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What will Trump’s ‘Iron Dome for America’ order mean for Huntsville?

President Donald Trump’s call for an “Iron Dome for America” missile defense this week could mean more jobs and federal dollars flowing to north Alabama.

In an executive order issued late Monday, Trump outlined a vision of missile defense that emphasizes new technology as well as space-based programs – both of which are local strengths, and some of which would need to be created from whole cloth.

Specifically, Trump’s order gave the Pentagon two months to submit guidelines for, “Defense against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries.” Those guidelines should include, the order stated:

General

Cajun restaurant closes Birmingham area location, plans to relocate

A popular Birmingham area Cajun-themed restaurant has closed one of its locations, but plans to reopen in the region soon.

Cajun Steamer’s Cahaba Heights restaurant, located at 3151 Green Valley Rd. in the Market Square Shopping Center, has closed.

A sign at the former location reads that it was a “bittersweet decision.”

“This isn’t goodbye – it’s ‘see you soon’ as we plan to bring the flavor, fun and hospitality you love to a new and improved location in the Birmingham area,” the sign states.

Cajun Steamer did not mention in the statement where the new location would be.

The Cahaba Heights restaurant opened in May 2022.

The company still has locations in Hoover, Trussville, Huntsville and Hendersonville, Murfreesboro and Franklin, Tenn.

Cajun Steamer offers Louisiana-style boils with Louisiana crawfish, char-grilled oysters and Gulf shrimp, as well as dishes such as crawfish etouffee, shrimp and grits, red beans and rice and beignets.

General

Johnson: As Trump lynches DEI, we must resurrect Black Wall Street

This is an opinion column.

This isn’t our first fight. Not even close.

It’s not our first faceoff against efforts to demean, diminish and deter us. To derail our inalienable right to thrive economically. To build wealth.

Nor are Donald Trump and insecure, DEI-phobic, scared-of-a fair-fight Republicans our first foes.

I could rewind much further into our nation’s history, but I’ll stop at 1874, at the collapse of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company (known mostly as Freedman’s Bank). It was chartered by Congress nine years before as an institution for Blacks to save and grow wealth as they moved from enslavement to earning (many as newly paid members of the Union Army). Celebrated statesman Frederick Douglass said Feeedman’s would help Blacks glean “lessons of sobriety, wisdom, and economy, and to show them how to rise in the world.”

Within seven years, Freedman’s grew to 37 branches in 17 states and was said to hold more than $3.7 million in assets, equivalent to $95.7 million today.

Two years later, alas, the bank was doomed by a series of speculative, unscrupulous and corrupt moves among its all-white board. The primary culprit? Henry D. Cooke.

As finance committee chair, he approved several risky loans, including one to Senaca Sandstone Company, the under-capitalized business owned by his family. It was a clear conflict of interest as he also served on the board of the family-owned company. Yes, that was illegal even back then.

Sandstone was crushed that year by the collapse of a bank owned by Henry’s older brother, Jay, a collapse that triggered the national Panic of 1873. Caught in the economy’s free-fall, Freedman’s met its demise the following year, erasing the life savings of more than 61,000 Blacks whose assets, due to unfriendly political foes, were not federally secured.

Then, of course, there was “Black Wall Street,” the thriving Black community on the segregated north side of Tulsa, Oklahoma that was burned to the ground by envious whites in the Race Massacre of 1921. Hundreds of Blacks were killed, more than 1,200 Black homes and almost every Black-owned business was reduced to ashes.

As I’ve shared before, Tulsa was my hometown and my father was a massacre survivor.

Earlier this month, in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration, the Department of Justice issued a report validating what many of us already knew:

White Tulsans mounted a concerted effort to destroy a vibrant Black community…. Survivors were left without resources or recourse. In the aftermath, the City of Tulsa resisted offers of meaningful help to the victims and utterly failed to provide necessary aid or assistance, and efforts to seek justice through the courts foundered.

Kristen Clarke, former assistant attorney general of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, called the massacre “a civil rights crime unique in its magnitude, barbarity, racist hostility and its utter annihilation of a thriving Black community.”

Once again, the life savings of hundreds of Black families were lost — $1.8 million in property loss claims ($27 million in today’s dollars, noted a 2001 Oklahoma commission report) were never paid.

