MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Democratic state representative has prefiled legislation that would let Alabama voters decide whether to abolish the death penalty, thrusting the issue back into the spotlight in a state with one of the nation’s most aggressive execution records and a prison system under federal condemnation for rampant violence. State Rep. Chris England,…

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A faint rumble in the dead of night jolted sleepy residents southwest of Tuscaloosa, as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake struck just after 12:53 a.m. Saturday, rattling nerves in a state where the ground occasionally betrays its calm exterior. The quake’s epicenter sat 11 kilometers (7 miles) southwest of Tuscaloosa, at a shallow…

TRUSSVILLE, Ala. — A man was shot to death early Saturday in the parking lot of Velma’s, the storied Gadsden Highway bar that has loomed large in Trussville’s nightlife — and reputation — for generations. Trussville police said officers were called around 1 a.m. to the 1900 block of Gadsden Highway, where they found a…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham has graduated the largest police academy class in its history, a milestone city leaders say is part of a broader push to pull the city back from record-setting violence in the years after the George Floyd protests and the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Birmingham Police Department celebrated…

VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. — Vestavia Hills police are warning parents about a “disturbing” new scam in which criminals use artificial intelligence to clone children’s voices and call families with fake emergencies to demand money. In a social media alert this week, the Vestavia Hills Police Department said scammers are scraping short clips of kids’ voices…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A new PBS “American Masters” documentary on avant-garde jazz legend and Birmingham native Sun Ra is set to bring the visionary bandleader’s life and legacy to a national television audience early next year. The film, “Sun Ra: Do the Impossible,” will air on PBS stations as part of the long-running biography series,…