“We haven’t done that in 15 years, so that’s going to feel good,” he told PEOPLE.
At 60, Wolfe is open to new ideas.
“You want to do another show?” he asked. “I’m doing another show. You want me to have a part in the scripted project? I’m doing it. I’m excited about the next chapter of everything.”
Wolfe debuted last week in the “Day of Reckoning” with Billy Zane.
“I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I can. I don’t know if I’m fighting above my weight here,‘” Wolfe said.
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.
Spring football is well underway for Auburn football and its linebackers room has some familiar faces in bigger roles.
Robert Woodyard Jr. and Keyron Crawford enters this season as the veterans of the group. Aside from them, Sophomore Demarcus Riddick is the only other player who saw playing time last season.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment. It’s been going pretty well. I’m ready for it. I’ve come a long way and I’m going to help these young guys come a long way,” Woodyard said Monday.
Woodyard finished last season with 17 tackles and 3.0 tackles for loss. After playing in 10 games moving up from the scout team, Woodyard is ready to compete as a starter this fall.
“I feel more confident in what I’m doing. The ability to do things in a way that I can make plays. That’s really just how I bought into what I’m doing and just better myself,” Woodyard added.
For Crawford, he feels the same exact way after finishing with 18 tackles in his first season at Auburn.
“It’s a pretty different approach coming into this spring. I know the defense a little better and I know the things I can improve on,” Crawford said. “We are a young team right now and I know there are several guys looking at me as the example.”
Redshirt freshman DJ Barber and newcomers Jakaleb Faulk, Bryce Deas and Elijah Melendez are competing for spots in the defensive rotation.
With Riddick already proving his skills last season, Melendez has been a freshman already turning heads this spring and was on the Al.com freshman watchlist.
Melendez measures 6-foot-2, 225 pounds and was ranked as the No. 39 linebacker in the country.
“I like Elijah Melendez. He’s a strong guy, fast guy,” Woodyard said. “He’s been putting on film lately. I feel like he’s going to be a very big factor for us moving forward.”
“I like D.J. Barber. He’s come a long way from last season. And we’ve got Demarcus Riddick coming back too. He’s going to have a great role on this team.”
For more than 50 years, Unclaimed Baggage has been attracting visitors from all over the country interested in what could be deemed a modern-day treasure hunt to the small town of Scottsboro.
The facility, which sells items found inside orphaned suitcases for discount prices, has become known as the kind of place where you never know what you’re going to find, but if you’re lucky, you’ll get it at a bargain.
Of course, with so many years in business, Unclaimed Baggage has accrued a long, and not-so-surprisingly interesting, history. You can read about some of it below.
Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro.bn
Unclaimed Baggage Fun Fact #1
Unclaimed Baggage got its start in 1970, when entrepreneur Doyle Owens used a borrowed pickup truck and a $300 loan to pick up his first load of unclaimed baggage from Trailways Bus Line in Washington, D.C. They were all sold in a day, and the business was born.
Unclaimed Baggage Fun Fact #2
Today, Unclaimed Baggage is a 50,000-square-foot facility and adds around 7,000 new items to its sales floor daily.
The welcome sign at Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro.
Unclaimed Baggage Fun Fact #3
Unclaimed Baggage buys orphaned suitcases from all over the country, sight unseen, that are left unclaimed after the industry-standard allotment of 90 days. That’s less than 0.03 percent of bags, but it still leaves them with plenty to work with.
A rattlesnake at the Unclaimed Baggage Museum in Scottsboro.
Unclaimed Baggage Fun Fact #5
A lot of unusual items have been found at Unclaimed Baggage over the years, including an aluminized fire suit, an Egyptian burial mask, a unicycle, a cowboy hat signed by Gary Sinese, a jar full of shark teeth, shrunken head and even a live rattlesnake.
What’s the most frequently found item at Unclaimed Baggage though? That’d be underwear. In the 2023 Found Report published by the business, undies were listed as the item they found the most of (along with a promise that they only sell the brand new ones).
A restored Hoggle from David Bowie’s “Labyrinth” at the Unclaimed Baggage Museum in Scottsboro.
Unclaimed Baggage Fun Fact #7
The most famous find at Unclaimed Baggage is the four-foot puppet of Hoggle from David Bowie’s 1986 film Labyrinth, which was found in 1997. After being restored, the puppet is now on display for visitors to see at the Unclaimed Baggage museum.
