News

GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — A six-state yard sale that stretches from Alabama to Michigan is being held this weekend despite concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. 

Beginning Thursday and ending Sunday, thousands of people will travel a 690-mile-long stretch of Middle America during what's called The World's Longest Yard Sale. Organizers say they might not get the usual crowd estimated at 200,000 people, but they could.

ONEONTA, Ala. (AP) — The entire football team and marching band at an Alabama high school are under quarantine following potential exposure to the new coronavirus. 

Oneonta High School coach Phil Phillips tells WBMA-TV that a fifth player has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. It's the second quarantine of the summer for the team. And band director David Bearden says one of 135 students tested positive in his group, so a quarantine was needed.

ANNISTON, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama city has voted to remove a Confederate monument from its downtown and relocate it to a park that houses a different Confederate memorial. 

News outlets report the Anniston City Council voted Tuesday to relocate the obelisk honoring John Pelham, a Confederate military officer born in Calhoun County. Anniston’s mayor asked the council in June to consider its removal.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox today released an executive order detailing new rules for some businesses in the wake of the city’s State of Emergency order.

These new rules, effective today at 5 p.m., include:

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Rep. Will Dismukes is being arrested on theft charges after his former employer accused him of stealing. 

Montgomery District Attorney Daryl Bailey announced in a press confrence that a warrant on first-degree theft charges has been issued for Dismukes. He said Dismukes is being given until Thursday afternoon to turn himself in.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court will decide whether Public Service Commission hearings are public meetings in a case that began after a candidate was kicked out for recording a proceeding. 

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that justices heard arguments Wednesday in the appeal brought by Laura Casey. Casey, a candidate for Public Service Commission president, was escorted out of the commission hearing for recording the proceeding.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — University of Alabama officials say they've decided to remove from an academic building the name of a white doctor who misused medical evidence to support slavery. 

News outlets report the system’s board of trustees voted Wednesday to strip the name of Dr. Josiah Nott from the facility which houses the Honors College, and replace it with Honors Hall. Nott helped found the university’s medical school.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Health officials say they are cautiously optimistic that Alabama is seeing a decline in COVID-19 cases, but warned that the number of cases will likely rise as students returns to campus this month. 

The reported number of daily COVID-19 cases this week fell to under 1,000. The state was reporting as many as 2,000 new cases per day in late July.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A Confederate monument in Alabama that's been the subject of protests has been vandalized. 

News outlets report that what appears to be red paint was splattered all over the base of the rebel statue outside the Madison County Courthouse in Huntsville early Wednesday. Sheriff's officials say they're investigating.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Leaders in Tuscaloosa are moving to limit nightlife in the college town during the pandemic as thousands of students return for the fall semester. 

A divided City County approved a measure Tuesday night that allows Mayor Walt Maddox to enact rules aimed at combatting a surge in coronavirus cases. Among the regulations is a move to reduce the capacity at bars to 50% after 9 p.m. Another rule would reduce the occupancy of entertainment venues to 25%.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A fundraising drive has reached its goal of bringing in $1.5 million to save Space Camp from closing because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

A corporate donation of $250,000 by the technology company SAIC Inc. pushed the effort over the top.

Education officials in Alabama say more than 4,000 new laptop computers bound for a school district are being held by customs due to human rights concerns. 

The holdup comes weeks before the school year is set to begin with increased online learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say a man is charged with stealing from a memorial fund that was established to help the family of an Alabama police officer who was killed last year. 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is moving ahead with work to study and remove artifacts from the submerged wreckage of the Clotilda, the last slave ship known to land in the United States. 

The Alabama Historical Commission released a request Tuesday seeking a contractor to provide divers who can assess and document the remains of the Clotilda, located near Mobile. Teams should be able to remove artifacts and test remains of the two-masted wooden schooner.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A fundraising drive launched to help the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and Space Camp through the coronavirus pandemic has pulled in more than $1.1 million in just a few days. 

CLANTON, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama school system is using a new cleaning tool to combat the coronavirus, without having to scrub desks, chairs and chalkboards. 

WBRC-TV reports that Chilton County School custodians will be armed with 18 backpack decontamination foggers for the school buildings. The custodians will be trained on how to use them next week.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference has long touted itself as the nation’s toughest football league from top to the bottom. 

That begs the question: How hard will it be to win the SEC this season?

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A proposed design for moving an Alabama airport’s passenger service will be released Tuesday. 

The Mobile Airport Authority is planning to move commercial air passenger service back downtown to the Brookley Aeroplex, an industrial complex and airport.

WPMI-TV reports the authority will unveil the layout proposed for the new passenger terminal during a Tuesday webinar seeking public input on the plan.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Federal authorities say a south Alabama doctor has become the 30th person charged in what they describe as a fraud scheme involving a north Alabama pharmacy. 

A statement by prosecutors says Dr. Michelle Martine Jackson of Fairhope was indicted on charges including conspiracy to receive kickbacks and fraud. The announcement says she worked out of two clinics in Mobile.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama homeowner woke up to an unexpected visitor swimming in his backyard pool: an alligator. 

WALA-TV reports that Steven McCulland of Mobile recorded the unwanted guest on video and posted it on social media. In the video, McCulland shows the alligator and sounds stunned as he questions how it got there. And he told those watching the video: “If you own an alligator and you’re missing one, he in my backyard in my pool. Come get him.”

A handwritten letter written by Rosa Parks recalling Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s work in the civil rights movement is on sale for $54,000. 

The letter, dated Oct. 6, 1981, was sent to a Mr. Kessler more than a decade after King’s assassination. In the letter, Parks writes that she admires and respects King, and calls him a great man committed to freedom and equality for oppressed people.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Commissioners in an Alabama county have voted to include a property tax increase that would add funding for the public school system to the November ballot. 

The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners voted Monday to give residents the chance to decide on the tax referendum on the Nov. 3 presidential election ballot.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — More than a dozen sites are opening across Alabama to test about 200,000 students for the new coronavirus before they head to college and university campuses. 

With testing sites scattered throughout the state, no one should have to travel farther than 60 miles to get to one as they open Tuesday.

Students coming to an Alabama school from other states will receive an at-home test they can submit by mail.

PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Officials say an Alabama lawmaker who was criticized for participating in a celebration marking the birthday of a Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader has resigned from his position as pastor of a Baptist church.

News outlets report that Rep. Will Dismukes resigned as pastor of Prattville's Pleasant Hill Baptist Church on Wednesday after drawing backlash over a Facebook post he shared showing him at a gathering to remember Nathan Bedford Forrest.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Health officials in Alabama say a surge in coronavirus cases has overwhelmed Alabama’s ability to provide test results within the expected 2- to 3-day turnaround.

The Alabama Department of Public Health said the current turnaround time for most COVID-19 testing performed in Alabama by commercial laboratories and the state laboratory is now averaging about 7 days.

OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — An overzealous University of Alabama football fan who poisoned landmark oak trees at archrival Auburn University has died.

Al.com reports that a son confirmed the death of Harvey Updyke, who lived in Louisiana. Updyke's daughter-in-law posted a public tribute to him on Facebook.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A program to aid Alabama families with students who are limited to distance learning this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic will provide $100 million for increased internet service. 

The state says vouchers will help pay for the cost of equipment and high-speed internet service through Dec. 31. They'll be available for students who receive free or reduced-price meals or meet other income criteria.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A former clinic worker in Alabama has pleaded guilty for her participation in a scheme authorities say defrauded the state’s Medicaid agency of at least $1.5 million. 

Authorities, including U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, said Wednesday in a news release that Heidi Elizabeth Robertson entered her plea on one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.