Free Republic

Democrat Allison Montgomery will become Alabama’s first transgender legislator after she won the state’s House District 25 on Tuesday night, unseating Republican Phillip Rigsby and persevering in a district President Donald Trump won three times. Montgomery’s victory came as Democrats had an overwhelming performance in the midterm elections. Democrats flipped control of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, as well as several gubernatorial seats, including in Texas and Ohio. State legislatures also saw Democratic victories on Tuesday night, including Montgomery’s win in House District 25 in northern Alabama. Montgomery won with 53.3 percent of the vote to Rigsby’s 46.7 percent,...

Nine people were shot after the Magic City Classic football game on Saturday night in Birmingham, Alabama. According to police, one person was killed and eight others were injured in a mass shooting just outside Legion Field after the game around 7:50 p.m. The Magic City Classic is an annual rivalry game between Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University, the state's largest historically Black universities. … A spokesman for the police department told the Associated Press and other reporters that one person was detained for questioning and that multiple weapons were found and secured after the mass shooting.

A large Georgia family survived flames that destroyed their house — thanks to a good Samaritan who stumbled upon the blaze after his GPS took him a different way home, officials said Tuesday. Firefighters in northwest Georgia were called at 11:58 p.m. Oct. 17 and rushed to 28 Rowlls Road, where they found the structure engulfed by flames, Lyerly Fire Chief Tim Deberry told NBC News. James and Larita Burke, their 11 adopted children and one grandchild made it out safely with a helping hand from 37-year-old motorist Casey Sparks, officials said. Sparks had been playing softball that day in...

An Alabama woman has been indicted on federal charges after allegedly threatening President Donald Trump in a Facebook post ahead of his planned visit to the Alabama-Georgia football game. Megan Lorraine Utz, 36, of Courtland, faces charges of threatening the president and transmitting a threatening communication across state lines, according to the Justice Department. Utz allegedly responded to a Facebook post about the Oct. 10 game on Oct. 5, writing under the name “Kase Utz”: “He’s not allowed in my stadium! I’ll put a bullet through him if he dares,” according to an indictment obtained by WAFF. Trump ultimately canceled...

Tropical Storm Isaias has formed in the Bay of Campeche. Hurricane Watches will likely be required for a portion of the U.S. northern Gulf coast later today. Additional strengthening is in the forecast. Mash the graphics below to enlarge. All links and images are self-updating. NHC Public Advisories NHC Discussions Tropical Tidbits by Levi Cowan

Even as President Donald Trump was on his way to the Port City for a political rally Friday, three University of South Alabama students were making appearances in federal court to answer to charges of making threats against him. Amare Jemal Woods, Cameron Lamark Lewis and Kayla Leaann Smith are charged with threats against the president. A federal magistrate judge ordered all three to be detained following on a detention hearing Monday. Affidavits filed by federal law enforcement officers allege that the defendants made violent threats over social media in the run-up to Trump’s rally. The University of South Alabama...

GADSDEN, Ala. (WIAT) — Four people were injured in a drive-by shooting outside of a Waffle House in Gadsden Friday night. The shooting occurred after the Gadsden City High School football game, according to Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford. Mayor Ford confirmed all victims are in stable condition, and pledged to bring the shooter into custody by the end of the day. “It was a chaotic situation, but a stable situation,” Ford said in a video posted to Facebook Saturday morning. “Now for the shooter, I can assure you we will have him in custody by the end of the day....

An Alabama jury has returned a $9.25 million verdict against the New York Times. The plaintiff is Kai Spears, formerly a member of the Alabama basketball team: An Alabama jury has awarded former Alabama basketball player Kai Spears $9.25 million after finding The New York Times defamed him by incorrectly linking him to the 2023 killing of Jamea Harris in Tuscaloosa. *** The Times reported that Spears had been in the passenger seat of a vehicle connected to the shooting, citing an anonymous source familiar with the investigation. This is the story, in brief: Harris, a 23-year-old mother from Birmingham,...

An Alabama jury on Thursday awarded $9.25 million in damages after finding that The New York Times defamed a college basketball player by incorrectly reporting that he was at the scene of a fatal shooting in Tuscaloosa. Kai Spears, who played for the University of Alabama men's team, sued the Times in 2023 after it published a report, citing a person familiar with the investigation, that indicated he was a passenger in a car involved in the shooting. The Times reported that the person had spoken "on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters." Days later, the Times acknowledged...

The man convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening in south Alabama. Jeremy Williams, 42, is set to be executed Aug. 13 at approximately 6 p.m. CT at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Williams was convicted in the December 2021 death of Kamarie Holland, whose disappearance sparked a large-scale search across the Chattahoochee Valley. According to court testimony, Kamarie was reported missing from her mother’s home on Dec. 13, 2021. Investigators reviewing phone records determined Williams and Kamarie’s mother, Kristy Siple, had been in contact the...

