Alabama News

The Indiana Fever play against the Connecticut Sun in a WNBA game tonight. The matchup is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. Fans can watch this game for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

The Fever enter this matchup with an 11-10 record, and they have won back-to-back games. In their most recent game, the Fever defeated Dallas 102-83.

During the victory, Caitlin Clark led the Indiana offense. She ended the game with a double-double, as she recorded 14 points and 13 assists. If Clark performs similarly tonight, then Indiana will be a difficult team to beat.

Clark currently leads the team with nine assists per game.

The Sun have struggled this season, as they enter this matchup with a 3-18 record. The team has lost back-to-back games, so Connecticut will try to bounce back this evening.

In order to win tonight’s game, the Sun will need a great performance from their star player Tina Charles. She leads the team in scoring, as she averages more than 15 points per game.

Fans can watch this WNBA game for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold is no stranger to big rivalries.

Before coming to the Plains, he spent two years at Oklahoma, participating in the famous Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas. At SEC Media Days, Arnold was asked to compare that game to Auburn’s rivalry with Alabama.

While Arnold hasn’t played in an Iron Bowl yet, he already has a feel for what the rivalry means at Auburn.

“OU-Texas, there’s a lot of hate,” Arnold said, “But I feel like the people here just cannot stand Alabama. It’s unbelievable.”

Arnold said the rivalries are similar and two of the best in college football, but the Iron Bowl animosity is just a little different.

“I feel like if you mention Alabama here, somebody would look at you funny,” Arnold said. “We even have a rule in our facility; you can’t wear red in our facility at all. If you do, you lose points and you have to do updowns.”

Auburn hasn’t won an Iron Bowl since 2019, but Arnold brings experience beating the Crimson Tide with him. He was Oklahoma’s starting quarterback in its 24-3 throttling of Alabama last season, leading the way with 131 rushing yards on 25 carries.

Arnold said his new teammates have voiced their frustration about Auburn’s lack of success against Alabama in recent years, giving the Tigers extra motivation for a home Iron Bowl in 2025.

“Even the old, fifth-year senior guys still haven’t beat Alabama,” Arnold said. “They came close twice, but they haven’t beat them yet. And so, for those guys, I want them to get a win. One last win before heading out.”

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m

Now is a fantastic time to be a casino fan. A huge number of world-class online sweepstakes casinos are operating today, many of which launched recently. Here, I highlight three of the best new sweeps casino bonuses this week.

These bonuses are easy to claim and provide players with Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins. Learn exactly how these bonuses can be claimed below.

The best new sweeps casino bonuses this week

With each month that passes, the US online sweepstakes casino industry grows larger and more popular. It’s been incredible to see, yet it’s not a major surprise when considering the legal landscape of online casino gambling.

Online real money casinos are legal in only seven states. That has led to many Americans flocking to online sweeps casinos, which can legally operate throughout the majority of the country.

These unique gaming platforms provide many of the same features as real money casinos, including a variety of games, bonuses and responsible gambling tools.

Below, I highlight three of the best new sweeps casino bonuses available to claim this week.

Mega Frenzy: 20,000 Gold Coins + 20 free Sweeps Coins for $9.99

One of the newest online sweeps casinos to enter the US market is Mega Frenzy.

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Now, new players at Mega Frenzy can claim a 100% first-purchase bonus that offers 20,000 Gold Coins and 20 free Sweeps Coins.

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Rolla: 1.5 million Gold Coins + 30 free Sweeps Coins for $9.99

Rolla is another online sweepstakes casino that went live this year. It’s quickly turned into a major hit with players, as it provides more than 900 games and many bonuses that players can claim in only a few minutes.

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Very few competing online sweeps casinos provide as many slot gaming options as Rolla. More than 1,600 slots can be played here, many of which also act as great real money slots offered at the country’s best online casinos.

LoneStar: 500,000 Gold Coins + 105 free Sweeps Coins + 1,000 VIP points

LoneStar launched in March. Today, it’s offering one of the best new sweeps casino bonuses for players. This particular offer allows players to receive 500,000 Gold Coins, 105 free Sweeps Coins and 1,000 VIP points by making one purchase of $99.99.

Those looking to spend a little less money have access to multiple purchase options for as low as $2.99.

The selection of promotions for existing players could be improved. Players currently have access to a great refer-a-friend bonus and a few social media giveaways. This is still a very new platform, and it’s likely that more bonuses will become available in the near future, too.

When it comes to games, LoneStar is excellent. This site provides more than 550 games to players including many high RTP slots and multiple video table games.

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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.