The lessons of “sobriety, wisdom and economy” that Douglass touted, however, were learned, passed on to subsequent generations and bore much fruit in the early part of the 20th century, in spite of Black codes and Jim Crow.

“Black Wall Street” rose from the smoldering embers to once again be a thriving community that endured during my youth. Indeed, viable Black business centers and vibrant middle-class neighborhoods existed in many southern cities — including Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile — into the 1970s.

Most of them no longer exist or are a frail shell of their peak, primarily due to racist policies like redlining (banks refused loans to homeowners in Black neighborhoods circled in red on maps); so-called “urban renewal” proved to be urban removal (properties were snatched under imminent domain with promises to rebuild that went unfulfilled); or the building of highways that fatally dissected the heart of Black areas.

There’s this, too, and it isn’t at all easy to write: We’re partly culpable, as well. Freed from legal segregation in public places with the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we eagerly spent money with businesses that previously wouldn’t hire us and disrespected us as customers and moved into areas that had walled us out.

In short, we left our own behind.

Left our businesses behind. Left our neighborhoods behind. Left some of our people behind until our once-thriving spaces were all but ghosts.

Now, we can get it right.

We must get it right as federal offices implode under Trump’s executive order to terminate “to the maximum extent allowed by law, all federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions,” according to a U.S. Office of Personnel Management memo, as reported by CNN.

As universities and publicly traded companies squirm following Trump’s bullying threats to investigate their DEI programs, potentially putting at risk billions in federal research dollars and contracts.

We must get it right as Trump lynches DEI.

As he proudly undoes decades of efforts to level economic pathways long tilted against us and others. Against Hispanics. Against the disabled. Against Americans who merely want to be. Against white women, even.

We must get it right 112 years after President Woodrow Wilson resegregated the federal workforce, demoting incomes of thousands of Black civil service workers.

Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court banned the consideration of race in college admissions, we must get it right.

And a year after Alabama Republicans — fueled by erroneous and ill-founded claims — passed a bill that Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law banning DEI at our colleges and other public institutions, we must get it right.

Target was the latest company to fold to Trump, announcing last Friday that it would trim many DEI initiatives, including intentionally hiring from groups historically underrepresented in retail.

Many reacted by demanding a boycott of weak-kneed retailers — a strategy that eventually cooked J. Crow in cities where businesses refused our business or relegated us to the back of the bus.

That’s understandable. Trump’s cut-and-pasting from Project 2025 (just as we knew he would), trying to make America white again.

Those who follow that blueprint deserve the heat.

I see another strategy, an alternative calling in this fight: A call to not leave our own behind. Not this time.

To not abandon the Black employees who depend on jobs at those companies to support themselves and their families and to save and build wealth.

To not neglect Black-owned entrepreneurs who fought to get their products on shelves.

To respond as strategically as our boycotting ancestors, but strategically for these times.

Just as Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street” and other successful Black business areas were birthed out of segregation, a new “Black Wall Street” can emerge from today’s anti-DEI foolishness — not as a place but as a collective mindset to, with all intentionality and whenever possible, spend our dollars on minority- and women-owned products and services no matter where they’re sold.

To even buy stock in publicly traded companies that stand firm on DEI. That value us more than the threats of a president with a worthless ego-crypto-meme coin.

On this “Black Wall Street” our dollars — and the dollars of those who believe in the true spirit of diversity, equity and inclusion of all Americans — remain with those among our own who’ve fought through the struggles, and with those who fight with us.

To get it right this time.

Note: The internet is proliferated with posts like this one on from a entrepreneur whose products are sild at Target and this Black-owned business shopping guide.

Let’s be better tomorrow than we are today. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, Instagram @roysj and BlueSky.

General

Ranking the top Press-Register basketball performers for the week ending Jan. 27

The AL.com prep sports staff selects the top five girls or boys performances from the Press-Register coverage area each week.

This week’s top five includes plenty of noteworthy performances despite the fact that there were wholesale changes in the local basketball schedule due to last week’s winter storm.

General

Dr. Phil questioning immigrants detained in Chicago ‘completely inappropriate,’ media expert says

Partway through answering questions Sunday during an immigration enforcement blitz in Chicago, a man who appeared to be in federal custody briefly stopped talking when he recognized the man with the Texas accent asking the questions.

“You’re Dr. Phil,” the man said to television personality Phil McGraw, who, while standing alongside federal agents, peppered the man with questions about his citizenship and alleged crimes.

