Alabama News

It’s been a busy offseason for Jacksonville State’s men’s basketball staff.

After the transfer portal saw many key players depart for new programs, head coach Ray Harper and company have made plenty of moves during a key offseason.

Departures from the transfer portal include Conference USA Player of the Year Jaron Pierre Jr., starting center and all-defensive team selection Mason Nicholson and all-freshman team pick Quel’Ron House.

Jax State finished last season 23-13 and 12-6 in Conference USA play, advancing to the CUSA title game. The Gamecocks also earned an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament, picking up an 81-64 victory over Georgia Tech in the first round.

As for additions for 2025-26, the most recent was made this week.

A source confirmed to AL.com on Tuesday the program added 6-foot-10 forward Thomas Tut, a transfer from Southeastern Louisiana who played in 17 games with one start last season for the Lions.

Before his lone season with Southeastern Louisiana, he was a standout player at Garden City Community College with 14.5 points and 9.8 rebounds during his final season under former head coach Rusty Elmore, who is now on staff at Jax State.

The signing of Tut brought the number of signees from junior colleges and the transfer portal to eight for Jax State, with only one JUCO signee in 6-foot-9 forward Emondrek Erkins-Ford, who averaged 15.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks last season at Eastern Florida State College.

Five transfer guards have signed, including Coppin State transfer Toby Nnadozie, who was named MEAC Defensive Player of The Year after ranking seventh among all Division I players in steals per game (2.5) while averaging 12.6 points and 3.2 rebounds a game.

Other key additions include Mostapha El Moutaouakkil — who was Louisiana’s leading scorer (14.5 points per game) and rebounder (5.2 rebounds per game) last season — and All-SWAC selection AC Bryant, who averaged a team-high 14 points a game at Alabama A&M along with 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in 2024-25.

Jaye Nash, a former four-star prospect, also signed with Jax State after one season at Tulsa. The Powder Springs, Georgia, native played in 21 games last season with the Golden Hurricane.

The guards will be joined by returners Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. and Jamar Franklin, whose seasons were cut short due to injury.

Franklin started the first 14 games of the season and averaged 10.4 points a game for Jax State last year while Fitzgerald, a former Tennessee State standout with 1,178 career points, missed the entire season.

Forwards Iaroslav Niagu (36 games played in 2024-25) and Oneonta native Aidan Driggers (five games played in 2024-25) also return for Jax State.

Here’s a recap of Jax State’s additions and departures since the transfer portal opened:

RETURNERS

Guard Marcus Fitzgerald Jr., 6-foot-2, Gr.

Guard Jamar Franklin, 6-foot-3, Sr.

Forward Iaroslav Niagu, 7-foot-0, Jr.

Forward Aidan Driggers, 6-foot-6, Sr.

ADDITIONS

Transfer portal

Guard AC Bryant, 6-foot-3, Sr. (Alabama A&M)

Guard Jaye Nash, 6-foot-3, So. (Tulsa)

Guard Mostapha El Moutaouakkil, 6-foot-6, Sr. (Louisiana-Lafayette)

Guard Toby Nnadozie, 6-foot-3, Sr. (Coppin State)

Guard/forward Bencao Vungo, 6-foot-6, Jr. (East Carolina)

Forward Thomas Tut, 6-foot-10, Sr. (Southeastern Louisiana)

Forward Aitor Anabitarte, 6-foot-8, Gr. (Saint Francis)

Junior college

Forward Emondrek Erkins-Ford, 6-foot-9, Jr. (Eastern Florida State College)

Freshmen

Guard Jacoby Hill, 6-foot-3 (Central-Phenix City High, Ala.)

Guard Jordan Vick, 6-foot-0 (Word of God Christian Academy National, N.C.)

DEPARTURES

Transfer portal

Guard Jaron Pierre Jr., 6-foot-6 (SMU)

Guard Quel’Ron House, 5-foot-11 (Southern Illinois)

Guard Koree Cotton, 6-foot-6 (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley)

Guard Jao Ituka, 6-foot-1 (Northern Illinois)

Forward Michael Houge, 6-foot-7 (Oakland)

Forward Gora Niang, 6-foot-7

Center Mason Nicholson, 6-foot-10 (Vanderbilt)

Graduation

Forward Marcellus Brigham Jr., 6-foot-7

Alabama athletics published its annual self-reported NCAA violations summary Thursday, which included six missteps. None included football or men’s basketball.

