Author: Associated Press

The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill is up in the House Budget Committee Monday, the first step in allowing Democrats to use the budget reconciliation process to get around the Senate filibuster to pass the bill without Republican support.

The icy blast ruptured water mains, knocked out power to millions of utility customers and contributed to at least 76 deaths — half of which occurred in Texas. At least seven people died in Tennessee and five in Louisiana.

By ASHRAF KHALIL and HILARY POWELL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Stately and deliberate, with a distinctive white streak in his black hair, the Rev. Wallace Charles Smith started his Valentine’s Day sermon at Shiloh Baptist Church by talking about love and vaccinations. “That’s what love’s all about. When you get a vaccination, you are saying...

By JAKE BLEIBERG and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Higher temperatures spread across the southern United States on Saturday, bringing relief to a winter-weary region that faces a challenging clean-up and expensive repairs from days of extreme cold and widespread power outages. In hard-hit Texas, where millions were warned to boil tap water...

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press DENVER (AP) — The Department of Defense’s inspector general announced Friday that it was reviewing the Trump administration’s last-minute decision to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. The decision on Jan. 13, one week before Trump left office, blindsided Colorado officials and raised questions of political retaliation. Trump...

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Two Air Force pilots were killed Friday when a trainer jet crashed near an Alabama airport, the military branch confirmed. The crash involved a T-38 trainer aircraft assigned to the 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. Officials from the 14th Flying...

Alabama's state health officer said Friday that he is cautiously optimistic about improving COVID-19 numbers but urged people to maintain precautions such as wearing masks and avoiding crowds.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined from more than 3,000 on Jan. 11 to 1,003 on Thursday, the lowest level since early November

Perseverance, the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, became the ninth spacecraft since the 1970s to successfully land on Mars, every one of them from the U.S.

Alabama is asking a judge to dismiss a Justice Department lawsuit over state prison conditions, arguing the incidents of violence cited in the case do not rise to the level of a constitutional violation.

Republicans have been using the issue to hit at Democrats for weeks, pointing to data suggesting that many schools are safe to open now and charging that the Biden administration is siding with teachers’ unions over science and the needs of American families.

Rush Limbaugh called himself a truth detector, doctor of democracy, lover of mankind, all-around good guy and harmless fuzz ball, titles his legions of followers embraced as he boomed from their radios in a daily ritual.

A winter storm warning and advisories that reached all the way from the Mexican border to the Washington, D.C., area included most of Louisiana and Mississippi, northwestern Alabama and slivers of northern Georgia and South Carolina. 

The storm that overwhelmed power grids and immobilized the Southern Plains carried heavy snow and freezing rain into New England and the Deep South and left behind painfully low temperatures. Wind-chill warnings extended from Canada into Mexico.

Evans also pushed for passage of legislation to give crime victims a greater voice in the criminal justice system and was a mentor to many young attorneys, said friends and former colleagues.