News

Roy Moore has filed a lawsuit to try to stop Alabama officials from certifying Democrat Doug Jones as the winner of the U.S. Senate race.

The court filing occurred just ahead of today's meeting of a state canvassing board to officially declare Jones the winner of the Dec. 12 special election. Jones defeated Moore by about 20,000 votes.

Moore's attorney wrote that he believes there were irregularities during the election and says there should be a fraud investigation and eventually a new election.

A judge has refused to give a new trial to a man who spent a decade in jail before going to trial on murder charges. 

Houston County Circuit Judge Kevin Moulton last week refused a grant Kharon Davis a new trial. The case drew national attention because Davis was held without bond for 10 years before going to trial

A jury in September found Davis guilty of murder in the 2007 shooting death of Pete Reaves. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Across much of the state...        

Tonight... Cloudy skies. Evening showers, cool with lows in the lower 30's. Chance of precipitation around 40%

Wednesday...Morning clouds, should clear up by the afternoon. Highs around 40. Chance of precipitation around 20%

Along the coast...

Tonight... Partly cloudy skies with showers later. Lows in the mid 40's. Chance of rain around 40%

Wednesday...Morning showers. Highs around 50. Chance of rain around 40% in the morning.

Police say they've apprehended a suspect in a series of shootings that left one person dead and four others injured in an Alabama town. 

Troy police officers were responding to reports of gunshots at a residence on Sunday when they found a wounded 29-year-old man on the kitchen floor, authorities said. They found two other gunshot victims — a man and a woman — in a bedroom, police said. Another wounded person ended up at a hospital after being driven there in a private vehicle.

 A nonprofit organization is helping Auburn University students with unplanned pregnancies. 

The Opelika-Auburn News reports that Baby Steps was created to provide support to Auburn University students for mothers and fathers who are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy. The nonprofit is renting a five-bedroom house opened in September and is located near the university's campus.

Air force officials and business leaders hope a new innovation center could bring big changes to the city of Montgomery.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports Maxwell Air Force Base plans to build an innovation center outside the gates of the facility, where researchers at the prestigious Air University can collaborate with the nation’s top tech and business minds.

The state of Alabama has set a date for the execution of a terminally ill man.

Al.com reports the Alabama Supreme Court ordered yesterday that 60-year-old Doyle Lee Hamm is scheduled to be put to death on February 22. Hamm has spent 30 years on Alabama’s death row.

He was convicted in the murder of Patrick Cunningham, a hotel employee in Cullman, Alabama. Cunningham was killed during a robbery that apparently netted just over 400 dollars. Hamm confessed to the murder, and two other men agreed to testify against him in exchange for lesser charges.

Doug Jones won last night's special election for U.S. Senate, defeating Roy Moore by 1.5% of the vote in last night’s election. Moore’s camp, though, is looking for a possible recount.

Moore refused to concede the election last night, and told his supporters “When the vote is this close, it’s not over. We still have to go by the rules, by this recount provision.”

A math expert at the University of Mobile is looking to take some of the guesswork out of decorating your Christmas tree.

Troy Henderson is a professor of mathematics at the university. He has developed and released a free online calculator that anyone can use to determine the optimal way to string lights on their Christmas tree. Henderson's calculator takes the dimensions of the tree and the length of lights available and uses calculus to determine the optimal spacing.

Senator Richard Shelby says he decided to cast a write-in ballot in the state's upcoming Senate election because of allegations that GOP 

   nominee Roy Moore molested a girl when she was 14.

Shelby told CNN in an interview Sunday that the accusation was the "tipping point" in his decision not to vote for Moore. He says he wrote in the name of a "distinguished" Republican instead.

Shelby previously announced his refusal to vote for Moore, but he explained it during the interview.

Authorities say an inmate who escaped from an Alabama prison has been recaptured in Florida.  