The scene played out not only in Chicago but across the internet Sunday as McGraw and cameras from his Merit TV media platform were embedded with President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan and others from various federal agencies as they began their long-promised immigration action in and around the city this past weekend.

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not respond to questions Monday about McGraw’s presence during the enforcement actions or the specifics of interactions with suspects that were disseminated on his platform and social media accounts. But in an interview with Tribune, McGraw, who spoke at a Trump rally just before last year’s election, said he was in Chicago to provide “transparency” for “a very targeted, surgical operation” aimed at people with criminal records who are in the country without legal authorization.

“Transparency is going to be important for people to understand what’s going on and what’s not going on,” McGraw said. “I’ve read a lot of things about sweeping neighborhoods and raiding businesses and even schools and things like that. That is just absolutely untrue. That’s not going on.”

For many others, however, granting largely unrestricted access to a well-known television personality during high-stakes law enforcement encounters raises questions about the propriety of the operation. It also underscores the extent to which Trump — who parlayed his turn as a reality TV star into a political career powered by harsh rhetoric on illegal immigration — relies on spectacle and showmanship to convey his message.

Further blurring of the lines between politics and popular media is likely to be a hallmark of the second Trump administration, as evidenced by his cabinet appointments of former Fox News personalities such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Sean Duffy, a former Wisconsin congressman and star of MTV’s “The Real World” tapped to lead the Department of Transportation.

Longtime Chicago immigration attorney Kevin Raica said he was surprised to see McGraw tagging along with federal officials during Sunday’s enforcement actions.

“These are usually law enforcement-only operations,” said Raica, who’s practiced immigration law for 20 years. “Generally, they want to restrict that access because they say it’s law enforcement sensitive and that it could reveal their methods of operation or how they conduct themselves. That it would be unsafe for the people they’re trying to detain.”

Indeed, a former federal law enforcement official who was based in Chicago said he wouldn’t have permitted a TV personality to have cameras rolling during an operation.

“We generally tried to stay out of the media’s attention … for a host of reasons,” said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized by his current employer to speak to the press.

Those reasons include both safety concerns and “the humiliation issue.”

“We always took great pains to make sure nobody, regardless whether they were a public official, a law enforcement officer, a drug dealer or anybody else, (was) humiliated in a process of an arrest because that creates a whole host of other grievances that could emerge at the scene or down the line,” the former official said.

McGraw, who’s previously interviewed Homan at length, said officials took great care Sunday to ensure safety.

“Their No. 1 priority was safety of everybody involved, including the targets that they were arresting, and they were going to great lengths to make sure that they went about this operation in a way that provided the greatest degree and likelihood of safety for the people that were being arrested as well as the agents that were doing the detaining,” he said.

Still, videos from the incidents, especially those that involved McGraw, were surreal — and questionable.

During the exchange with the man who recognized McGraw as “Dr. Phil,” the TV personality continued asking questions of the man even after he mentions wanting to speak to a lawyer. The clip posted to McGraw’s account on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter, showed the man being questioned stood with his hands behind his back next to a law enforcement official.

Standing at McGraw’s side, Homan said: “This is an example of sanctuary cities, right?” mentioning the policy Chicago and many other large cities have in which city agencies and local law enforcement do not cooperate with federal deportation authorities.

“We’ve got an illegal alien convicted of sex crimes involving children, and he’s walking the streets of Chicago,” Homan continued.

“You’ve been charged with sex crimes with children?” McGraw said.

“Not really,” the man said, shortly before Homan is seen on the video telling agents to “take him in, process him and lock him up.”

The questioning should have stopped as soon as the man mentioned wanting to speak to an attorney, the former federal official said.

“You have to cease and desist and let them get their lawyer,” the former official said.

While he’s “not a lawyer,” McGraw told the Tribune, “I wouldn’t think that would extend to me, but I suppose somebody could certainly ask the lawyers involved if that’s true.”

A representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois also raised questions about the exchange.

“It is disturbing that high-level government officials stood idly by as a hand-picked media outlet sensationalized an arrest and attempted to gain admissions from a suspect even after he asked to speak to his lawyer,” ACLU of Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka wrote in an email. “If the administration thinks this sort of stunt will lend credibility to its operations, it is mistaken.”

Immigration enforcement, particularly the deportation of people who’ve committed major crimes, is serious business and should be treated as such, said David Axelrod, an adviser to former President Barack Obama.

