Free Republic

Our northern neighbors are shell-shocked: they are even poorer than Alabamians. This follows a tough week for Canada, which has struggled at the Winter Olympics and has faced constant pressure from Donald Trump. In fact, it's the headline used on social media that's become the main source of mockery—"Out of nowhere, Canada became poorer than Alabama. How is that possible?”In December, Tommy Battle’s dream came true. The five-term Mayor of Huntsville is Alabama to the bone, born in Birmingham and a graduate of the state university in Tuscaloosa, but for the past 18 years he’s tried to distance his city...

In this highly amusing Globe & Mail story, Canadians are stunned to discover that Alabama is not the dirt poor hillbilly backwater they think it is. They're totally gobsmacked when they learn Alabama's per capita GDP had edged higher than Canada's. "Canadians could probably stomach having their living standards slip relative to the broader U.S., the epicentre of the world's tech revolution. But Alabama?"

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A pair of shootings downtown Sunday were not connected, as police originally believed, authorities said Monday. Police responded at 11:09 p.m. to a shooting near the intersection of Dauphin and South Joachim streets. Mobile Police Chief William Jackson said at a news conference that five men and two women, ranging in age from 24 to 30, suffered gunshot wounds. One of the victims remains in critical condition, according to the chief. Jackson said the second shooting took place minutes later, about a block away, in the parking lot at Joachim and Conti streets, across from the...

A vintage rocket engine built to blast the first U.S. lunar mission into Earth's orbit more than 40 years ago is again rumbling across the Southern landscape. The engine, known to NASA engineers as No. F-6049, was supposed to help propel Apollo 11 into orbit in 1969, when NASA sent Neil Armstrong and two other astronauts to the moon for the first time.

~Welcome to the capital city of the European Union: JUST IN: Two Alabama women and their children were attacked on a train in Brussels, Belgium for being American The attacker reportedly approached them with a knife and asked if they were American, when they confirmed, he threatened to kiII them. pic.twitter.com/cD7Ybhxtsk The train is filled with both Flemings and Walloons, but, in a rare display of comity, both seem, objectively, to be on the side of the knifeperson. Perhaps the State Department could arrange for any American tourist in Europe to be issued with his own Vance-sized Milano motorcade. On...

It's astonishing to witness the improvement in public education--reading, math, attendance, grad rates--in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. But we're busy fighting culture wars rather than scaling up what these three states have done. Please do read: https://nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K1A.hGAi.QpbdtKzj51Ke&smid=url-share

<p>Federal investigators arrested an Alabama man this week for attempting to assassinate then-US president Joe Biden in 2024, the latest in a string of violent incidents or attempted attacks in the US tied to the anti-Israel movement.</p><p>Adam Benjamin Hall, 23, allegedly brought a firearm to a debate between Biden and Donald Trump, then the Republican candidate, held in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024, to kill Biden. Hall failed to enter the debate, federal prosecutors said.</p>

A Republican opponent is challenging Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s eligibility to run for governor of Alabama, accusing the football coach-turned-politician of not meeting the legal requirement to have lived in the state for seven years. Ken McFeeters, who is running against Tuberville for the Republican nomination for governor, filed the challenge Tuesday with the Alabama Republican Party. McFeeters in a phone interview said he believes Tuberville lives in a multimillion-dollar beach home in Florida instead of a smaller home that he has listed as his residence in Auburn, Alabama. Property tax records show the former Auburn University football coach has a...

NASA’s massive Dynamic Test Stand and the “T-Tower” were demolished at Marshall Space Flight Center on Saturday.HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - The landscape at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has changed forever.Two very large and critical structures during the Apollo and Shuttle eras were demolished Saturday morning.Their “leveling” is part of MSFC’s “modernization plan” to eliminate 25 buildings or facilities considered obsolete.NASA’s massive Dynamic Test Stand and the “T-Tower” are National Historic landmarks, but that designation won’t save them.The last critical tests done on the Saturn V and the space shuttle to make sure they were spaceworthy were done on these...

A week ago, Alabama Crimson Tide fans were ecstatic.They had come back from a huge hole against Oklahoma on the road to win their opening round game in the College Football Playoff.Head coach Kalen DeBoer was staying in Tuscaloosa and not talking to Michigan about their opening, and they had all the momentum in the world heading into the Rose Bowl against an unproven top seed, Indiana.Before the New Year’s Day game in Pasadena, teams with a first-round bye in the new CFP format were 0-6. Indiana, like the other teams before them, could come in rusty against an experienced,...

