Alabama News

General

Alabama lawmaker wants private consultant to speed up medical marijuana licensing

Alabama Sen. Tim Melson, R- Florence, has filed a bill that would take some licensing powers away from the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission and give them to a private entity.

Established in 2022, the AMCC has awarded licenses three times, in June, August, and December of last year, to integrated companies that will cultivate, process, and dispense medical cannabis products.

The commission rescinded the June and August awards because of problems with its procedures and ongoing litigation.

“It’s been three years and patients hadn’t been able to try it, and something needs to be done and to move the through the needle,” Melson said.

“I mean, if you have something for three years and you haven’t been able to do your duty, somebody needs to step in and rectify that.”

Under SB72, the private consultant “must be a nationally recognized entity with expertise in financial auditing and managerial consulting” and have offices “in at least 15 states.”

The existing commission would have until Oct. 1 to hire someone.

This bill would also delete a provision requiring the commission to hold an investigatory hearing after the denial of a license.

It would establish that the denial or granting of a license “is final and conclusive and any court efforts to prevent the commission from issuing a license or invalidating a license previously awarded would be immediately appealable to the Alabama Supreme Court.”

Melson stressed the need for a uniform rating system by which to judge company applications.

“I’ve got the grading reports in front of me and if you look at it, some people rated one of the organizations number one, the top potential applicant,” he said.

“And somebody else rated it the 29th best choice…So, if you look at the same application and your discrepancy is 10 to 20 positions apart, it looks to me like either the instructions weren’t clear, the ability to follow the instructions wasn’t done, and there was no obvious reason why the same applicant using the same criteria would be rated so far apart.”

He said he is “ready just to find somebody that can rate them, and if possible, redact any identifying information about them unless it’s absolutely necessary for an objective judging of where they belong in the system.”

Only applicants from the original Dec. 31, 2022, application deadline will be considered for the licenses, according to the bill.

And it would increase the number of integrated facility licenses that may be granted in the state from five to seven licenses, as a result of population growth.

“It’s nothing personal,” Melson said.

“I’m not saying anything was done illegally, but it wasn’t done by any means…. So, if we could find somebody like Moody’s or another organization to rate them objectively, let’s do it.”

Melson filed a bill relating to the same issue last session that didn’t make it out of the Senate. He said he is more optimistic that this version, which he described as an “entirely different bill,” will have more success.

“We didn’t really try to move that bill last year,” he said.

“We just tried to let them know that we’re watching and get the system aware and possibly move the needle. A year later it hasn’t. So, patients have gone another year without having the ability to try. And I think it’s just time to buy that solution.”

The bill is currently pending action from the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry.

The Compassion Act, passed by Alabama lawmakers in May 2021, made Alabama one of more than 30 states to authorize medical marijuana.

Patients who receive a recommendation from a certified doctor and receive a medical cannabis card from the AMCC will be able to buy medical marijuana products at licensed dispensaries.

The products can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain, weight loss and nausea from cancer, depression, panic disorder, epilepsy, muscle spasms caused by disease or spinal cord injuries, PTSD, and others.

Products can include gummies, tablets, capsules, tinctures, patches, oils, and other forms allowed by the legislation.

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South Alabama adds 2 high school recruits to 2025 football signing class

South Alabama put a cap on its 2025 football recruiting class with a pair of high school signees on Wednesday, announcing the additions of Baldwin County wide receiver Ti Mims and Mississippi tight end Maddox Lynch.

Mims and Lynch join a Jaguars class that includes 12 players who signed in December, as well as 13 more who joined the program as mid-year transfers in January. The final total includes 12 high school signees, 12 four-year transfers and three junior-college transfers.

“We’re excited about the group of guys we’re bringing in this year,” head coach Major Applewhite said. “I think we found a good balance of high school and transfer talent. For the most part, we have what we need, but recruiting never stops, so we’ll see if we can continue to add some quality pieces.”

