This week, Don reviews Kissing the Sky by Lisa Patton.

We humans do love our pets, so much so that we often think of them as our furry children. So the day before Mother's Day is officially National Dog Mom's Day!

Most of us have heard the phrase "they really knew me" but rarely stop to consider what that truly costs us when it's gone.

Alabama has asked federal judges to lift a court order requiring the state to have a second district where Black voters are the majority or close to it. Lawmakers are looking to take part in a national redistricting battle. and could vote today plan to alter state's congressional primaries if the courts allow Republican state officials to switch to more advantageous U.S. House maps ahead of the November midterm elections.

The Alabama Senate is poised to vote on its own plan to erase at least one Democratic U.S. House seat held by an African American lawmaker. The Alabama Public Radio news team produced a national award-winning investigation into the creation of District 2, at the order of the U.S. Supreme Court. That includes Lynn Oldshue's 2024 story on a 1960 SCOTUS case that laid the foundation for black voting rights.

Archibald’s BBQ has been a beacon for barbecue enthusiasts for more to sixty years. Customers line up every day on a pilgrimage to the modest cinder block building off Martin Luther King Boulevard in Northport.

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are poised to take up a plan to carve up a majority-Black congressional district, reshaping it to the GOP's advantage as part of President Donald Trump's strategy to try to hold on to a slim House majority in the November midterm elections. The Alabama House passed legislation authorizing special congressional primaries as Republicans eye the possibility of getting a different congressional map in place for the November elections

Lawyers for the Southern Poverty Law Center will appear in court Thursday for the first time since the civil rights group was charged with defrauding donors by failing to disclose that money would be paid to informants inside extremist groups. The SPLC denies wrongdoing, and no individual is charged.

Today is our one-year anniversary of Quick-Fire Quips! To celebrate, host Baillee Majors sits down with a very special guest: her grandmother, Elaine Carmichael. At 92 years young, she's a retired teacher and principal at Goshen Elementary and former Troy Messenger writer and editor. She shares heartwarming stories of small-town life in Goshen— and offers her timeless wisdom on faith, family and what truly makes a community feel like home.

Imagine waking up one morning, opening that day's copy of The New York Times, and seeing yourself described as TV's “king of creepy.” My guest tonight got that distinction just last year. Two time Emmy award winning actor Michael Emerson is a University of Alabama graduate, and he once worked at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Now, just in case you thought that creepy comment in the New York Times was a one off, the Washington Post later called Emerson “TV's most beloved creepy guy” four months later. He seems to relish in that. Emerson starred as Benjamin Linus in the TV series "Lost" and the eccentric billionaire Harold Finch in "Person of Interest." However, fans of the cult classic horror film "SAW" may remember him as the creepy hospital orderly Zep Hindle. Michael Emerson and I talk about his days at the University of Alabama and more, next on APR notebook.

The Alabama House may debate legislation that would allow the state to hold a special congressional primary, if the Supreme Court clears the way for the state to change its U.S. House districts. The current primary vote is currently set for later this month. Actions in the Alabama House and Senate are drawing an unusual rebuke from the, otherwise non-partisan, State League of Women Voters.

This week on StoryCorps, Afriye Wekandodis tells the story of how she was called to move to Selma, Alabama where she would become the director of the Ancient Africa, Enslavement and Civil War Museum and the founder of the By The River Center for Humanity.