Alabama News

SweepNext is one of the most intriguing new sweepstakes casino to launch in the US. This modern sweeps casino is gaining major hype for its variety of slot games and an extremely generous welcome offer for new players.

Below, I highlight three of the best slots to play with our SweepNext promo code bonus, which includes 200,000 Gold Coins and 2 Sweeps Coins on signup. You’ll also get 150% extra coins on your first purchase of $9.99, including 250,000 GC and 25 free SC.

Each of these slots is fun, easy to play and provides some great payout opportunities.

Three top slots to play with your SweepNext promo code bonus

Sweepstakes casinos are growing more popular every day. With real money casinos legal in only seven states, more people around the country are turning to sweeps casinos to play their favorite slots online.

SweepNext is one of the newest online sweepstakes casinos. It’s quickly gaining a huge fan base, thanks in part to its wide variety of unique slot games.

I highlight three exciting slots available to play right now:

Majestic Wild Buffalo

Spinomenal is a world-class online slot developer that’s well-known for creating a large variety of free and real money slots. One of this platform’s most exciting titles is Majestic Wild Buffalo, a five-reel online slot game with 25 paylines and an average RTP rate of 96.31%.

Buffalo-themed slot games are fairly common. This game shakes things up, focusing on a wide variety of animals in the Old West, including coyotes and bears.

This game is packed with fun bonus features, too. The free spins round is fun and comes with a double wheel to help players land some huge multipliers.

This game looks incredible, has a solid RTP and comes with enough bonus features to keep new and experienced players happy.

Northern Gold Rush

Fans of high RTP slots are sure to enjoy Northern Gold Rush. This game was developed by 1spin4win in 2023 and is one of the most popular games at SweepNext. It features five reels, 243 paylines and a great RTP rate of 97.20%.

This is another game that focuses on a specific area and time period in the US. It’s filled with common symbols of the Gold Rush, such as gold pans, wolves and more.

Score three or more scatter symbols to trigger the free spins round, in which 10 spins are automatically awarded. Lucky players can score 15 Golden Nugget symbols on the grid during this bonus round to earn the Mega Jackpot, offering an incredible 1,000x payout on their wager.

Catch the Leprechaun

Another one of the best slots to play with your SweepNext promo code bonus is Catch the Leprechaun. This is another five-reel slot game that has been making big waves with players around the country. It features 20 paylines and a slightly below-average RTP rate of 95%.

As one might expect from the name, this game is leprechaun-themed. It’s filled with symbols such as pots of gold, four-leaf clovers and leprechaun hats. It even has a fun Irish folk song soundtrack that players are sure to enjoy.

Catch the Leprechaun offers more bonus features than many of the other slots provided by SweepNext. The most exciting is the Catch a Leprechaun bonus round, triggered when players land a jackpot symbol on reels one or four, along with a collector symbol on the fifth reel.

This round gives players access to three jackpots, the largest of which can offer a payout of 500x their wager.

SweepNext promo code: How to claim this offer

It’s incredible to see so many players already listing SweepNext as one of the best sweepstakes casinos in the US. Many of its players are praising the welcome bonus, offering a huge number of both Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins for one small purchase.

Below, I explain how to claim the welcome offer, along with the free sign-up bonus:

1. Click any of our promo code links or banners shown on this page. No promo code is needed if you use our link.
2. Click the Register button on the SweepNext homepage.
3. Create a new account with SweepNext by entering your name, date of birth and agreeing to the terms and conditions.
4. Receive the signup offer of 200,000 Gold Coins and 2 free Sweeps Coins with no purchase required.
5. Make a Gold Coins purchase of $9.99 and earn a 150% bonus, offering 250,000 Gold Coins and 25 free Sweeps Coins.

The SweepNext promo code bonus can be described as one of the best being offered by any sweeps casino operating today. For only $9.99, players will earn 250,000 Gold Coins and 25 free Sweeps Coins.

Each Sweeps Coin has a value of $1, meaning players are earning a major boost on their initial purchase.

It’s important to note that SweepNext attaches a 1x playthrough requirement to its Sweeps Coins. This means players will need to wager each of these coins at least once in order to redeem them for prizes.

SweepsNext is growing quickly and is available to players above the age of 21 in every state except Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Washington.

Check it out today and discover all of the other exciting slots this platform has to offer.

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.

Mac Gipson, a businessman and state lawmaker who ran Alabama’s state liquor agency for more than a decade under two governors, has died.

“Mr. Gipson was a dedicated public servant whose impact on this agency and the State of Alabama will be felt for years to come,” Curtis Stewart, who succeeded Gipson as administrator of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, said in a statement.

“During his 12 years as the Administrator for the ABC Board he oversaw operations with over 800 employees and 168 stores, and he also served as a member of the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) in a variety of capacities.”