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Mims is rated a 3-star prospect by 247 Sports and played in the AHSAA North-South All-Star Game in Mobile in December. He was a second-team all-state pick in 2024, when he totaled 558 yards and eight touchdowns combined rushing and receiving despite missing two games due to injury.

Lynch (6-4, 230) was a first-team all-state pick in Mississippi in 2024, catching 42 passes for 459 yards and three touchdowns while playing both tight end and wide receiver at Warren Central, a Class 6A program. He played in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic in 2024, catching a 33-yard touchdown pass from Auburn signee Deuce Knight during the game.

South Alabama also officially announced the addition of its mid-year transfer class, the details of which had been previously reported by AL.com. The group includes wide receiver Brendan Jenkins of Samford, tight end Miller McCrumby of Arkansas State, offensive linemen Leavy Johnson of Western Kentucky, Ni Mansell of South Carolina and Amaury Wiggins of Arkansas, defensive end Tirrell Johnson of Harding, linebackers Caleb Dozier of Georgia Tech and Tre’Mon Henry of Southern Miss, cornerback Jayvon Henderson of East Tennessee State and safeties Anthony Brown of Purdue, Tywon Wray of Oklahoma State and Dallas Young of Arkansas.

Also officially on-board is running back Keenan Phillips of Georgia Military College, who has enrolled in classes and will participate in spring practice. He joins two December junior-college signees who also are already enrolled, tight end Brec Long of Coffeyville (Kan.) CC and defensive lineman Dominic Wiseman of Iowa Western.

South Alabama finished 7-6 in 2024, its first season with Applewhite as head coach. The Jaguars beat Western Michigan 30-23 in the Salute to Veterans Bowl, their second straight postseason win.

South Alabama football 2025 recruiting class (27)

December signees (12)

Kearius Bivens, OL, 6-7, 305, Chatom, Ala./Washington County HS

Kohl Bradley, DB, 6-0, 170, Lucedale, Miss./George County HS

Julyon Jordan, RB, 5-11, 175, Guntersville, Ala./Guntersville HS

Brec Long, TE, 6-4, 230, Copan, Okla./Coffeyville (Kan.) CC*

E’Mauri Smiley, DL, 6-3, 254, Opelika, Ala./Opelika HS

Lorenzo Smith, DB, 6-0, 190, Farmhaven, Miss./Jones College

Shermon Smith, LB, 6-1, 210, Sylvester, Ga./Worth County HS

Trae Stevenson, WR, 6-0, 170, Madison, Miss./Germantown HS

Jeremiah Thomas, DB, 5-10, 170, Havana, Fla./Gadsden County HS

Deuce Vance, DB, 5-11, 178, Hattiesburg, Miss./Hattiesburg HS

Devin White, OL, 6-4, 290, Tuscaloosa, Ala./Northridge HS

Dominic Wiseman, DL, 6-1, 300, Davenport, Iowa/Iowa Western CC*

January mid-year transfers (13)

Anthony Brown, SAF, 6-0, 195, Milan, Tenn./Purdue*

Caleb Dozier, LB, 6-2, 225, Dothan, Ala./Georgia Tech*

Jayvon Henderson, CB, 5-10, 189, Auburn, Ga./East Tennessee State*

Tre’Mon Henry, LB, 6-2, 245, Columbus, Ga./Southern Miss*

Brendan Jenkins, WR, 6-2, 200, Mill Creek, Ga./Samford*

Leavy Johnson, OL, 6-3, 291, Panama City, Fla./Western Kentucky*

Tirrell Johnson, DE, 6-2, 250, Wynne, Ark./Harding*

Ni Mansell, OL, 6-3, 300, Anderson, S.C./South Carolina*

Miller McCrumby, TE, 6-3, 238, Mount Pleasant, Texas/Arkansas State*

Keenan Phillips, RB, 5-10, 180, Bainbridge, Ga./Georgia Military College*

Amaury Wiggins, OL, 6-3, 310, Pensacola, Fla./Arkansas*

Tywon Wray, SAF, 6-1, 200, Atlanta, Ga./Oklahoma State*

Dallas Young, SAF, 6-0, 196, Gardendale, Ala./Arkansas*

February signees (2)

Maddox Lynch, TE, 6-4, 230, Vicksburg, Miss./Warren Central HS

Ti Mims, WR, 5-11, 170, Bay Minette, Ala./Baldwin County HS

*— already enrolled, will participate in spring practice

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AHSAA soccer kicks off Thursday with lots of shuffling among the top teams

Alabama High School Athletic Association soccer Opening Day officially is Thursday. A quick count shows there will be 448 teams playing for the right to travel to Huntsville for the state championship tournament in May.

