Nov. 4 is Election Day with voters deciding on the next U.S. President.
Polls in Alabama will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. You can go to the Secretary of State’s website to find your voting information.
Go here and put in your first and last name and date of birth. Hit “enter” and you will be directed to the name and number of your polling location, its address and a map. The same page includes a drop-down menu that shows your districts for any city, county, state and national races.
Alabama requires voters to show ID at the polling place. Acceptable ID includes:
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Valid Alabama Driver’s License – Must be current or not expired for more than 60 days
Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Digital Driver’s License
Valid Alabama Nondriver ID – Must be current or not expired for more than 60 days
Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Digital Nondriver ID
Valid Alabama Photo Voter ID Card
Valid State-Issued ID (Alabama or any other state)
Examples
Valid AL Department of Corrections Release – Temporary ID (Photo Required)
Valid AL Movement/Booking Sheet from Prison/Jail System (Photo Required)
Valid Pistol Permit (Photo Required)
Valid Federal-Issued ID
Valid US passport
Valid Employee ID from Federal Government, State of Alabama, County, Municipality, Board, or other entity of this state
Valid student or employee ID from a public or private college or university in the State of Alabama (including postgraduate technical or professional schools)
Digital student ID from a public or private college or university in the State of Alabama (including postgraduate technical or professional schools)
Valid student or employee ID issued by a state institution of higher learning in any other state
Digital student ID issued by a state institution of higher learning in any other state
Immigration debates are not new to Alabama, but the issue has played a large role in both national and state elections, now one day away.
Local officials in a handful of Alabama towns have confronted what they called “baseless accusations and hurtful rhetoric” about Haitian migrants and other new arrivals in recent months. A key question: How is immigration changing Alabama schools?
AL.com took a look at migration and school enrollment trends across the state, over periods of 10 to 25 years up to 2023, the most recent year of available data. What we found shows a complex picture of immigration in Alabama. Scroll down to see local data and trends.
Figures continue to ask questions about both national and state immigration. In September, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall met with law enforcement in Talladega County, following unfounded claims from former President Donald Trump’s campaign about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating their neighbors’ pets. In October, Gov. Kay Ivey and Lt. Gov Will Ainsworth publicly criticized the federal migrant asylum program, which allows people from certain countries to come to America for two years as long as they have a financial sponsor.
Caroleene Dobson, Republican candidate in the closely watched 2nd Congressional District, recently said she wants to push for legislation to require more information about migrant workers. She said undocumented immigrants are “flooding our public school classrooms, emergency rooms, and other public facilities.”
While the country has seen recent spikes in migrants crossing the southern United States border, recent research suggests that only a small share of Americans live in communities that are seeing significant shifts.
The same is true in Alabama, according to census data. In fact, many counties have seen declines in their foreign-born population – especially among school-aged-children – in the past decade.
Congregants attend Eglise Porte Etroite, a Creole-language church which has gone from seven attendees to close to 300 in under 15 years, in Albertville, Ala., Sept. 29, 2024.(AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)
Where communities have seen shifts, such as Albertville, it can take time to separate facts from rumors. Local officials told AL.com they had seen no increase in crime since a small group of Haitian immigrants arrived.
“These workers are coming in to pay for taxes, they‘re paying in for our system, and they’re making it possible for you and me to receive Social Security, to receive our retirement benefits,” Hector Baeza, the federal programs director at Gadsden City Schools, told AL.com.
Baeza, who started working at the small, north Alabama district in the mid-1990s, has seen the system‘s English learner population grow from just over 100 students to more than 700 this school year. Typically, about 20-30% of English learners are students who have recently arrived to the United States or who are children of migrant workers.
“They‘re coming in and they’re providing for their family, but they’re also providing for me,” he said. “It just takes all of us together to be able to be a productive country.”
Immigration in Alabama, by the numbers
Foreign-born immigrants make up about 4% of Alabama’s population, compared to 14.3% nationwide, according to 2023 American Community Survey data.
That’s up from 3.5% in 2022 – a big jump after nearly a decade of slow growth.
About 98,000, or 9.6%, of Alabama children under 18 have one or more parents who were foreign born, up from 2.1% in 1990. Just 1% of Alabama children, about 13,500, are also foreign born, according to the latest census surveys.