Unclaimed Baggage Fun Fact #8
Meanwhile, the most expensive item ever found at Unclaimed Baggage was a 14-karat gold diamond ring appraised at $37,050.
Can’t make it to Scottsboro? You don’t have to miss out. While rummaging through the store and visiting the museum is a big part of the fun, Unclaimed Baggage also has an online store where it sells clothing, electronics, books, jewelry and more found in its orphaned suitcases as well.
A history of Unclaimed Baggage in the entranceway.
Auburn and Florida are both in the 2025 Final Four, just the fifth time two teams from the SEC reached the final weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The Tigers and Gators meet in a national semifinal game at 5:09 p.m. Saturday in San Antonio. Duke and Houston face off in the other Final Four game later that night, with the two winners set to play for the 2025 national championship on Monday.
Oddly enough, this will be the first time two SEC teams have played in a national semifinal game. In the previous four instances with two SEC teams in the Final Four, they were on opposite sides of the bracket, and one or both lost in the semifinals.
The good news is that three of the four “SEC doubles” in the Final Four resulted in a team from the conference winning the national championship. Here’s a recap of how those went down:
Coach Nolan Richardson and Arkansas won the NCAA tournament championship in 1994, becoming the first SEC team other than Kentucky to win a national title in men’s basketball. (AP Photo/Bob Jordan, File)AP
1994 — Arkansas & Florida
Site: Charlotte, N.C.
Final Four results: Arkansas 91, Arizona 82; Duke 70, Florida 65
National championship game result: Arkansas 76, Duke 72
Notable: Nolan Richardson’s Razorbacks had also reached the Final Four in 1990 as a member of the Southwest Conference, but finally got over the hump after joining the SEC for the 1991-92 season. After winning it all in 1994, Arkansas would return to the national title game in 1995, but lost to UCLA. The Gators’ Final Four trip was their first, and the first of two teams that Lon Kruger would coach to the national semifinal round (Oklahoma in 2016 was the other).
Darryl Wilson, left, and Dontae Jones led Mississippi State to the Final Four in 1996, but SEC rival Kentucky won the national championship that year. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Associated Press
1996 — Kentucky & Mississippi State
Site: East Rutherford, N.J.
Final Four results: Kentucky 81, UMass 74; Syracuse 77, Mississippi State 69
National championship game result: Kentucky 76, Syracuse 67
Notable: Rick Pitino’s Wildcats went undefeated in the SEC during the regular season before losing to Richard Williams and the Bulldogs in the conference tournament championship game. Kentucky also made it to the national title game in 1997 (losing to Arizona), then won the championship again (beating Utah) under Tubby Smith in 1998 after Pitino had left for the NBA. Mississippi State’s Final Four run was its first and remains the most-recent time the Bulldogs have advanced past the Round of 32.
Corey Brewer (with handband) and Joakim Noah led Florida to the first of back-to-back national championships in 2006. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)ASSOCIATED PRESS
2006 — Florida & LSU
Site: Indianapolis
Final Four results: UCLA 59, LSU 45; Florida 73, George Mason 58
National championship game result: Florida 73, UCLA 57
Notable: The Gators won the first of two straight titles under Billy Donovan, who had played for Pitino at Providence and had been his assistant at Kentucky. After winning its first national title in 2006, Florida brought back its entire starting five for the following year. The Gators repeated as champion the following year, and remains the only SEC program other than Kentucky with multiple national titles in men’s basketball. LSU made the Final Four for the fourth time in program history in 2006, but has been as far as the Sweet 16 only once since, in 2019.
Kentucky reached the NCAA tournament Final Four for the 16th time in 2014, but lost to UConn in the national championship game. (AP Photo/Chris Steppig, pool) AP
2014 — Kentucky & Florida
Site: Arlington, Texas
Final Four results: Kentucky 74, Wisconsin 73; UConn 63, Florida 53
National championship game result: UConn 60, Kentucky 54
Notable: John Calipari’s Wildcats reached the Final Four as an 8-seed, beating the 1-, 2- and 4-seeds in their region and then outlasting Wisconsin in a classic national semifinal. Donovan’s Gators won 30 consecutive games leading into the 2014 Final Four, including their four NCAA tournament games by at least 11 points each. Florida ran into a buzzsaw in the semifinal game, however, as 7th-seeded UConn beat then Gators and then Kentucky in succession to finish off an improbable championship run under second-year coach Kevin Ollie. The Wildcats won their first 38 games the following year before losing to the Badgers in the Final Four, their 17th (and most recent) appearance in the national semifinal round.
