Alabama students are only just beginning to return to class after the winter holiday and now school systems are having to decide whether to cancel due to the threat of winter storms.
Lil Wayne, one of the most famous names in the hip-hop world, has announced some arena dates for 2025, including one in Alabama.
The iconic rapper is set to perform on March 7 at the Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, on a lineup with Quavo and Anella. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show go on sale Friday, Jan. 10, via Ticketmaster, after a round of pre-sales. Prices haven’t been announced.
Pre-sales start on at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 8, and end on Thursday, Jan. 9, at 10 p.m. CST, according to the Ticketmaster listing. The BJCC has revealed a password for a venue pre-sale that starts on Thursday at 10 a.m. CST: It’s WEEZY, Lil Wayne’s nickname.
The downtown arena, 1898 Ninth Ave. North, can hold up to 18,000 people for concerts, depending on the stage configuration.
Lil Wayne made his last appearance in Birmingham in 2023 on his “Welcome to Tha Carter Tour,” playing at Iron City, which has a capacity of about 1,300 people. It was an intimate show for the star, who previously performed at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, which seats about 10,500.
(Watch a video below from Lil Wayne’s 2013 appearance at Oak Mountain, via YouTube.)
Lil Wayne, 42, born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., is known for his top-selling albums, hit singles, collaborations with other artists and flamboyant stage presence. He’s one of the most recognizable figures in the music world, forging a reputation as a rapper, songwriter, producer and the founder of Young Money Entertainment. He has several awards to his credit, including five Grammys. His platinum-selling record series, “Tha Carter,” has spawned hits such as “Lollipop,” “A Milli,” “She Will,” “6 Foot 7 Foot,” “Got Money,” “Don’t Cry” and more.
Five volumes of “Tha Carter” (2004-2018) have been major spurs to his fame, and Lil Wayne has said “Tha Carter VI” is in the works, along with a new installment in his “I Am Not a Human Being” record series. His latest single, “Bless,” with producer Wheezy and Young Thug, was released in 2024. Lil Wayne was the featured artist on several singles last year, including Tyler the Creator’s “Sticky.”
Lil Wayne has collaborated with many artists over the years, including Drake, Machine Gun Kelly, T-Pain, 2 Chainz, Usher, Doja Cat, Chris Brown and more. His business ventures include a cannabis brand, GKUA Ultra Premium, and a sports agency, Young Money APAA Sports.
Lil Wayne was ranked as one of the 50 greatest rappers of all time by Billboard magazine, taking the No. 7 spot in 2023. “Wielding words like swords, Wayne is one of the most masterful lyricists of our time, delivering mind-boggling verses for the last quarter century,” Billboard said.
Lil Wayne has made TV and movie appearances, and competed on “The Masked Singer” in 2020 as the Robot. He was eliminated on the first episode of Season 3, after singing “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz in costume. In 2023, he made a cameo in the “House Party” reboot, playing himself.
Below are games across the state that have been altered because of the weather. If your game has been changed, please email [email protected] or [email protected].
—Hewitt-Trussville at Vestavia Hills, moved to Thursday (girls at 3:30 p.m., boys at 5 p.m.)
—Gardendale at Clay-Chalkville, moved to Thursday
—Buckhorn at Mae Jemison, moved to Thursday; Saturday’s game against Sparkman moved to Jan. 22
—Oak Mountain at Hoover, moved to Thursday (5:30 p.m.)
—Hayden at Springville, moved to Thursday (6 p.m.)
—Huntsville at Grissom, moved to Thursday
—Wilson at Central-Florence moved to Thursday (6 p.m.)
—Decatur Heritage at Lexington, moved to Thursday (5:30 p.m.)
—Hartselle at Muscle Shoals, moved to Thursday (girls at 6 p.m., boys at 7:30 p.m.)
—Arab at Scottsboro, moved to Thursday (girls at 6 p.m., boys at 7:30 p.m.)
—Smiths Station at Central-Phenix City, moved to Thursday
—Clements at Lauderdale County, moved to Thursday
—Paul W. Bryant at Northridge, moved to Thursday (6 p.m.)
