Editor's Note: Click below for Highlights of APR's coverage of these stories. Pat D.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A six-day bunker standoff that focused the nation's attention on southeast Alabama is the state's top news story of 2013. The Associated Press selected the hostage drama in Midland City as Alabama's leading news story, followed by the fatal crash of a UPS cargo jet in Birmingham. Other stories in the Top 10 include the controversy over racial segregation in the University of Alabama's sororities and changes in state gun laws. But nothing captivated the state like the horror that began when 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes stepped onto a Dale County school bus in late January and demanded children. The bus driver refused Dykes and was shot dead. Dykes took a 5-year-old boy and held him captive underground for six days until FBI agents killed the gunman.