Obama deported more people during his first term than Trump did during his, Axelrod noted, but “didn’t bring camera and film crews with him to mark the occasion.”

“Donald Trump is the greatest marketer, brander and self-promoter in history. … I wouldn’t take that away from him,” Axelrod said. “But the spectacle of Dr. Phil on ICE raids is really … kind of a cheap reality show thing and detracts from the gravity and the seriousness of what this should be.”

“Spectacle” was also the word that came to mind for University of Illinois communications professor Stewart Coles.

“It’s no secret that Trump is personally obsessed with ratings, with popularity, with mass media,” said Coles, whose research includes the political effects of entertainment media.

With McGraw and cameras on hand, the administration’s highly publicized enforcement effort “turns into entertainment for, presumably, his supporters, that they see that he’s doing something about immigration.”

And while McGraw told the Tribune his goal was to document the “factual” and “actual,” there’s an array of unanswered questions in today’s fragmented media landscape about “what types of journalistic ethics are being followed here,” Coles said.

McGraw’s involvement, while “disturbing” and “abnormal,” “it’s also pointing to normalization,” said Heather Hendershot, a Northwestern University communications professor.

“It’s very strange to have a talk show host out with immigration officials, gathering people for potential deportation,” Hendershot said.

“That is completely inappropriate. It doesn’t make any sense, but it points to the ways that I fear that the Trump administration and its extremism and authoritarian inclinations are being kind of normalized this time around.”

Nubia Willman, former deputy chief of staff and current chief programs officer at Latinos Progresando, said she imagines “this second round, the federal administration will continue to look for ways to antagonize and scare Chicagoans in an attempt to deepen divides. Adding a TV personality to the mix is likely the first of many questionable decisions we will see as they attempt to vilify immigrants.”

Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, an outspoken critic of the city’s sanctuary status, appeared in an interview segment Sunday on McGraw’s Merit TV platform.

He hasn’t met McGraw but said “it’s very important to show who these targets are and to show why they are being pursued by the federal government.”

Lopez added he thinks local media also should have been invited to witness the deportation efforts.

“It’s crucial for all of us to share as much information, otherwise you have the rumor mill running rampant, spreading fear and hysteria,” said Lopez, who doesn’t support the deportation of immigrants without legal status who haven’t committed other crimes.

For some, though, the spotlight on Sunday’s actions instilled more fear.

A Venezuelan woman who said her name was Iseamary said she forced herself to go to work on Monday even though the messaging from Homan and McGraw scared her. She’s a single mom who lives on the South Side.

“But what if something happens to me?” she asked. “Then my son will have no one.”

Iseamary asked not to have her last name included because of the threat of deportation. She said she normally takes the bus downtown, where she works cleaning hotels, she said.

“I’ve applied for asylum. And even though I have no legal papers yet, I keep my court documents on me at all times in case they stop me,” she said.

She said she watches the news and has heard that she needs to get a good lawyer. But because she doesn’t always have steady work, she said she doesn’t have the money to hire an attorney.

“I really don’t know what to do,” she said. “I don’t like hearing about what they’re doing to people.”

____

(Chicago Tribune’s Laura Rodríguez Presa contributed.)

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General

Dense fog advisory issued for Central Alabama until Tuesday midday

The National Weather Service issued a dense fog advisory at 8:54 a.m. on Tuesday in effect until 11 a.m. for Fayette, Walker, Blount, Calhoun, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega and Clay counties.

The weather service describes, “Visibility one quarter mile or less in dense fog.”

“Low visibility could make driving conditions hazardous,” says the weather service. “If driving, slow down, use your headlights, and leave plenty of distance ahead of you.”

Navigating fog: Safety tips by the weather service

When a dense fog advisory is issued for your area, it means that widespread dense fog has developed and visibility can plummet to a quarter-mile or less. These conditions pose challenges for travel, so exercise extra caution on the road or consider postponing your trip if possible.

If driving through fog becomes inevitable, remember these safety guidelines:

Reduce speed:

Slow down and allocate extra travel time to reach your destination safely.

Visibility priority:

Ensure your vehicle is visible to others by using low-beam headlights, which automatically activate your taillights. Utilize fog lights if your vehicle is equipped with them.

Avoid high-beams:

Refrain from using high-beam headlights, as they create glare that impairs your visibility on the road.