Five sports — men’s tennis, baseball, gymnastics, soccer and rowing — got dinged for level three violations (breaches of conduct), which is the lowest level of NCAA violation.

Baseball committed two violations.

1. A recruit charged high-speed internet to his room during an official visit.
2. Alabama published a press release mentioning an unsigned recruit. The press release was in relation to players drafted into the MLB.

Other violations include:

• Tennis: A coach bought a koozie for a recruit during an official visit.
• Gymnastics: A recruit, while attending a camp, shared with staff members she was committing to UA
• Soccer: Players got only one required day off during an “out-of-season segment.”
• Rowing: A portion of the rowers only got 13 days off during 2024-25.

As part of the summary, Alabama noted corrective actions taken. Rules education was always the first step, and sometimes the only step. In the case of the men’s tennis koozie situation, the coach will be issued a letter of admonishment and UA declared the potential student athlete ineligible until the value of the koozie was repaid to a charity.

The same was the case for the baseball player who expensed internet to his hotel room during an official visit.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.

The murders of two Birmingham brothers in the same neighborhood a year apart remain unsolved, and police are asking for the public’s help in bringing the killers to justice.

Erskin Irvin Jr., 37, was shot to death May 11, 2023, when gunmen opened fire on him in the 1400 block of 33rd Street North. When the ambush shooting stopped, the father of two sons had been hit more than 20 times.

One year and 18 days later, on May 29, 2024, 37-year-old Valdez Stephenson, was found dead in the 3200 block of 13th Avenue North. He, too, had been shot multiple times.

“My heart is tore up,’’ Janice Irvin, the victims’ mother, previously told AL.com. “It was devastating with one and I know I birthed that one, but to lose two?”

“I didn’t birth Valdez, but he was just like a birth child,’’ she said. “I didn’t love one no more than the other. My heart is aching. It feels like somebody is stepping on it.”

In Stephenson’s 2024 death, North Precinct officers responded about 10:10 p.m. that Wednesday to calls of shots fired.

Once in the neighborhood, police found multiple shell casings in the area. They continued to investigate, and a short time later found Stephenson unresponsive in the yard of a home.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced him dead on the scene at 10:27 p.m.

Irvin described Stephenson as quiet, low key.

“He wasn’t a real people person, crowd person,’’ she said. “He liked to be by himself a lot. He loved his (13-year-old) son a lot.”

Irvin was a truck driver and had gotten off work and been home only about an hour. He was at the home he shared with his mother on 33rd Street North.

Home security camera footage showed what happened next.

“You can watch him leaving out of the house,’’ sister Tiffany Irvin previously told AL.com. “He was telling my aunt bye and as he walked down the steps and got in his car, they ran from darkness across the street and shot up his car.”

She said the video showed three masked gunmen carrying out the ambush, standing at his car and unleashing more than 35 rounds.

Family members heard the shots and ran outside.

“You wouldn’t shoot and kill an animal the way they did my brother and did it right in front of our mother’s home,’’ Tiffany Irvin said in an earlier interview. “What could he have possibly done that was so bad?”

“My family hasn’t been the same since this tragedy happened,’’ she said.

The brothers were close, their grieving mother said.

“They were two different people,” she said. “Erskin was the party one, liked to have fun. Valdez was the laid back one.”

Irvin has said she has no idea who killed either of her sons, or why, or if the same gunmen are responsible for both.

“Whoever did it, y’all got parents, I know you got somebody, family that knows what y’all are out here doing,” Irvin said. “They’re just as wrong as you are.”

Irvin has said she needs an arrest.

“I think I’d be a little more at ease than I am now,’’ she said, “but I’ll never be the same.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

The Warblers Club, a Birmingham men’s choir that started at Woodlawn High School in 1929, will perform perhaps their last big stage show this month.

The Warblers will put on a show at Samford University’s Wright Fine Arts Center on July 12 at 6 p.m.

It may be their last big show ever.

“Good chance of it,” said Bob Parker, who has been the director for 17 years. “We used to have over 50 guys on the stage.”

