Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce

Rail passengers can soon buy tickets to ride Amtrak between Mobile and New Orleans. The service announced the resumption of travel between the two cities for the first time since Hurricane Katrina halted Amtrak’s route along the Alabama Gulf coast back in August of 2005.

A Mobile, Alabama woman and toddler whose remains were discovered scattered along an oceanfront highway not far from the victims of Long Island's infamous Gilgo Beach killings. The two were identified Wednesday as a U.S. Army veteran from Alabama and her daughter.

We’ve all heard of dogs sniffing for bombs or drugs. But what about sniffing for bacteria? APR headed to south Alabama where an environmental group is training man’s best friend to find untreated wastewater in local rivers and streams.

African American church leaders are speaking out over budget cuts being proposed by the Trump White House. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture features artifacts from, and has sponsored research into, the slave ship Clotilda. The double masted schooner carried the last kidnapped Africans to be held as slaves at the time of the U.S. Civil War.

This week marks two hundred years since a 1825 tour of the United States by the Marquis de Lafayette. The French general served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War. LaFayette later became a key figure in the French Revolution in 1789. He also holds the distinction of being the only foreign leader ever invited to be a guest of the nation by order of Congress. President James Monroe asked LaFayette to tour the U.S., and that included Alabama.

Mardi Gras means parties and parades along the Alabama Gulf coast. That means it’s also prime time for people who like to catch the colorful beads and doubloons that are thrown from the parade floats. This may sound like all fun and games, but environmentalists say there’s a darker side to this Mardi Gras tradition.

White House negotiators are talking with Europe over tariffs on Aluminum and steel. And postponed tariffs against Canada and Mexico could expire as soon as next week. Officials at the Port of Mobile are watching all this activity. The State says the port generates close to one hundred million dollars a year in revenue.

The snow is still falling along the Gulf coast, but it’s already considered to be a record breaker. Early reports put the snowfall at Mobile Regional Airport at over six inches and five more in Pensacola. If so, that would break the five inch record in Alabama’s Port City set back in 1881. There was also three inches that fell in 1973 and a dusting in late 2017 and 2018.

Drivers in Mobile County are being urged to temporarily avoid bridges and roads as the Gulf coast shivers its way through what’s being called its first ever blizzard alert. Schools in Mobile, Baldwin, Washington, and Escambia Counties are reported closed through Wednesday. Parents should check with their child’s school for updates. The current snow warning for the Mobile area extends until 6 am Wednesday.

Residents along the Alabama Gulf coast could see something they reportedly haven’t seen in seven years. There’s an eighty five percent chance of snow today. The Gulf coast got a taste of winter weather back in late 2017 and early 2018. That was a tenth of inch. Some forecasts put today’s snowfall at possibly two to five inches.