Arsenal plays against Fulham in a Premier League game today. The matchup will begin at 1:45 p.m. CT on Peacock. Fans can watch this game online by purchasing a monthly Peacock subscription for $7.99 per month. Alternatively, fans can purchase a yearly Peacock subscription for $79.99.
Arsenal enters this matchup with a 16-10-3 record, and they currently possess 58 points. Notably, the Arsenal squad is currently second place in the Premier League.
In their most recent game, Arsenal defeated Chelsea 1-0. During the victory, Mikel Merino led the Arsenal offense. He scored the game’s only goal, so he will try to perform similarly this afternoon.
Merino has scored the third-most goals for Arsenal this season.
Fulham enters this matchup with a 12-9-8 record, and they currently have 45 points. In their last Premier League game, Fulham defeated Tottenham 2-0.
During the victory, Ryan Sessegnon and Rodrigo Muniz led the Fulham offense. Both players scored a goal, so they will be key players to watch this afternoon.
Muniz has scored six goals this season, so he is the third-best scorer for Fulham.
In a state where the boundaries have barely budged for more than a century, a bold question has emerged: What would it take for Alabama to create a 68th county?
Alabama’s 67 counties have remained unchanged since 1903, a time when Theodore Roosevelt was president, and the New York Yankees were just beginning their storied franchise.
But in fast-growing Baldwin County, a question is being asked of state officials about the requirements for creating a split and potentially carving out a new county in South Baldwin that would include Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and Foley.
“While an interesting academic adventure, I think the likelihood of this happening is slim,” Elliott said last week about the creation of a new county. He made it clear he wasn’t advocating for the split, but added, “However, a mere discussion of this should be a warning indicating the level of discourse associated with taking funding from some areas and not sharing with all areas.”
Sonny Brasfield, executive director with the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA), said he cannot recall a bill introduced in Montgomery to consider a new county since he started with the organization over 40 years ago. He has taken calls from frustrated lawmakers before on what it takes to create a new county.
“The couple of times we’ve had those calls, we go through (the process) of what it would take to create a new county,” Brasfield said. “That’s been the end of it.”
Brasfield said the call he received last week about creating a new county in South Baldwin County was the first he has gotten in about 25 years.
“We’ve never had a question about Baldwin before, to my knowledge,” he said.
Alabama State Sens. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston; and Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, on the floor of the Alabama State Senate on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the State House in Montgomery, Ala.John Sharp
Elliott said a question was forwarded to him from a constituent amid concerns over the ongoing battles between the beach cities and the county over the distribution of 1 percentage point of the county sales tax.
Elliott is sponsoring a bill that would allow the sales tax revenues to be split among the school districts, but he’s faced opposition from other state lawmakers who represent other areas of Baldwin County.
The concern has to do with the fate of the sales tax adopted in 1983, which provides revenues to the Baldwin County School System, but not to the newly formed city schools. Representatives with the city schools in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach want some of the revenue to support their districts, while Baldwin County Schools want to maintain the tax as it was originally crafted 42 years ago.
“I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s more indicative of the amount of friction, if you will, between the different areas of the county be it the county school system or the city schools,” Elliott said. “That’s just the level of discourse right now.”
Constitutional requirements
What would it take to form a new county? The Alabama Constitution spells it out: Support in Montgomery, the geographic size to make it happen, enough population in the two counties to support additional legislative representation, and a future county courthouse that is far removed from its former county.
The formation of a county can be done without a referendum.
The Alabama Constitution provides the Legislature with the ability to designate Alabama’s county boundaries – as well as creating a new county — with two-thirds of support in each house along with the signature of the governor. In the Alabama House that would mean 70 of the 105 lawmakers would need to support it. In the Senate, it would require 24 of the chamber’s 35 members to vote “Yes.”
The state constitution also requires that no new county can be less than 600 square miles, and no existing county can be reduced to 600 square miles. In theory that might not be an issue in Baldwin County, which at 1,600 square miles is the state’s largest county and is larger than Rhode Island.
Sonny Brasfield, the executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA), speaks before the Alabama House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at the State Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. (John Sharp/[email protected]).
“Baldwin County can be easily divided in half to reach that part of the requirement,” Brasfield said.
The Constitution also restricts a county from being formed unless it can contain a large enough population to “entitle it to one representative under the ratio of representation existing at the time of its formation.” The requirement also requires the county that is being split to have enough of a population to maintain separate representation.
