This week, Don reviews Eight Minutes: A Novel by Gregory N. Whitis.

You may not be able to find homes for all the shelter pets at Christmas, but you can help your local shelter by contributing time, money and supplies to help care for the residents!

Huntsville, Dothan, Birmingham, and Garden City in Cullman County spread the word early about the brutal overnight cold. The low temperatures along the Tennessee Valley, over the weekend and into Monday morning, are forecast to be as low as the mid teens. Even the Wiregrass region toward the south was predicted to be in the mid-twenties.

The Alabama Public Radio spent eleven months investigating three critical anniversaries in the state’s civil rights history in 2025. Our documentary is titled "...a death, a bridge, and a seat on the bus."This year marked sixty years since civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot twice by an Alabama State Trooper on February 18, 1965. His death sparked voting rights marchers to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where police on horseback attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas. The incident became known as “bloody Sunday.” Rosa Parks, who sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, is a familiar name. Our series includes her story, beyond refusing to surrender her seat on a municipal bus. We also hear remembrances from two people on the “front lines” of the boycott that made Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior international figures.These events not only impacted public opinion in the U.S. but also in Europe. APR formed a focus group of college students majoring in American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark. Their reaction shows Alabama and the U.S. still has a long way to go.

The Senate on Thursday rejected legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year. The Kaiser Family Foundation says close to a half million Alabamians depend on the ACA for health coverage.

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission on Thursday approved licenses for dispensaries, a key step to making medical marijuana available in the state after years of delay. Commission Chairman Rex Vaughn estimated the products will be available in the spring of 2026. The state’s medical marijuana program has been delayed by false starts and litigation over who should hold the licenses to sell and grow cannabis

This month marks seventy years since the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a municipal bus to a white passenger on December first of 1955. Four days later the boycott began. The event made both Parks and Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior into international figures. A lot has been said and reported on the Montgomery Boycott. But, only a few can say they were there. APR student reporter Torin Daniel has more on someone who planned the boycott and one witness who saw it.

Eli Lilly, known for medications including Prozac, the weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, and the mass producing insulin and the polio vaccine, is coming to Huntsville. The Company plans to build a $6 billion dollar manufacturing facility in north Alabama.

Deck the South is your essential guide to Alabama’s most dazzling festive traditions. APR Digital Content Reporter Aydan Conchin takes you on a tour highlighting the twinkling lights, local markets, and pure Southern magic that make this season shine across the Yellowhammer State!

65 years, 400 million records sold and FAME Recording Studios & Publishing Co. is still going strong! President Rodney Hall talks about the legacy of hit songs with Quick-Fire Quips host Baillee Majors and answers which is actually better: vinyl, cassettes or CDs. Plus, why Swampers Bar & Grille is the place to be in The Shoals and the three essential albums for an alien invasion. You'll have to listen to find out which specific albums made the cosmic cut!

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that could make it harder for convicted murderers to show their lives should be spared because they are intellectually disabled. The justices are taking up an appeal from Alabama, which wants to put to death a man who lower federal courts found is intellectually disabled and shielded from execution.

The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn from an agreement with the city of Houston to curb illegal dumping in Black and Latino neighborhoods, part of the Trump administration’s broad dismantling of environmental justice initiatives. This follows a similar move in Alabama.