—Bob Jones at James Clemens, moved to Jan. 21
—Jasper at Cullman, moved to Jan. 21
—Pisgah at Ashville, cancelled
—Chilton County Basketball Tournament at Chilton County High School:
Jemison vs. Maplesville girls, Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Jemison vs. Maplesville boys, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Thorsby vs. Chilton County girls, Thursday at 6 p.m.
Thorsby vs. Chilton County boys, Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The NFLPA released its all-star selections for the 2024 NFL season on Wednesday, and the former Alabama All-American filled one of the cornerback slots as he did on the 2022 and 2023 selections.
New to the 2024 selections is another Alabama alumnus – the Green Bay Packers’ Xavier McKinney, who is the free safety on the NFLPA All-Pro team.
The NFLPA’s all-star team is selected by the league’s players.
The NFLPA did not allow players to vote for themselves or their teammates and excluded from consideration players who had missed five or more games through Week 15 of the season.
Players voted only for their position group and those groups that they line up against on the field. For instance, centers voted to select the best players at center, nose tackle, interior defensive line and off-ball linebacker.
The Players’ All-Pro Team selections for 2024 included:
Interior defensive linemen: Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs; Jalen Carter, Philadelphia Eagles
Off-ball linebackers: Roquan Smith, Baltimore Ravens; Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers
Cornerbacks: Patrick Surtain II, Broncos; Derek Stingley Jr., Houston Texans
Free safety: Xavier McKinney, Green Bay Packers
Strong safety: Kyle Hamilton, Baltimore Ravens
Kick returner: KaVontae Turpin, Dallas Cowboys
Punt returner: Marvin Mims Jr., Denver Broncos
Core teamers: Brenden Schooler, New England Patriots; Miles Killebrew, Pittsburgh Steelers
Kicker: Chris Boswell, Pittsburgh Steelers
Punter: Logan Cooke, Jacksonville Jaguars
Long snapper: Ross Matiscik, Jacksonville Jaguars
Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II breaks up a pass to Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Jakobi Meyers during an NFL game on Nov. 24, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.(Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
A 79-year-old Dothan man was killed in a hit-and-run when he tried to pick up papers he had dropped in the road.
Police identified the victim as Marcus Damon Gaddis.
Police say the fatal crash happened just after 6 p.m. Tuesday in the 800 block of Honeysuckle Road.
Lt. Scott Owens said the investigation showed that Gaddis stopped in the 800 block of Honeysuckle for unknown reasons.
After Gaddis stopped, he got out of his vehicle and dropped papers he was carrying. Some of the papers scattered in the roadway, and Gaddis was trying to collect them.
Gaddis was struck by the vehicle as he bent down to pick up papers in the roadway. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
The vehicle that struck Gaddis was not on the scene when police arrived.
Owens said police are actively searching for the vehicle and driver. Witnesses described the vehicle as a dark-colored Chevrolet SUV, possible a Tahoe.
Auto body repair shops should be alert to vehicles matching this description that may come in for repairs and call the Dothan Police Department, Owens said.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 334-615-3632 or Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP.
On Tuesday, Trump announced his intention to change the body of water’s name saying it had a, “beautiful ring to it.” Trump claimed the potential alteration was because America did most of the work in the gulf and it was “ours.”
“We do most of the work there it’s ours…we’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” Trump stated.
The announcement quickly received approval from congressional Republican members.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-GA, posted online that she would be introducing legislation “ASAP“ to officially enshrine the name change.
According to the Associated Press, while Trump could potentially change the Gulf of Mexico’s name the decision would not be unilateral. And if the name was revised other countries would not have to go along with it.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, professed his approval of the announcement on X.
U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-AL, also posted on X saying, “Proud to represent Alabama’s First District on the beautiful GULF OF AMERICA.”
U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-GA, told Fox News that the name for the Gulf of Mexico did not matter to him as much as the enforcement of laws in the area.
While the move was praised by some Republicans the Daily Show decided to have some fun at the prospect of the gulf being renamed.
Host Desi Lydic joked that the Gulf of Mexico being renamed was one of the common sense policies Americans were waiting for but the change could have a nice ring to it.
“I guess Gulf of America does have a ring to it,” Lydic said. “As in, there was another horrific oil spill in the Gulf of America.”
A suspect has been charged in the weekend shooting death of a 43-year-old man in Selma, the city’s first homicide of 2025.
Jadarius Moore, 31, is charged with murder in the killing of David Lewis.
