Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce

The clash over freedom to read is playing out on the Gulf coast with both sides thinking they’re right. Members of the Fairhope Library Board agreed to stand their ground over books deemed too adult for younger readers. The city’s public library lost its state funding last month when the Alabama Public Library Service board voted to deny funding over books it says don’t belong in the library’s teen section. It was the agency’s first such denial over book placement.

The Baldwin County Commission voted Tuesday to terminate the current agreement with area libraries tying courier service to state funds. The libraries have signed new contracts without the funding requirement. The move comes after Fairhope and its residents lost access to the courier when the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) denied state funding to the Fairhope library last month. The two sides disagreed over 10 young adult books the state board says meets its definition of sexually explicit.

Philip Rivers interviewed with the Buffalo Bills for their head coaching job on Friday, the latest twist in a busy couple of months for one of the most prolific passers in NFL history. The 44-year-old Rivers has no previous NFL coaching experience, having worked since his initial retirement from the league as a high school coach in his native Alabama.

A historic ocean liner will become the world’s largest artificial reef after it's sunk off Florida’s Gulf Coast early next year. Okaloosa County officials announced Tuesday that they expect to sink the SS United States in early 2026 about 22 nautical miles (41 kilometers) southwest of Destin and 32 nautical miles (59 kilometers) southeast of Pensacola.

An Alabama construction worker and U.S. citizen who says he was detained twice by immigration agents within just a few weeks has filed a lawsuit in federal court demanding an end to Trump administration workplace raids targeting industries with large immigrant work forces.

After coming in second in August’s general election, former judge Spiro Cheriogotis narrowly defeated opponent State Rep. Barbara Drummond in the runoff to become Mobile’s 109th mayor.

2005’s Hurricane Katrina killed 238 people in Mississippi and left only concrete slabs in many areas. With beachfront rebuilding crawling along a decade later, Gulfport began offering property tax breaks to those who built near the water. When it comes to rebuilding with hurricane fortified codes, Alabama is credited with leading the nation.

The most unpredictable race for Mayor of Mobile in around twenty years lived up to expectations last night. State House member Barbara Drummond and former Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis will face each other in a runoff in late September.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson set today into motion in September of last year. That’s when he announced he would retire after three terms in charge of government in Alabama’s “Port City.” That was the opening shot in what’s being called the most unpredictable Mayoral race in twenty years.

Coastal communities nationwide are ramping up efforts to restoreand protect their shorelines as climate change causes more intense and destructive storms and leads to sea-level rise that puts tens of millions of people at risk. That includes one of Alabama.