While six defending champions were chosen atop the AHSAA soccer coaches preseason poll, one story to watch might be the shifting of teams due to the regular every-two-years reclassification and the competitive balance rule.

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College football coaches looking to curb ‘fake’ injuries with in-game restrictions, report says

Looking to get a handle on the epidemic of “fake” injuries in college football, the sport’s coaches have reportedly introduced a radical idea they hope will put a stop to the practice.

According to a report Wednesday by The Athletic, a group of coaches at last month’s American Football Coaches Association convention proposed that any player who leaves a game due to injury must sit out the remainder of that possession. In the past, such players only had to leave the field for one play.

As no-huddle and high-tempo offenses have become more prevalent in college football, defenses have begun to combat them with players apparently “feigning” injuries — usually at the direction of coaches — to stop the clock without having to use a timeout (or if that team had no remaining timeouts). It’s become a common sight to see a defensive player drop to the ground in agony following a given play and be helped off the field by medical personnel, only to return without appearing any worse for the wear a short time later.

“There’s a push by the stakeholders in the game saying, on feigning injuries, something must be done,” national coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told The Athletic. “We can’t kick the can down the road once again.”

Ole Miss has been viewed as the biggest culprit in the SEC of late, though nearly every major program has been guilty at one time or another. Witness former Auburn defensive lineman Big Kat Bryant taking a dive during this 2019 game vs. LSU, or Alabama’s King Mack running to the sideline and then back onto the field before being “stricken” in last year’s game vs. Tennessee.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey issued a memo to league members in November outlining potential punishments for faking injuries, which could include fines and suspensions for coaches. However, the AFCA proposal would impose a real-time penalty, rather than a retroactive punishment.

The AFCA discussion was not an official submission for a rule change, though Shaw told The Athletic that the NCAA Football Rules Committee will discuss it at its next meeting. If the rules committee comes up with a formal proposal, it would be forwarded to the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel for approval or rejection.

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National chain will build store in Roebuck parking lot

Mavis, a national tire sales chain, plans to build a new store in Roebuck by the end of this year.

The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved a rezoning for the Roebuck Market Place shopping center parking lot, where the Mavis Discount Tire store will be built.

The new Mavis store will be at the corner of the parking lot at the intersection of Parkway East and Shopping Center Drive, on the opposite side of a parking lot also used by the Planet Fitness that’s in the former McRae’s location. Harbor Freight is also located in the shopping center.

Nate Fuss, a civil engineer who made the application for rezoning on behalf of owner Outparcel LLC, said he hoped construction would be done and the store would open by the end of 2025.

The council voted to re-zone the site from mixed use to qualified general commercial district.

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Former Mountain Brook doctor enters plea in crash that killed 10-year-old daughter: ‘I will never forgive myself’

A former Mountain Brook doctor pleaded guilty in the traffic crash death of her 10-year-old daughter that happened while she was fleeing police.

Sarah “Kathleen” Cumbest Mullican, 46, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to reckless manslaughter and attempting to elude, both of which are felonies.

Mullican was an anesthesiologist but voluntarily surrendered her medical license shortly after the deadly crash.

Killed in the July 22, 2023, wreck in Mountain Brook was Mullican’s daughter, Annabelle. Her other daughter was not injured.

Mullican and her attorneys — Tommy Spina, Brett Bloomston and Ben Preston — appeared before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Shanta Owens to enter the guilty pleas.