An independent autopsy commissioned by the family of Jabari Peoples showed the slain teen was shot in the lower back, slightly above his buttocks, attorneys said Tuesday.

The 18-year-old college student died June 23 during a confrontation with a Homewood police officer in a city soccer park.

Attorneys for Peoples’ family called a Tuesday press conference to show a diagram from a private autopsy conducted by a medical examiner in Atlanta.

The legal team is led by Birmingham attorney Leroy Maxwell and national civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.

While lawyers showed the post-mortem diagram, they said there was little more they could draw from the examination without context that they say could be provided through the release of body camera and dash cam footage.

They also seek other supporting documents, such as police reports and records from the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s office, which conducted the official autopsy.

“I emphasize it is a preliminary finding because we don’t have all the evidence,” Crump said, “and you cannot draw conclusions until you get all of the evidence.”

“We need to see the video before we can have conclusions,” he said. “This helps the family at least have some questions answered, but it’s not conclusive yet.”

Read full coverage of the case here.

The family and the attorneys have sought to see the video footage since the shooting three weeks ago.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is leading the probe and maintains that release of the footage – even to the family if not the public as a whole – would hinder the investigation.

“If the goal here is transparency, and the goal is justice – and the goal should always be transparency and it should always be justice – this isn’t a hard ask,” Maxwell said.

“It’s not a hard ask for the Peoples’ family, it’s not a hard ask for the community, it’s not a hard ask for the state. Give us the evidence.”

Atlanta attorney Eric Hertz said investigations of law enforcement done by law enforcement have a natural bias.

“Society is judged by how the most powerful treat the most vulnerable,” Hertz said, “and in this situation, young Mr. Peoples was the most vulnerable.”

Hertz said the medical examiner in Atlanta found that based on the preliminary information, the possible entry of the gunshot wound was in the lower back.

Hertz said the private autopsy showed no exit wound, and an X-ray of Peoples’ body did not show any projectile still in his body.

“We need the bullet,” he said. “We need to know where the bullet is because it’s not in the body.”

“The bullet appeared to come in through the back,” he said. “Bullets go in a straight line, they don’t ricochet when it’s soft tissue like this.”

“If this bullet went in a straight line, then we’re looking at the heart and the lungs and the part where it comes out in the chest or lodged inside the chest,” he said.

“And that, preliminary, is what we want to find out because that would be the cause of death.”

Asked how a bullet could strike Peoples’ heart if it entered in the lower back and traveled in a straight line, Crump said, “We don’t know and we don’t want to make assumptions but obviously the medical examiner (in Atlanta) has thoughts, but she won’t relay those thoughts conclusively because the video would tell us exactly the position he was in when the shot was fired.”

“This makes us think even more about what happened,” Crump said, “but most importantly, it underscores again why we got to see that video.”

“We’re grasping at straws because we don’t know any of that information,” Crump said, adding that they need to know the trajectory and “power of the bullet.”

Maxwell within days of the shooting announced Peoples had been shot in the back.

That conclusion came from a “charting” of the body, which he said was later confirmed by the private autopsy carried out last week.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said it cannot release its autopsy findings, at the request of ALEA.

Officials there said they could not say whether the Alabama medical examiner viewed the video footage or retrieved the bullet during the autopsy.

Peoples was a 2024 graduate of Aliceville High School where he was standout track athlete and football player.

Peoples had just finished his freshman year at Alabama A & M where he was studying computer information and criminal justice with hopes of becoming a law enforcement officer, specifically a detective.

He was shot to death that Monday night in Homewood Soccer Park.

Homewood police say a veteran officer, who has not been publicly identified, approached the vehicle to investigate because of a recent increase in criminal activity in and around the city’s athletic complexes.

The officer, police say, smelled marijuana and ordered Peoples and his female friend out of the vehicle.

Police say the encounter ended with Peoples resisting, breaking away from the officer as he tried to handcuff him, and grabbing a gun from the driver’s side door pocket.

The officer shot Peoples, who was pronounced dead a short time later at UAB Hospital.

Peoples’ family and attorney Maxwell disagreed with that narrative, saying that Peoples wasn’t armed and didn’t resist.

The Homewood Police Department turned the investigation over to ALEA, which is standard policy for many officer-involved shootings.

ALEA denied the family’s request to see the footage, saying release of the video footage would jeopardize the ongoing investigation.

Though Alabama state provides a way for families to view body camera and dash cam videos, the same law also allows law enforcement to withhold the footage for investigative purposes.

There have been several protests following the fatal shooting, including at the Homewood Police Department, ALEA’s office in west Homewood, Homewood City Hall and during the World Police and Fire Games in the Birmingham area.

