Alabama News

It’s perhaps the most brutal myth in the canon: Saturn, trying to outmaneuver a prophecy of his downfall, devours his own children — an act that ensures exactly what he hoped to avoid. The story echoes with the consequences of trying to control the uncontrollable. “Control freak” is a bad look for gods and mortals alike — and a habit worth breaking on the eve of Saturn’s retrograde.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You’re turning the canvas upside down, tilting the frame, examining the dynamics from every angle. What looks “fine” will become extraordinary with a few bold changes.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Tracing your own line through history will open your eyes to other people’s journeys, too. You’ll find yourself struck with new empathy, new questions and a deeper respect for everyone’s origin story.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). There’s a choice between pushing harder and softening into trust. Try the second one. Something wants to come together without force. If you let it move together and take form in its own time, you won’t have to get your hands dirty.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You walk into a room and something shifts. You don’t mean to dazzle — but you do. People lean in. They pay attention. They’re responding to the glow you forgot you were carrying.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’ll remember how good it feels to be generous with your attention. A stranger, a neighbor, a friend on the fringe — they’ll appreciate that you took the time to interact and acknowledge the moment you share.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Waiting to be in the mood is for amateurs. Not you. You act first and let moods catch up with you. That’s what sets you apart. Energy follows commitment. Start small if you must, but start, and momentum will take it from there.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Even on the hard days, you don’t abandon yourself. You’re willing to feel it all. You’re being brave just by staying with the rhythm of your experience and being present to the beat of your own heart.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). There are many things deserving of your attention and you can’t help it that you just happen to be able to juggle quite a bit. You’re not scattered; you’re abundant. You’re not “all over the place”; you’re multidimensional.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You have a gift for fine-tuning. What others overlook, you refine into something that not only works better but feels better, too. Efficiency with style — that’s your signature today.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Leave space. Better yet, make space. Today favors subtraction over addition. What you remove — an old habit, a tired phrase, a cluttered plan — makes the whole system sing and lets the essential part rise to the surface.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). There’s no toggle switch for intuition. It’s more like a voice you have to remember how to hear. Ask out loud. Be willing to listen. You already know the answer that is held deep in your being, just waiting to be heard.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). The same sensitivity you sometimes consider a liability is actually your superpower. This is just one more data stream to inform your decisions. You’ll pick up on what’s going unsaid and use it to shape a better outcome for everyone.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (July 11). You’ll make a modest but mighty leader. Because you’ve developed a kind of consistency and care people enjoy, talk about and trust, you’ll be tapped for an opportunity you didn’t expect. Your influence grows in a direction you’ll be proud of. More highlights: a creative risk brings emotional and financial rewards. A reconnection is the stuff novels are written about. A dream you’ve carried privately will take public form. Gemini and Leo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 4, 13, 22, 36 and 50.

Holiday Mathis’ debut novel, “How To Fail Epically in Hollywood,” is out now! This fast-paced romp about achieving Hollywood stardom is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit creatorspublishing.com for more information. Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

Auburn football had a rough month of June on the recruiting trail.

The Tigers lost multiple commitments from their 2026 class and found themselves ranked in the 80s in 247Sports team recruiting rankings. As that was happening, head coach Hugh Freeze caught plenty of criticism for the time he spent on the golf course.

From June 1 to June 24, Freeze posted 10 rounds to the USGA’s GHIN database, more than any other coach who made their scores public. Those numbers led to Freeze catching plenty of heat from fans, media members and others invested in college football.

Freeze addressed that criticism in an episode of David Pollack’s See Ball Get Ball podcast on Thursday.

“I do love golf, I enjoy playing it to get away, but what people don’t realize is probably, you know, I assure you I never missed a camp day or a recruiting day,” Freeze said. “But, if camp got over at three o’clock one day and Jill and I go out at 4:30, we absolutely might do that and I’m not apologizing for that part of it.

“My focus is 100% on getting Auburn in that win column this fall. I think the biggest thing that’s causing most of it is the recruiting rankings right now,” Freeze continued. “We’ve been top 10 my two years here in recruiting and currently we’re not.”

