BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A blistering new state audit of the former Birmingham Water Works Board has laid bare a culture of loose oversight, questionable payouts and weak financial controls that customers say tracks with years of sky‑high bills, bad service and little accountability. The findings land on a utility already dogged by ethics scandals, warehouse…

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A new partnership between the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has led to 82 truck drivers being detained over immigration issues in less than six weeks, prompting fresh concerns from immigrant advocates and civil rights groups about racial profiling and the criminalization of work. The effort, announced…

TILLMAN’S CORNER, Ala. — Crime scene tape cordoned off a quiet residential street Wednesday as federal agents and animal welfare officials swarmed a Tillman’s Corner home, turning a neighborhood known for golf carts into ground zero for what locals describe as a primate parade gone awry. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigators, joined by personnel…

HOOVER, Ala. — Hoover planning officials recommended denying a Muslim school’s bid to repurpose a sprawling office building into classrooms and a prayer space after residents packed a hearing with dire warnings of gridlock on Highway 280, spotlighting a stark contrast to the city’s history of greenlighting similar pleas from Christian churches despite parallel traffic…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is under fire after calling for a nationwide ban on all Islamic immigrants and the deportation of Muslim immigrants, a proposal civil rights advocates and faith leaders say revives some of the most discriminatory chapters in American history. The Republican senator’s remarks came after a recent…