About two dozen protesters on Tuesday marched from Friendship Baptist Church in Homewood’s Rosedale community to City Hall. Homewood police blocked the roads for the protesters to safely march.

Starbucks’ secret menu isn’t so secret anymore.

A selection of the coffee chain’s underground favorites is now available on the coffee chain’s app.

Starbucks Rewards members can find the top Starbucks drink customizations in the chain’s app.

“Inspired by the popular Starbucks Not-So-Secret Menu broadcast channel on Instagram, the Starbucks secret menu in the app allows Starbucks Rewards members to easily order the featured, popular drink customizations at participating stores. The beverages will be listed in the “offers” tab in the Starbucks app. Just select the drink and it’ll be added to the cart with all the customizations already populated for a seamless ordering experience,” Starbucks said in a press release.

To kick off the launch of the secret menu, Starbucks is featuring four new beverages:

• Cookies on top: Cold Brew with two pumps of vanilla syrup, Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam and cookie crumble topping
• Dragonfruit glow-up: A Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade Refresher by with peach juice blend and blended and topped with Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam
• Lemon, tea & pearls: Black tea and lemonade with an extra pop of flavor with raspberry-flavored popping pearls
• Just add white mocha: Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso and White Chocolate Mocha Sauce topped with Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam.

Arch Manning loves his Texas Longhorns.

In fact, on Tuesday during SEC Media Days in Atlanta, he made it a point to talk about the camaraderie among the guys this upcoming season.

“We got a young and hungry group, and I think we are really close,” the Texas quarterback said. With about 95 percent of the team, I can go out and talk a lot of crap without it being a fight.”

Well, that begs the obvious question. Who makes up the remaining 5 percent?

“Probably some defensive linemen,” Manning said.

But there is one guy specifically, Manning doesn’t mess with.

“I’m careful what I say with DJ Campbell. He’ll get after you.”

The offensive lineman announced in January he was returning for his senior season.

“This is probably the best version of DJ Campbell we’ve gotten,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian told SI in April. “I think he’s taken a really big step from a leadership standpoint, from an energy standpoint.”

Campbell is one of a few returning veterans on the Longhorns offensive line after four of five starters declared for the NFL draft.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian made his appearance at SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Tuesday, but did so as the wrong team’s fight song played over the public address system.

As SEC commissioner Greg Sankey finished his introduction of Sarkisian, the “Aggie War Hymn” began to play. That is, of course, is the unofficial fight song of Texas A&M, not of Texas.

Here’s video:

Social media reacted about like you might have expected:

For the record, Texas’ fight song is “Texas Fight”:

Mountain Brook is joining the city of Tuscaloosa in a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s current distribution of revenue collected under a state tax.

The Simplified Sellers Use Tax, which charges an 8% tax on online purchases, is distributed by the state with 50% going to state funds and 50% to cities and counties based on population, not where the purchase originated. Officials argue that it’s unfair to municipalities like Mountain Brook, where its residents do a lot of online shopping.

“Our residents are already paying this tax, and yet much of it never makes it back to support the services they rely on,” Mayor Stewart Welch said in a statement. “This is about fairness. Cities like Mountain Brook should receive a more equitable portion of the revenue generated by their own citizens.”

The city of Tuscaloosa voted earlier this month to pursue legal action against the state.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said the city plans to file the lawsuit in the next few weeks and hopes it will redirect the funds to the cities that generate the sales.

During a recent city council meeting, Mountain Brook officials said the sales tax issue has been on their radar for years, and they are ready to take action now that a “bigger player” like Tuscaloosa is taking initiative.

“It is unfairly distributing what should be rightfully our residents’ tax dollars to other parts of the state that aren’t as representative of that income generation as our residents,” Councilor Gerald Garner said during the council meeting.

Maddox and Mountain Brook officials said online delivery services like Walmart, DoorDash and Shipt have a physical “nexus” in the cities, including employees, trucks and stores where products are picked up before delivery.

“Commercial entities with the physical nexus within a local community are being ignored and classified as SSUT. That actually reverses decades of how sales tax are remitted throughout Alabama,” Maddox told AL.com.

Maddox and Mountain Brook officials said they fear the increasing use of online services could erode the sales tax revenues that fund essential services like trash pickup, firefighter equipment, parks and road maintenance.

“Cities like Mountain Brook and Tuscaloosa, who are strong financially…we’re not asking for anything other than to keep the taxes we collect that the taxpayers expect to be invested into our classrooms and for public safety and for our roads and bridges,” Maddox said.