” I made a series of very bad decisions that resulted in the death of my precious daughter, Annabelle,’’ a tearful Mullican told the court. “I deeply regret my actions and desperately wish I could change them.”

“I accept the sentence you are about to impose,’’ she said. “There isn’t a minute that goes by that the gravity of my actions do not weigh on my heart and body in every single way.”

“I deeply apologize to all of those affected by my actions,’’ she said, “and hope to be forgiven by them. I will never forgive myself.”

Here is full coverage of the case

Deputy District Attorney Dain Stewart prosecuted the case.

He told the court Mullican was under the influence of narcotics, some of which were prescribed, some of which weren’t, some of which were prescribed to her mother who was ailing at the time.

“At the time this happened, the defendant was a doctor, she had a job, a marriage, financial security, a home,’’ Stewart said. “She had things going in her favor and she had every duty to take care of the children who were in the back seat of her car.”

“When she fled from the police, she was worried about the potential result of being under the influence and driving and speeding,’’ he said. “Rather than accept those consequences, she ran recklessly and crashed and ended the life of one of her children.”

Stewart said he understand she lost a child, lost her medical license and lost her job, but said those are consequences of the decisions she made, not punishment.

Mullican’s husband was not in court and the couple is going through a divorce. Stewart said Mr. Mullican for the good of their surviving daughter would like mother and daughter to maintain a relationship.

Owens said took into account the positions and feelings of those in court, as well as the effect for the surviving daughter.

Mullican was sentenced to 15 years on the manslaughter charge but will serve 2 1/2 of that in prison and 10 years with 2 1/2 to serve in prison on the attempting to elude charge. The two prison sentences will be served concurrently.

Mullican must turn herself in at the Jefferson County jail on March 10 to begin her sentence in state prison.

Owens said she took into consideration the feelings of Mullican’s surviving daughter who wishes to maintain a relationship with her mother.

Mullican was initially arrested on the two felony charges on Sept. 15, 2023.

According to charging documents, Mullican did “recklessly cause the death of (Annabelle) by operating a motor vehicle…in excess of posted speed limits, and/or by attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, and/or while under the influence of controlled substances, thereby causing the death of (Annabelle) who was a passenger in the vehicle.”

The affidavit did not state what substances police say Mullican was under the influence of at the time.

The crash happened about 5:30 p.m. that Saturday on Cherokee Road in Mountain Brook.

According to a police report, an officer was parked in the driveway of a residence on Old Leeds Road when he saw a white Toyota Highlander coming toward him from Crosshill Road on Old Leeds Road at a high rate of speed.

The officer clocked Mullican driving 47 mph in a 30-mph zone.

The officer followed the SUV and saw it swerve out of its lane several times, the report states.

It then turned left onto Cherokee Road, nearly striking a vehicle that it turned in front of, the report states.

The officer then activated his emergency equipment and attempted to conduct a traffic stop.

The officer saw the driver throw a cup out the window along with another unidentified object in the 3500 block of Cherokee Road, police have said.

“The vehicle appeared to accelerate after (the officer) turned his lights and siren on,’’ the report states.

The SUV then “negotiated” the curve as the roadway curved to the right. As the roadway curved back to the left, the vehicle ran off the right side of the roadway.

It then struck several trees and overturned before coming to a stop in the ditch on the right side of the road.

The crash was recorded on the officer’s dash cam.

It showed that when the SUV ran off the right side of the road, the passenger’s side of the vehicle struck a tree. The vehicle began spinning before it struck another tree on the passenger’s side.

The vehicle then spun around and overturned as it struck another tree while sliding further down the ditch, according to the report.

The SUV then hit a fourth tree with its front bumper before coming to a stop while it was still overturned.

Mullican had several abrasions on her arms and legs. She was treated by Mountain Brook Fire on the scene and released.

Callie Mullican, then 8, also suffered abrasions on her arms and legs. Police believe she was seated in the passenger’s side backseat, with her seat belt locked in place, records state.

She was taken to Children’s of Alabama.

Annabelle was seated in the driver’s side back seat. Her seat belt was not locked in place “indicating that she was not wearing her seat belt,” according to the report.