Auburn’s 2026 recruiting class currently ranks 78th in 247Sports’ team recruiting rankings but has been as low as 89th this summer. The Tigers have had four players decommit from the class since June.

Freeze spoke briefly on why Auburn has had issues in recruiting, referencing the changes brought on by the House Settlement, allowing revenue sharing with athletes.

“Good lord, we could spend 30 minutes on why I think that is,” Freeze said of Auburn’s low recruiting ranking. “There’s a lot of people right now that are operating under a different set of rules on what their interpretation is of this settlement and how you should operate. I’m gonna operate in the manner that our administration has interpreted it.

“I think it’s a long game play for us that I think is gonna work out in our favor because we’re doing it very transparent and the way we believe the settlement is written and to operate, if that makes any sense.”

Another point Freeze made when talking about the recruiting issues is Auburn prioritizing retaining the current roster, using the example of the wide receiver room.

“Do y’all realize on paper that I’m not losing a single receiver? This is not like, David, in the old days where you just sign 25 guys and figure out who the 85 are,” Freeze said. “This is actually a salary cap world, and I like our receiver room. How do I go and make offers to other receivers at numbers that these other schools are when I’m like, come January I wanna keep the ones I have?

“I don’t think the Finebaums of the world or any of them think about all that, they just say, ‘he’s playing golf and not recruiting.’”

Freeze added that the staff “has not changed a single approach to our recruiting,” saying people love when they come to Auburn. He also pointed to Aug. 1 as a potential turning point, the day the often-lucrative offers from schools start going into writing.

“We’ll see where everything shakes out after that,” Freeze said.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkusor email him at [email protected]m

Herb Jones missed 62 games during the 2024-25 NBA season, but that didn’t dim the New Orleans Pelicans’ interest in the former Alabama standout’s future with the team.

Jones and the Pelicans have agreed on a three-year, $68 million contract extension that could keep the forward with New Orleans through the 2029-30 season, ESPN reported on Thursday night.

Jones is halfway through a four-year, $53.828 million contract signed after his second NBA season. The new deal will extend that contract, closing with a player-option season in 2029-30.

Jones played in only 20 games last season, making his final appearance on Jan. 8, before a torn labrum that required surgery took him off the court. Jones averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals in the 2024-25 campaign.

Through four NBA seasons, Jones has averaged 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals in 240 regular-season games.

Jones finished sixth in the voting for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award for the 2021-22 season and fifth in the voting for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the 2023-24 season, when he made the NBA’s All-Defensive team.

Jones won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A Player of the Year Award for the 2016-17 season when he led Hale County to the AHSAA championship.

After Hale County, Jones played four seasons at Alabama. He concluded his college career with the Crimson Tide as the SEC Player of the Year and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for the 2020-21 season.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

A member of the iconic Backstreet Boys has filed a lawsuit against a Florida sheriff’s office alleging that the agency is not properly protecting the singer’s private beachfront property.

According to News 13, Brian Littrell filed the lawsuit against the Walton County Sheriff‘s Office on June 19.

The complaint alleges that the sheriff‘s office is not fulfilling their duty to protect Littrell’s private beach property, referred to as “BLB Beach Hut LLC”, from trespassers.

The suit contends that trespassers harassed Littrell‘s family and compromised their security on May 4 and June 5, according to News 13.

Littrell‘s employees allegedly called the Walton County Sheriff’s office three times on June 5 but no deputies responded.

Prior to those incidents Littrell attempted to put up “No Trespassing” signs but the complaint states that endeavor failed because “numerous trespassers have set out to antagonize, bully, and harass the Littrell family by regularly, every day, trespassing on BLB’s beach.”

The sheriff’s office told News 13 that the agency would not comment on ongoing litigation.

The Huntsville City Council voted to annex more than 1,000 acres in Morgan and Marshall counties on Thursday, a move city officials said would expand the Rocket City’s industrial base.

Wiz Kidz LLC and Hollingshead Materials LLC, which operates Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete LLC, petitioned the city for the annexation of 1,013.96 acres south of the Tennessee River. The property lies primarily along McCutcheon Loop Road in Morgan County, with a smaller portion extending along Vaughn Road in Marshall County. Huntsville’s city limits now extend into four counties.