See more: Retiring ABC Board chief says Alabama’s liquor controls mean more revenue, less consumption

Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Gipson as ABC Board administrator in 2011. Gov. Kay Ivey kept Gipson on the job when she became governor in 2017.

Gipson stayed on the job until December 2022, when he retired at age 87. Gipson, who had started working at age 13 at his father’s Standard Oil station in downtown Prattville, said he would have continued if not for health problems.

“Along the line I’ve tried golf,” Gipson said. “Tried hunting. I just didn’t have any hobbies. I enjoyed working.”

Gipson was born in Camden in 1935 and served in the Army.

He started a tire business in Prattville in 1981, Gipson Tire Pros, that he later sold to his sons.

Gipson was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1994 and served four terms.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends, and all those who had the pleasure of getting to know him,” Stewart said.

A month after he claimed President Donald Trump is in the so-called Epstein files, Elon Musk alleged on Tuesday that a key architect of the MAGA movement is also in the files.

Musk leveled the allegation while responding to Trump ally Roger Stone’s strongly implying that Steve Bannon, who was White House chief strategist at the start of Trump’s first term, was in the files.

“Bannon is in the Epstein files,” Musk tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

Musk, the world’s richest man and the largest donor to Trump’s 2024 election effort, did not offer any evidence linking Bannon to the files.

Musk was responding to a series of Stone’s tweets that included a Business Insider story alleging Bannon, a friend of Epstein, filmed the financier for 15 hours — supposedly for a documentary — but the film was never released.

“Why would Bannon meet with Jeffrey Epstein both at his New York home and in Paris after Epstein was convicted on sex crimes in Florida?” Stone tweeted. “Why would he coach Epstein for his 60 minutes appearance?”

Musk formed a third party over the weekend after falling out with Trump, ostensibly over the “Big Beautiful Bill” that passed Congress last week.

During their feud, Musk claimed the Epstein files have not been released because the president is in them.

Commercial space launches hit an all-time high last year, with one blasting off every two to three days.

And that pace is ramping up fasts as U.S. regulators predict the country could see more-than-daily launches by 2034.

A new report by the Federal Aviation Administration – which licenses U.S.-based commercial space launches and re-entries, counted 142 operations in 2024 by seven companies. SpaceX accounted for 83% of the total, or 118 launches.

The remaining 17% were conducted by:

• Rocket Lab (12 launches)
• Virgin Galactic (four launches)
• Blue Origin (three launches)
• United Launch Alliance (two launches)
• Firefly Aerospace (two launches)
• Stratolaunch (one launch)

The report did not include six National Security Space Launches conducted by the Defense Department last year.

Why does all of this matter to Alabama?

North Alabama – where United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin have significant manufacturing and integration operations – stands to gain with a rise in both commercial and national security launches.

Besides being an annual record, the 142 licensed commercial launches of 2024 account for 17% of all 824 commercial launches and re-entries conducted by U.S. companies since 1989.

And the pace is increasing. In June, there were 21 licensed launches, which broke the previous monthly record of 20 set in November. Four operators — Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance — send up payloads last month.

The commercial launch landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, according to the report, with two operators – ABL Space Systems and Virgin Orbit — withdrawing from the sector since 2023.

“The list of firms intending to launch is dy­namic, with smaller launch providers strug­gling in an increasingly competitive market,” the report stated. “New arrivals to the industry face steep barri­ers to entry, including high development costs and intense competition from their es­tablished counterparts.”

Despite that, the advent of larger launch vehicles like Blue Origin’s New Glenn, ULA’s Vulcan, SpaceX’s Starship and Relativity Space’s Terran R – most of which are at least partly reusable – is driving down launch costs. That in turn is leading to more frequent launches.

The FAA report predicts authorized space operations could range from 2,067 to 4,010 over the next 10 years. The high range of the forecast would mean up to 566 launch operations in 2034 – well over one per day.

Satellite deployments, including SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper constellations, account for the majority of missions in the FAA forecast.

One of the ULA launches in June lifted the second batch of Kuiper high-speed broadband satellites. The company expects full deploy­ment of 3,232 satellites by 2031.

Starlink, meanwhile, already consists of over 7,000 satellites in orbit.

The unofficial start to the 2025 season is next week’s SEC Media Days, and Auburn football has its list of attendees set.

In addition to coach Hugh Freeze, the Tigers will bring quarterback Jackson Arnold, defensive lineman Keldric Faulk and offensive lineman Connor Lew to Atlanta, the SEC announced.

SEC Media Days will take place at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta this season for the first time since 2022. It starts Monday, July 14 and runs through Thursday, July 17. Auburn is set to take part on the second day, as will Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

Faulk is making his second straight trip to SEC Media Days. He was joined last year by quarterback Payton Thorne and linebacker Eugene Asante at the event in Dallas.