At a rehearsal on Tuesday, there were 17 Warblers practicing harmonies and Vaudeville-style dance routines that will be lit in black light with glowing hats, gloves and shoes.

For the show, there should be a roster of 38 men singing on stage, most of them in their seventies and eighties.

Each year, old age whittles away at the Warblers.

“Just attrition,” Parker said.

The Warblers have tried to recruit new, younger members, and there are a few as young as 38, but the driving force behind the Warblers has always been their connection to the old music club at Woodlawn High School, founded just seven years after the high school opened.

Newer members simply have to be attracted to the nostalgia.

“Sadly, younger guys just don’t want to do this kind of music,” Parker said. “It’s sad, because it’s good music.”

The group has always specialized in the Stephen Foster genre of American music, with a blend of Negro spirituals, Vaudeville hits, patriotic classics, and songs that lend themselves to barbershop harmonies.

“We’re kind of keeping it alive,” Parker said.

Among the songs they will perform on July 12, the Warblers have been rehearsing “Down in the Valley,” “Coney Island Babe,” “In the Evening by the Moonlight,” “Walk Together Chillun’” and “What Will We Do With a Drunken Sailor?”

They will sing their most popular patriotic songs, “God Bless America” and “Proud to be an American,” which always draws a standing ovation.

They’ll sing an opening chorus featuring “Alabamy Bound,” a 1924 Tin Pan Alley song recorded by Al Jolson and Ray Charles, and “Are You From Dixie?” a 1915 Vaudeville song revived by country singer Jerry Reed in 1969.

Even at their advanced age, coordinated dance moves with glowing blacklight props are a key part of the show. Some of the men are slowing down, but Parker doesn’t relent.

He’s as hard on them as ever in rehearsals in the gym at Huffman United Methodist Church.

“I realize we’re getting older,” Parker said. “Some of you are slow with everything you do.”

He repeatedly ran them through routines to sharpen their movements.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “There’s only a week to go.”

Afterward, though, he was easier on the guys. “We’re still doing a good job,” he said.

The club started at Woodlawn High School in 1929 and did annual concerts at the school until the club dissolved in 1977, under directors John Light from 1930-47, Amos Hudson from 1948-50 and Joe Turner from 1951-77.

In 1988, the surviving Warblers reunited and did a three-night series of packed reunion concerts at the Alabama Theater from July 1-3, with Turner directing. The reunion was so popular that the Warblers continued to do several concerts a year thereafter. Turner died in 2001.

Parker has kept the Warblers warbling in recent years, with annual summer concerts at Samford University and Christmas concerts at area churches that often draw chartered buses full of fans from nursing homes.

Some of the Warblers are holding out hope for a 2029 centennial celebration show.

“Probably this will be the last show we do, unless we get an influx of some younger men,” Parker said. “If we can hang on and just do concerts until 2029, we can have a 100th anniversary concert.”

While this may possibly be the last big stage show, the Warblers have booked a smaller Christmas concert for Dec. 7 at Lakeside Baptist Church. Other than that, the future’s unknown.

Tickets for the July 12 performance at Samford are $30, available at the group’s website, Warblers.org

The 4th of July is almost here, and all of the country’s best sweepstakes casinos are promoting American-themed slot games and exciting bonuses. On this page, I highlight four SpinBlitz slots for July 4th that are worth checking out after you sign up with promo code BLITZ.

Each of the slot games featured here is fun and offers some great payout opportunities. After explaining what these slots have to offer, I’ll highlight the great welcome offer new SpinBlitz players can take advantage of with our SpinBlitz promo code BLITZ.

Four SpinBlitz slots for July 4th

Another major holiday has arrived and for millions of Americans around the country, this weekend will be a time to relax and play some exciting casino games from the comfort of home.

SpinBlitz is one of the best platforms to do so. This online sweepstakes casino launched in 2024 and has quickly attracted a huge number of players thanks to its amazing games and unique promotions.

There are some incredibly fun high RTP slots available at SpinBlitz leading into the 4th of July weekend. Learn about four of the best ones below:

Diamond Explosion Patriots

One of the most exciting US-themed slots being offered at SpinBlitz is Diamond Explosion Patriots, a five-reel slot launched by RubyPlay in 2024. This game offers a maximum payout of 8,124x your wager with an average RTP rate of 96.33%.

