Fairhope

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.

Forget "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!" Here's the real dirt from Chef Panini Pete himself. He confesses his secret plane-door-tapping ritual to Quick-Fire Quips host Baillee Majors. Plus, he's not afraid to admit that a little bit of Southern vernacular has rubbed off on him. Peek into the mind of a culinary star who's "fixin' to" prove Alabama is more than just grits and gumbo.

More than one hundred women will take off from the Sonny Callahan Airport in Fairhope today for the 48th Annual Air Race Classic. Lieutenant Katrina McCleod is an instructor pilot with the U.S. Coast Guard. She has spent years saving lives and tracking down drug smugglers. But now she’s trying something different–a cross-country air race.

The streaming service Hulu is bringing love to Fairhope with a new romantic drama. The new show “Love in Fairhope” is a series set in Baldwin County. It tells the story of five different generations of women on their quest to find love.

It seems like Inflation is top of everyone’s minds for these days. The latest numbers show prices rose a little more than seven and a half percent in October. But anyone who has been to the grocery store knows the cost of food outpaces those numbers. APR grad student reporter Cori Yonge visited a south Alabama food pantry. She explains what this might mean for the less fortunate this holiday season.

Fans of Walt Disney World in Orlando saw the ribbon cutting for the new EPCOT theme park back in 1982. That was the same year Alabama Public Radio first took to the airwaves. The APR news team has been observing our fortieth anniversary by diving in our archives to re-air some of our best stories. That includes this one from last year. Customers of a Fairhope gas station left handwritten tribute messages after the owner died from natural causes. APR Gulf coast correspondent Lynn Oldshue has more on this life well lived from the APR archives.

The Civilian Conservation Corps put Americans to work on public projects during the Great Depression. That was almost ninety years ago. Now a new corps is working to improve Alabama’s coastal environment.

The director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama is retiring.Marshall officials say Todd May announced his retirement to employees…