Justification for arrest not clear as Trump administration increasingly targets students for arrest and deportation
US immigration authorities have detained a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, campus officials confirmed on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the state’s flagship university said in a brief statement that a student was arrested “off campus” by federal immigration officials, but declined to comment further, citing privacy laws.
Continue reading...Several people killed in Kansas dust storm while scattered tornadoes cause fatalities in Missouri
Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the US, wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that killed at least 35 people as more severe weather was expected.
In western Kansas, a dust storm was reported to have killed eight people as high winds produced blowing dust over the interstate, causing collisions of more than 71 vehicles on the I-70.
Continue reading...Experts say victory for state could give green light for other states to attack those who help women travel for procedure
A bellwether test of states’ ability to prosecute people over abortions that take place across state lines will hold a critical hearing on Wednesday, when Alabama abortion rights supporters will square off against the state attorney general over his threats to prosecute groups that help women travel for the procedure.
In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, clearing the way for Alabama to ban virtually all abortions, Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall repeatedly suggested that abortion rights activists who help people go out of state for abortions could be charged as participants in an illegal conspiracy. The Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion fund that helped people pay for the procedure, and the West Alabama Women’s Center, a former abortion clinic that pivoted to providing services like miscarriage management, joined with other abortion rights advocates to sue Marshall over his comments.
Continue reading...Kay Ivey says Robin ‘Rocky’ Myers, who maintains he was innocent, will serve life in prison without parole
The Alabama governor, Kay Ivey, on Friday commuted the death sentence of Robin “Rocky” Myers to life in prison after noting questions about his case.
Ivey said Myers, who was facing execution this spring, will instead spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. She noted that was the sentence jurors at his 1994 trial had recommended. A judge overruled that recommendation and imposed a death sentence, a maneuver that has since been outlawed in Alabama, according to the human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International.
Continue reading...Family plans to livestream memorial service for teenage actor who died two days after getting hurt in Vestavia Hills, Alabama
The teenage actor Hudson Meek has died after he fell out of a moving vehicle in Alabama, authorities said.
Meek, 16, was hurt on December 19 while on a street in Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham. He died two days later, according to the Jefferson county coroner’s office.
Continue reading...Carey Dale Grayson was killed on Thursday for 1994 murder by technique that previously caused visible signs of distress
Alabama carried out its third execution this year using the controversial new method of nitrogen gas, a technique that in previous state killings caused visible signs of distress.
Carey Dale Grayson was put to death on Thursday evening for the 1994 murder of a hitchhiker. The prisoner had a mask strapped to his face through which nitrogen was pumped, causing fatal oxygen deprivation.
Continue reading...Shooting at Tuskegee University is fourth reported at homecoming events in US within the last three weeks
One person was killed and 16 others were injured when gunfire erupted at Tuskegee University in Alabama on Sunday, the fourth reported shooting at homecoming events across the US within the last three weeks.
The Tuskegee shooting occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning. The person who was killed was not affiliated with the university, and their parents have been notified, according to the university.
Continue reading...Mississippi’s firearm-related violence rate nearly double that of Haiti, which is plagued by political and gang strife
A new report by the Commonwealth Fund finds some US states have firearm death rates comparable to countries in conflict, and even states with the fewest firearms deaths are far higher than peer developed democracies.
For instance, Mississippi’s rate of firearm-related violence (28.5 per 100,000 people) was nearly double that of Haiti (15.1 per 100,000) in 2021, when mercenaries assassinated the country’s president, unleashing a fresh round of gang warfare which pushed the country into a state of civil war.
Continue reading...Republican state official tried to remove more than 3,200 people from voter rolls on suspicion they were non-citizens
Alabama cannot remove thousands of people from its voter rolls on the eve of the presidential election, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
The US district judge Anna Manasco, an appointee of Donald Trump, issued a preliminary injunction halting an effort by Alabama’s top election official to try to remove more than 3,200 people from the voter rolls who it suspected of being non-citizens until at least after the presidential election.
Continue reading...Ledbetter sued employer Goodyear in 1998 after finding out she was paid $6,500 less than lowest-paid male supervisor
Lilly Ledbetter, an equal pay advocate whose lawsuit against her employer inspired the Fair Pay Act of 2009, died Saturday in Alabama at age 86.
Ledbetter died of respiratory failure, according to a statement from her family provided to the Alabama news organization Al.com.
