MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Ethics Commission has cleared a district attorney of a complaint that he improperly paid an employee. News outlets reported the ethics panel investigated a complaint that 19th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Randall Houston improperly paid an employee from grand funds. Houston is in his third term as prosecutor for...
Inmate executed after Supreme Court ruling
By KIM CHANDLER, Associated Press ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — A Muslim inmate who filed a legal challenge because Alabama wouldn’t let his Islamic spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber was put to death Thursday after the nation’s highest court cleared the way. Dominique Ray, 42, was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m. of a lethal...
‘Time’s ticking away.’ Shelby leading border security talks
By TODD STACY, Alabama Daily News WASHINGTON, D.C. – The dust having settled from President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, the Homeland Security Conference Committee is back at work and trying to come up with a border funding deal to avert another partial government shutdown. As Senate Appropriations Chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby, R- Alabama,...
For Rogers and Palmer, new roles in a GOP minority
By TODD STACY, Alabama Daily News WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than a month into the Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congress is still adjusting to the new reality. Most House Republicans have never served in the minority before, and many House Democrats have never served in the majority. For two Alabama Congressmen,...
Two pistol-permit bills filed in advance of Alabama session
A new bill sponsored by Rep. Connie Rowe, R-Jasper, would give a deadline of three business days for sheriffs to issue or reinstate a concealed carry pistol permit after a successful appeal in district court.
Unbowed by Trump, Democrats charge ahead with investigations
By LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump warned Congress that investigations and legislation don’t mix. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi said such threats have no place in the House, as unbowed Democrats charged ahead Wednesday with plans to probe Trump’s tax returns, business and ties to Russia. The...
Senate panel set to approve Trump’s attorney general nominee
By MARY CLARE JALONICK and ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to approve William Barr’s nomination to be attorney general Thursday in a vote that is likely to be mostly along party lines as Democrats have questioned how transparent Barr will be once special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia...
Appeals court blocks Alabama execution of Muslim inmate
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked the planned execution of an Alabama inmate to consider whether the state was violating the Muslim inmate’s rights by not allowing an imam to replace a Christian prison chaplain in the death chamber. The 11th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay for...
Alabama man held in Mississippi slaying
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man suspected of killing his estranged wife in Mississippi and abducting their 2-year-old daughter is in custody, and the child is safe. WLOX-TV reports a Pascagoula judge set bond Wednesday for 27-year-old Joquincy McCord at $1.5 million on charges of murder and felony child abuse. News outlets report McCord...
Man convicted in 2013 killings of wife, 7-year-old son
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man has been convicted of capital murder in the 2013 slayings of his wife and 7-year-old son. News outlets report 39-year-old Stephen Marc Stone was found guilty Tuesday of strangling 32-year-old Krista Stone and Zachary Stone. Prosecutors say they’ll seek the death penalty in the trial’s sentencing phase that...
Competitor sues newcomer in Alabama gas price dispute
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A competitor is suing a newcomer in a gas price dispute in Alabama. News outlets report that Oasis Travel Center LLC has sued Buc-ee’s in federal court in Mobile, saying the company is illegally selling gasoline for less than state law allows. Texas-based Buc-ee’s opened its first store along Interstate 10...
2 Alabama schools closed by influenza outbreak
MOULTON, Ala. (AP) — An elementary and middle school in northern Alabama will be closed for the rest of the week because of the number of cases of flu among students and employees. Lawrence County Schools Superintendent Jon Bret Smith told news outlets that Moulton Elementary School and Moulton Middle School are closed Wednesday through...
Trade war, diesel troubles hold back profit at Daimler
By DAVID McHUGH, AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Automaker Daimler said Wednesday that fourth-quarter net profit fell 49 percent to 1.64 billion euros ($1.87 billion) as its Mercedes-Benz luxury car business was buffeted by trade conflict, diesel woes and costs for developing new models and technologies. Revenue rose 7 percent to 46.6 billion...
Alabama Republicans want change in program that puts Central American teens in Alabama
By MARY SELL and TODD STACY, Alabama Daily News MONTGOMERY, Ala. and WASHINGTON, D.C. — As President Donald Trump pushes for a wall, some Alabama Republican leaders want changes in a federal program that’s seen thousands of teen immigrants apprehended at the southern border placed in the state. Most of these unaccompanied minors come from...
State of the Union: Trump calls for bipartisanship, a hard line on immigration
President Trump appealed Tuesday night for bipartisanship but refused to yield on the hard-line immigration policies that have infuriated Democrats and forced the recent government shutdown. He renewed his call for a border wall and cast illegal immigration as a threat to Americans' safety and economic security.