MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's jobless rate has dipped to a record-low 3.7 percent as more workers continue joining the workforce.

The state unemployment rate announced Friday for February is one-tenth of a percent worse than the national rate. But it's down from the February 2018 state rate of 4 percent.

A statement from Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington says the state has broken record highs for employment for nine consecutive months.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama officials say a gun maker is losing $3 million in incentives from the state.

State Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield told AL.com in an email Tuesday that Remington Arms has failed to meet hiring and payroll targets at its Huntsville plant, costing it $3 million in incentives.

Alabama Public Radio is tipping off its spring fund drive and there are some things we want our listeners to know!

We will be pitching on air for 10 hours a day. This will be the time when we ask for donations, however big or small, from new listeners as well as returning members. You can donate by calling (855)353-6644 or clicking the button at the top of our website. 

OZARK, Ala. (AP) — Officers found a pipe bomb inside an Alabama sheriff's office while going through some evidence that had not been searched.

The device didn't go off and no one was hurt in the incident, which occurred Tuesday night at the Dale County Sheriff's Office in south Alabama.

Sheriff Wally Olson tells news outlets that officers found a duffel bag while conducting a search and brought it to the sheriff's department in Ozark without opening it.

FAIRFIELD, Ala. (AP) — Some residents have sued to challenge the removal of the mayor of a small city in Alabama last month.

Al.com reported the Fairfield Citizen Coalition sued, seeking to remove former city council president Eddie Penny from the mayor's office. The lawsuit seeks to restore Edward May II as the mayor of the city of about 11,000 people about 7 miles southwest of Birmingham.

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court sided with news media organizations Monday in ruling that Alabama can't keep its lethal injection protocol secret from the public.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected Alabama's argument that its execution method is not a court record and thus should remain secret.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed a 16th tornado from an outbreak that left damage across Alabama last week.

Forecasters say a small twister with winds of up to 65 mph (105 kph) was on the ground for a little more than 1 mile (1 kilometer) near Ohatchee in Calhoun County. One home had minor damage, and the winds uprooted and snapped off trees.

Survey teams previously confirmed 14 other tornadoes in central Alabama last Thursday, and one more hit Cullman County in north Alabama.

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Less than a week after an Alabama inmate ended a hunger strike to protest the use of solitary confinement, eight more prisoners have begun hunger strikes of their own.

The Montgomery Advertiser cites a release from a prison advocacy group that says the Alabama Department of Corrections told eight inmates that they were placed in solitary at Holman Correctional Facility as a "preventative measure," unrelated to disciplinary action. Attorney Donna Smalley says the eight are "recognized peacekeepers."

DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — A DNA match found through a genealogy website has led to an arrest in the killings of two teen girls nearly 20 years ago, Alabama authorities said.

Coley McCraney, 45, of Dothan, was arrested Saturday on rape and capital murder charges in the 1999 deaths of 17-year-olds Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley, according to Dale County jail records.

The girls left Dothan the night of July 3, 1999, to attend a party, but never arrived. They were found the next day in the trunk of Beasley's car alongside a road in Ozark, each with a gunshot wound to the head.