Cam Marston has a confession this morning. Eighteen months ago, he and his wife made a pact to declutter their house for good. Here's why it didn't survive contact with a U-Haul trailer.

Multiple sources say that there are roughly 400,000 kids in the foster care system in the United States currently. There are some things that humans won't fully understand unless they live through them, and the processes surrounding adoption and foster care are likely included in those things. But taking super nuanced concepts and making them less scary to approach is what we do best here at Simplified! Dr. Brian Gannon is an associate professor in the department of pediatrics at The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences. He is a general pediatrician at the University Medical Center as well as the founder of the FRESH Start Clinic at UMC, which serves children in state custody across West Alabama. He is a foster parent himself to eight (!!!) children and an advocate for foster families.

This week on StoryCorps, Marianne Tidmore Wofford and Anne Tidmore discuss the success of their flag distribution business in some of America's darkest hours, and how they fought to help Americans express their patriotism.

This week, Don Reviews Ruby Falls by Gin Phillips.

With wildfires burning across many Western states, wildland firefighters gathered Sunday to pay tribute to three of their own who died after they were trapped by flames a week ago. Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson, of Alabama, were remembered for being courageous public servants who left a lasting impact on the communities where they worked.

A concern for animals is woven into the fabric of America's history and culture, so July 4th is a great time to celebrate our freedom and our best friends!

This week's Keepin' It Real comes from a place of real pain. Cam Marston reflects on the loss of two young men from his community, and a grief he says words can't quite reach.

Lulu Gribbin, of Mountain Brook, was 15 when she survived a shark attack off the coast of Florida. She lost her left hand, part of her right leg and almost her life. Gribbin’s story has inspired new federal legislation to authorize emergency alerts to mobile phones to warn beachgoers when a shark has bitten someone in the area. Her home state of Alabama approved such a warning system last year.

The United States is just days away from celebrating its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. America isn’t the only nation with a tradition of red, white, and blue bunting and picnics on the Fourth of July. Denmark began celebrating its so called Rebild Festival in 1912 to highlight its support of democracy and connection to the United States. This year appears to have been a little bumpy for a different reason..

Photographs of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. adorned with flower lei from Hawaii residents who traveled to Selma, Alabama, to join him on a pivotal Civil Rights march went on public display in the state Capitol in Honolulu. The Selma-to-Montgomery marches galvanized passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which did away with most barriers such as poll taxes and other forms of voter discrimination targeting Black Americans in the Deep South.

What if you could capture the warmth and grit of a classic 1970s record in the middle of a small Alabama town? This week on Quick-Fire Quips, we’re heading to the Red Room Sound Studio in Robertsdale to chat with Mick Connolly! He and his wife, Lucinda Rowe, co-own and operate this unique, 100% analog recording space. We’re diving into the art of tape-to-tape editing and their work as the husband-and-wife musical duo, The Heat.

America is just a few days away from the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That day may involve fireworks, a backyard cookout, and possibly a rendition or two of the Star Spangled Banner. Mobile area author Watt Key is known for his classic novel “Alabama Moon,” which was made into a motion picture. But, he's also an indirect descendant of Francis Scott Key, who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner,” and F. Scott Fitzgerald who penned "The Great Gatsby."