Alabama’s Constitution, in other words, would prevent a similar situation that occurred in Nevada in 1987, when Bullfrog County was created by the state legislature despite having no inhabitants. The county was created in opposition to a nuclear waste site, and lasted for only two years, dissolving in 1989.
The Alabama Constitution also has one more requirement for a new county: The new county’s courthouse would have to be at least seven miles away of the old county line.
The last time Alabama created a new county was two years after the adoption of the 1901 Constitution. Houston County was carved out of Henry, Dale and Geneva counties in the Wiregrass region of southeastern Alabama.
Brasfield said a constitutional amendment had to be approved to create Houston County because Henry, Dale and Geneva were less than 600 square miles.
“It took a constitutional amendment because of the size issue,” Brasfield said. “In theory, a new county can be created by statute as long as you comply by the 600 square mile (requirement), and you can get the votes in the legislature, which is a different issue.”
Beach reaction
Gulf Shores city officials said on Friday they were unaware of the issue and declined comment.
Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich said there have been no conversations about the matter, and believes they are likely driven on the disagreement over the sales tax distribution.
Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said he was aware of the issue, and believed it was “just one of those things out of frustration” over the tax dispute.
Kennon said he has been frustrated by others in the county labeling the beach cities as “wealthy” and able to afford the operations of a city school system. Other lawmakers in the county have said it would be problematic to remove revenue from the Baldwin County School System, which oversees the rest of the schools throughout the county including in rural areas.
Gulf Shores began its city school system in 2020, following contentious negotiations with the Baldwin County School System over a split approved by city leaders in 2017. Orange Beach followed up with splitting away in 2022.
“I greatly understand why people would feel this way,” Kennon said. “We could put three-to-four cities together, they are economic machines and don’t need anyone else. There is merit to the idea, but whether it’s good for everyone, I don’t know.”
The creation of new counties is rare in the U.S. The last one created was in 2001 in Colorado.
Discussions about creating new states through secession are more common, often stemming from political disputes surrounding large metropolitan areas or arguments from urban lawmakers that their cities generate enough money to go it alone.
According to Newsweek, secessionist campaigns were active in a dozen states, including all or parts of Oregon, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Louisiana, California, Washington, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania.
In Illinois, 33 counties have held referendums to discuss seceding from the state largely over political disputes between heavily Democratic Chicago and the Republican counties south of the Windy City. Indiana state lawmakers recently advanced legislation that would create a commission of residents in both states to study the possibility of annexing the 33 counties into the Hoosier State.
New York has also long been the host of similar issues where fiscal grievances often are behind secessionist efforts in New York City. There have been considerations for decades over Long Island splitting from New York and becoming the 51st state, as proponents argue that there is a large population and enough financial ability for the metropolitan region to do so. But those efforts are always defeated by state officials.
The number of homicides in Birmingham for the first three months of 2025 are down nearly 50 percent over the same time period in 2024 — a year that saw the city’s number of violent deaths reach record highs.
As of Monday, there had been 19 homicides since New Year’s Day, down from 36 in the first quarter of 2024.
However, the number of homicides from January through the end of March 2025 is the lowest the city has recorded in a three-month period since the second quarter of 2017, according to an AL.com analysis of the homicide tallies.
Not only have homicides dropped, but the department’s clearance rate in killings this year is at an all-time high.
In the 19 homicides so far, arrests have been made in 15 of those cases.
“Some good police work is going on,‘’ said Birmingham Interim Police Chief Michael Pickett.
“I think we’re seeing a decrease because of the intentionality of all of our police in Birmingham,‘’ Pickett said.
“That’s the intentional, and quite frankly aggressive, nature of how we’re pursuing our most violent offenders, how we’re swiftly taking them to jail when they’ve committed a crime and getting them in custody.”
The SET is made up of officers selected from throughout the department who don’t respond to calls but instead patrol crime hot spots.
Those officers target the most dangerous criminals based on intelligence from multiple sources including BPD Intel, precinct commander reports, and ShotSpotter data.
Pickett put the team together in the summer of 2024, and made it permanent in December when he became the interim chief.
“Our patrol officers are patrolling more intentionally. I feel morale has increased, and we’re seeing a reflection of that,” Pickett said.
“And our Special Enforcement Teams are focused more intently on our violent offenders.”
“I think taking them off the street, intercepting them before they have the opportunity to shoot someone or take someone’s life is having an impact,‘’ he said.
