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Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban will likely miss this Saturday’s Iron Bowl game against Auburn after testing positive for COVID-19. The University announced the coach’s coronavirus test results today. The CDC recommends that COVID patients isolate for up to 14 days. The annual Iron Bowl game is Saturday. Saban had what turned out to be false positive back in mid-October. Team physician Dr. Jimmy Robinson says the coach’s latest situation appears to be different since he’s showing mild symptoms.

This weekend the Iron Bowl comes to Tuscaloosa. The top ranked Alabama Crimson Tide is hosting their cross-state rival Auburn Tigers on Saturday. The 22nd-ranked Tigers come into the game at five and two after defeating Tennessee last weekend. Alabama is coming off a lop-sided victory over the Kentucky Wildcats. Alabama head coach Nick Saban says this is an important game and his players will need to be ready.

It looks like concern over COVID-19 is impacting holiday travel. The forecast from Triple-A says the number of Americans driving over Thanksgiving will drop by ten percent compared to last year. Healthcare providers also continue warning those who hit the road for the holiday to exercise caution. Dr. Thomas Weide practices at University Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. He says wearing a mask, social distancing, and eating outdoors are good ways to avoid giving the coronavirus to your family.

News outlets are quoting an Associated Press investigation that may point to fake answers on U.S. Census forms in Alabama. The AP obtained text messages from U.S. Census Bureau supervisor in Alabama telling workers how to falsify answers from households answer the once-in-a-decade head count. The text messages are from last month. They reportedly stem from the Bureau’s effort to finish the census count households where it couldn’t be established who lived there after two visits.

A new proposed bridge across Mobile Bay may get a second look from local and state planning officials. The plan was declared dead over a year ago due to tolls needed to pay for the project. A proposal to charge up to $6 to cross Mobile Bay on I-10 killed the plan late last year. Now, officials are discussing the proposal again, but some say local residents will have to have an alternative way to cross the bay without a toll.

Jack Burrell is the chairman of the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO.

The once longest-serving member of the Alabama House of Representatives has died at the age of 81. 

Former Alabama state Rep. Alvin Holmes was one of the first African Americans elected to the state legislature after the civil rights era and helped to remove Jim Crow laws from the state Constitution. He also got the Confederate flag removed from the state capitol.

Holmes served in the legislature from 1974 through 2018. 

The acceleration of coronavirus cases is causing an existential crisis for America’s retailers and spooking their customers just as the critically important holiday shopping season nears. It’s also raising the risk that the economy could slide into a “double-dip” recession this winter as states and cities re-impose restrictions on businesses and consumers stay at home to avoid contracting the disease.

The possibility of a toll bridge in Mobile is once again a reality.

A planning group has asked the state transportation agenecy for an update on the plans for an Interstate 10 bridge to span 10 miles over the Mobile River and Mobile Bay. 

The project was stopped last year when local opposition complained about the toll.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is challenging the removal of a Confederate statue from the Madison County courthouse. 

The lawsuit, issued Friday, argues that the decision to move the statue honoring Confederate soldiers to a Huntsville cemetary violated the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, passed in 2017. The law was made to protect Confederate monuments. 

Retail sales could increase in Alabama during the holiday season.

The Alabama Retail Association expects holiday sales to hold steady or even improve from last year's numbers. Tax reports from the Alabama Revenue Department showed Alabama shoppers spent almost 8 percent more in September 2020 than in 2019.

Holiday shopping could help businesses that have been hurt by disruptions caused by the coronavirus. 

Cities across the state are canceling Christmas parades due to the spread of COVID-19. 

Birmingham and Anniston both canceled festivities last week after Bessemer, Gadsden and Madison had already called off their parades. A few tree lightings are still taking place, with the option to watch the ceremonies online.

Cases of the coronavirus have continues to rise in Alabama.

COVID-19 is considered rampant in Alabama. Alabama’s healthcare community is urging everyone to get a flu shot since the symptoms of COVID-19 are like the standard flu. That warning includes adults 65 and older. Adults in that age range need to take precautionary measures because they have higher risk for COVID-19.

Sue Peschin is President and CEO for the Alliance for Aging Research. She said a large percentage of older adults have died from COVID due to the risk. 

Students at the University of Alabama have a deadline for on-campus exit testing before Thanksgiving. Healthcare providers will administer COVID-19 tests today from 8 a.m. to five p.m. at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. Tests will be also be given tomorrow from nine a.m. to noon. One hundred and fifty nine students tested positive at all three UA campuses in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville earlier this month. Dr. Karen Burgess is the interim medical director of the UA student health center. She says everyone needs to get past COVID fatigue and do the right thing.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is challenging Madison County’s decision to remove a Confederate soldier statue at its courthouse. The AG is arguing the statue’s movement to a Huntsville cemetery violates a 2017 state law called the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. An Alabama judge stayed the law that protects Confederate monuments after Birmingham put plywood around a statue. The Alabama Supreme Court later stayed that lower court order. The Madison County Commission voted in October to move the monument to Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville where Confederate soldiers are buried.