“Annabelle had a major head injury and was unresponsive at the scene,’’ the officer wrote.

She was taken to Children’s of Alabama where she was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office told police Annabelle’s fatal injuries included a skull fracture.

The report says Mullican was taken by police to Children’s of Alabama.

A search warrant for Mullican’s blood and saliva was later carried out at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center.

Mullican was admitted to Brookwood for a psychiatric evaluation and issued a traffic citation by police for reckless driving.

Mullican’s attorneys released this statement following today’s pleas:

“Today, Kathleen Mullican, was finally able to formally accept responsibility for her actions that tragically led to the death of her daughter, Annabelle, and enter a guilty plea and accept imposition of the sentence imposed. She has wanted to do so since day 1, but our criminal justice system just does not allow that to occur.

This heartbreaking incident, has profoundly impacted the lives of all involved and our community.

While she acknowledges her actions were reckless and unacceptable, it must be clear that she never intended to harm her children.

The loss of Annabelle is an unimaginable burden that Kathleen must carry for the rest of her life. She is devastated by the outcome of that tragic day and is committed to taking full accountability for her actions. She will continue to confront the consequences of her actions and work towards healing. While she was under the influence of prescribed medication and some other medications it was the ” not stopping for the police” ( eluding the traffic stop) that formed the underlying basis for the manslaughter charge.

Since the accident she has devoted hundreds of hours of community service to help others and has remained substance free of all controlled substances not medically prescribed. This has been evidenced by court monitoring in related proceedings in parallel court proceedings in other courts. Her failure to stop for the officer and acceleration caused her to swerve and lose control of the vehicle on a very precarious stretch of Cherokee Road. She was not impaired by alcohol at the time of the accident nor by the ingestion of any substance.

In this difficult period, Kathleen has had limited supervised contact with her surviving daughter. She is heartbroken by this separation but hopes for the opportunity to continue the growth of building their strong relationship to become even stronger for the future.

Moreover, this tragedy underscores the need for responsible behavior on the road. The safety of ourselves and our loved ones depends on our ability to make sound decisions, especially when it comes to driving. Never underestimate the potential impact of your choices—

Let this be a wake-up call for everyone to practice mindfulness in their daily lives, to cherish loved ones, and to take proactive steps toward mental and emotional wellness.

Seek help when facing challenges, because each moment matters, and each choice can lead you down an entirely different path—one that could forever alter the lives of those you hold dear.

Let us honor the memory of Annabelle and commit to making choices that uplift and protect ourselves and others.”

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Roy S. Johnson: Birmingham was ‘Black country’ for a night. It won’t be the last.

This is an opinion column.

His cowboy boots were broken in, “but I wasn’t.” Dez Wilson was laughing as he spoke — and still recovering.

Still healing from just a few days earlier when he had helped curate a remarkably unique evening in Birmingham. When he capped a whirlwind 30 days with a collaboration with home-grown songwriter/artist Sabastian (Pynk Beard) Cole to produce a hella night of country music. In these parts, of course, a night of country music isn’t particularly remarkable nor unique. Not even a hella night of country music.

Yet this is: A hella night of Black country music.

A night when Birmingham-bred and nurtured Black country artists rocked a mostly-Black sold-out crowd dressed straight out of Yellowstone, including kids Cowboy-ed and Cowgirled-up in their boots and hats. Rocked a crowd that swayed, stomped and knew the dang words.

Wilson — himself a musician who once received the Stevie Wonder music scholarship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham — shot and dropped music videos that rippled through social media, created graphics, and helped design the Western-themed stage and lighting that transformed the Pearl Room at Regions Field last Friday night into a honky-tonk noir (phrasing totally intended).

Wilson’s body still ached but his spirit remained full.

“It was an amazing vibe,” he said, “especially seeing kids enjoying and resonating with the music, and having the lyrics memorized. This is a new wave of creative expression for Black folks, from kids to elders, where we see ourselves represented in a space we were taught was not for us.”