Experts say that more and more migrant workers from Mexico and Central America are likely coming to Alabama from states like Florida and Texas, possibly accounting for changes in the older population.
“What we are seeing is not so much births, but definitely migration,” said Rafael Gonzalez, a program director with the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. “That’s what’s pushing it, and that’s mostly around that age between 16 to 54 which is primary working age.”
Gonzalez said that many migrants are driven by economic opportunities, particularly in industries like agriculture and construction.
Still, birth rates among Hispanic immigrants, who make up the majority of foreign-born residents in the state, skew higher than those of native-born residents, Gonzalez noted. That could mean schools may continue to see a climb in English learners.
And while it’s difficult to gauge more recent population shifts, he and other advocates are urging state officials to embrace future growth by bolstering language support and access to more high-skilled jobs.
“What happens with levels of educational attainment that are not so great for the jobs that are out there is that it tends to also drive down the median household income of an area,” he said.
“I think we’re in a good position to be able to anticipate those problems, because Alabama hasn’t grown like these other states, but it’s poised to grow.”
Where has immigration grown in Alabama? Where has it declined?
More Alabama immigrants also are becoming naturalized citizens. In 2022, 42% of all foreign-born Alabamians were naturalized, compared to 31% in 2012.
But Gonzalez and other researchers urge some caution when looking at annual census survey data, rather than 10-year household counts. Undocumented immigrants may feel especially wary about self-disclosing any personal information to the government.
“It tells the story of a population that tends to be a little bit in the shadows and likely not to want to kind of out themselves,” Gonzalez said. “Where that becomes kind of problematic is you can’t really articulate a clear picture of where that population is from year to year.”
Even with those caveats in mind, experts are sure of one key fact: much of the growth is concentrated in pockets across Alabama.
Franklin County in North Alabama has the state’s largest share of immigrants, who make up 8.7% of the population. It is followed by Marshall and DeKalb County, where immigrants make up about 7% of the population.
From 2012 to 2022, 27 counties have seen declines in their immigrant population, with Monroe, Henry and Coosa County seeing the steepest dips.
Greene, Pickens and Sumter County have seen some of the largest changes in the share of immigrants who now live in those areas, while Madison County has seen the biggest overall increase, with about 10,000 more foreign-born residents calling the county home.
Impact on school systems
“There’s a lot of rhetoric about recent immigrants and how they affect school systems,” said Umut Özek, a researcher with RAND who has looked at the effects of English learners in “new destination” states that have seen bigger populations of immigrants arrive in recent years.
“But much of those debates typically take place in empirical vacuums, because there’s no research to test those different hypotheses and anecdotes.”
In Gadsden, immigrant students are drum majors, school ambassadors, and star athletes, Baeza said.
Nancy Blanco, an ESL and world languages coordinator at Birmingham City Schools, said she has seen many of her English learner students outperform their peers once they’ve grasped the English language.
In recent years, Birmingham schools have enrolled a growing proportion of immigrant students and refugees.
“It’s something that inevitably gets politicized, but at the end of the day we’re just trying to do our best for children who are our students,” she said. “And we have to remember that these are children who deserve and are legally entitled to every opportunity that their native English-speaking peers have.”
“We all want the best for our kids, she added. “And often, our immigrant families come with a really strong sense of family, faith, and are excited for the opportunities that they will have to work and contribute to the community, and are excited for the opportunities that their kids will have to learn and advance in their education.”
Officials estimate that nationwide, the amount of people coming into the U.S. is only slightly higher than those leaving the country.
“What we have seen in the past ten years or so is that the net immigration rate is practically zero,” said Oscar Jiménez-Castellanos, an endowed professor and executive director for the Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education at the University of Georgia.
“There have been a lot of folks that actually have returned to their home countries,” he said. “So that’s something really interesting to take a look at – it debunks that myth of an ‘invasion.’”
About the data: The Alabama Education Lab took a look at citizenship and migration data, as well as English learner enrollment in schools to understand the scope of immigration trends in the state. Data for EL students was compiled from federal and state education statistics from the 1998-99 school year to 2022-23. We used 2009 to 2022 five-year estimates from the American Community Survey to analyze county-level immigration patterns and included new 2023 one-year estimates to look at broader state and national trends.
