Alabama. Mr. Chapman was charged with Driving While License Suspended or Revoked, Reckless Driving, Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Police Officer, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and Theft By Receiving Stolen Property. Mr. Chapman was transported to the Fulton County Jail for processing and will eventually be extradited to the Bessemer City Jail in Alabama.
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- Attorney says "unconscionable neglect" led to inmate death
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Alabama Appleseed director Carla Crowder unwinds a series of horrors that led to the much-publicized death of inmate Daniel Terry Williams in November. Video was originally recorded by The Alabama Channel, a project of the League of Women Voters of Alabama Education Fund. For an archive of Alabama's legislative meeting recordings visit, The Alabama Channel at thealabamachannel.org.
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- Denied: Alabama's Broken Parole System
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Al.com with the Columbia University's Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures examines what's wrong with Alabama's broken parole system. This month long investigation will look at prison overcrowding, parole boards who deny far too often and the broken justice system plaguing Alabama.
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- Snowfall in Florence, Alabama
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
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- Video provided by Clifton Billingsley shows snowfall in Florence, Alabama on Tuesday.
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- Snowfall in Florence, AL on Tuesday
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
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- Video provided by Clifton Billingsley shows an aerial view of the snowfall on Florence, AL on Tuesday.
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- Snow falls in Florence, Alabama on Sunday, January 14, 2024. #snowfall #alabama
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
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- Worst Jefferson County restaurant health ratings
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
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- It wasn’t a happy holiday season for these Jefferson County establishments.
But it was a holly jolly Christmas for cockroaches, both dead and alive, at a Thai joint in Hoover that received the county health department’s lowest inspection score during December.
Here are the restaurants with the worst scores for December from highest to lowest:
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, 2300 Woodcrest Pl., Birmingham Score: 84
Jack’s Family Restaurant, 2575 Morgan Rd., Bessemer Score: 81
King Buffet, 7873 Crestwood Blvd., Birmingham Score: 78
Taste of Thailand, 3321 Lorna Rd., Hoover Score: 64
Go to al.com to read more.
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- Alabama's Cute Killer Bird
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- This bird looks cute, acts like a serial killer, and is one of Alabama’s weirdest animals.
The loggerhead shrike is a songbird with the heart of a killer. It hangs dead animals on fences to save them for later.
Watch the video and visit AL.com to learn more.
Photos courtesy of Michelle Reynolds.
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- Fireworks and possibly celebratory gunfire in Ensley on New Year's Eve
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
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- Video from Ensley as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.
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- Video of off-duty Hoover police officer arrested for public intoxication, other charges
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- An off-duty Hoover police officer was arrested Friday morning in Birmingham’s Lakeview District after an Uber driver said he was accosted by the officer.
Adam Grant Shipley is charged with public intoxication, harassment, and third-degree criminal mischief. Those charges are misdemeanors.
Shipley was booked into the Birmingham City Jail at 3:52 a.m. and has since been released on bond.
Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis said Shipley is on administrative leave pending ongoing investigations.
Uber driver Brantley Gerhardt, 34, told AL.com he was parked in front of Tin Roof when Shipley, who appeared intoxicated, bumped into his side-view mirror, damaging it.
Shipley then opened the door on Gerhardt’s vehicle and showed him his Hoover police badge and said a few things. A friend of Shipley’s apologized to Gerhardt and then started to lead Shipley from the scene.
Gerhardt said he got out of his vehicle and told Shipley he needed to fix his mirror. Vi...
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- Video of Brawl After 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile.
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- Some in-game chippiness between South Alabama and Eastern Michigan resulted in a brief but ugly brawl after Saturday’s 68 Ventures Bowl at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
The Jaguars beat the Eagles 59-10 in a game that featured at least one major altercation after a play on the South Alabama sideline in the second quarter. That carried over into the post-game, when an Eastern Michigan’s Korey Hernandez appeared to punch South Alabama defensive back Jamarrien Burt in the head from behind while the Jaguars were facing the marching band in the stands and singing the school’s alma mater.
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- You thought prisons were bad until you heard about Alabama's
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
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- Last week was a wild one in Alabama prison news. Here’s what you might have missed:
Fast food chains are using inmates as slave labor, according to a lawsuit filed by prisoners and labor organizations last week.
An Alabama Death Row minister could die during a new execution method scheduled for next month.
Two deaths at Williamson Donald Correctional Facility raise the 2023 death count there to 28. 40 inmates died at that prison in 2022.
The family of an inmate who died in prison hired a pathologist to conduct a second autopsy which revealed that 43-year-old Brandon Dotson was missing his heart. The family claims that no one has informed them where the heart is, or why it was removed.
More coverage to come. Be sure to follow AL.com.
Produced by Amanda Khorramabadi.