Keep your distance:

Leave a safe distance between you and the vehicle in front of you to account for sudden stops or changes in the traffic pattern.

Stay in your lane:

To ensure you are staying in the correct lane, use the road’s lane markings as a guide.

Zero visibility strategy:

In cases of near-zero visibility due to dense fog, activate your hazard lights and seek a safe spot, like a nearby business parking lot, to pull over and stop.

No parking options:

If no designated parking area is available, pull your vehicle as far off the road as possible. Once stationary, deactivate all lights except the hazard flashers, engage the emergency brake, and release the brake pedal to ensure your tail lights are not illuminated, reducing the risk of other drivers colliding with your stationary vehicle.

By adhering to these recommendations from the weather service, you can navigate foggy conditions more safely, reducing the risk of accidents and ensuring your well-being.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.

General

Walmart managers get pay raise, can now earn up to $620,000

Walmart managers could now earn more than $600,000 a year under a new compensation package that includes additional stock grants, the nation’s largest private employer announced.

Walmart is adding $25,000 in annual stock grants to its compensation package for market managers, Retail Dive reported. The change makes managers eligible for $100,000 in stock grants each year.

The minimum salary for market managers was also raised from $130,000 to $160,000 with the top end of the pay range remaining at $260,000. Managers can also earn an annual bonus of up to 100% of their salary, an increase from the 90% in place before.

In total, the earning potential for Walmart market managers is now $620,000.

“Walmart is increasing base pay, bonus opportunity and annual stock awards for our Market Managers,” the company told Fox News, adding the jobs are “key for our business and for serving our customers however they shop.”

Market managers oversee about a dozen stores and store managers, Retail Dive reported.

Store managers will also be getting a raise. The current average salary for store managers of $117,000 will be raised to $128,000. They would also be eligible for annual bonuses as high as 200% of base salary.

The change is just the latest from the nation’s largest retailer designed to attract and retain workers. Last year, the company announced it would offer bonuses of up to $1,000 a year for eligible full-time and part-time hourly store associates.

Walmart currently employs roughly 1.6 million people in the U.S.

General

Federal funding freeze: Trump pauses loans, grants for comprehensive review

The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending.

The funding freeze by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The pause takes effect at 5 p.m. ET, and it’s unclear from the memo how sweeping it will be. Vaeth said that all spending must comply with Trump’s executive orders, which are intended to undo progressive steps on transgender rights, environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts.

Vaeth wrote that “each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.”

Washington is a hub of spending that flows to various departments, local governments, nonprofits and contractors, and the memo has left countless people who are dependent on that money wondering how they will be affected.

The pause is the latest example of how Trump is harnessing his power over the federal system to advance his conservative goals. Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he’s reaching deep into the bureaucracy.

“They are pushing the president’s agenda from the bottom up,” said Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University.

He also said there are risks in Trump’s approach, especially with so many voters reliant on Washington.

“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle. You’ve got to deliver.”

Medicare and Social Security benefits will be unaffected by the pause, according to the memo. But there was no explanation of whether the pause would affect Medicaid, food stamps, disaster assistance and other programs. The memo said it should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”

“Are you stopping NIH cancer trials?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, wrote on social media, referring to the National Institutes of Health.

A briefing with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, her first, is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Rose DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees, expressed “extreme alarm” in a letter to Vaeth.

“This Administration’s actions will have far-reaching consequences for nearly all federal programs and activities, putting the financial security of our families, our national security, and the success of our country at risk,” they wrote.

General

Early look at Super Bowl 59 line movement and betting trends with DraftKings’ Johnny Avello

The Kansas City Chiefs are aiming to become the first team in NFL history to three-peat. In their way is the Philadelphia Eagles – the team they knocked off in an epic Super Bowl just two years ago.

DraftKings opened the line as Kansas City -1.5 and the over-under at 49.5. Caesars Sportsbook briefly moved to Chiefs -2 on Monday (before moving back to 1.5). DraftKings is holding firm at KC -1.5 thanks to solid early two-way action (55% of the money is on KC and 61% of the tickets are on the Chiefs).

DraftKings race and sportsbook operations director Johnny Avello said the big bets haven’t rolled in yet.

“Nothing really huge,” Avello said when Advance Local caught up with him on Monday.