Continue reading...Alan Miller, 59, second person in US to be executed via controversial technique, shook and trembled on gurney
Alabama has carried out the second execution in the US using the controversial method of nitrogen gas, an experimental technique for humans that veterinarians have deemed unacceptable in the US and Europe for the euthanasia of most animals.
Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6.38pm local time at a south Alabama prison.
Continue reading...Seventeen people injured in shooting outside nightclub after being caught in crossfire, police say
A manhunt in Alabama for a suspect in the shooting outside a nightclub that killed four people and wounded 17 on Saturday night entered its second full day on Monday.
The shooting in Birmingham was at least the 24th mass murder in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive defines a mass murder as one in which four victims are killed or wounded.
Continue reading...Police say multiple victims were caught in crossfire in nightlife area of Five Points South in Birmingham
A major manhunt is under way in Birmingham, Alabama, for those responsible for a shooting at a nightclub late on Saturday night in which four people have died and 17 were wounded.
The violence is just the latest shocking incident that highlights the epidemic of gun violence and killings that continues to plague the US and yet prompts little to no political action.
Continue reading...Family of William Bryan alleges Dr Thomas Shaknovsky removed liver instead of spleen during surgical procedure
The family of a 70-year-old man from Alabama who died last month say that his death was a result of a doctor removing the wrong organ during a surgical procedure in Florida.
William Bryan, 70, and his wife Beverly were visiting their rental property in Okaloosa county this summer when Bryan suddenly began experiencing left-sided flank pain, according to law firm representing his wife, Beverly. Bryan then went to hospital, and was admitted for further studies pursuant to concern for an abnormality of the spleen.
Continue reading...Joshua Jones reportedly admits that ‘collectively we did it. We killed him’ after Tony Mitchell died of hypothermia
A former corrections officer at an Alabama jail has pleaded guilty in the case of a mentally ill man who died of hypothermia after being held naked in a concrete cell for two weeks.
The officer, Joshua Conner Jones, entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors over the treatment of two prisoners at the Walker county jail.
Continue reading...Payouts are ‘an acknowledgement’ of US’s long history of refusing to process loans from Black farmers, USDA says
The Biden administration has doled out more than $2bn in direct payments for Black and other minority farmers discriminated against by the US Department of Agriculture, the president announced Wednesday.
More than 23,000 farmers were approved for payments ranging from $10,000 to $500,000, according to the USDA. Another 20,000 who planned to start a farm but did not receive a USDA loan received between $3,500 and $6,000.
Continue reading...A secret election by white town council blocked Newbern mayor Patrick Braxton from serving for four years: ‘we can put this behind us’
Patrick Braxton, the first Black mayor of an Alabama town that has not held elections in several decades, has spent the last four years fighting to be recognized. Finally, after an extensive legal battle, he and the town officials who refused to acknowledge him as mayor have reached a settlement, according to federal court documents.
Per the settlement agreement, Braxton will be officially be seated as the mayor of Newbern, Alabama, and be able to fully serve in this capacity for the first time in nearly four years, pending approval by by Judge Kristi K. DuBose of the Southern District of Alabama.
Continue reading...One dead and 34 wounded as incidents in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio swell 2024 mass shooting tally
A series of mass shootings rocked the US early on Sunday, leaving at least one dead and 34 others wounded in just four cases reported in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio.
The shootings came amid a broader spate of recent mass shootings, including the one at an Arkansas grocery store on Friday that left four dead and nine wounded – as well as another at a nightclub in Kentucky on Saturday that killed one and injured seven.
Continue reading...Police investigating after packages worth nearly 55lb (25kg) discovered on Dauphin Island, south of Mobile
Nearly 55lb (25kg) of what appears to be cocaine recently washed up on the shores of Alabama, local police said.
The police department in the community of Dauphin Island made the discovery, saying the recovered amount was worth about $450,000. Officers then contacted the Mobile county sheriff’s office, which also has jurisdiction in the area and is investigating the situation.
Continue reading...At least two children have already been killed while working in Mar-Jac Poultry plants in the US south over the last year
A poultry plant in Jasper, Alabama, has been accused of hiring minors and could be shut down for 30 days, according to a newly released US Department of Labor lawsuit.
Mar-Jac Poultry, the largest employer in Walker county, is accused of violating federal labor laws when it hired four minors as young as 16 who were allegedly discovered working overnight at the company’s slaughterhouse.
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