Texas

The Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles were loaded with Alabama talent when they defeated the Kansas City chiefs back in January. Now, the NFL Network is reporting that one more former player for retired Tide coach Nick Saban will be joining the team in the “city of brotherly love.”

It is a well-versed group of athletic directors, former coaches and players along with a sports writer, who will be armed with statistics, analytics, charts and graphs and enough highlights to start their own college football network as the settle into their work on the College Football Playoff selection committee. In the end, though, the sport's method of determining a champion – or at least deciding who gets the right to play for the championship – comes down to a matter of opinion.

A spat over congressional redistricting in Texas marks the latest episode in a long national history of gerrymandering. Democratic lawmakers have fled Texas to try to block Republicans from redrawing congressional districts in their favor. The term "gerrymander" originated over 200 years ago to describe political manipulation in legislative districts. A fight before the U.S. Supreme Court that created Alabama’s new U.S. House in District 2 shows how new maps can be challenged. The legal case was featured in Alabama Public Radio’s new interview program “APR Notebook.”

Rescue and recovery efforts continue following deadly flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas. A Mountain Brook girl is confirmed among the fatalities. Now, two reports indicate that a Mobile couple may missing. The Facebook page of the Corpus Christi Chronica and Mobile’s Lagniappe Newspaper reports that Eddie Santana-Negron and his wife Ileana Santana had traveled to Texas to spend the holiday with their eldest son.

As the floodwaters began to recede from Camp Mystic, a torrent of grief remained as the identities of some of the campers who died in the flash floods began to emerge on Saturday. Texas officials are reportedly under scrutiny for the heavy casualty toll, as well as the Trump White House, over key staff positions at the National Weather Service that remain unfilled.

Tropical Storm Francine formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and was expected to drench the Texas coast with rain before coming ashore in Louisiana as a hurricane on Wednesday night. Alabama's forecast includes heavier rain later this week.

Public health experts from some of the nation's leading research universities have deployed a massive medical trailer to rural parts of the South as part of an ambitious and unusual new health study. The researchers aim to test the heart and lung function of rural residents of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Alabama is part of the Southern states seeing a boost in population numbers. The South accounted for 87% of the nation’s growth in 2023. That’s according to recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, which also shows the South is the only region to have maintained population growth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jalen Milroe threw for three touchdowns in his first start for the Alabama Crimson Tide against Texas A & M. The team made a final goal-line stand to escape with a 24-20 victory over the Aggies in a battle of backup quarterbacks.

The beginning of school can be especially stressful - even more so for the Uvalde, Texas, community, after the school shooting tragedy last May.