Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and another man have been charged with capital murder after a fatal shooting near campus.
Captain Jack Kennedy of Tuscaloosa Police said that the shooting occurred early on Sunday morning near the university’s campus. He said Jamea Harris, 23, of the Birmingham area was shot and killed.
Continue reading...At least nine people died as survivors tell of hiding in bathtubs and containers as ferocious storms bore down on homes
Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Alabama on Sunday, after at least nine people died in tornadoes that destroyed homes and knocked out power to tens of thousands in south-eastern US states this week.
The president ordered federal aid to supplement regional recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, winds and tornadoes on 12 January, a White House statement said.
Continue reading...First responders search for possibly trapped survivors or further victims in Georgia and Alabama after storm eased Thursday night
First responders are searching for any trapped survivors and any additional victims in on Friday after a massive storm system whipping up severe winds and spawning tornadoes cut a deadly path across the US South the day before, killing at least seven people in Georgia and Alabama.
A twister damaged buildings and tossed cars in the streets of historic downtown Selma, Alabama. Houses were torn off their foundations and property was smashed up and flattened by flying debris and ripped up trees.
Continue reading...Ground crew worker employed by American Airlines subsidiary involved in accident while aircraft parked at gate in Montgomery
A US ground crew worker has died after being “ingested into the engine” of an aircraft while they worked a shift at an airport in Montgomery, Alabama.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement to Insider that the tragic accident happened while an American Airlines Embraer 170 was parked at the gate with at least one engine on.
Continue reading...Nine people were injured while gathering for the Moon Pie Over Mobile event in downtown, police said
One person was killed and nine hurt in a shooting a few blocks away from where thousands were in the streets for a New Year’s Eve celebration in downtown Mobile, Alabama, police said.
TV news footage showed police officers running and on horseback rushing to the area where the shooting took place about 45 minutes before midnight Saturday.
Continue reading...Beverly Roberts and Mary Alston sought to trap the cats so they could be neutered
Two Alabama women were given suspended jail sentences last week after feeding stray cats and trapping them so they could be neutered, a common public health intervention to reduce stray numbers.
Beverly Roberts, 85, and Mary Alston, 61, of Wetumpka, Alabama, were sentenced to two years of unsupervised parole and a $100 fine each on Tuesday, reported the Montgomery Advertiser. The women were also given suspended 10-day jail sentences.
Continue reading...Annual review reveals that seven of the 20 execution attempts carried out this year were visibly problematic
As 2022 draws to a close, a new grim distinction can be attached to it: in America it was the year of the botched execution.
In its annual review of US capital punishment, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reveals the astonishing statistic that 35% of the 20 execution attempts carried out this year were visibly problematic.
Continue reading...Duo charged with murder over killing of Adam Simjee, 22, who was forced to walk into woods with girlfriend and died after gunfight
When Adam Simjee and his girlfriend Mikayla Paulus stopped their car in the Talladega national forest in Alabama last week, after being flagged down by what the college students thought was a stranded driver, the couple did not think much of it.
But the “stranded driver” – a woman named Yasmine Hider – turned out to be a gun-wielding robber who forced Simjee, 22, and Paulus, 20, to walk into the woods. Simjee pulled out his own handgun and shot Hider in defense of his girlfriend and himself, but he did not survive the confrontation – police allege Hider shot him dead.
Continue reading...Lethal injection of Joe Nathan James Jr may have taken longer than any other recorded in US history, according to an analysis
Alabama’s execution of Joe Nathan James Jr last month may have taken longer than any other lethal injection in recorded American history, and no death penalty ever administered in the US may have taken quite as long, according to an analysis by a human rights organization.
An examination by Reprieve US of James’s execution estimates that it took Alabama officials between three and three-and-a-half hours to carry out the lethal injection, a duration that the organization argues violates constitutional protections against inhumane punishments.
Continue reading...City council in small community of Vincent votes to terminate police chief, assistant and then whole department
The small city of Vincent in Alabama has voted to disband its police force after the revelation of racist text messages exchanged between two of its officers.
