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Alabama’s New Ten Commandments School Bill Draws Fire for Hypocrisy and Culture-War Politics
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama lawmakers are again pushing to require public schools to post the Ten Commandments, this time targeting fifth- through 12th-grade history classrooms in a move critics say is less about teaching history and more about elevating one religious code that many of its champions do not follow themselves. Senate Bill 99, filed…
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Two 16-Year-Olds Charged in Fatal Ensley Shooting of 20-Year-Old
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Two 16-year-old boys are facing murder charges in the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man in Birmingham’s Ensley neighborhood earlier this month, authorities said. The Birmingham Police Department said officers were called about 1:30 p.m. Feb. 3 to the 1400 block of 29th Street Ensley, where they found an overturned vehicle with…
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Brookside Agrees to $1.5 Million Settlement in ‘Policing for Profit’ Case
BROOKSIDE, Ala. — The town of Brookside has agreed to a proposed $1.5 million class-action settlement that would compensate thousands of drivers and impose sweeping reforms after years of allegations that the town ran a “policing-for-profit” scheme built on aggressive ticketing and towing. The settlement, filed in federal court in the Northern District of Alabama…
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Birmingham Awards $100,000 to Urban Farmers in Partnership With Jones Valley Teaching Farm
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The city of Birmingham is investing $100,000 in its growing network of urban farms through a new grant program administered by Jones Valley Teaching Farm, a nonprofit that has helped reshape the city’s food landscape over the past two decades. Funded with federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, the Urban Farmer Grant…
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Kami-Con Brings Anime, Gaming and Cosplay Party to Downtown
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Fans of anime, gaming and all things geek culture will take over the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex this weekend as Kami-Con returns downtown for three days of costumes, concerts and late-night fun. Kami-Con, now in its 17th year, runs Friday through Sunday in the BJCC’s East Exhibition Hall and bills itself as Alabama’s…
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Alabama’s Child Predator Death Penalty Law Plays on Fear, Not Facts
MONTGOMERY, Ala — Alabama’s new Child Predator Death Penalty Act may play well on the campaign trail, but its legal and practical problems show it was not thought through. The law, passed as HB 41/SB 17, makes first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and sexual torture capital offenses when the victim is under 12, allowing prosecutors to…