Auburn’s season is set to start at 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Aug. 29, against Baylor at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas. Freeze is entering his third season leading the Tigers.

During Target Circle Week, members can grab the best-selling Beats Solo 4 wireless headphones for the lowest price we’ve ever seen.

While normally $200, those who sign in to the Target Circle rewards account can snag a pair of Beats Solo 4 headphones for only $97. Thankfully, anyone with an email and phone number can sign up for the loyalty program and take advantage of this limited time tech deal.

RELATED: Target celebrates rewards members with Target Circle Week sales event

The Beats brand claims that the Beats Solo 4 bluetooth headphones come with upgraded drivers, rebalanced acoustics, improved frequency response, custom-built 40 mm transducers to minimize electronic artifacts and latency and distortion for extraordinary clarity and range. Not to mention it comes with a whopping 50 hours of battery life.

“The original go-to headphones for active music lovers are back and better than ever,” the Beats Solo 4 product description states. “The ergonomic design was developed with comfort in mind, starting with how light they are — at just 217 grams, you can almost forget you’re wearing them.”

Beats also states that wearing these headphones feels like “being surrounded by 64 speakers at once.”

Those who are interested in this deal can checkout the full details on Target’s website here.

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a retired deputy for the possession and dissemination of child pornography.

In May 2025, MCSO’s ICAC Unit began investigating former deputy David Frederickson, according to a recent release.

ICAC is a national network of 61 coordinated task forces, representing over 5,400 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

According to the release, ICAC is “dedicated to investigating, prosecuting and developing effective responses to internet crimes against children.”

Through the course of ICAC’s investigation, officials said they were able to obtain enough evidence to arrest Frederickson on five counts of unlawful possession of child pornography and five counts of unlawful dissemination of child pornography.

MCSO’s Special Operations Unit on Monday took him into custody “without incident,” according to the release.

Frederickson was a deputy with MCSO from 1980 to 2003 before he retired.

“It is my duty to protect the citizens of Mobile County and especially our children,” Sheriff Paul Burch said in the release.

“I do not care who you are, if you are found guilty, then you will pay for your actions just like everyone else.”

The unofficial start to the 2025 season is next week, and Alabama football has its list of attendees set.

In addition to coach Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide will bring Dontae Lawson, Tim Keenan, and Kadyn Proctor, the SEC announced.

SEC Media Days will take place at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta this season for the first time since 2022. It starts Monday, July 14 and runs through Thursday, July 17. Alabama is set to take part on the third day, as will Florida, Mississippi State and Oklahoma.

A year ago, the Crimson Tide brought quarterback Jalen Milroe, offensive lineman Tyler Booker and safety Malachi Moore to the event in Dallas.

Alabama’s season is set to start at 2:30 p.m. CT on Aug. 30 at Doak Campbell Stadium against Florida State. DeBoer is entering his second season leading the Crimson Tide.

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

The National Weather Service issued a report at 1:02 p.m. on Tuesday for strong thunderstorms until 1:45 p.m. for Jackson County.

Residents may experience wind gusts of up to 30 mph.

“At 1:02 p.m., Doppler radar tracked a strong thunderstorm 7 miles west of Stevenson, or 14 miles west of Bridgeport. This thunderstorm was nearly stationary,” states the weather service. “Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects.”

The weather service states, “If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.”

Preparing for approaching lightning: Expert safety advice

Each year, lightning strikes the United States approximately 25 million times, with the majority of these electrifying events occurring during the summer months. Unfortunately, lightning is responsible for claiming the lives of approximately 20 people annually, as reported by the weather service. The threat of lightning becomes more pronounced as thunderstorms draw nearer, peaking when the storm is directly overhead and gradually waning as it moves away.

To ensure your safety during a thunderstorm, consider the following recommendations:

Lightning safety plan:

• When venturing outdoors, it’s crucial to have a lightning safety plan in place.
• Stay vigilant by monitoring the sky for ominous signs and listening for the telltale sound of thunder. If thunder is audible, it’s a clear indication of nearby lightning.
• Seek shelter promptly in a safe location, preferably indoors.

Indoors safety measures:

• Once you’re indoors, avoid using corded phones, electrical devices, plumbing fixtures, and stay away from windows and doors.
• These precautions help reduce the risk of electrical surges, as lightning can follow conductive pathways.

Wait for the all-clear:

• After the last lightning strike or thunderclap, wait at least 30 minutes before resuming outdoor activities.
• Lightning can strike even when a storm has seemingly passed, so exercise caution.