Call it: Lesson unlearned — and not just because of what’s percolating in unexpected creative spaces in Birmingham and around the region. The last 12 months have been a year — the year — for Black country artists.

Two days after the sold-out concert at Regions, the global musical force that is Beyonce put a shiny sepia bow on the first weekend of Black History Month, becoming the first Black artist to win the Grammy for Best Country Album. The ground-shaking “Cowboy Carter” also won Album of the Year.) The normally poised artist’s stunned reaction to the historic win was so good it would have been a meme had it not been real.

It came just months after Beyonce received nary a single 2024 Country Music Association Awards nomination for the album, which earned the highest debut of any album last year (407,000 units) and spawned a renaissance of Black country artists, highlighted nationally by the likes of Shaboozey and locally in the talents of artists like Birmingham-Southern grad Jada Cato (who also performed last Friday) and Gardendale singer-songwriter Tiera Kennedy.

Kennedy is featured on two “Cowboy Carter” tracks and was among an array of Black artists who performed with Beyonce on Christmas at halftime of the NFL game in Houston, her hometown. Streamed on Netflix, the halftime show drew 27 million views, more than four times the 2024 CMA viewership (6 million).

“You’re not the gatekeepers of a musical genre,” Willson said. “Your validation doesn’t make or break anybody.”

Certainly not anybody Black. We validate our own. And know all the words.

Thus, the hella Black country evening in Birmingham last week may not be unique for long. Frankly, it never should have been. Black country artists never should have been the forgotten thread, the whitewashed core of the genre’s deep mosaic history. Never should have been mostly overlooked and rarely invited into its stage.

And there’s this, too: Country music never should have been largely shunned by African Americans, though it’s easy to understand why. Easy to turn away while being turned away. Turned away from something we birthed.

“You think you don’t like country music, but you do — you just don’t like the country artists you’ve been presented,” Wilson said. “You don’t resonate with those country artists. Now, [Black] people are re-embracing themselves as being country, being able to own that and wear it with pride. I’ve traveled a lot of places, and being from the South, you get called ‘country’ and you consider it a slur, a stereotype.

“Us being able to own that and remind ourselves: Oh, we are country — Sabastian’s from Dolomite and in Greene County, Alabama. We are country. Whether I have on a pair of J’s or a pair of boots, I’m still country and that’s okay.”

The emergence now of Black country artists, strumming boldly into the genre, is a natural evolution of creative expression, Wilson told me. “We’ve had representation in country music over time,” he said, “but for whatever reason Black Country artists have not been given a mainstream spotlight, and no one grabbed it the way Beyonce did. She combined her traditional esthetic, formula and execution in a new space for her. So, it wasn’t a stretch to see Beyonce do this.”

“As a multi-hyphenate artist who plays piano, saxophone and drums, I’ve naturally bounced around from instruments to styles and mediums of music,” he added. “I get bored and I shift. As a creative scene, watching Beyonce do it resonated with me for that same reason: Okay, you got bored and wanted to shift creatively. If they don’t shift, a lot of artists give up because they’re not resonating with their traditional style of music anymore.”

The seminal moment last Friday evening, the moment when it crystallized that Birmingham was more country than you might think, came when Pynk Beard’s mic blew during “Mine Lord Willing.” The artist was flustered for a few until he realized the audience hadn’t stopped signing the lyrics.

Call her Monday she at work

Call her Sunday she may be at church.

Her baby daddy got the baby for the weekend

So on Friday she gonna twerk

She a demon in a dress and she pretty in a Fendi and she hell yeah independent

She’s mine Lord willing and the river don’t rise.

Wilson was on stage with his camera. “Capturing that moment, that was it,” he recalled. “It was just a powerful moment to know that we went from concept to execution in literally 30 days, and this was the result. To see and feel the amount of support and love in the room, in that moment, to see people knowing the words of songs that aren’t even available on streaming platforms, it was beautiful to know we were able to do this in our city. It meant a lot. And that was that moment, I felt something that the city really needed.”

Especially now as the city grapples to stem the scourge of gun violence and heal its wounds.