The Alabama Department of Corrections said in a news release that 27-year-old Antwone Wilson was apprehended early Saturday by federal marshals and sheriff's deputies at a hotel in Titusville, Florida.

Authorities say Wilson escaped Monday from the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. He is serving a sentence of life without parole for a first-degree robbery conviction.

School Closings and Delays:   

ALABASTER CITY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

BESSEMER ACADEMY:CLOSED

BESSEMER CITY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

BIBB COUNTY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

BIRMINGHAM CITY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

BLOUNT COUNTY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

ETOWAH COUNTY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

HOMEWOOD CITY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

HOOVER CITY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

JEFFERSON COUNTY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

PELHAM CITY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

PICKENS COUNTY SCHOOLS:CLOSED

Three Birmingham-area officials were arrested yesterday on felony state ethics charges.

In a news release last night, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Sherry Lewis, chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Water Works, was arrested along with Jerry Jones, a former vice president at Arcadis (the Water Works' preferred engineering firm) and Mt. Vernon Mayor Terry Williams, who also owns Global Solutions International Inc., an Arcadis subcontractor.

The state of Alabama has received a $1.5 million grant to help expand a program aimed at strengthening early childhood education across the state.

Governor Kay Ivey’s office says the grant comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and will help expand Alabama’s Pre-K through Third Grade Integrated Approach to Early Learning. WSFA-TV reports that program is the first pillar of Ivey’s new education initiative, Strong Start, Strong Finish.

Birmingham police say a shooting over the weekend resulted in the 100th homicide of the year for Alabama's largest city.

Two men were reportedly shot inside an apartment in the Collegeville neighborhood late Sunday night. The Jefferson County Coroner's office identified one deceased victim as 26-year-old Jahbrell Leon Sturgeon. North Precinct Lt. Shelia Finney says a second man was shot in the head, but his injury is not thought to be life-threatening. Police are trying to determine what led to the shooting, and no suspects are in custody.

Hospitals in Alabama as well as Mississippi are suing more than a dozen drug manufacturers, claiming they deceptively marketed and sold dangerous opioids.

Jackson, Mississippi’s Clarion Ledger reports the class-action lawsuit was filed late last week in federal court in Mississippi. The plaintiffs are Infirmary Health Hospitals, based in Mobile, Monroe County Healthcare Authority, based in Monroeville, and Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center based in McComb, Mississippi.

The road map is in place for the 2017 college football postseason. Here's the picture for Alabama's colleges and universities, as well as the bowl games that will be taking place across Alabama this year:

Alabama Republican Roy Moore is losing the battle for campaign cash to Democrat Doug Jones—badly. That from the latest Federal election funding report as the candidates for Alabama’s junior U.S. Senate seat make the final sprint to Election Day on December twelfth. Moore raised under two million dollars during October and most of November, according to the report. During that same time, Doug Jones raised almost ten million.

Alabama’s Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Doug Jones is trying to shore up support among black voters. Alabamians head to the polls in just over a week to choose between Jones and twice removed Chief Justice Roy Moore for the state’s junior seat in the Senate. Jones will participate in today’s Christmas parade in Selma. He’s appealing for an end to the divisiveness that has long been part of the state's politics. Jones is attempting to be the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama in 25 years, but it's an uphill fight.

The commissioner of Alabama’s Department of Corrections took the stand yesterday in an ongoing trial regarding mental health care for state inmates.

Back in June, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the care available to Alabama state inmates was “horrendously inadequate” and constituted cruel and unusual punishment. This phase of proceedings is all about how the Department of Corrections plans to fix those issues.

The Birmingham Police Department is looking for a new leader after the current chief announced he’s resigning.

Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper announced yesterday that he will be resigning his post. Roper says he will stay for the next few months as Mayor Randall Woodfin begins a search for his replacement.

Woodfin heavily criticized the way Birmingham is policed on the campaign trail, leaving much speculation that Roper's job could be in jeopardy.