The deadly shooting happened Saturday evening in the area of Minter Avenue and Keller Avenue.
Witnesses told police that Moore retrieved a gun from a vehicle while Lewis was in a shed.
When Lewis exited the shed, according to court documents, Moore fired a shot, and everybody started running. He then fired a second shot, and that is when Lewis collapsed.
Lewis was taken to Vaughan Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 6:46 p.m.
Witnesses told investigators that the shooting stemmed from an ongoing “beef” between two communities.
“This unfortunate incident is Selma’s first murder (of 2025) and I hope our last,’’ said Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. “I offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends during this time of loss.”
Anyone with additional information is asked to Selma detectives at 334-876-1273.
Alexander spent three seasons with the Crimson Tide, primarily as a reserve. He was a five-star linebacker in the 2022 recruiting class, ranked as the No. 18 overall prospect and No. 1 edge rusher, per the 247Sports Composite.
Alexander is an Alabaster native.
He tallied eight tackles over his three seasons with the Crimson Tide before entering the transfer portal. Alexander was moved to inside linebacker during his time at Alabama, a position that became crowded heading into 2025 with Justin Jefferson and Deontae Lawson returning as well as Alabama bringing in Nikhai Hill-Green from Colorado.
The Crimson Tide has returned most of its defensive starters for 2025, including three on the defensive line, two at linebacker and several at defensive back. That has prompted some reserve players to look elsewhere via thr
Former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29, 2024, at age 100, has been a landmark figure in Southern Baptist politics since his 1976 presidential campaign.
The nation will continue to honor him this week, as his body will lie in state in the rotunda at the U.S. Capitol, and with a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral.
As Carter finished his only term as president in 1980, his fellow Southern Baptists were shifting politically to the right, even though many voted for him in 1976 and were excited by having a “born-again” Christian in the White House.
Starting in 1979, a series of votes at the annual Southern Baptist Convention led the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to the right politically, as biblical “inerrantists” took control of denominational agencies including the six seminaries. A series of conservative SBC presidents were elected on a platform of getting rid of “liberal drift” in the denomination.
Carter, who had been a life-long loyal Southern Baptist, was viewed as part of that leftward political drift.
Carter eventually declared that he was no longer a Southern Baptist and threw his support behind a competing movement of moderates leaving the denomination, called the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
In 1993, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship held a major meeting at the BJCC in Birmingham. Carter was the keynote speaker.
Carter called for ordaining more women, keeping church and state separate and encouraging individual religious freedom.
“When we enforce conformity on others, it saps away their freedom,” Carter said to an audience of more than 6,000 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
Largely because he professed his faith publicly as a born-again Christian, Carter won admiring support from evangelicals that helped him oust President Gerald Ford in 1976.
But during his presidency, Carter angered conservative Southern Baptists. By the 1980 election, conservative Southern Baptists were avidly supporting Ronald Reagan and helped him defeat Carter.
In 1979 conservative Southern Baptists elected the Rev. Adrian Rogers, the first in a series of denominational presidents who vowed to curb alleged liberalism in seminaries and mission boards.
Rogers then visited Carter at the Oval Office. “I was proud to meet with the president of my convention,” Carter recalled. “He said, “Mr. President, I hope you’ve given up your secular humanism and become a Christian again.’ I thought I was still a Christian.”
Carter said that nearly every issue – women’s rights, abortion, SALT II negotiations (the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II was a 1979 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to limit nuclear weapons) and the organization of the Department of Education – was viewed as a religious litmus test by Southern Baptist Convention leaders in his term.
He said leaders of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination were treating Bill Clinton, also a Southern Baptist, the same way. “When I see what’s happening to Clinton, I see the same thing that happened to me,” he said.
Carter warned the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship not to be overconfident about breaking away from, at the time, the 15-million-member Southern Baptist Convention.
“It would be a mistake for us to come here in a self-congratulatory mood,” he said. “We can’t come here filled with self-satisfaction because we have broken away. We’ve got to keep searching our souls and saying, “What can we do?’ ”
He urged cooperation, reaching out to other denominations and avoiding competitiveness and duplication of programs.
Carter, a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., spoke of his lifelong commitment to the Baptist principles of local church autonomy and church and state separation. He said those were being dissipated by the Southern Baptist denominational trend toward demanding conformity and melding church and state interests.