Like Joe Biden’s infamous June 2024 debate performance, where he exposed himself to the world as incapable of continuing his presidency, former Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci’s non-testimony at Wednesday’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing may go down as one of the quickest and harshest falls from grace in recent memory. Although people with brains knew long ago that the fibbin’ doctor was a fraud who severely mismanaged the pandemic, made a mockery of the Constitution while chasing ever-more fawning news coverage, and ruined countless lives, the mainstream media and gullible leftists have...

Tuskegee University announced plans to roll out a new dress code this upcoming semester at the historically black college.The dress code announcement came directly from the top in an email to students from Tuskegee University President Dr. Mark A. Brown. “The Student Handbook requires students to arrive on campus with a business suit and proper shoes for a business meeting,” the email read.The new dress code also bars “revealing clothing in class, to the cafeteria or in official settings like Convocation,” and prohibits “bedroom shoes, bonnets, or du-rags to class or the cafeteria,” according to the email.The university president assured...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was accused of putting on an accent during a Memphis rally last week, with critics on social media comparing her to former Vice President Kamala Harris. Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at a campaign rally in Memphis on Friday for progressive U.S. House candidate Justin Pearson, who currently serves as a Tennessee state representative. "We cannot afford to leave Tennessee behind," she said. "We cannot afford to leave Kentucky behind, Alabama behind, Mississippi behind, Georgia behind, South Carolina behind. There is no country where we are split apart." "About a month or two ago, we were in Montgomery,...

Northern Gulf of America and near Florida (AL91): An area of low pressure located over the northeastern Gulf of America continues to become better defined and the associated shower and thunderstorm activity is gradually increasing. Continued gradual development is expected, and a tropical depression is likely to form later today or on Monday as the system moves slowly northward or northwestward. Interests along the northern Gulf coast from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana should monitor the progress of this system, as tropical storm watches or warnings could be required for portions of the area later today. In addition, this system...

Man accused of killing University of Alabama student alongside father-of-three and dog he was pet sitting was known to victims as cops reveal suspect's dangerous past The man who allegedly murdered a college student, a father-of-three and the dog he was pet-sitting had known the victims of the cold-blooded killing, police said. Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, who was studying at the University of Alabama, and 31-year-old Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, a single father of three, were found shot to death in Brookwood, Alabama on Monday. Police made the tragic discovery after conducting a welfare check at a home where Alvarez-Duenas had...

Disgraced former politician Andrew Gillum, a one-time Democratic Party rising star and CNN political commentator, has been arrested in Alabama for allegedly having drugs, according to records. Gillum – who narrowly lost to Ron DeSantis in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election – was arrested Thursday in Daphne before being booked for possession of dangerous drugs, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to Baldwin County jail records.

DAPHNE, Ala. — Andrew Gillum, who lost to Ron DeSantis by an extremely slim margin in the 2018 Florida governor’s race and served as Tallahassee’s mayor from 2014-2018, was arrested last week in Alabama on drug charges, Local 10 News learned Tuesday. According to online jail records, the former politician was arrested Thursday night in Daphne, Alabama on charges of possession of dangerous drugs, drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana. He has since been released from jail. Further details surrounding the 46-year-old’s arrest were not immediately released. Local 10 News has requested a copy of his arrest report from the...

Five US states reject LGBT ‘pride’ month, reclaim June for marriage, family, GodThe governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Utah issued proclamations that follow in the footsteps of Tennessee, which passed a resolution in April recognizing June as ‘Nuclear Family Month.’ Five U.S. states have now chosen to disregard homosexual and transgender “pride month,” casting aside the rainbow flag and reclaiming June for marriage, family, and God. The governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Utah issued proclamations that follow in the footsteps of Tennessee, which passed a resolution in April recognizing the month of June as “Nuclear Family Month.”Tennessee’s resolution...

The Justice Department said Tuesday it obtained a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center that contained new allegations about how its donations were purportedly used to pay informants inside hate groups. The superseding indictment, which the DOJ said was returned by a grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama, alleges that $4.1 million worth of tax-exempt funds were used to pay informants inside extremist organizations, who then allegedly engaged in activities including recruiting new members and purchasing materials for cross burnings and Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods. The charges do not stem from the general practice...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a congressional map that eliminates one of two majority-Black districts in the state in a win for Republicans. The justices, split 6-3 on ideological lines with conservatives in the majority, granted an emergency request filed by Republican officials seeking to use the map, which was enacted in 2023 but has never been used. In the unsigned three-page order, the court said the state is likely to ultimately prevail on its claim that the map was lawfully drawn. In dissent, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority’s decision “disregards both democratic values...