A tropical disturbance in the Caribbean Sea could become Tropical Storm Rafael later today.
The National Hurricane Center thinks the potential Rafael will strengthen to a hurricane in a few days, and it is on a path toward the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm could be in the central Gulf by the end of the work week, but forecasters expect it to weaken as it moves into more unfavorable conditions near the northern Gulf Coast.
What happens after that is very uncertain, according to the hurricane center and the National Weather Service.
As of 6 a.m. CST Monday, Potential Tropical Cyclone 18 was located about 220 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, and was tracking to the north at 7 mph.
The storm had winds of 35 mph. It needs a defined surface circulation and winds of at east 39 mph to become Tropical Storm Rafael. That could happen as soon as today, according to the hurricane center.
The potential Rafael could strengthen quickly after that and become a hurricane by early Wednesday morning.
On the hurricane center’s forecast track, the storm is expected to move near Jamaica tonight, be near or over the Cayman Islands on Tuesday and approach Cuba on Wednesday.
Forecasters said hurricane conditions will be possible in the Cayman Islands by Tuesday afternoon
The storm could bring 3 to 6 inches of rain to parts of Jamaica and Cuba through the middle of the week.
More rain will spread to parts of Florida and eventually the Southeast U.S. later this week.
A hurricane warning is now in effect for the Cayman Islands, and a tropical storm warning continues for Jamaica.
POSSIBLE ALABAMA IMPACTS
The National Weather Service offices in Alabama continued to watch the evolution of the storm on Monday.
The weather service in Mobile said that there is an “unusually large amount of uncertainty with the movement of this system later in the week.”
Forecasters said it is too early to know with any certainty what coastal areas could face as far as storm surge, rain amounts and wind potential.
What is more certain is that the storm will generate rough surf and a high risk of rip currents along the Alabama and northwest Florida coastline this week.
The weather service in Birmingham also said that there was considerable uncertainty about how the Gulf storm could affect the rest of Alabama later this week.
Forecasters said “forecast confidence decreases significantly for Thursday through Sunday and rain chances will hinge on the potential for isentropic lift and progression of the system in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Best-case scenario is a weak system that doesn’t cause any damage but brings beneficial rainfall to Alabama, which is mired in various stages of drought.
Here is the latest report on Alabama’s drought conditions:
All of Alabama is now either in a drought or on the verge of one. This week’s drought report, shown above, shows the driest areas are in southwest and north Alabama.U.S. Drought Monitor
Those along the Gulf Coast and through Alabama are urged to keep a close eye on the forecast through the week.
ELSEWHERE IN THE TROPICS
In addition to the Caribbean system (Potential Tropical Cyclone 18), there is also Tropical Storm Patty far to the east and a tropical disturbance near the Bahamas and Cuba.NHC
The National Hurricane Center was also monitoring Tropical Storm Patty in the northeastern Atlantic on Monday. Patty transitioned from a subtropical storm to a fully tropical system on Sunday but is expected to lose all those features later today and become a post-tropical storm.
Patty could bring 3 to 6 inches of rain to parts of Portugal and Spain, however.
Tropical Storm Patty is expected to become a post-tropical system later today.NHC
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There will also be another tropical disturbance to watch near the Bahamas and Cuba this week.
The hurricane center said an area of low pressure could develop near the northern Leeward Islands in a few days. It has a low chance of development (20 percent) into a tropical depression as it heads westward this week.
The Atlantic hurricane season has a few weeks left to go. The last day will be Nov. 30.
Here are AL.com’s SEC football players of the week for Week 10 of the 2024 season:
Offense
Jordan Watkins, WR, Ole Miss — Watkins tied an SEC record with five touchdown receptions in a 63-31 victory over Arkansas on Saturday. The senior from Louisville, Ky., caught eight passes for 254 yards, including touchdowns of 66, 63, 3, 11 and 62 yards.
Defense
TJ Dottery, LB, Ole Miss — Dottery had a direct influence Ole Miss’ first touchdown vs. Arkansas, sacking Razorbacks quarterback Taylen Green in the end zone and forcing a fumble that teammate Princely Umanmielen recovered for a score. The sophomore from Montgomery finished the game with six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and the forced fumble.