“Low five figure bets right now. The line hasn’t moved at all. We opened KC 1.5 and the total at 49.5. Even though there’s been a lot of activity over the last 12 hours, no line movement whatsoever.”

In fact, Avello said he doesn’t expect much line movement over the next two weeks, adding that 1.5 is “the right number.”

“These teams played two years ago and it went right down to the wire. It could have went either way,” Avello noted of the 38-35 Chiefs’ win on a last-second field goal from Harrison Butker in Super Bowl 57. The Eagles were 1.5-point favorites in that game.

Saquon Barkley’s eye-popping Super Bowl prop

One thing that has everyone’s attention, including Avello, is Eagles’ RB Saquon Barkley’s rushing prop line. It’s the highest that Avello has ever booked (110+ yards at -147).

Only three players have rushed for 110+ yards in the Super Bowl over the past 18 years (Frank Gore, Dominic Rhodes and Thomas Jones).

“You don’t see those numbers usually,” Avello said. “He’s been breaking big ones; every game he breaks one for 50-60 yards and that’s what gets him there. … Sometimes (RB rushing yardage lines) have been in the 70’s and 80’s. It’s kind of unprecedented in a game like this.”

Barkley’s rushing prop for the NFC Championship game was around 125 and he went just under (118 yards).

A running back hasn’t won Super Bowl MVP since Broncos Hall of Famer Terrell Davis in 1998, but Avello thinks Barkley is more than capable of doing so. He has booked only Patrick Mahomes (+110) ahead of Barkley (+250) in the Super Bowl MVP market.

Super Bowl point spread line movement

At least one sportsbook, Caesars, briefly moved the Chiefs to -2 on Monday before going back to 1.5 later in the day, but Avello said: “We aren’t quick to move the line. We are pretty much the market maker, so we’ll move on a large bet or we won’t move at all.”

Avello said the big bets will come, but he’s not sure exactly when. Factors like professional groups, injuries and whims usually come into play when the Super Bowl rolls around. “It could be this week, next week, or it could be closer to game time.”

The general consensus I got from talking with Avello, however, is that he doesn’t expect this line to move much at all.

Another small Super Bowl spread

The days of huge Super Bowl spreads are long gone, and not just since wide-spread legalization took hold in 2018. Heck, even the key number of 3 is no longer in play when Super Bowl lines open. The opening Super Bowl spread has been 3 just once over the past seven years.

In fact, the biggest spread in the past 15 years came when Peyton Manning’s Colts (5-point favorites) lost to the Saints by two touchdowns in the “Surprise Onside Kick” Super Bowl in 2010).

That’s in sharp contrast to the 16 years prior to that, when all but three Super Bowl spreads were at least 7 points (and some much larger).

“Things have become so tight over the past five years or so,” Avello said. “There’s no 19-point favorite. I put that up once (in 1994 when the 49ers played the Chargers in Super Bowl 27; San Fran covered).

“Even 7 doesn’t feel like it could be part of the equation. Teams are much closer than they were years ago.”

This year’s line seems to be spot on. It’s hard to bet against the Chiefs winning a close game these days. Kansas City has won NFL-record 17 straight one score games after surviving the Bills on Sunday night.

DraftKings dodges El Presidente’s $1 million Super Bowl futures bet

That Chiefs returning to the Super Bowl was a great result for Avello and DraftKings, which infamously took a $1 million bet on the Bills to win the Super Bowl at +550 (made by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy).

That $1 million bet on the Bills to win the Super Bowl was DraftKings’ biggest liability in the Super Bowl futures betting market.

“Detroit losing was also good for us,” says Avello, adding, “Now, no matter who wins, we’ll be OK.”

Taylor Swift Super Bowl props returning

Avello is certainly OK with the return of Taylor Swift to The Big Game. Avello said those special props tied to her song names have been extremely popular and will be back this year.

“We’ll probably do something similar to that again.”

Avello is happy Swift props are back in play, even if NFL fans aren’t as thrilled about it. Where he is in alignment with most fans is he isn’t in love with a Super Bowl rematch this soon.

“I kind of would have liked to see a different matchup,” the veteran oddsmaker said. “I don’t like seeing two teams that played a couple years ago play again.”

Can this Chiefs team really three-peat?

The Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to return to the Super Bowl after winning the previous two.

There is obviously some roster turnover, specifically when it comes to their receiving corps. They scrapped by so many times this year, the perception is they aren’t as good as Kansas City’s previous Super Bowl winning teams.