According to the Alabama Department of Revenue, the Simplified Sellers Use Tax generated $851.2 million in 2024.

In 2022, Tuscaloosa received $6 million in SSUT funds, Mountain Brook got $1.4 million and Birmingham got $12,138,505, according to a Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama report.

Maddox said the formula will cost Tuscaloosa an estimated $14.6 million in revenue this year.

Steven Boone, the Mountain Brook finance director, said that while there is no definitive way to calculate the exact revenue loss, only about 2% of the 8% online sales tax is distributed to municipalities. However, many cities like Mountain Brook have local sales tax rates of 3% or more.

“This means there is a clear shortfall when compared to what those cities would receive if local sales taxes applied to online sales,” Boone told AL.com in a statement.

“Municipal budgets rely on predictable and adequate revenue streams. With rising demand for services, tight budgets are a constant challenge, and the current SSUT structure makes it more difficult to meet those demands.”

Supporters for the current tax structure said changing it could jeopardize millions of dollars in revenues to the state.

Officials argue that market facilitators like DoorDash don’t physically produce or market products in the cities they serve and that the tax would also have to be applied by other online retailers, like Amazon.

“Going into that law and tinkering with the definition of a marketplace facilitator, will put the whole program at risk,” Association of County Commissions of Alabama Sonny Brasfield told AL.com in January. “Counties will not be supportive of that in any shape, form or fashion.”

Mountain Brook officials maintain that the tax distribution is unfair.

“We’ve watched this imbalance for years while continuing to invest in public safety, infrastructure and quality of life. Joining this lawsuit is a necessary step to advocate for the fiscal future of our city and ensure our ability to serve the community well,” Mountain Brook Council President Virginia Smith said in a statement.

Data centers are key to pushing Alabama’s economy forward, a state lawmaker told the city council in Bessemer on Tuesday.

Just not in this part of the state.

“While I understand the importance of economic growth and technology infrastructure, this facility would be located directly behind 14 residential properties,” said state Rep. Leigh Hulsey whose district includes parts of Bessemer and McCalla. “Families that do not live in the city limits and obviously therefore do not have a vote nor feel like they have a voice. But they are absolutely going to bear the brunt of the impact of this project.”

The plan to develop a $14 billion data center campus in the rural community southwest of Birmingham hit a snag Tuesday morning.

The Bessemer City Council postponed their vote on rezoning nearly 700 acres of mostly timber to make way for 18 data center buildings that would be developed by Logistics Land Investment, LLC.

“This will be considered at the next meeting,” said Donna Thigpen, the city council president. “It will not be voted on today.”

The decision was met with applause. Roughly 60 people attended the crowded meeting inside Bessemer City Hall, as many opponents wore red shirts and held signs that read “Vote No.” More attendees spilled out into the lobby, waiting for the fire department to allow them to enter and speak during the hearing. The meeting was not livestreamed or broadcast outside the hearing room.

The council voted 6-1 to postpone their decision after a hearing that lasted roughly an hour and a half, including comments from a slew of residents urging the council to vote against the rezoning or at least wait for more information on the development.

Jimmie Stephens, the president of the Jefferson County Commission who lives in Bessemer, was among them. He said he would vote against any tax breaks that may come before the county commission if the project is approved. He urged the city council to do the same.

“This isn’t about the environmental, you’re not going to pay any attention to that,” he told the council. “This is about the money. This is about the tax revenue that’s been laid before the city of Bessemer that you’re depending on, that you’re looking forward to.”

Representatives for the developer and residents opposing the project sparred over the facts of the project during the hearing. Posters inside the council chambers and outside in the lobby listed: “Let’s Talk Facts: Data Centers Don’t Cause Cancer” with bullet points about data center development.

“You’re going to hear a lot of things that simply are not facts,” said Brad Kaaber, a representative from Logistics Land Investment, LLC, at the start of Tuesday’s hearing.

Kaaber and Martin Evans, a Birmingham attorney representing the developer, declined to comment after the hearing.

In June, the data center project came before the city’s planning and zoning commission for a second time after their initial approval provoked a lawsuit by a few residents. That vote of approval was only a recommendation to the council, but a vote of approval from the city council would formally allow the project to move forward.

Eric Pippens, a Bessemer resident, told the city council that he’s concerned about his utility bills going up and whether rezoning the community now will attract more development in the future.

“This project may benefit an outside corporation, but it will come at the direct expense of the families who live here,” he said. “We have decades of people here that have lived in this community with no bother.”

Evans told the council that all they needed to weigh in on was whether the project would benefit Bessemer.