Special teams
Jesse Mirco, P, Vanderbilt — Mirco had one of the great days by a punter in SEC history in a 17-7 victory over Auburn on Saturday. The senior from Fremantle, Australia — an Ohio State transfer — punted eight times for a 52.9-yard average with a long of 64 and five kicks of 50-plus, including one downed at the 1-yard line and another at the 2.
Others of note …
Offense: Jovantae Barnes, RB, Oklahoma; Jaxson Dart, QB, Ole Miss; Raheim Sanders, RB, South Carolina; LaNorris Sellers, QB, South Carolina
Defense: Chaz Chambliss, LB, Georgia; Jamon Dumas-Johnson, LB, Kentucky; Joshua Josephs, EDGE, Tennessee; Princely Umanmielen, DE, Ole Miss
Special teams: Randy Bond, K, Texas A&M; Jeremy Crawshaw, P, Florida; Alex Herrera, K, South Carolina; Peyton Woodring, K, Georgia
We roll into Week 11 of the college football season with Vanderbilt holding bragging rights on the entire state of Alabama. The post-Halloween Monday mailbag is out for blood.
Jim in Scottsboro writes …
Body slam body slam and body slam will get us there eventually, said Diego Pavia. I thought that is what Jarquez Hunter was for? It makes you question coach Hugh Freeze’s situational awareness in a game.
Jarquez only gets 10 or so carries in a game? It’s like Payton Thorne is free to do what he wants without any restraints from Freeze. And that is never good. This team has no discipline as it continues to make penalties that ends drives or puts the game out of reach. There is no improvement. That has to be on Coach Freeze.
The worst scenario is coming to fruition. It’s very unlikely that they beat Texas A&M or Bama.
You are correct that Freeze might get another year, but can you imagine any coach being on a hotter seat than Freeze next year? The type of hot seat that could get you fired mid-season.
Perhaps it’s time to consider DJ Durkin as a viable option for head coach? He seems to be young and savvy and could keep the recruits on board. If Freeze flames out I would have that under wraps. Do you think Durkin is ready?
One parting thought I wonder what Tommy Tuberville thought when Diego held up his three fingers? A touch of irony.
Warren from North Alabama writes …
If there is a coach who can replace Freeze this week that can do better, then please name him. Otherwise AU is gonna just have to stick it out for a change. Continuing to change coaches is a losing proposition. And even worse in the NIL era…
Jordan-Scare (HALLOWEEN TERM) used to be really scary to come play in Auburn. That’s no more!!! And it sucks being a lifelong Auburn fan. I’ve seen the good and the bad through my 50 years on this earth, but Auburn has brought the current situation upon ourselves.
Clay in Mountain Brook writes …
As an Auburn student in 1969, Vanderbilt made me a believer when they beat Alabama and Bear Bryant at night 14-10. We had won our game earlier in the day by beating Clemson 51-0 and felt pretty good as a result. Everyone in Auburn listened to the Alabama game on the radio and when the Auburn students heard the final score, they descended on Toomer’s Corner to celebrate and rub it in.
This was before rolling Toomer’s Corner had become a thing, but lots of white spray paint came out of the woodwork and the student body went wild painting 14-10 on the side of every building in downtown Auburn. Some of these cave paintings were still legible years later.
ANSWER: The worst thing Auburn could do at this point in its rebuild is fire the architect. Most Auburn fans understand the conundrum where Auburn now finds itself, but that doesn’t mean anyone can stomach an embarrassing season that includes a 17-7 loss at home to Vanderbilt.
In this new era of college football, Vanderbilt can be a serious contender in the SEC. Most fans will find that hard to believe, though.
I’m not about to make any excuses for Freeze — he’s 4-10 against SEC opponents since being hired — but the struggles of his team need to be framed in the proper context. Auburn is less than two seasons removed from the worst coach in the history of the SEC. At the same time, college football is in the middle of a revolution. Cash is king. Teams can no longer stockpile talent, and wealthy private schools like BYU and Vanderbilt are emerging as legitimate threats.
Vanderbilt physically manhandled Auburn and Alabama this season and nearly upset Texas. Is anyone going to be surprised when the Commodores upset South Carolina, LSU or Tennessee? BYU is in position to make the College Football Playoff. The reason for the transformations at Vandy and BYU is the combination of NIL money and the transfer portal.
