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.
Continue reading...Workers in Tuscaloosa vote against bid to unionize, as UAW president Shawn Fain hails impact of campaign despite defeat
The United Auto Workers has failed in its effort to unionize workers at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in a blow to the union’s plans to build its membership in the southern states.
The loss on Friday comes amid the UAW’s ambitious union-organizing campaign to organize 150,000 non-union auto workers around the US.
Continue reading...About 1,000 were at party when altercation began and gunfire erupted, resulting in victims that sheriff says are mostly ‘younger’
Three people were killed and at least 12 were wounded Saturday night in a shooting at party in south Alabama.
Andre Reid with the Baldwin county sheriff’s office’s investigation division told WALA-TV that about 1,000 people were attending a May Day party near the community of Stockton when an altercation started and gunfire erupted. Reid said most of the victims were “younger people”.
Continue reading...Republican US senator from Alabama best known for delivering widely ridiculed State of the Union speech in March
Katie Britt, the Republican US senator from Alabama best known for delivering a widely ridiculed State of the Union speech in March, marked the run-up to Mother’s Day on Sunday by introducing a bill to create a federal database to collect data on pregnant people.
The More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (Moms) act proposes to establish an online government database called “pregnancy.gov” listing resources related to pregnancy, including information about adoption agencies and pregnancy care providers, except for those that provide abortion-related services.
Continue reading...After a contentious redrawing of Alabama’s congressional map, two candidates will compete in November for a seat, and perhaps congressional control
Shomari Figures, an attorney and Obama White House executive from a politically-prominent civil rights family, has won the Democratic nomination to run in Alabama’s redrawn second congressional district Tuesday night, defeating state representative Anthony Daniels.
The runoff election has been closely watched because of its implications for control of Congress in November, and for the effect of supreme court orders requiring southern states to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act and eliminate racial gerrymandering.
Continue reading...Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, allegedly put stickers on state buildings with antifa, anti-police and anti-Ice sentiments
An Alabama man has been charged with detonating an explosive device outside the state attorney general’s office.
In a statement on Wednesday, the justice department announced that authorities had arrested 26-year-old Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert of Irondale on charges of malicious use of an explosive and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
Continue reading...Marilyn Lands’s victory suggests reproductive rights are key issue for voters ahead of Biden-Trump rematch in November
Disney and allies of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, have reached an agreement to end a nearly two-year-long court battle that began after the entertainment giant spoke out against the state’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, the Associated Press reports.
DeSantis put his conservative policies at the center of his quixotic attempt to win the GOP’s presidential nomination, but ended up dropping out after getting pummeled by Donald Trump in Iowa’s January caucuses.
Allies of the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and Disney reached a settlement agreement on Wednesday in a lawsuit over who controls Walt Disney World’s governing district.
In a meeting, the members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District approved the settlement agreement, ending almost two years of litigation that was sparked by DeSantis’s takeover of the district from Disney supporters following the company’s opposition to Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law.
Our communities should not have to live in a state of fear and confusion, which is exactly what SB4 was designed to do. Unfortunately, Republican leaders in Austin are more interested in fueling anti-immigrant rhetoric than actually creating real, workable solutions to address our immigration laws.
While this back-and-forth can create a sense of uncertainty for the people who live here, this ruling makes me hopeful that the Fifth Circuit will follow clear Supreme Court precedent and rule against the law when it considers the merits.
Continue reading...Jonathan Katz accuses Britt of being ‘dishonest’ in State of the Union rebuttal with story about Karla Jacinto Romero
Doubts have been cast on the accuracy of a story about horrific child sex abuse told by the Republican senator Katie Britt in her widely ridiculed speech delivered in rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
The journalist and author Jonathan Katz has accused Britt of being “fundamentally dishonest” for invoking the case of a woman who had been sex-trafficked at age 12 and raped multiple times to illustrate the supposed failure of the Biden administration’s border control policies.
Continue reading...US president makes last State of the Union address of this presidential term, with much at stake as he heads into re-election fight against Trump
For some reason, expelled former Republican congressman George Santos has returned to watch the State of the Union from the House floor:
Axios reports he wanted to hang out with the lawmakers who voted to remove him from office last year for being a big-time liar:
Continue reading...Britt, 42, third youngest serving senator, spoke on the heels of her state’s supreme court ruling that frozen embryos are ‘children’
Republicans chose first-term Alabama senator Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman ever to serve in the Senate, to deliver the rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
The 42-year-old presented a counterpoint to the oldest sitting president at her kitchen table in Alabama after his speech.
Continue reading...Guests at Biden address to include Alabama woman whose IVF was cancelled, and Texas women who went through abortion ordeals
More than a quarter of Black female voters describe abortion has their top issue in this year’s presidential election, according to a new poll.
The findings by health policy research firm KFF reveal a significant shift from previous election years, when white, conservative evangelicals were more likely to put abortion as their biggest priority when voting, AP reported. Those voters were highly motivated in recent presidential elections to cast ballots for Donald Trump.
Abortion voters are young, Black women – and not white evangelicals.
Continue reading...Xavier Becerra says US must provide federal protections for reproductive rights if it hopes to avoid further restrictions
The health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, said the US must provide federal protections for reproductive rights if Americans hope to avoid further restrictions on in vitro fertilization, contraception and abortion in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
Becerra’s comments come in the wake of an Alabama supreme court decision that gave embryos the rights of “extrauterine children” and forced three of the state’s largest fertility clinics to stop services for fear of litigation and prosecution. The fallout from the decision prompted the Alabama legislature to hastily sign new legislation that will give IVF providers with immunity from civil and criminal suits, which the governor signed into law on Wednesday night.
Continue reading...Donald Trump looks all but certain of Republican presidential nomination as Nikki Haley rejects suggestions of third-party bid and says she may keep fighting
Over at CNN, Ronald Brownstein has an analysis piece which looks a little at the potential weakness of Donald Trump support away from his core base. Brownstein writes:
[Trump’s] performance so far reflects his success at transforming the Republican Party in his image. He’s reshaped the Republicans into a more blue-collar, populist and pugnacious party, focused more on his volatile blend of resentments against elites and cultural and racial change than the Ronald Reagan-era priorities of smaller government and active global leadership that former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley has stressed.
But while the primaries have underscored Trump’s grip on the GOP, they have also demonstrated continued vulnerability for him in the areas where he has labored since he first announced his candidacy in 2015 – particularly among the white-collar suburban voters who mostly leaned toward the GOP before his emergence. The early 2024 nominating contests have shown that a substantial minority of Republican-leaning voters remain resistant to Trump’s vision.
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