When indoor shelter isn’t available:

If you find yourself outdoors without access to indoor shelter during a thunderstorm, take these steps to maximize your safety:

• Avoid open fields, hilltops, or ridge crests, as they expose you to greater lightning risk.
• Steer clear of tall, isolated trees and other prominent objects. In forested areas, stay close to lower stands of trees.
• If you’re with a group, ensure individuals are spread out to prevent lightning current from transferring between people.
• Camping in an open setting during a thunderstorm is strongly discouraged. If no alternative exists, set up camp in a valley, ravine, or other low-lying areas. Remember that a tent offers no protection against lightning.
• Do not approach water bodies, wet objects, or metal items. While water and metal don’t attract lightning, they conduct electricity effectively and can pose significant risks.

In summary, when facing the threat of lightning, preparedness and vigilance are your best allies. By following these guidelines, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of lightning-related incidents and prioritize your safety.

Driving through downpours: Safety guidelines for wet roads

Heavy rainfall may lead to flooding if prolonged or if there is excessive runoff. Excessive runoff can be a result of saturated ground and/or rainfall intensity. Follow these recommendations from the weather service to stay safe in heavy rain:

Beware of swollen waterways:

In heavy rain, refrain from parking or walking near culverts or drainage ditches, where swift-moving water can pose a grave danger.

Maintain safe driving distances:

Use the two-second rule to maintain a safe distance from the car in front of you and allow an extra two seconds in heavy rain.

Reduce speed and drive cautiously:

If it is raining and the roads are wet, slow down. Take your foot off the accelerator and let your speed drop gradually. Never use the brakes suddenly because this may cause the car to skid.

Choose your lane wisely:

Stick to the middle lanes to minimize the risk of hydroplaning. Outer lanes are more prone to accumulating water.

Prioritize visibility

Enhance your visibility in heavy rain by activating your headlights. Be particularly vigilant for vehicles in blind spots, as rain-smeared windows can obscure them.

Watch out for slippery roads:

The first half-hour of rain is when roads are slickest due to a mix of rain, grime, and oil. Exercise heightened caution during this period.

Keep a safe distance from large vehicles:

Don’t follow large trucks or buses too closely. The spray created by their large tires reduces your vision. Take care when passing them as well; if you must pass, do so quickly and safely.

Mind your windshield wipers:

Overloaded wiper blades can hinder visibility. If rain severely impairs your vision, pull over and wait for conditions to improve. Seek refuge at rest areas or sheltered spots.

When stopping by the roadside is your only option, position your vehicle as far off the road as possible, ideally beyond guardrails. Keep your headlights on and activate emergency flashers to alert other drivers of your position.

In the face of heavy rain, these precautions can make a significant difference in ensuring your safety on the road. Remember to stay informed about weather conditions and heed guidance from local authorities for a secure journey.

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

Walmart is offering a ton of deals on smart TVs and other entertainment items during the Walmart Deals sales event, but these markdowns won’t last long.

One notable TV deal worth mentioning includes a $231 discount on the VIZIO 50″ Class Quantum Pro 4K QLED Smart TV. This means you can score this TV for $398 instead of its original list price of $630. Free shipping and 30-day returns are also included.

RELATED: Walmart is selling the $300 Blackstone ProSeries Grill for only $197

The VIZIO 50″ Class Quantum Pro stands out with its high refresh rate of 120Hz, making it ideal for gaming and fast-action content. Combined with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro certification, this TV provides a smooth, immersive gaming experience by minimizing input lag and reducing screen tearing. Gamers can enjoy playing in 4K at 120fps or 1080p at 240fps, leveraging the TV’s integrated gaming menu for quick access to gaming settings.

According to Walmart, all features included in the VIZIO 50″ Class Quantum Pro are as follows:

• Smart TV Features: Unlock a world of entertainment with VIZIO Account, providing access to built-in apps, free channels, and app management.
• Endless Entertainment: Enjoy instant access to top-tier streaming services and explore new apps with VIZIO Home and WatchFree+ app.
• Automatic Updates: Supported VIZIO TVs can automatically update through WiFi with the latest apps, free channels, and new features.
• Brilliant Visuals: Experience 4K QLED HDR picture quality with enhanced HDR Dolby Vision, stunning brightness, and full array local dimming.
• Quantum Color: Over 1 billion colors bring a true-to-life picture enhanced with Quantum Color technology.
• Immersive Gaming: Enjoy immersive gameplay with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, supporting up to 120fps in 4K or 240fps in 1080p.
• Voice Control: Use the VIZIO Voice Remote and mobile app for easy browsing, searching, and content discovery with voice commands.
• Smart Home Integration: Stream and control content from Apple or Android devices with Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, and integration with smart home devices.

Those interested in this deal can checkout the full listing on Walmart’s website.