If only Freeze had gone into the portal for Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia.
Freeze was too proud and so now he’s 0-3 all-time against the SEC new folk hero.
The SEC is starting to feel like a miniature version of the NFL, isn’t it? In Week 10, Vanderbilt destroyed Auburn at Jordan-Hare and South Carolina clobbered top-10 ranked Texas A&M. Talent is spread out across the league. Every week is highlighted by a new surprise. When was the last time the SEC was this balanced? The answer is never.
Auburn and Oklahoma are traditional powers of college football and they’re both near the bottom of the league standings going into Week 11. Oklahoma is 1-4 in the SEC. Auburn is 1-5. The Sooners are struggling because former coach Lincoln Riley saw the writing on the wall and left for Southern Cal. Riley didn’t want anything to do with the SEC. Current OU coach Brent Venables is on the hot seat and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets fired before the end of the season.
Auburn’s situation is different. I still think Freeze can be a good coach. He’s recruiting some of the best offensive players in the country and Auburn’s young defense looked better against Vanderbilt than Alabama. Auburn is in better shape for next season than teams like Oklahoma and Florida.
Expect Florida to hire Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss. Like it or not, Auburn is married to Freeze until his recruits begin defecting. A lot of people said Freeze was a good fit for Auburn, but I’ll keep dreaming about Coach Prime.
David writes …
The real loss of Birmingham-Southern was to the state as a whole. It was the only nationally ranked small private college in Alabama. Other names will emerge one day to fill that niche but not anytime soon. The means to save that college were available however the politics weren’t right. Money was not the real problem. Playing the blame game is useless.
Insofar as the Panther BSC baseball team being bequeathed team rings, that is a splendid talisman to remember what they accomplished. To endure excellence in the face of a certain dreaded institution failure is the supreme example of human achievement.
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ANSWER: I’ll never cover another story like the final few weeks of the Birmingham-Southern baseball team. I can’t wait for the documentary on the team that’s being produced by Blue Eyes Entertainment. I’m hearing that Chipper Jones is involved.
As for postscripts of the Panthers, readers will be happy to know that assistant coach JD Hulse was named National Assistant Coach of the Year. Hulse and former BSC head coach Jan Weisberg are now at Valdosta State.
Shocking as it may seem,an Alabama man who identifies as ‘just a regular guy’ announces — out loud and in print right now in the cartoon above — that he’s voting for the Black woman. For president.
(Actually, that ‘regular guy’ identifies as a ‘dorky cartoonist.’ But the rest is true.)
The only other thing this regular guy dorky cartoonist would have added to the cartoon if space had allowed, is how easy this decision was to make. The final line of text in this Kamala Harris cartoon was going to be something like:
“Her opponent is an unstable, unfit, misogynist maniac who has zero respect for women, Veterans, Black people, Puerto Ricans, all non-rich people of any race, the U.S. Constitution, democracy and anything and everybody but billionaires and dictators who suck up to him and he sucks up to because that’s who his heroes are and what he wants to be: An authoritarian dictator tyrant who can use the military to punish his political enemies while he sells King Trump Version Bibles and spray-painted gold sneakers to his MAGA base to help pay off all his sexual abuse and other felon criminal hobbies.
Ran out of space for all that stuff in the cartoon. Sorry.
Any cartoonist in their right mind — oops, no such thing — would love to have this ridiculous vulgarian as president again for the 24/7/365 source of outrageous content. Trump is a waddling, slurring gibberish-spewing garbage truck of violent nonsense.
This exhausting nightmare is a cartoonist’s dream, right?
Like a true Alabamian, this dorky cartoonist is voting against his own best interests.
I will joyfully cast my vote for the only sane, responsible adult in this election: Kamala Harris. Truth is, she’s been my favorite candidate for president ever since she made Jeff Sessions nervous in his confirmation hearings for Trump’s attorney general.
JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler @[email protected].
One day before the election, the latest presidential poll shows a tie between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The poll by Yahoo News/YouGov shows Harris and Trump locked at 47% each among registered voters. It’s the first tie since Harris entered the race on July 21 after the exit of President Joe Biden. Previous Harris leads ranged from five points after the Sept. 10 debate to one point after the Democratic National Convention.