Alabama schoolchildren will return to face-to-face instruction after the Thanksgiving. That’s the preference of the state’s school superintendent. Eric Mackey position comes despite a 50% surge in COVID-19 cases in the state’s schools between November 6th and the 13th. Alabama’s coronavirus outbreak is surging, with the State Hospital Association declaring the pandemic to be “out of control.” main in-person. Mackey says individual schools could switch to all virtual learning as a last resort. This happened temporarily in Alexander City and Marshall County.

Contact tracing in Alabama is starting to spread.

The GuideSafe Exposure Notification app notifies people about possible exposure to the coronavirus. The Alabama version used to only work for those who downloaded that state's version. Thursday it joined a larger network of 13 states and Washington D.C.

The app uses Bluetooth to signal if two cell phones are within 6 feet of each other for more than 15 minutes. If one user later tests positive for COVID-19, they report it to the app, which then notifies those who had been close by.

Word that Alabama’s COVID-19 outbreak is out of control is likely to focus attention on rolling out a vaccine. The State’s Hospital Association told reporters that no relief from spread of the virus is expected until after the holidays. Alabama is preparing for the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Karen Landers is with the Alabama Department of Public Health. She said healthcare and nursing home workers, first responders, and those with underlying conditions will get the approved vaccine first.

Fans of the Crimson Tide are planning to see the team play for the first time in two weeks tomorrow.

Alabama is scheduled to play the Kentucky Wildcats after the coronavirus put the Tide’s schedule in turmoil. Last week’s game against LSU was cancelled after an undisclosed number of players for the Tigers tested positive for COVID-19. Alabama was just coming off a bye-week where the team didn’t play.

Head coach Nick Saban said the issue is keeping his players psychologically prepared.

225,910 cases, 1,315 current hospitalizations, 3,419 deaths confirmed in Alabama

Life in COVID-19 quarantine, a tale of 3 UA students

A report from Johns Hopkins is just the latest dose of sobering news regarding the spread of the coronavirus in Alabama. The new statistics say one out of every 342 Alabamians tested positive for the virus last week. That’s a jump of 50% in new COVID cases during the past two weeks. The president of the Alabama Hospital Association says the illness is "out of control" in the state. The main concern appears to be large holiday gatherings, which may spread the virus even more and result in a wave of illness that won't diminish for weeks.

Gov. Kay Ivey announced on Tuesday that she will Sen. Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) as director of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles. 

The state senator is currently serving as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and has worked on bills related to criminal justice and prison reform.

COLUMBIANA, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man is going on trial on a murder charge in the killing of his wife, who was an online exhibitionist. 

Attorneys picked a jury Monday for the trial of 47-year-old William Jeffrey West of Calera. He's charged with using a liquor bottle as a club to kill his 42-year-old wife, Kathleen Dawn West, in January 2018.

Opening statements are set for Tuesday and testimony could last several days.

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say a bullet was fired into the home of recently inaugurated Selma Mayor James Perkins, causing minor damage but injuring no one. 

Selma Police Chief Kenta Fulford says Perkins returned home on Saturday to discover a bullet hole in the wall of his office and pieces of sheetrock on the floor. Authorities say it's unclear whether the gunshot was intentional or the house was hit by a stray bullet.

Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt will miss votes in Washington this week after being exposed to COVID-19.   

In a statement, Aderholt said he was in close contact for several hours with someone who later tested positive for the virus and that he plans to quarantine in Alabama.

He tested negative and has not shown any symptoms, but said he wanted to be careful to not expose the virus to anyone.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The city of Mobile is moving ahead with plans to hold Mardi Gras celebrations in early 2021 despite the coronavirus pandemic. 

OPELIKA, Ala., (AP) — Four people are accused in a plot to bring contraband into an Alabama prison where deputies found a breach in a security fence. 

The Lee County Sheriff's Office said Friday that 19-year-old Jordan Armstead, of Opelika, was arrested on charges of first-degree promoting prison contraband, second-degree criminal trespassing and third-degree criminal mischief. Armstead is being held on a $6,000 bond at the county jail.

PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama school system has named a new superintendent. 

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that the Autauga County system has chosen 55-year-old Timothy Tidmore for the job. The Autauga Board of Education approved Tidmore’s contract Thursday night in Prattville.

Tidmore’s two-year contract begins Jan. 1. His salary will be $145,000.