The petition did not request any city services as part of the annexation. The annexation will allow the city to regulate the quarry where Smyrna Ready Mix operates.

City Manager of Planning and Zoning Services Thomas Nunez said the quarry has already received permits from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and would have been allowed to operate without the annexation.

The City’s Urban and Economic Development Director, Shane Davis, said the move will help protect Tennessee River frontage in Morgan County and provide oversight in adjacent residential areas.

Smyrna Ready Mix has also offered to supply materials to help improve infrastructure within the newly annexed area. Nunez said the company already supplies materials for projects within the city limits. With the annexation, the city will receive revenue from the sale of materials from the quarry.

Huntsville first annexed land south of the Tennessee River in Morgan County in 2018. Wiz Kidz is managed by John Wisda, who was involved in Huntsville’s previous annexation of more than 659 acres in Morgan County in 2018. At the time, recreational and residential development was proposed for the across the river annexation.

The annexed land is south of the Riverside Event Center in Laceys Spring just off U.S. 231 and the Sundance subdivision where lots are being sold for residential use.

Nunez said there is only one single family home on the site now. Nunez said no homes are planned for the newly annexed land and will not affect Huntsville City Schools enrollment, which was a concern of District 1 City Councilwoman Michelle Watkins during this year’s earlier annexations.

Huntsville has already annexed more than 1,600 acres this year after only annexing 85 in 2024. This year’s annexations now make the Rocket City the 37th largest city in the nation at about 229 square miles, about the same size as Chicago and San Francisco geographically.

According to census tract data Huntsville is larger than:

• New Orleans (169.5 square miles)
• Denver (153.1 square miles)
• Las Vegas (141.9 square miles)
• Philadelphia (134.3 square miles).

Commercial, industrial and residential developments are proposed for land previously taken in by the city this year.

An investigation is underway after a man was found dead on the side of a busy Birmingham road.

Shortly before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, West Precinct officers received a call of a person possibly dead across the the street from Chevron at 490 Forestdale Boulevard.

Officers arrived to find an adult white male dead. He was in a grassy area just feet from the road.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said it’s too soon to determine if foul play was involved in the man’s death.

“The victim has been here for some time,” Fitzgerald said. “We do not know the victim’s cause of death.”

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office will take possession of the body to try to confirm and identity as well as the cause and mannter of death.

“If there was a crime committed, our homicide investigators will investigate this and we’ll update the public as it unfolds,” he said.

Fitzgerald said there are recognizable features that will help determine the man’s identity. He did not elaborate and did not yet know if he was carrying identification.

Fitzgerald said the man could be middle-aged.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

The Huntsville City Council voted to apply for three federal grants totaling more than $14 million for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles for its transit fleet and upgrades to transit facilities.

The city is applying for a $5.2 million grant with the Federal Transit Administration for a $6.5 million project that includes renovations to the bus maintenance facility at 500 Church Street in northwest Huntsville that was built in 2003. The project is needed to maintain a daily service line that includes oils, fluids, fueling, fare collection and daily washing, according to the grant application. The application says the bus washing facility is too small to accommodate larger buses.

The city is applying for a $3.1 million grant to help with an almost $3.7 million purchase of eight electric paratransit vans that would replace eight gasoline powered vans. The project includes charging infrastructure.

The city is also seeking a $6.1 million grant for a $7.1 million purchase of six 40-foot hybrid diesel/electric buses. The city’s application said larger, cleaner and more efficient vehicles were needed to better serve city communities. They would replace 2015-16 and 2008 model vehicles.

The city’s application cited better fuel mileage and lower maintenance costs by hybrid vehicles in a 2015-16 study of vehicles in the Charlotte Area Transit System.

Huntsville operates 16 buses on 12 fixed routes that serve more than 2,500 riders per day covering more than 100 square miles. It also operates 20 peak paratransit vehicles.

Huntsville is trying to increase its ridership to make it eligible for federal funding for a rapid transit bus system, according to a study by the Huntsville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. The city is seeking to extend routes to Huntsville International Airport and major manufacturers in the Limestone County portion of the city.