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- Glock switch demonstration
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- A demonstration from the U.S. attorney's office of the Middle District of Alabama on how a Glock switch makes a semiautomatic weapon fire like a machine gun.
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- Glock switch demonstration
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- A demonstration provided by the U.S. attorney's office in the Middle District of Alabama about how a Glock switch makes a semiautomatic handgun fire like a machine gun.
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- Incident at Tarrant city council meeting leads to elderly woman’s arrest
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- Just one day after Novilee Williams criticized the mayor and argued with a city staffer at a council meeting in the small city of Tarrant, police showed up at her door with arrest warrants. Williams, 79, was arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment. This video does not show the arrest, but the incident that caused the arrest. At the end a police officer can be seen coming to collect Williams' information.
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- City of Mobile sued for $36 million of Jawan Dallas death
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- A federal wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday seeks $36 million in damages against the City of Mobile related to the July 2 death of Jawan Dallas following an encounter with two Mobile police officers in Theodore.
The lawsuit seeks a monetary damage that matches Dallas’ age of 36. It was introduced by a team of civil rights attorneys during a morning news conference at Government Plaza and comes 19 days after the Dallas family – following over four months of requests to view the police-worn body cam footage of the encounter – was finally able to do so on Nov. 22.
It also comes at a time that Dallas’ death has ignited a rise in criticism directed at Mobile police and city officials at city council meetings over the handling of the case, culminating in a rally Thursday to support the Dallas family and their attorneys.
Full Story:
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- Footage from Homewood shows downed trees after storms ripped through Birmingham area
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Storms in the Birmingham area on Dec. 10, 2023 downed several trees and left plenty of damage in the area, as seen in this video taken while driving through Homewood near Lakeshore Drive.
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- ‘I’m still hurt’: Family continues fight for justice in police killing of Stephen Perkins
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
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- Catrela Perkins, the widow of Stephen Perkins, speaks at a press conference with the family attorney Lee Merritt today in Huntsville. Stephen Perkins was shot and killed by Decatur police on Sept. 29.
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- Siblings mourn loved ones slain amid Birmingham’s homicide crisis
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Three siblings who have lost their brothers to gun violence in Birmingham were asked to share their stories as part of The Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series, “Beyond the Violence: What Can Be Done to Address Birmingham’s Rising Homicide Rate.”
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- Alabama police officer using stun gun on handcuffed man
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- An Alabama police officer is on leave while authorities investigate a weekend arrest captured on video in Reform showing a handcuffed man being hit with a stun gun.
The officer is from the Reform Police Department in Pickens County.
Reform police Chief Richard Black and Mayor Melody acknowledged they are aware of the video involving a “citizen’s arrest” that took place on Saturday.
Police and city officials referred questions about the arrest to 24th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Andy Hamlin. Hamlin said the man was arrested on a trafficking fentanyl charge, allegedly. Video provided by Jalexis Monea Rice.
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- Joe Herron
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Walker County Investigator Joe Herron, hospitalized after a heart attack, received well wishes from several Alabama offensive linemen.
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- Alabama is one of the most dangerous places for mothers to give birth
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- The number of rural counties in Alabama with labor and delivery units has fallen from 45 to 15 since 1980, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. But it’s not just a rural problem. The recent closures also leave Shelby County without a hospital that delivers babies, making it the largest county in Alabama without those services.
Alabama already struggles with high infant and maternal mortality rates compared to the rest of the country. A study of outcomes following the reopening of a labor and delivery unit in rural Alabama showed that having those services available can improve the health of moms and newborns. But questions remain about how to fund and recruit doctors for those departments.
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- My Big Fat Fabulous Life: Glenn wants to move to Alabama
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- In a clip provided by TLC, Glenn announces a big change on "My Big Fat Fabulous Life."
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- Jawan Dallas family news conference
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- The family of Jawan Dallas discuss what they witnessed after viewing the police body-worn camera of his deadly encounter with Mobile police on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023.
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- Sharon Portis Vigil
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Family and friends of a 63-year-old woman killed in a Nov. 9, 2023, dog attack gathered at her death site on 18th Street in Ensley for a vigil and balloon release in her memory.
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- Alabama woman with double uterus pregnant with two babies
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- When Dora resident Kelsey Hatcher went to her eight-week ultrasound to check on her fourth child, she let the ultrasound tech know about her rare condition, uterine didelphys, or double uterus.
“As soon as she moved the ultrasound wand across my belly to the other side, I immediately saw it and exclaimed, ‘Oh my gosh. There’s another one!’” The 32-year-old massage therapist and mother of three will have her two babies around Christmas at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Her condition is rare. About 3 in 1,000 women have a double uterus and two cervixes. Having a child in each uterus at the same time is even rarer, a 1 in a million chance.
Read more at AL.com.