Diamond Explosion Patriots is loaded with incredible bonus features, as well. The Explosion Free Game is the most exciting, as it offers large multipliers to all players. A buy feature and multiple jackpot prizes are available, as well.

American Wonder Reels

Another one of the best SpinBlitz slots for July 4th is American Wonder Reels. This is a five-reel slot game launched by NetGaming in early 2024. It features 25 paylines, a maximum payout of 500x your wager and an average RTP rate of 93.97%.

This game is completely focused on the US, with symbols that include the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Mount Rushmore.

Players will enjoy all of the unique bonus features, too, including two unique free spins rounds that each allow users to earn massive payouts with even a small wager.

West Town

It’s easy to find a huge number of fun Old West-themed online slots being offered today. One that many members of SpinBlitz love is West Town, a five-reel slot launched by BGaming all the way back in 2016. It has a great RTP rate of 96.95% and provides players with a maximum payout of 570x their wager.

Many fans of real money slots have praised the unique bonuses connected to West Town. It offers wild symbols, multipliers, scatter symbols and more. The game also looks incredible and has a fun soundtrack that transports you back to the time of the Wild West.

Homeland Fortune 7s Hold and Win

Homeland Fortune 7s is one of the most popular online slots ever developed by Kalamba Games. It’s now a major hit with members of SpinBlitz. This slot features five reels, a maximum win of 27,000x your wager and an average RTP rate of 96%.

This is also one of the best SpinBlitz slots for July 4th. It resembles a classic Las Vegas-style slot game, yet includes several fun bonuses such as free spins and multiplier wild symbols.

How to claim the SpinBlitz promo code offer

SpinBlitz is widely considered to be one of the best online sweepstakes casinos operating today. It provides some truly amazing bonuses, including a welcome bonus that rivals the top offers from the country’s best online real money casinos.

With the SpinBlitz promo code BLITZ, all new players will receive 50 Gold Coins, 10 free Sweeps Coins and 30 free spins. Below, I highlight the steps necessary to claim this offer:

1. Click any of the SpinBlitz promo code links or banners featured on this page.
2. Click the Join Now button on the SpinBlitz landing page.
3. Create a new account with SpinBlitz by entering your name, date of birth and agreeing to the terms and conditions.
4. Enter the promo code BLITZ at registration.
5. Claim the welcome offer of 50 Gold Coins, 10 free Sweeps Coins and 30 free spins.

This is a generous bonus that can be claimed in only a few minutes. It comes with clear terms and conditions, as well. Keep in mind that you must be at least 21 years old to join and all Sweeps Coins earned from the welcome offer come with a 1x playthrough requirement.

The 4th of July is almost here and SpinBlitz is one of the best sweeps casinos to join leading into the holiday weekend. Check it out today and discover all of the exciting slots available.

Learn more about our gaming editorial staff.

If you or a loved one has questions or needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit 1800gambler.net for more information.

Tahaad Pettiford had Auburn basketball coaches on eggshells ahead of the deadline to withdraw from the 2025 NBA draft.

After dominating on the first day of the NBA combine, the chances were high for Pettiford to be selected in the second round of the draft.

However, with Pettiford withdrawing from the draft, he is the lone returner on a roster with 10 new players on it.

Men’s basketball associate head coach Steven Pearl spoke on Pettiford coming back to practice last week at Wednesday’s AMBUSH event.

“The fact that Tahaad ultimately decided to come back to Auburn, we were thrilled, because it changes the dynamic of our team and the trajectory of our team. We had him last week for practice, and it was great to have him back,” Pearl said.

“It changed everything for us. Practice was a lot different, having him on the floor. We’re obviously excited to have him back in an Auburn uniform next season.”

Pettiford averaged 11.6 points per game as a freshman and will enter the 2025 season as the starting guard.

Auburn added frontcourt players like KeShawn Murphy, Emeka Opurum, Sebastian Williams-Adams and Serbian big Filip Jovic.

The backcourt will feature incoming freshmen Kaden Magwood, Simon Walker and Pettiford. On the wings the Tigers added Keyshawn Hall, Kevin Overton, Elyjah Freeman and Abdul Bashir.