The committees for men’s and women’s Division I basketball met this week to discuss possible expansion of the March Madness tournaments but made no immediate decisions or recommendations.

“The still viable outcomes include the tournaments remaining at 68 teams or expanding the fields to either 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2026 or 2027 championships,” Dan Gavitt, the NCAA senior vice president of basketball, said in a statement Thursday.

The idea of expanding the tournament picked up steam in the spring when NCAA President Charlie Baker said it could add value and that he’d like to see the issue resolved in the next few months.

He said the NCAA has had “good conversations” with TV partners CBS and Warner Bros., whose deal runs through 2032 at the cost of around $1.1 billion a year. Baker also mentioned increasingly difficult logistics involved with adding teams to what is now known as the “First Four” — a series of four games played on Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week to place four teams into the 64-team bracket.

Though there has been no concrete plan for how expansion would work, speculation has centered on bringing more at-large teams, likely from major conferences, into the 64-team bracket. Such a move that would come at the expense of champions of lower-level conferences.

Currently, two of the First Four games involve 16 seeds — teams that automatically qualify by winning lower-ranked conferences — while two more involve at-large teams often seeded 11 or 12. For instance, in 2021, UCLA made the Final Four as an 11 seed that also played in the First Four.

“I don’t accept that that model just continues in the future,” Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey said at league meetings in May.

He used the example of North Carolina State advancing to the Final Four as an 11 seed in 2023 as how bubble teams from big conferences can make long runs in the tournament.

“You could go ask my colleagues in the (automatic qualifier) conferences what should happen, and I’m certain they want that split to continue for life,” Sankey said. “But you’ve got some really, really good teams … that I think should be moved into the tournament.”

Any recommendation for expansion would have to be approved by the NCAA’s Division I board, which next meets in August.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Over the past few days, social-media users might have been shocked and saddened to learn that Los Angeles Chargers running back Najee Harris had, according to posters, “lost an eye with fireworks,” or, more specifically, was “partially blind due to the optic nerve being severely damaged from the firework’s discharge.”

The notices were persistent enough that the former Alabama All-American’s agent released a statement on Thursday.

“Najee Harris was present at a Fourth of July event where a fireworks mishap resulted in injuries to several attendees,” Doug Hendrickson said. “Najee sustained a superficial eye injury during the incident but is fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season.”

On Thursday, the (San Jose) Mercury News reported Harris was among those injured in a mishap in Antioch, California. The Mercury News reported Harris went to two hospitals for treatment.

The Antioch Police Department issued a press release about the incident:

“On July 5, at approximately 12:18 a.m., the Antioch Police Department dispatch center received multiple calls reporting an explosion on the 2200 block of Spanos Street. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered the aftermath of an explosion caused by fireworks.

“Antioch PD officers, ConFire and AMR provided medical aid and triaged the patients. Several victims had already left the scene before the first responders’ arrival and were treated at local hospitals. Antioch PD is working to find and speak with all individuals involved regarding this incident.

“This is an unfortunate accident, and our thoughts are with the family and all those affected during this difficult time. We ask for patience and privacy for the families as the investigation continues.

“The Antioch Police Department’s Investigations Bureau, consisting of Crime Scene Investigators and detectives with the Violent Crimes Unit responded to take over the investigation. This is an active investigation, and no further information will be released at this time. Any further information or additional press releases will be provided by the Investigations Bureau.”

Harris is preparing for his first season with Los Angeles. Harris joined the Chargers in free agency for a one-year, fully guaranteed $5.25 million contract after playing his first four NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After joining the Steelers from Alabama’s undefeated CFP national-championship team for the 2020 season as the 24th choice in the 2021 NFL Draft, Najee Harris ran for at least 1,000 yards every season, climbed to sixth in rushing yards on the franchise’s career list and became the 10th player in NFL history with at least 4,300 rushing yards and 180 receptions in his first four years.

The Chargers’ rookies are scheduled to report to training camp on Saturday, with veterans coming in on Wednesday.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.