BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Activists and legal advocates are intensifying a last-minute push to halt the upcoming execution of Jeffery James Lee, a death row inmate scheduled to die by nitrogen gas on Thursday at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The planned execution has drawn sharp condemnation from human rights groups, faith leaders,…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham City Schools is putting artificial intelligence squarely in front of teachers Monday, hosting a districtwide professional development day aimed at helping educators figure out how to use the technology without compromising instruction, privacy or academic integrity. The event comes as school systems across Alabama and the country are wrestling with the…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Auburn University student from Alabama who vanished during a family trip in Japan was found dead in a mountainous area outside Kyoto, his family said Saturday, ending a dayslong search that drew attention across the United States and abroad. James “Weston” Higginbotham, 20, of Hoover, disappeared May 29 while traveling with…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Two people were killed and five others were injured in a shooting Thursday night in Birmingham’s Sandusky neighborhood, where police said a gathering was underway when gunfire erupted. Officers responded shortly after 8:30 p.m. to the 100 block of Holley Avenue after reports that multiple people had been shot, according to the…

ROME — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Maria Montserrat Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, to lead the Vatican’s communications office, placing a top executive from the Alabama-born Catholic media giant in one of the Holy See’s most important media posts. Alvarado will become prefect of the Dicastery for Communication on Nov.…

BESSEMER, Ala. — A masked intruder cut through a wall to enter the Bessemer insurance office of Ken McFeeters, a former Republican candidate for Alabama governor, leaving the business ransacked but apparently taking nothing, according to local reporting and police. Authorities said there is no indication so far that the break-in was politically motivated. McFeeters,…