“I also think what is having an impact is some of the significant arrests that we’ve made.”
“Of those 13 cases, we have made 24 arrests for either capital murder or murder, because some cases have multiple suspects,” Pickett said.
“This first quarter we have really leaned into anyone who has committed a homicide or violent crime, this year as well as 2024,” he said.
Pickett thinks the trigger-pullers or would-be trigger-pullers are taking notice.
“I think criminals are seeing it. Maybe they’re realizing ‘I want to rethink doing this,‘” he said.
“I think some of them are behind bars. A lot of our most violent offenders are off the street instead of continuing to reoffend.”
By the end of 2024, homicide detectives had made arrests in 57% of the killings, a dramatic increase over the 38% clearance rate in 2023.
The national average is around 57.8%.
As of Monday, the 2025 clearance rate was at nearly 79 percent.
“What’s different is, I really feel, is the intentionality behind the investigations,” Pickett said.
“I’m not saying it wasn’t occurring before, but I like to focus on being very thorough and moving at a bit of a faster pace – not at a pace that discredits the investigation – but at a pace to where we turn over every rock, and we walk down every lead in as timely manner as possible until we’ve exhausted every lead.”
Pickett said it is important that detectives have the tools they need to do the job, and said he’s tried to make that happen.
He also tracks each homicide investigation through the department’s shooting review process.
“We have discussions about it. We talk about everything the detective has done on it, and I try to suggest maybe things they haven’t considered,” he said.
“They can discuss with leadership what roadblocks they’ve run into, and we figure out how we can help them. We try to work with them to give them everything they need to investigate that case.”
“I’m going to be honest,” he said. “I set high expectations.”
‘I want 2025 to be one of the best years we’ve had’
Pickett’s passion is enforcement.
He spent six years on BPD’s Crime Reduction Team, working with the U.S. Marshals and has a strong background in fugitive apprehension.
“That was one of my most absolute favorite jobs,‘’ he said.
“We worked so closely with homicide, it gave me a good understanding of what homicide was looking for, the evidence and everything,” he said.
“I had to understand the totality of the investigation to be able to assist them with the apprehension.”
One man is dead and another detained after a minor traffic crash on an I-59 off-ramp Saturday led to gunfire.(Contributed)
“I went out and rode the area that I believed he was in and located the car,” he said.
“That was what I used to do. That was a good way for me to show them when a crime happens, go to where the evidence is taking you, and look around and see what you can find. Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place.”
Pickett said he doesn’t advocate rushing an investigation.
“But some things need to be walked down in a timely manner because the preservation of evidence is important when you’re trying to put that case together,” he said.
“We’re still solving cases from 2024 so clearly it takes time sometimes, but you have to triage it.”
Pickett said it’s hard for police to prevent a homicide.
“When someone has the intent of killing someone, more likely than not they’re going to wait for the opportunity, they’re going to plan it,” he said.
“Sometimes things are in the moment. Sometimes it’s an argument or confrontation that they didn’t plan to get themselves into, and nine times out of 10 police aren’t there to intervene and deescalate.”
Making swift arrests helps to prevent more violence.
First, it cuts down on retaliation homicides, which often plays a role in Birmingham killings.
“We’ve taken the person off the streets, so we’ve neutralized the ability for retaliation,” he said.
The chief also believes it serves as a deterrent.
“If people see homicides going unchecked, they feel empowered and emboldened to either continue to do it or to enjoin whoever is doing it,” he said.
“So, in that manner, I think we can reduce or prevent homicides.”
Is the current success sustainable?
“That is definitely my goal,” Pickett said.
“I know that crime changes, I know that the nature of the way a criminal’s mind works is they see things and they adjust, and police have to do that as well and we have to do it as swiftly as they do it.”
“It’s always going to be a cat and mouse game between the good guys and the bad guys,” he said.
“My full intention is to try to stay ahead of the curve, try to study the trends of what’s popping up and think ahead of how they may try to shift, what they may do next to try to outsmart us and just be ahead of the curve.”
Pickett said it’s important that the community know that aggressive policing, or focused deterrence, is aimed at criminals, not the public at large.
“I know people are seeing a lot of our enforcement side right now,” he said. “We don’t want to alienate and target an entire community.”
“There’s so many good law-abiding citizens in Birmingham and I’m talking about all over the entire city,” he said.
“So, we never say we’re going to focus on a particular area – we’re focused on violent individuals who want to break the law in our city.”
Pickett said he’s proud of the men and the women in the department.