Who would know how this team stacks up against its predecessors better than the man that has booked Super Bowls for the better part of three decades?

“This team is probably better than last year’s team,” Avello said. “I’m not sure it’s as good as the first Super Bowl team, but it doesn’t really matter.

“They are like the Patriots’ dynasty. They’ve got three people: A quarterback, a coach and one key guy who’s been there the whole time, and that’s Travis Kelce; with the Patriots it was Belichick, Brady and Gronk. They have a good system. They just plug guys in. They have a great defensive coordinator (Steve Spagnuolo). I think he makes the difference in a lot of games. It works for them and no one has been able to duplicate it.”

A Mahomes betting trend is back for The Big Game

Another storyline sure to dominate betting circles is alive for this game. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is notoriously poor ATS when the Chiefs are big favorites. He’s 22-32-3 ATS when favored by seven points or more in his career, according to Evan Abrams of Action Network.

However, he’s 28-9-1 as an underdog or a favorite of three points or less. Mahomes is 8-0 in the playoffs as either an underdog or a favorite of less than a field goal. In the Super Bowl, he’s 3-1 ATS, with each of his wins coming as a favorite of three points or less.

Avello said he doesn’t see this line approaching the key number of 3, meaning backing Mahomes seems like a pretty solid bet.

“I don’t think it’s making 3,” Avello said. “If it goes to three then it’s probably a take (meaning pro bettors will jump all over it). I can see it going from 1 to 2.5, but I can’t see it crossing any major numbers here.”

Avello noted that the Chiefs “don’t cover much, but they win, and this is a short moneyline price.”

For the record, 47% of the bets and 49% of the early money is on the Chiefs’ moneyline (-130) at DraftKings.

Handicapping a Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch

Super Bowl 59 marks just the second time ever that the same teams will meet twice in a three-year span. The other time was 1992 and 1993 when the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills met in back-to-back years. Those games weren’t competitive.

The last time the Chiefs and Eagles met was extremely close, with Kansas City winning on a 27-yard field goal from Harrison Butker with eight seconds left. The Eagles were 1.5-point favorites in that game.

What, if anything, can we take from that game? More importantly, how did Avello go about handicapping the rematch with so much familiarity and roster continuity involved?

“Both teams are playing well,” Avello said when asked his first thoughts on handicapping the rematch. “No one snuck up on anyone. Both teams are good and the power ratings are close, but the Chiefs were slightly a bigger favorite, and obviously at this point, that is the right number.

“I don’t know if anyone expected Kansas City to get here, but they never had really high odds. And the reason we didn’t expect them to get here again was it’s just too difficult to get to the Super Bowl three years in a row.”

Avello was looking forward to a better NFC Championship game. “Detroit vs. Philly would have been intriguing, but obviously that never materialized.”

Super Bowl 59 Over-Under betting

Super Bowl 57 between these teams finished 38-35. As for the rematch’s total of 49.5, Avello said, “It seems like it will be an offensive game, but you never know.”

The Eagles are coming off a NFC Championship record 55-point outburst, while the Chiefs scored more than 30 points for the first time this season. Bettors at DraftKings agree with Avello thus far, with 86% of the money and 85% of the tickets on the Over currently.

Super Bowl 59 anytime TD betting

Anytime TD scorer bets are all the rage over the past few years. Let’s face it: They’re fun because they’re low-risk high-reward bets. Sportsbooks bear the brunt of it when a long-shot scores, or a big favorite that’s tied into parlays scores.

So, aside from Saquon Barkley (-195, +450 first TD, +280 for 2 TDs), where does Avello expect DraftKings to be most liable in the anytime TD market?

“Travis Kelce (+130 anytime, +1000 to score first), Jalen Hurts (-105 anytime, +650 to score first) both those guys will be played as not only anytime TDs, but first TD scorers,” Avello said. “Kareem Hunt and (Xavier) Worthy are in the mix as the main guys (we don’t want scoring).

Avello said one of his top long-shots is JuJu Smith-Schuster (+3500), who had 3 catches for 60 yards (his best game since early October) in the AFC Championship game. He also mentioned Chiefs WR Justin Watson because, “defenses key on certain guys and other guys may be overlooked.”

Super Bowl safety bets kicked out?

One of the favorite bets many people make is will there be a safety in the Super Bowl, but that’s not something Avello loses much sleep over anymore.