A newborn baby boy described as only “hours old” was safely surrendered to a Safe Haven baby box in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 22. The baby was surrendered to a baby box at Fire Station 10, the Montgomery Advertiser reported, citing a release from Montgomery Fire/Rescue (MFR). First responders delayed the announcement of the baby’s surrender intentionally to protect the privacy and anonymity of those involved. “Fire Station 10 personnel responded immediately after the Safe Haven Baby Box alert activated,” Montgomery Fire/Rescue (MFR) said. “Inside the temperature‑controlled compartment, firefighters discovered a healthy newborn boy who appeared to be only hours...

Lawmakers in several Western countries are now considering online age verification digital ID systems similar to those that recently came into force in Australia.The Australian model, which blocks children under sixteen from joining social media platforms and so forces all adults to submit ID to access platforms, has quickly become a reference point for politicians abroad who describe it as a child safety measure, while others warn it could normalize digital identity tracking.In the United States, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama said she hopes “Australia taking this step…leads the US to actually doing something.”Britt, a mother of two, is one...

The young woman identified as the first victim killed in Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University was Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore and outspoken conservative activist whose death has sent shockwaves through both the campus community and conservative circles nationwide. Cook, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was serving as vice president of Brown University’s College Republicans and was widely known for standing firm in her beliefs on one of the most ideologically hostile campuses in the country. Friends say she was thoughtful, kind, and unafraid to express her convictions, even when doing so made her a target for hostility or...

Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama, was a student at Brown University, tragically killed in the December 13, 2025, campus shooting. An active parishioner at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, she was remembered as a grounded, faithful, and bright light in her community. She served as Vice President of the Brown University Republican Club and was described by peers as a staunch conservative unafraid to express her views on a liberal campus. Prior experience included work at Oxbridge Academic Programs and Mountain Brook Creamery

An Alabama town angrily shot down plans to build a Muslim school in their area, with locals citing the 'cultural takeover' of Muslims in a Michigan city and as far away as the UK. Residents of Hoover in suburban Birmingham showed up in force at a zoning commission meeting Monday as the board voted on whether to allow the Islamic Academy to transform a local office building into a school and community center. Around 170 locals attended the meeting, with many opposing a motion to move the existing Islamic Academy in Homewood to Hoover. Citing traffic concerns and questioning the...

Two Chinese nationals and two U.S. citizens have been charged with a scheme to illegally export advanced Nvidia chips to China in violation of U.S. export controls, the Department of Justice said on Nov. 20.In a file photograph, the logo of Nvidia Corporation during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 30, 2017. Tyrone Siu/ReutersLi Cham, 38, a California resident, and Chen Jing, 45, who resides in Florida on an F-1 nonimmigrant student visa, are the two Chinese nationals accused of the illegal exporting scheme. The two U.S. citizens are Ho Hong Ning, 34, a Florida resident...

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Huntsville Police say the Madison County District Attorney’s Office determined no charges will be filed after an investigation into a shooting on Brahan Avenue on Tuesday night. Madison County Coroner Tyler Berryhill said one of the two people injured in the shooting on Brahan died at Huntsville Hospital. Berryhill identified the man who died as 34-year-old Demetrius Paige. HEMSI Spokesperson Don Webster said the call for the shooting came in at about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday from the 2200 block of Brahan Ave SW. The department said one person was in custody on Tuesday night, but...

Not getting off “Scott” free. An Alabama police force playfully exacted revenge against a group of high schoolers who had covered their department headquarters — along with the rest of the town — with toilet paper as part of an elaborate senior prank. Heflin Police Chief Ross McGlaughn vowed to get back on the Class of 2026 when the students launched their overnight TP attack across the small Alabama city. The police department’s main building was dressed with rolls of toilet paper that covered the entrance, squad cars and the roof. “It’s just fun,” the student leaders told CBS News...

An Alabama man was arrested this week for allegedly planning attacks on synagogues in Alabama and surrounding states as well as public figures. Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, 33, of Needham, Alabama, was arrested on Monday after the FBI and local agencies were alerted of “credible threats of violence” he made to local synagogues, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office announced in a post on Facebook. During his arrest, law enforcement also seized “weapons, more than a suitcase full of ammo, body armor and other items related to the plans of violence” in Shoemaker’s possession, the office said. Following an investigation, the Clark...

A local LGBTQ+ activist in Prattville was arrested on Tuesday for chemical endangerment of a child after a naked toddler was found wandering alone in downtown Prattville. Adam Hunt, the president and co-founder of Prattville Pride, was one of three people arrested by police on Tuesday. According to a press release by Prattville Police, a “citizen was traveling down East Main St. at the intersection of Adell St. in Prattville when he noticed an unattended, unclothed, male toddler, walking in close proximity and in the direction of Main St. Main St. is one of the busiest streets in Prattville, which...