In the exchange, which recently surfaced on social media, one user named “752” asked: “What do y’all call a pregnant slave?” To this, one person who is not identifiable through the text, responded with question marks.
Continue reading...Terryln Hall was just six when Joe Nathan James Jr shot her mother, Faith, in Alabama but 30 years on is asking for mercy
Terryln Hall was just six years old when her mother, Faith, was fatally shot by a former boyfriend.
Now, nearly 30 years later, Hall and her sister – along with their uncle – oppose Alabama’s plan to execute the man who killed their mother. Unless a judge or the governor intervenes, Joe Nathan James Jr, 49, will die by lethal injection on Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison.
Continue reading...Police say the man fatally shot people attending monthly dinner at Episcopal church in Birmingham suburb
A 70-year-old man has shot and killed three people at a church potluck dinner in Alabama.
Police said the man, who had previously attended services at St Stephen’s Episcopal church, pulled out a handgun and fatally shot three of the participants, one of whom died in his wife’s arms.
Continue reading...A video of Alexander Drueke expressing his love for his mother has not yet been validated by the state department
The mother of an American military veteran who volunteered to defend Ukraine from Russian invaders and was reportedly captured recently said a video of him expressing his love for her gave her “great hope”.
Lois Drueke told the Guardian on Friday that she believes the video of her son Alexander Drueke – distributed by Russian state media – is authentic because of a phrase he uttered in the clip with his distinctively deep voice.
Continue reading...Police confirmed a suspect had been taken into custody after the attack at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham
A shooting at a church in a suburb of one of Alabama’s major cities left two people dead and two others wounded on Thursday, police said, adding a suspect was quickly taken into custody.
The shooting erupted inside St Stephen’s Episcopal church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills.
Continue reading...The pair’s disappearance, the first believed to have been captured in Ukraine, would add another layer of complexity to US efforts against Russia
Two American volunteers in Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said on Wednesday.
Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, are both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama and went to Ukraine to assist with war efforts. Relatives have been in contact with Senate and House offices seeking information on the men’s whereabouts.
Continue reading...Friends of Vicky White are baffled why she fled with her murder suspect boyfriend, before killing herself as police closed in
Maybe it was because she had endured the loss of two longtime partners over the last several years. Or perhaps she feared – if she didn’t go through with it – her loved ones would be killed.
Whatever the case, James Ballentine hopes there’s a good explanation for why his neighbor of nearly 40 years, Vicky White, ignited a romantic affair with an inmate of the rural Alabama jail where she was the assistant director, and helped him escape, before she shot herself to death as police closed in 11 days later and about 300 miles away. It was a story that captured national and global attention.
Continue reading...A federal judge has blocked part of a law that makes it a felony to give gender-affirming puberty blockers and hormones to minors
An Alabama law that makes it a felony to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to transgender minors has been blocked by a federal judge while affirming other aspects of the state’s “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act”.
US district judge Liles Burke issued a preliminary injunction to stop the state from enforcing the medication ban, which took effect on 8 May, while a lawsuit against the bill goes forward.
Continue reading...Casey Cole White, 38, being held on capital murder charge, and Vicki White left detention center on Friday
The US Marshals Service said on Sunday it was offering up to $10,000 for information about an escaped inmate and a “missing and endangered” correctional officer who disappeared on Friday after the two left a jail in north Alabama.
Casey Cole White, 38, had been jailed on a capital murder charge in the Lauderdale county detention center in Florence, Alabama, about 75 miles west of Huntsville.
Continue reading...Vicki White disappeared while escorting an inmate being held on capital murder charges, and inmate Casey White also missing
A prison official from Alabama was missing after escorting an inmate to a courthouse for a hearing.
The Lauderdale county sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post on Saturday that Vicki White, an assistant director of corrections, disappeared while escorting an inmate being held on capital murder charges. The inmate was also missing.
Continue reading...One criminalizes medical care for trans youth and another requires students to use bathrooms that match birth certificates
The governor of Alabama on Friday signed into law two controversial bills: one that criminalizes healthcare providers who offer gender-affirming care to transgender youth and another that requires students to use bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates.
Kay Ivey, a Republican, said she “believed very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl”.
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