On a stage in Los Angeles two nights later, Beyonce said: “Sometimes, genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists.”

Now, that place is hella country. Break in your boots.

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.

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Chase to open 24 new branches in Alabama, hiring 170

JPMorganChase will triple the number of its bank branches in Alabama by 2030, opening 24 across the state, from Muscle Shoals to Mobile.

The banking giant also plans to hire an additional 170 bankers over the next five years.

The expansion will bring the total number of Chase branches in Alabama to 35. The company says that more than half of the state’s population will be within an accessible drive time to a Chase branch after the expansion.

With regulatory approval, branches are planned this year for Mountain Brook, Birmingham in midsummer and Winchester Road in Huntsville by late August.

Chase opened its first Alabama branch five years ago near Auburn University. There are currently seven Chase branches in the Birmingham metro area and 11 statewide, including Auburn, Tuscaloosa and Huntsville. The bank currently serves more than half-a-million Alabamians.

The 8498 Madison Blvd. location near Huntsville will open Saturday, with an open house, food trucks, branch tours and an appearance by Sprocket the Trash Panda mascot.

“Huntsville welcomes the firm’s expansion to serve more industries, communities and residents,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said in a statement. “This news will also help to create more job opportunities for the hardworking people of Huntsville, strengthening our local economy.”

Jennifer Roberts, CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, said this moment is “the right time and the right place for an expansion of Chase branches and jobs in communities all across this state.”

“Alabama is a vibrant state with a strong manufacturing economy, good small business growth, and burgeoning aerospace and technology sectors. Our mission is to support economic growth and foster opportunity for all,” Roberts said.

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Do you know these Alabama ‘Jeopardy!’ questions? Take the quiz!

The popular game show “Jeopardy!” has been on TV for more than 60 years — first airing in 1964 — and throughout its 41 seasons, there have been hundreds of questions related to Alabama.

Of course, we all would like to think we’d know the answer to a question on the show about our own state, but here’s your chance to prove it by answering these Alabama-themed questions, previously featured on “Jeopardy!” and pulled from the J! Archive, in our quiz!

The good news? Our quiz is multiple choice, so they’ll be a little easier for you than they were for the “Jeopardy!” contestants. Oh, and in case you haven’t watched “Jeopardy!” in a while, remember that the answers are phrased like a question that would solve the given clue.

You can take the quiz here!

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Alabama illegal immigration crackdown bill would make it a crime to harbor people in country illegally

Several bills lawmakers said would crack down on illegal immigration in Alabama are up for discussion today in a state Senate committee.

Republican leaders in the Legislature say illegal immigration is a priority for the session that started Tuesday, and today marks the first discussion for the proposals.

They say they want state policies that complement the Trump administration’s initiatives. The president has promised mass deportations.

Alabama lawmakers have not tried major immigration legislation since 2011, when they passed a sweeping bill called HB56 aimed at driving out people in the state illegally. Federal courts blocked much of that law.

Gov. Kay Ivey, in her State of the State address Tuesday night, said she supported Trump’s initiatives on illegal immigration and federal legislation sponsored by Sen. Katie Britt. Ivey did not mention any state legislation.

Public hearings are scheduled on several of this year’s bills today in the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee.

SB53 is sponsored by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, and has four Republican co-sponsors, as well as one Democratic co-sponsor, Sen. Rodger Smitherman of Birmingham.

The bill would make it a crime to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection a person known to be an illegal alien, or to attempt to do so.

The crime would be a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.

If the violation involves five or more illegal aliens, the crime would be a Class C felony, punishable by one to 10 years in prison.

SB53 would also establish a state law against human smuggling.

It says a person commits the crime of human smuggling if he or she knowingly transports into this state another individual if he or she knows or reasonably should have known that the other individual is an illegal alien.

Human smuggling would be a Class C felony.

Opponents of the legislation plan to hold a rally in Montgomery today.

“Our presence will show them that we as constituents are aware of what they want to do and that we will not accept them passing laws that affect our community,” the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice posted on social media.

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