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Found!

A 4-year-old boy was hospitalized over the weekend after he’s believed to have spent two days lost in the Barbour County woods, reports AL.com’s Carol Robinson.

Phenix Wilkerson’s mom said she had left Phenix in the family’s camper to go to her mom’s next door. She said that when she returned he was no longer there. That was around noon Friday.

Official and volunteer searchers showed up in the Clayton area and found Phenix around 3:15 p.m. Sunday.

Authorities haven’t released a condition, but reports sounds pretty positive. There’s video of him and he’s conscious and alert, although Phenix is non-verbal.

Markeith Williams was credited with finding the boy. He said his wife told him on Saturday she wanted to help with the search, and when he woke up Sunday morning God had put it on his heart to go.

“As I was getting closer to him, my heart started rushing, so that’s how I knew I was getting close,” Williams said. “I knew it was God with me.”

Austin update

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after two weeks of being treated for complications from prostate-cancer surgery, reports The Associated Press.

This was the prostate-cancer surgery that made big news after Austin didn’t tell the Biden administration about it for a few weeks.

Doctors say that Austin, who’s from Mobile, now will go through physical therapy but that no more cancer treatments planned. No word yet on when Austin will return to his office and when he’ll be a hundred percent for travel and public appearances.

Crimson Tide DC

New Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer has reportedly filled the defensive coordinator position without going out state.

AL.com’s Creg Stephenson reports that South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack told his staff that he’s leaving for Tuscaloosa. Wommack and DeBoer also worked together as the coordinators at Indiana in 2019.

Wommack coached three seasons at South. He was 22-16 over that time, and in 2022 the Jaguars set a program record with 10 wins. They won their first bowl game this past season.

More Alabama news

Born on this date

In 1910, Capt. David McCampbell, a World War II navy fighter pilot credited with taking down 34 Japanese planes.

In 1928, composer Ezra Sims of Birmingham.

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