Lawmakers reach tax compromise, seek special session on Ala. county crisis

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The sheriff in Alabama’s most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, as a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff’s budget and lawmakers reached a compromise they hope will end the budget crisis.

Get in line: Budget cuts take hold in troubled Alabama county; legislators work on solution

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The first day of a major government cutback in Alabama’s most populous county has been marked by lengthy waits for routine courthouse business.

Alabama’s most populous county braces for mass furloughs, service cuts amid financial crisis

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As a government shutdown loomed, residents of Alabama’s most populous county lined up Friday to renew their car registrations and settle their tax bills.

Vino no-no: Alabama ban of California wine with naked nymph on label becomes a marketing tool

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s ban on a wine that features a nude nymph on the label became a business opportunity for a California vintner who is preparing a marketing campaign to capitalize on being “Banned in Bama.”

Ga. woman arrested and charged after police find pound of meth worth $13,000 in her bra

CROSSVILLE, Ala. — A 37-year-old Georgia woman was arrested and charged with padding her bra with methamphetamine. DeKalb County, Ala., Sheriff Jimmy Harris said the woman was arrested Tuesday and charged with trafficking in controlled substances.

NASA engineers deny that human space flight program, Constellation, is too risky, expensive

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Engineers designing NASA’s next moon rocket denied Wednesday that the human space flight program dubbed “Constellation” is too expensive, too risky and would unnecessarily delay man’s return to space.

NASA engineers, managers defend rocket design to Obama space flight panel meeting in Ala.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Engineers designing NASA’s next moon rocket are defending their work to a committee appointed by President Obama to review the nation’s human space flight plans.

Panel reviewing NASA plans for human spaceflight holds public hearing at Ala. rocket center

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The panel reviewing NASA’s future plans for human space flight is convening for a session in Alabama.

Auburn University veterinary student studying in Japan vanishes during trip to Thailand

AUBURN, Ala. — An Auburn University veterinary student has vanished during a sightseeing trip to Thailand, and officials from the Alabama school are in Tokyo trying to find him.

Police defend using pepper spray, Taser on mentally disabled deaf man in Ala. store bathroom

MOBILE, Ala. — Officers who used pepper spray and a Taser to remove a man from a store bathroom found out only later he was deaf and mentally disabled and didn’t understand they wanted him to open the door, police said Tuesday.

Police in Ala. use pepper spray, Taser on mentally disabled deaf man who didn’t exit bathroom

MOBILE, Ala. — Police in Mobile, Ala., used pepper spray and a Taser on a deaf, mentally disabled man who they said wouldn’t leave a store’s bathroom.

Suspect in killing of Florida panhandle couple cleared for extradition from Ala.

BREWTON, Ala. — A southern Alabama sheriff has told a newspaper that a man accused in the killing of a Florida panhandle couple has been cleared for extradition to Florida.

Colonial BancGroup agrees to cease-and-desist order with regulators; shares fall

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Colonial BancGroup Inc. on Monday said it has agreed to a cease-and-desist order with federal and state regulators who are seeking to ensure the struggling bank holding company has adequate capital.

Alabama liquor agency says no to nude nymph on widely distributed California wine

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A wine label showing a nude nymph is too racy for Alabama’s liquor control agency, which has told restaurants and stores not to sell the product.

Pilgrim’s Pride idles chicken processing plants in Ala., Ga.

ATHENS, Ala. — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. said Friday it would idle two chicken processing plants that employ almost 1,000 people in Alabama and Georgia as it cuts cost while trying to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

Richard Scrushy bank accounts seized in effort to collect money owed HealthSouth stockholders

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Richard Scrushy’s bank accounts have been seized in a bid to collect some of the $2.8 billion he was ordered to pay for a fraud that nearly bankrupted Alabama-based HealthSouth Corp.

Ala. city plows hill beneath 1,000-year-old Indian site to get fill dirt for a Sam’s Club

OXFORD, Ala. — Bucket loaders and bulldozers are tearing apart a hill that researchers call the foundation of an ancient Native American site to provide fill dirt for a Sam’s Club store, a move that appalls preservationists.

2 Dems, 2 ways to raise funds for Ala. gov’s race: Davis seeks NY money, Sparks holds fish fry

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Artur Davis’ campaign to become Alabama’s first black governor is drawing notice as far off as New York, where a prominent attorney organized a top-dollar fundraiser at his swanky Manhattan penthouse. A rival Democrat, Ron Sparks, is also angling for funds far ahead of the party’s 2010 primary — by calling all donors to a fish fry.

Poor Alabama county banks on coal ash dumping for jobs, at a cost critics say is too high

UNIONTOWN, Ala. — Two-lane roads lined with weeds and trees seem to stretch forever in Perry County, where thousands of residents are poor even by Alabama standards and they don’t produce much for the outside world besides timber and catfish.

States awash in weatherization money scramble to spend it; 10 times the usual amount allotted

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Ready or not, states are getting a tenfold boost in federal money to weatherize drafty homes, an increase so huge it has raised fears of waste and fraud and set off a scramble to find workers and houses for them to repair.

Physician at hurricane-battered Alabama bayou clinic picked for nation’s top doctor post

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. — Battered and flooded by Hurricane Katrina, this coastal Alabama fishing village was in wreckage four years ago when Dr. Regina Benjamin began assessing her patients’ needs. Trouble was, her little health clinic had been flooded and they couldn’t come to see her.

Employee spots suspect’s toy gun and uses cricket bat to foil gas station robbery

BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Authorities in south Alabama say a gas station employee used a cricket bat to chase away a would-be robber who brandished a toy gun.

Closing arguments end in Ala. lawsuit accusing drug company of overcharging Medicaid programs

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Closing arguments have ended in the state of Alabama’s lawsuit against a California-based drug maker accused of cheating the state’s Medicaid program out of millions of dollars.

EPA approves TVA plan to dump millions of tons of coal ash from Tenn. spill in Ala. landfill

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The nation’s largest utility can dump millions of tons of coal ash from a Tennessee spill into an Alabama landfill, federal regulators said Thursday, despite criticism that the plan is unfair to one of Alabama’s poorest counties.

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman asks for new trial in corruption case

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is asking for a new trial following his convictions on bribery and other government corruption charges a few years ago.

Woman who said she was on tracks ‘to clear her mind’ has leg broken after being hit by train

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham police said a 22-year-old woman has suffered a broken leg after being hit by a train. Officer Lawrence Billups said the woman told police she was lying on the tracks “to clear her mind” when the train approached around 7 a.m. Sunday.

Former HealthSouth CEO Scrushy asks for new trial, citing selective prosecution

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy asked a judge to grant him a new trial Friday, saying he was a victim of selective prosecution when he was convicted of bribery in 2006.

Man arrested for driving under the influence allegedly tries to bribe officers to ‘go away’

ATHENS, Ala. — Athens Police Capt. Marty Bruce said a man arrested for driving under the influence faces additional charges after attempting to bribe two police officers to “go away.” The man was charged Monday after officers Josh Garlen and Cortny Barksdale responded to a call about a fight.

Shrimp industry at low tide: Imports, fuel costs and low prices put bayou way of life in peril

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. — Ho Van Le, who trawls in the Gulf of Mexico aboard his 50-foot vessel Star Light, understands the price squeeze facing shrimpers as this year’s season gets under way amid a global recession.

Alabama man reports robbery, but police allegedly find a working meth lab in his home

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — A 33-year-old man ended up in jail after he called in a robbery and police allegedly found a working meth lab in his house. Police arrested the man for manufacturing of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.