“This project is going to take a large piece of vacant land close to the interstate and put it to an extremely productive use, which will create jobs, be a catalyst for the local economy, and provide tremendous tax benefits to the city,” Evans said.

The proposed data center would include 18 buildings, each about 250,000 square feet, on rural land owned by a timber land property owner on Rock Mountain Lake Road, the Birmingham Business Journal reported. The developer is proposing the $14 billion project as a 4.5 million-square-foot campus, BBJ reported.

It would take roughly eight years to build in several phases, Kaaber said. He denied that the project will impact streams, wetlands or fish, citing environmental studies that the company has done.

In April, three locals sued the city, alleging officials didn’t provide the proper public notice about the rezoning. They also raised concerns about Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley saying he signed a non-disclosure agreement and couldn’t discuss the project with the public. Shan Paden, an attorney for Bessemer, told AL.com at the time that the city never violated the law and provided adequate public notice.

But then the city restarted the public hearing process. There haven’t been any updates in the lawsuit since April, according to the court docket.

Data centers are a growing industry, seeking to keep up with an increase in cloud computing demands. But they’re newer to Alabama, as the industry is picking up speed here in more rural parts of the state as well as Huntsville, Montgomery and Birmingham.

Tennessee endured a tumultuous offseason at quarterback, a situation that has not resolved itself as the 2025 season approaches.

Returning starter Nico Iamaleava abruptly left the team on the eve of the spring game due a reported NIL dispute, and eventually transferred to UCLA. The former five-star recruit’s departure was one of the stories of the offseason in college football, an ugly split that appeared to be all about money.

Iamaleava skipped Tennessee’s practice on Friday, April 11, the day before the team’s Orange and White spring game. Head coach Josh Heupel announced the following day that Tennessee was “moving on from” Iamaleava, and elaborated on the situation during his appearance at SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Tuesday.

“Our football team, they cared about Nico,” Heupel said on the set of SEC Now. “Nico’s going to be a great player and he’s going to have a great career. I love Nico. It was hard for the players in that moment, but in leadership of any kind, having clear, consistent transparent communication and also timely, in that it allows your people to handle it the best that they can.

“It’s quarterback, it’s unique in some way, but you’ve got to have a ‘next man up’ mentality. It’s going to happen to every team in college football across the landscape of the season. Quarterback’s no different in that way. Our guys have handled the change, transition — whatever you want to call it, in a very positive way. Outside noise, you try not pay to much attention to it. Expectations may have changed from outside the building after that moment, bu they haven’t changed inside the locker room.”

Heupel said earlier Tuesday that his team’s quarterback competition remains a three-way battle between redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, true freshman George McIntyre and transfer Joey Aguilar — a former starter at Appalachian State who, ironically, spent the spring at UCLA before leaving just as Iamaleava arrived. Heupel said he’s confident his team will continue to succeed behind whomever emerges at the position.

“The three guys inside that room, I’m really proud of what they’ve done,” said Heupel, who is 37-15 in four seasons at Tennessee. “Joey, since he got there in May, Merklinger and George McIntyre, what those two guys have done since they’ve been on campus … I’m really proud of the steps that they’ve taken through the summer in developing relationships, rapport with the guys around them, their ability to compete in a positive way with each other in the meeting room.

“On the field, their ability to have leadership traits and to continue to grow in that, and I’m really excited about getting on the field with those guys. We’ve found a way to win with a lot of different quarterbacks throughout my career on the offensive side of the ball, and we’re going to find a way to win with the guy that earns the starting spot as we go through training camp here in August.”

Tennessee’s two holdover quarterbacks were both four-star recruits out of high school, Merklinger in 2024 and MacIntyre this past winter. Merklinger appeared in two games while redshirting last season, completing six of nine passes for 48 yards.

His late arrival in Knoxville notwithstanding, Aguilar has by far the most experience at the college level. He was a two-year starter at Appalachian State, was Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2023 and has totaled 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns passing the last two seasons.

“We took him through our spring installs once he was there on campus; he got a chance to digest those things,” Heupel said. “You get into summer, you’re able to kind of repeat some of those things. He’s continued to grow in his understanding of what we’re doing and also the verbiage that we’re using, maybe identifying defensive structures. There’s so many nuances that go into it to having clear communication in the meeting room, on the practice field, and then ultimately on game day as well.

“So is it an accelerated process? Absolutely. But I think any time you have a guy that’s played a lot of football and sat in college meeting rooms offensively, he’s been able to be a part of different things, he’s able to draw on those experiences, correlate it to something that maybe he’s done before, and kind of expedite the growth process as well.”