“My religious heritage means a lot to me,” Carter said. “The last few years Rosalynn and I have been in a quandary about what to do. In the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, my wife and I have found a home.” Mrs. Carter sat on the platform next to her husband.
Carter said he was almost “totally ignorant” of Southern Baptist infighting until he became alarmed a few years earlier by what he said was an increasing tone of militarism in the Sunday school literature he taught from.
Noting that many Baptist churches still oppose women clergy, Carter said CBF should do more to encourage women ministers. “There’s a tremendous reservoir of untapped talent and inspiration,” he said.
Top leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention opposed ordaining women on the grounds the Apostle Paul preached against women leading churches.
Before Carter came to the podium in Birmingham, the Rev. Dan Vestal, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, appealed for funds to pay the $200,000 cost of the convention. “Frankly, we need $25 from each registrant,” he said.
Before Vestal led a prayer, Carter pulled out his wallet and thumbed out a bill, which he handed to the platform usher as a pianist played offertory music.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship formed in 1991 as a way for churches to fund Southern Baptist agencies and send missionaries without contributing money through the conservative-controlled denomination budget.
By 2008, Carter had a new concept. He organized the New Baptist Covenant in Atlanta, a meeting of politically like-minded moderate Baptists including Black Baptist denominations that tried to counteract the conservative influence of the SBC. Carter delivered the keynote there too. Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore also spoke.
In 2009, Carter returned to Birmingham to speak at a meeting of the New Baptist Covenant at 16th Street Baptist Church.
“There is no way for us to ignore Jesus’ emphasis on the poor, the brokenhearted,’’ Carter told the Southeast regional meeting of the New Baptist Covenant, which he helped found in 2008 with an interracial, inter-denominational gathering that drew 15,000 in Atlanta.
‘’I have found this evolution of the New Baptist Covenant to be the highlight of my religious life,’’ Carter said.
He spoke at a worship service that was followed by workshops on poverty and racism.
‘’It’s not an accident that God led us to Birmingham and this institute,’’ Carter said during a breakfast at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
He recalled a time when racial prejudice was rampant in Baptist churches, and theologians defended separate worship.
‘’The Baptist church was a stalwart defender of segregation,’’ he said. ‘’It was ingrained in our conscience.’’
Carter said he hoped the meeting would help churches work better together. ‘’I would like to see a complete breakdown in separation of people,” he said.
He encouraged Baptists of different races to share worship. ‘’I hope in the future the barriers will be broken down,” Carter said.
In an interview with The Birmingham News in 2009, Carter talked about his hope for ultimate unity.
‘’There’s a strong inclination among Baptists to come back together,’’ Carter said. ‘’Many people who are Southern Baptists want to reach out to others.’’
At Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., where Carter taught Sunday school, 10 percent of the budget went to mission work – 5 percent to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and 5 percent to the Southern Baptist Convention’s mission work, Carter said. ‘’Our church is still a member of the Southern Baptist Convention,’’ Carter said at the time.
Carter declared his disagreement with and disappointment with the Southern Baptist Convention as it grew more conservative, and was especially aggrieved when the Southern Baptist Convention added language to its statement of beliefs that specifically interpreted the Bible as opposing women as senior pastors.
‘’I’ve always felt women should play an equal role in the church,’’ Carter said. ‘’It was incompatible with what my wife and I believe. Rosalynn and I have expressed our displeasure.’’
Carter believed the Southern Baptist Convention had also come to place too much emphasis on the power of the pastor.
‘’I’ve always thought that pastors should be servants of the church,’’ Carter said.
But Carter said he welcomed Southern Baptists at the New Baptist Covenant gatherings, though few came. ‘’My inclination is to reach out with friendship and love,’’ he said. ‘’I’m a Southerner, a Baptist and an evangelical. I don’t feel I’m affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.’’
But he kept that personal separation ‘’without any animosity,’’ he said.
Carter’s beloved Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is still alive and well, although much smaller than than the SBC and more often overlooked.
Former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn visited a Habitat For Humanity community in Fairfield, Ala., Friday October 8, 2010 to help put the finishing touches on the home of Ted and Wanda Harville. The Carters worked on that house, visited others, and spoke to reporters. (File/AL.com/Joe Songer-The Birmingham News) bnbn