“They have really been showing up. They’ve always shown up but in this first quarter, I challenged them to be locked in in 2025 and with the decrease that I have seen in crime, they are,” he said.
“When I go out in the community, people are constantly saying, ‘we feel a difference, we see a difference.‘”
The chief said he passes that on to the officers and detectives who might not hear it otherwise.
“I just want to keep this going,” he said. “I want 2025 to be one of the best years we’ve had in a very long time.”
While Huntsville’s population has grown by more than 20% since 2019 to an estimated 246,000, its violent crime rate is heading in the opposite direction.
The Huntsville Police Department reported last week that its violent crime rate has dropped almost 39% during the same time span. That includes murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
City Councilman David Little said the police department “deserves a lot of credit keeping us safe.”
Violent crime reports dropped from 1,787 incidents in 2019 to just 1,092 in 2024, the department reported.
According to its annual report for 2024, police officers investigated 18 homicides, 124 rape reports, 127 robberies and 823 aggrevated assault cases last year. Officers responded to almost 175,500 calls for service.
The homicide rate has gone up and down since 2019. In 2019, there were 19 homicides. It dropped to 14 in 2020, but shot back up to 25 in 2021, but then dropped to 21 in 2022 and 19 in 2023.
“The work is never done,” Police Chief Kirk Giles said in a news release. “We’re focused on proactive policing strategies that prevent crime before it happens.”
Deputy Chief Charles Brooks said the city’s success is due to the dedication and collaboration between law enforcement, prosecutors and community organizations.
“By working together, we are able to share resources, intelligence and strategies that disrupt criminal activity and bring offenders to justice,” Brooks said.
The department also credits its crime reduction efforts to a mix of officer presence/response time, collaboration, economic environment and technology. That is a challenge for a city growing not only growing in population but in area as well. Now the nation’s 27th largest city geographically, officers now patrol an area the size of Chicago.
“The police have done an admirable job in the surface area we’re asking them to patrol,” City Council President John Meredith said during a recent town hall in west Huntsville.
He addressed concerns about the lack of a precinct headquarters for that part of town. The headquarters for the sprawling 5th district he represents is on Clinton Street.
“Knowing what I know now after interacting with the police and being shown some of the technologies that they use, you may not see a patrol car going down there, but they know what’s going on.”
Initiatives such as foot and bicycle patrols, the Citizens Police Academy and the Security Camera Share Program have strengthened relationships between officers and residents while deterring criminal activity, police officials said.
The department also utilizes advanced crime analysis tools through the North Alabama Multi-Agency Crime Center (NAMACC) to track trends and respond effectively.
“The application of technology helps our investigators find the needle in the haystack,” Deputy Chief Michael Johnson said. “We’re committed to leveraging these tools to stay ahead of crime and ensure our community’s safety.”
In addition, police officials said continual community involvement is essential to keeping the crime rate low.
“Our journey toward a safer city is ongoing,” Captain Jeff Rice, Sr. said. “We continuously adapt our strategies and work with the community to ensure every resident feels protected.”
Chief Giles said that lasting crime reduction relies on partnership with residents.
“We can’t do this alone,” he said. “When residents stay informed, report suspicious activity, and engage with their police department, we all win.”
A Birmingham nonprofit is launching a program aimed at combatting food insecurity among low- to moderate-income residents.
The Daniel Payne Legacy Village Foundation will kick-off the new approach, called Daniel’s Meal Subscription Service, with an event April 5, 2025.
The program targets a known need – food insecurity, defined as “the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways,” as noted on the United States Department of Agriculture website.
According to FeedingAmerica.org, 1 in six people in Alabama are facing hunger.
The program will select 100 families through a lottery system. The families selected will receive 32 to 36 free, freshly prepared meals per week, for a full year. The foundation, a charitable organization of the African Methodist Episcopal church, makes the lottery open to anyone living within the footprint of AME District 9, which covers the state of Alabama, according to the foundation website.
There is no cost to apply to this program, but the families chosen will have to pay a $50 activation fee. They will need to pick up the meals from the Daniel Payne Village Plaza weekly. To apply you must enter the online lottery by April 2, 2025, or sign up in person at the launch event April 5.
Low Income Relief, a site connecting individuals and families in crisis, described The Daniel Payne Legacy Village Foundation as a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through education, economic development, and wellness. The foundation said that the meal service was made possible by a $255,000 grant from the city of Birmingham.
Visit DanielPayne.org for more details on foundation programs.
