News

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — State Sen. David Burkette of Montgomery has resigned from the Alabama Legislature. 

A spokeswoman for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey says the Montgomery Democrat submitted his resignation Tuesday. Burkette did not elaborate on his sudden departure. However, the Alabama Ethics Commission last year forwarded a complaint involving Burkette to local prosecutors, although the nature of the complaint was not disclosed.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Public Service Commission is upholding Alabama Power’s charges on homeowners who use solar panels to produce some of their own electricity. 

The three commissioners voted Tuesday to dismiss a challenge by environmental groups arguing the fees were excessive. Environmental groups argued the fees devour most of a homeowner's savings from using solar panels and discourages use of solar. 

FORT MORGAN, Ala. (AP) — Authorities said a Tennessee woman died at an Alabama beach after she and other beach-goers attempted to form a human chain to rescue a child. 

Baldwin County Coroner Brian Pierce said 53-year-old Karen Graham, of Collierville, Tennessee, died Saturday after being recovered from the water at Fort Morgan beach.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama coach Nick Saban led dozens of his football players and other athletes on a march to protest social injustice and recent incidents of police brutality against Black men and women. 

The group marched the short distance on the school's campus Monday from the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility to Foster Auditorium, where segregationist Gov. George Wallace stood at the door in 1963 trying to block the entry of two Black students.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A Republican congressional nominee is facing criticism for a social media post, which he later deleted, of a meme that appeared to support a teenager charged with  killing two people during protests in Wisconsin. 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A renewed push has emerged to rename schools named for Confederate figures amid ongoing nationwide protests over police misconduct and racial injustice. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center says more than 100 public schools are named for Confederates. Many were founded during the days of segregation as all-white schools but now serve mostly African American students.

ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama judge indicted for stealing from clients has withdrawn a bid to have the charges thrown out. 

Special Circuit Judge Steven Haddock on Sunday signed an order dismissing the attempt to overturn the 2019 indictment against former Limestone County District Judge Doug Patterson. The order followed Patterson and his lawyer admitting in a court hearing last week that they were unlikely to prevail on their motion.

LUVERNE, Ala. (AP) — The family of a man who was fatally shot by his off-duty police officer neighbor has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. 

According to the federal lawsuit recently filed on behalf of Channing Spivey's family members, Spivey was undergoing cancer treatments and had survived a brain surgery before his May 27 encounter with Luverne Assistant Police Chief Mason Adcock.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn expects to return to practice Monday minus 16 players sidelined after positive COVID-19 tests. 

Coach Gus Malzahn said Sunday night that the Tigers had five positives early in the week and four more after additional testing Thursday. With contact tracing, seven others who had close contact with them face a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — With masks, social distancing and mostly empty stands, the college football season kicked off COVID-19 style. 

Austin Peay and Central Arkansas, two teams fresh from FCS playoff appearances, took the stage at Cramton Bowl Saturday night in the Guardian Kickoff Classic. Central Arkansas won 24-17 but college football was the star of the show.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say divers have recovered the body of an Alabama man missing for six weeks after a boat capsized on Smith Lake north of Birmingham. 

Dustin New, 26, of Fultondale, hadn’t been seen since July 16. Multiple agencies had been searching for him since then and divers found his body on Saturday.

BEAUREGARD, Ala. (AP) — A new memorial in Beauregard remembers the nearly two dozen people killed when a deadly tornado swept through the east Alabama county last year. 

WSFA reports that the names and images of the 23 victims are etched into main layer of the stone monument. The second layer is dedicated to the first responders and volunteers. At the top is a cross and the saying, Beauregard Strong, an expression that the community used to rally together as they rebuilt from the storm.  

HOMEWOOD, Ala. (AP) — The president of Samford University in suburban Birmingham says he is retiring next year. 

Andrew Westmoreland’s departure from the small college in Homewood was announced Friday to students, workers and alumni.

A search will begin immediately for a replacement, but the school has time to look since Westmoreland’s departure won’t happen until June 30, 2021.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An underground fire at an illegal dump in Alabama has been burning since May. 

Al.com reports the fire is smoldering under layers of mostly construction and demolition waste at a site north of Birmingham on a hillside behind multiple homes south of Interstate 22.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Two of Alabama’s major industrial incentives that the state used to recruit businesses will expire later this year without legislative action, raising the possibility that lawmakers could be called back to Montgomery for a special session. 

The Alabama Jobs Act, which provides tax credits and rebates to new industries,  expires on Dec. 31 and the Growing Alabama Act, which provides tax credits for donations to economic development organizations, expires Sept. 31.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court is refusing to reconsider its decision upholding the 2016 ethics conviction of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard. 

Justices on Friday turned down Hubbard’s request to rehear his case.

The Alabama Supreme Court this spring overturned five of the counts in Hubbard’s ethics convictions while upholding six others.  

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say an Alabama man has been indicted on charges he manufactured homemade and untested cancer drugs in his kitchen and marketed them to “alternative-medicine doctors” in the U.S., Mexico and elsewhere. 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is extending a statewide mask order that health officials have credited with reducing COVID-19 cases in the state.

The Republican governor announced Thursday that the mask order, which had been set to expire next week, will be extended until Oct. 2. The governor also said she will keep in place other health orders, such as reducing occupancy in stores and  limiting table seating in restaurants.

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (AP) — A $59 million manufacturing factory is coming to Alabama and will produce battery trays for electric vehicles. 

Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield says the DURA Automotive Systems project, announced Tuesday, will help the state’s automotive sector keep pace with the industry.

In addition, officials say the project will create 279 jobs.

TROY, Ala. (AP) — Troy University is renaming a university building for the late Congressman John Lewis. 

The Troy University Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to rename historic Bibb Graves Hall on campus in honor of the late civil rights leader.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice. 

Called off: Games between Milwaukee and Orlando, Houston and Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland. The NBA said all three games would be rescheduled, yet did not say when.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Hospitals are urging Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to extend an order requiring face coverings as health officials credit the measure for a drop in the state’s COVID-19 cases. 

The current order is set to expire next week. The governor’s office declined to say when she would announce a decision. The Republican governor has faced a mix of praise from health officials and criticism from some conservatives for the decision to issue the statewide mask order.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The University of Alabama has recorded 531 cases of COVID-19 on campus since the fall semester began last week. 

The university system released the number of students, faculty and staff testing positive Tuesday, a day after Tuscaloosa's mayor ordered bars closed.

Tuscaloosa is closing bars for the next two weeks after University of Alabama officials said there has been an unacceptable rise in COVID-19 cases on campus. 

FORT RUCKER, Ala. (AP) — Officials said a soldier stationed at an Alabama U.S. Army post was found dead Sunday morning. 

Fort Rucker officials said the soldier was found off the base near the town of Clayhatchee. Information on the soldier and details surrounding the soldier’s death weren’t immediately released.

TALLASSEE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama city's mayor has been charged with harassment in a road rage incident. 

Prosecutors told the Montgomery Advertiser on Sunday that Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock and the other driver, 20-year-old Keazanni Spencer, were charged with misdemeanors following a July 5 encounter.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The head of the Alabama Department of Education says state schools are facing a shortage of workers that’s being made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. 

State Superintendent Eric Mackey says schools can’t find enough substitute teachers, bus drivers or nurses. He says the problem existed last year, and the pandemic has made it worse.