“With so many new guys, there’s a lot to learn and a lot to teach. We didn’t have Tahaad for those first three weeks to kind of help some of those guys come along,” Pearl added. “So, everything was brand new as far as what we do offensively, defensively. It was really just doing the basics the first couple of weeks. Just trying to get guys up to speed.”

“Tahaad being in practice last week really helped, because we had someone out there who knew what he was doing on both ends of the floor. That obviously helps speed things along.”

Pearl also elaborated on how defensively this group will be a lot more versatile than last year’s Final Four team.

“A lot of challenges on both ends of the floor. But I feel like this is a team that BP will enjoy working with, because he’ll be able to press a little bit more with his group,” Pearl said. “And that’s not something that we’ve been able to do, because the last couple of years, we’ve been a little bit bigger and slower. We haven’t been able to get up and press into people and create some offense from our defense.”

“It’s a group that, you know, will make a few more mistakes — but I think we’ll cause some more turnovers and get the pace going up and down, which I think will be beneficial.”

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at [email protected].

Arkansas couple Jodi and Andrew Jobe were expecting a warm welcome on their recent trip to Orange Beach, but got one hello they didn’t expect.

On Thursday, Jodi captured a video of what appears to be a shark just off the beach’s shore.

“HERE’S THE CULPRIT that sent Orange Beach goers scrambling for the shore this afternoon,” wrote Arkansas reporter Doug Warner in a post to Facebook.

“Follower Jodi Jobe of Hot Springs, AR was just down the beach from us. Her husband Andrew also grabbed his drone to capture the shot from the air. Thank you to the Jobes! Great shots…and no one was hurt.”

Several commentors seemed to think people were taking the sighting a little too seriously.

“People panicking cause there is a shark in the water…news flash, they have been there the whole time, you just didn’t know cause you couldn’t see them,” one woman wrote.

“News Flash! Sharks live in the Gulf! Always have, always will,” said another.

“Shark Test: Taste the water, if it tastes salty, there’s sharks.”

And one woman said she was jealous of the Jobes.

“And the whole time I was down there I was praying to see a shark and now I’m gone he comes!”

Hundreds of boxes of blueberries are being recalled due to possible listeria contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Georgia-based Alma Pak International LLC , has issued a voluntary recall on 400 boxes of its organic blueberries.

Listeria was found on one of the company’s products during routine testing.

The FDA has classified the recall as the highest risk, a Class I, meaning “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

The products were shipped to North Carolina. The blueberries have the lot number 13325 G1060 and 13325 G1096.

The City of Tuscaloosa plans to sue the state over the way it collects taxes from Internet sales.

It’s the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute involving Mayor Walt Maddox, as well as other mayors in Alabama, who say that the state’s formula is taking potential revenue from cities and unfairly distributing it to municipalities around the state.

On Tuesday, the City Council voted to authorize filing legal action against the Alabama Department of Revenue, Revenue Commissioner, and any other state party over the issue.

Maddox says the formula is costing Tuscaloosa as much as $12 million a year, and threatens to take more as online sales grow in popularity, especially among Tuscaloosa’s student population.

The suit is prompted by what officials say is a “loophole” in the state’s current online sales tax structure, known as the Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT).

The SSUT was hailed upon adoption as a way to glean tax revenue from the growing e-commerce sector. In Alabama, online sales accounted for 16% of all retail sales last year, up from 8% in 2016.

According to the Alabama Department of Revenue in 2024, the SSUT generated $851.2 million, up 34% in two years and more than 1,500% since the first year.

Under the 9-year-old SSUT, half of the revenue from the 8% goes to the state and the other half to cities and counties.

Under the tax, the state share is split with 75% to the General Fund and 25% to the Educational Trust Fund (ETF). The half that goes to the cities and counties – a focus of disputes over the years – is doled out based on population with 40% to counties and 60% to cities.

But Tuscaloosa is arguing that more tax money should be flowing locally.

For example, delivery services, like Doordash, are subject to the SSUT’s lower 8% sales tax rate. Yet they have a physical presence in cities, critics argue, that should require them to pay the same sales taxes as brick-and-mortar businesses.

According to The Tuscaloosa Thread, city officials estimate they will lose $14.6 million in sales tax revenue this fiscal year because of the SSUT structure.