The two are also tied – 48% each – among likely voters.
Harris leads Trump by 3 percentage points when it comes to favorability, though both candidates are underwater with the public. Harris has a 47% favorable rating with a 49% unfavorable rating for an overall negative 2. Trump has a 44% favorability rating vs. 53% unfavorable, for a negative 9. Trump polled better when it came to how he handled the job of president. Forty-seven percent said they approved of the way Trump handled the presidency compared to 48% who disapproved for a negative one. Forty-four percent of the way Harris is handling her job as vice president compared to 48% who disapproved for a negative four.
Forty-four percent said the Republican nominee has a clearer plan to solve America’s problems compared to 42% who said the same about Harris. Fourteen percent said they weren’t sure.
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Cost of living was the biggest concern for voters (38% said it was the top issue) followed by immigration (16%) and democracy (15%). No other issue scored above 10%. Trump scored best in handling cost of living (43% – 40%) as well as addressing crime, immigration and the conflict in the Middle East. Voters thought Harris would do a better job of handling the abortion issue and democracy.
Fifty-one percent said Harris was fit to serve as president though voters were split on Trump – 45% saying he was fit to serve as president, 45% said he wasn’t.
The Yahoo News/You Gov poll was conducted Oct. 29-31 among 1,710 adults. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 2.8 percent.
Looks like the former, according to the National Weather Service.
Alabama’s weather looks to be mostly problem-free on Tuesday, with only a few showers and warm temperatures expected in most areas.
High temperatures on Tuesday are expected to be in the mid- to upper 70s in north Alabama, the upper 70s to low 80s in central Alabama, and the low 80s across south Alabama (see the forecast for Tuesday at the top of this post).
A shower or two can’t be ruled out on Tuesday, but overall rain chances will be on the low side statewide, with eastern Alabama having slightly better odds of being rain free. According to the weather service the western side of the state could have rain chances in the 20 percent range during the day on Tuesday.
Here’s the probability of rain from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. CST on Tuesday:
Some rain should be approaching Alabama from the west on Tuesday, but rain chances will be on the low side from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., according to this forecast. Western Alabama will have slightly higher rain chances.NHC
Rain chances are forecast to climb for northwest Alabama — but only after the polls close on Tuesday night.
Some voters will be headed to the polls in darkness, thanks to the recent switchover to Standard Time.
Polls will open after sunrise, but it will get dark a few hours before they close.
Some sunrise times on Tuesday:
* Auburn: 6:03 a.m.
* Birmingham: 6:10 a.m.
* Huntsville: 6:11 a.m.
* Montgomery: 6:06 a.m.
* Mobile: 6:10 in Mobile
* Muscle Shoals: 6:15 a.m.
* Tuscaloosa: 6:12 a.m.
Sunset times:
* Auburn: 4:47 p.m.
* Birmingham: 4:51 p.m.
* Huntsville: 4:48 p.m.
* Montgomery: 4:50 p.m.
* Mobile: 5 p.m.
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* Muscle Shoals: 452 p.m.
* Tuscaloosa: 4:54 p.m.
And, no matter who wins on Tuesday, the sun is still scheduled to rise again on Wednesday, according to NASA.
Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, said that Jones died at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the family said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
Jones received the Motion Picture Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995, an honorary Oscar in 2024 and the Grammy Legend Award in 1991 and reeled in 28 Grammys from an all-time best 80 nominations.
Survivors include one of his seven children, actress Rashida Jones.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” and was among the featured singers, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”
In a career which began when records were still played on vinyl at 78 rpm, top honors likely go to his productions with Michael Jackson: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” were albums near-universal in their style and appeal. Jones’ versatility and imagination helped set off the explosive talents of Jackson as he transformed from child star to the “King of Pop.” On such classic tracks as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants. For “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches originated with Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing “Beat It” and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track.
“Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975″ among others as the best-selling album of all time.
Brian and Jenny Neill had to time things just right to avoid a tornado.
