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,…

HOOVER, Ala. — A family member pushed open the door to a quiet Hoover residence Tuesday morning, stepping into a shadowed scene where former WBRC sports reporter Christina Chambers and her husband lay dead from gunshot wounds. Hoover police responded around 9:03 a.m. to the 700 block of Highland Manor Court, where fire-medics pronounced Chambers,…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Nearly 20 years after Natalee Holloway vanished during a graduation trip to Aruba, Netflix is preparing a three-part documentary series revisiting the case that gripped Birmingham, the state of Alabama and the nation. The untitled docuseries will stream globally and center on Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, as she recounts what the streamer…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Immigrants convicted of crimes in Alabama are receiving significantly longer prison sentences than citizens convicted of similar offenses, raising fresh questions about bias and inequality in a state already under federal scrutiny for its overcrowded and violent prisons. A new ProPublica investigation reviewed more than 100 Alabama court cases involving immigrants who…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama’s peanut farmers are reeling from a total collapse in exports to China this year, with shipments of the state’s signature crop dropping from $19.2 million in 2024 to nothing, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data. The plunge, part of a broader 66% decline in Alabama agricultural exports to…