“Yes” is listed at +1400, while “No” is at -3500.

“No, not really (concerned),” Avello said. “I got absolutely murdered on that when the ball flew over Peyton Manning’s head (on the first play of Super Bowl 48 between the Broncos and Seahawks in 2014).

“I lost $150,000 on that prop (first score a safety). Down $150,000 before the second play from scrimmage. Now, it will have to be a coach that has his punter run out of the end zone because he’s afraid to get his punt blocked. The new kick-off rules make the “safety as the first score” bet harder with the ball at the 30.”

General

The heartwarming story behind Alabama’s newest must-try bakery

With the opening of Stinson Breads in Opelika, Anna Claire and Matthew Stinson turned what started out as baking for friends into a full-time bakery, and it’s bringing so much more than just sourdough to its community.

Anna Claire Stinson, who is originally from Baldwin County, said that while she has always enjoyed baking, she didn’t pursue her interest in sharpening her culinary skills until after graduating from Auburn University in 2017 when she decided to take an online baking course in her free time, and in the process, she managed to pique her husband, Matthew’s, interest as well.

“Whenever I got to the sourdough section, Matthew, who has a scientific background, took up an interest in it as well, so he’s kind of like the science behind the dough, and I’m more of the art behind it,” said Stinson. “It just kind of started from there.”

Stinson Breads in Opelika offers a variety of breads and pastries, including croissants, to its surrounding communities. (Anna Claire Stinson)Anna Claire Stinson/Stinson Breads

Stinson said they began experimenting and making sourdough together in October 2019 for friends, and it wasn’t long before others began reaching out through social media, asking how to buy their bread. Over the next five years, the couple went from making bread in their kitchen to renting commercial kitchen space to keep up with demand to ultimately opening their own storefront in charming downtown Opelika in 2024.

“You know, whenever Matthew and I were talking very seriously way back in 2019 about me wanting to open a bakery, we knew that we couldn’t just open another bakery that already existed in the area,” said Stinson. “We went on our honeymoon to Germany and France in 2018 and had some of the best bread we’ve ever had. So whenever we were kind of reflecting on that, we were like, this doesn’t really exist in this area. Why can’t we do that? Why can’t we add to kind of that food culture in this little way?”

While on the weekends their menu offerings include a wide range of rotating breads and sourdough flavors, including lemon olive walnut, jalapeno cheddar, cranberry walnut and more as well as Ciabatta, baguettes, table rolls, sandwich bread and Focaccia, Stinson said it’s their original house bread that is the, no pun intended, the “bread and butter” of the bakery.

“Our house is like your basic country sourdough loaf,” said Stinson. “The only ingredients are flour, water, salt and our sourdough starter. It’s very basic, but that is the loaf we started with all those years ago and remains the most popular. For retail and wholesale, it’s our most sought after item.”

Other items available at the bakery — open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. unless they sell out earlier, which is likely on the weekends — include pastries, such as a variety of croissants, morning buns, cinnamon rolls and even bourbon coffee twists made using bourbon from the bakery’s neighbors, John Emerald Distilling Company.

“I love our bourbon coffee twist,” said Stinson. “We kind of cut it in strips and roll it up into a round twist, and then after it’s baked, we dip it in a bourbon coffee glaze. It just has a really like, deep complex flavor in that glaze, and I just love it.”

Fans of Stinson Breads can also find their products at several restaurants and eateries in the surrounding areas, including Acre in Auburn, Piedmont on Piedmont in Opelika, Animal Farm in Columbus, Ga., and more, with hopes to continue to add to the growing list. In addition, the bakery hosts special events and workshops, including “Sourdough 101″ for those looking to gain more hands-on experience with baking.

Ultimately, Stinson said that their goal was to bring the quality of bread they had while on their honeymoon back to Opelika, and it’s been a humbling experience that something seemingly simple could bring so much joy to the community.

“When we did start making this bread, small scale and larger scale, like we’re doing now, I think people are just so appreciative that they can get that type of bread and that quality of bread,” said Stinson. “Whether that’s people who have lived in this area all their lives or people who have moved to this area from all over the world, I feel like people just appreciate the fact that we’re here and just doing our little bit to contribute.”

Stinson Breads is located at 714 North Railroad Avenue in Opelika. You can follow them on Facebook and Instagram as well as visit their website.