Tornado warnings popped up in Alabama one March night in 2023, and the Neills were trying to drive from Tuscaloosa to Huntsville. When one warning hit, the Neills were driving south of the area. Then they went north, getting home right before the next tornado warning. At one point that night, a tornado touched down in their county. The Neills bobbed and weaved to avoid a twister on what wasn’t the safest time to be traveling.
“We were so over the moon, we didn’t even care,” Jenny Neill said.
That night, Alabama men’s basketball had just beat Auburn in overtime to secure the SEC regular season title, and the Neills were there to witness it. About two weeks later, the Crimson Tide won the SEC Tournament and received the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s just so unbelievable to see the high level of play consistently from this team,” said Neill, a fan since the 1990s. “That’s what we haven’t had in so long.”
The past few years, Alabama has transformed from a program with solid history into a nationally relevant program competing with the best in the sport. Coach Nate Oats has been at the center of it, with his teams winning the SEC regular season title twice, the SEC Tournament twice and then making a Final Four appearance in April.
Now, preparing to open his sixth season Monday (8 p.m. CT, ESPNU) against UNC Ashville at Coleman Coliseum, Oats has the No. 2 team in the country, the highest preseason ranking ever for the program. For what was a perennial bubble team not even a decade ago, Alabama finds itself in a moment like never before. In a position to chase a championship fresh off a Final Four, the Crimson Tide has created a surreal and wild moment for the fans who’ve been there through many decades.
“There’s no question it’s the most highly anticipated season,” said Dick Coffee, a longtime fan from Birmingham. “It’s just exciting. Just can’t wait for it to start.”
Alabama men’s basketball finds itself in a moment like never before: Fresh off a Final Four with plans to go win a national championship.AL.com illustration/Photos via AP, SEC
Coffee’s been around since the C.M. Newton era. Now 68, Coffee listened to games on the radio in the 1960s and attended a few games at Foster Auditorium. Then he kept going to games when Memorial Coliseum (what is now Coleman Coliseum) opened in 1968.
Ever since the 1970s, Coffee estimates he has attended about 20-25 games per year.
Over that time, Coffee has witnessed highs such as coach Wimp Sanderson’s teams making 10 of 11 NCAA Tournaments from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Then Coffee watched as coach Mark Gottfried led Alabama to five straight, including the first Elite Eight appearance for the program in 2003-04.
Coffee also experienced the lows, mainly during the span from 2006 through 2019, when Alabama made the NCAA Tournament only twice over 14 seasons. He was watching in those rough years, with all those NIT trips under Anthony Grant and Avery Johnson. Coffee was one of the 2,086 in attendance in March 2019 when Alabama lost to Norfolk State at Coleman Coliseum in the first round of the NIT.
“That was a real dismal night,” Coffee said. “And that wasn’t that long ago.”
It’s moments like those when the first Final Four trip in program history couldn’t have felt farther away.
“I didn’t expect it,” Coffee said. “I really did not expect it. I think the closest we came was in the 70s, that team that lost to the last undefeated team Indiana … That team could have won a national championship.”
Joe Corona, 57, cried that day as a young boy sitting in the den of his home in Vestavia Hills. He watched on TV as Indiana beat Alabama 74-69 in Baton Rouge on March 18, 1976. This was right before seeding began in the NCAA Tournament, and Alabama got a tough draw in the second round with the undefeated Hoosiers who went on to finish 32-0 and win the national championship. The Crimson Tide finished that season 23-5.
“In my lifetime, without a doubt, ’76, ’87, this year, and I felt our ’90 and ’91 team were definitely good enough to possibly cut the nets down,” Corona said. “We had other teams good enough to get to the (Final) Four. But this is different.”
Alan Worrell, 77, of Montgomery has also attended games since the Newton era. Worrell became a season-ticket holder in 1999, and in 2022-23, he became a believer Alabama could soon reach the Final Four, even though the Crimson Tide fell in the Sweet 16 that season.
Through the decades, Worrell never gave up hope.
“It’s what you live for,” Worrell said.
And sometimes must wait for. Worrell did. So too did Neill. And Corona. Coffee, too. Now, finally, these dutiful fans have their moment, their surreal moment, to enjoy and support a nationally relevant program.
“Everybody is really geared up and ready to see them get to that pinnacle they’ve really never gotten to before in making the championship,” Worrell said. “That’s what we’re all counting on and hoping for.”
