Alabama’s economic output grew slightly in 2023, but a handful of the small counties in the state’s poorest region led the way in economic gains.
Perry and Hale counties, both in Alabama’s Black Belt region, each saw double-digit percentage increases to their gross domestic product in fiscal year 2023. GDP is a combined measure of the value of all goods and services produced in an area.
While Hale and Perry led the way in percentage growth, they both have tiny economies compared to the largest in the state.
Jefferson County, home to Birmingham, has by far the highest total GDP. It grew slightly, about 2% in 2023, and is approaching $50 billion per year.
The next closest economy in the state is in Madison County, home to Huntsville, and now the second most populous county in Alabama after it passed Mobile last year. Madison County reached a GDP of nearly $31 billion in 2023 after another year of strong growth — nearly 6%.
On a per person basis, Madison’s economy is actually slightly more productive than Jefferson’s, with a per capita GDP of nearly $78,000 per person in 2023, compared to just shy of $75,000 per person in Jefferson.
20 counties saw their economies contract in 2023, including Shelby County, a suburban county in the Birmingham Metro area. In terms of median household income, Shelby County is the wealthiest county in the Alabama, but many of its residents work in Jefferson, helping boost Jefferson’s GDP. Still, despite a small decrease of about 0.2%, Shelby County boasted a GDP of about $13 billion in 2023, the fifth largest economy in the state.
Only one county saw a double-digit decline in GDP in 2023. Clay County, among the smallest economies in the state, saw a 10.3% downturn.
Overall, Alabama’s economy grew by just 2.8%, just shy of the 2.9% growth rate of the U.S. economy as a whole. The state produced goods and services worth about $245 billion in 2023.
And those fast-growing economies in Alabama, which just cracked 10%, didn’t come close to the fastest-growing economies in the United States.
Texas dominated that list — 14 of the 20 U.S. counties with the fastest growing economies in the nation were in Texas, including many sparsely populated areas with rich oil industries.
And though most Alabama economies grew, the state actually fared worse than the nation overall. Roughly 75% of all U.S. counties saw an increase in GDP, compared to just 70% in Alabama.
Ramsey Archibald is an award-winning data reporter and editor at AL.com. To read more Alabama data stories, click here. Have an idea for an Alabama data story? Email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter and Bluesky.
Alabama comedian Roy Wood Jr. has a lot on his mind in the trailer for his upcoming special. Gun range customer service. The state of retail shopping. The deeper meaning of account security questions.
“I was at the gun range. And I saw somebody get bad service at the gun range,” he says, in his signature mix of exasperation and disbelief. “How you gon’ be rude to somebody who showed up to practice murder?”
Woods’ new special, “Roy Wood Jr.: Lonely Flowers,” premieres Friday, Jan. 17, on Hulu. It’ll be the third special presented by the streaming service’s new stand-up series, “Hularious.”
In the new clip, he observes that those pesky online security questions – such as “what was the name of your first pet?” – can be an exercise in nostalgia. “Remember when you had a home filled with love?” he asks. “What street was that house on, before your daddy got your auntie pregnant, and now you got a brothercousin?”
Aside from the Jan. 17 comedy special release, “Have I Got News For You” begins its second season Feb. 15, according to Deadline.com.
Confidence is growing Alabama could be slammed by a winter storm starting late Friday and lasting into Saturday.
The National Weather service has issued winter storm watches for north and part of central Alabama that will go into effect midnight on Friday. Snow amounts of up to 6 inches are possible with up to 8 inches in some north Alabama areas, the weather service warned. Central Alabama could see up to 5 inches of snow and sleet.
What to know about winter storm watches, winter storm warnings and winter storm advisories.NWS
Winter storm warning, watch and advisory
Local National Weather Service offices issue the individual advisories for winter weather and local criteria for a storm plays a role. For example, the NWS said the amount of snow that triggers a winter storm warning in the northeast plains is typically much higher than the amount needed t trigger a winter storm warning in the Southeast.
A winter storm watch means snow, sleet or ice are possible and people should take precautions now.
“Confidence is medium that a winter storm could produce heavy snow, sleet or freezing rain and cause significant impacts,” the NWS said in its description. A winter storm warning means snow, sleet or ice is expected and people should proceed with storm preparations. When a winter storm warning is issued, “confidence is high” that a storm could produce “heavy snow, sleet or freezing rain and cause significant impacts.”
A winter weather advisory is the lowest level of warnings issued. It means wintry weather is expected and people should exercise caution. A winter weather advisory means “light amounts of wintry precipitation or patchy blowing snow will cause slick conditions and could affect travel is precautions aren’t taken,” NWS said.
Key terms to understand from NWS:
Freezing Rain: Rain that freezes when it hits the ground; creating a coating of ice on roads, walkways, trees and power lines.
Sleet: Rain that turns to ice pellets before reaching the ground. Sleet also causes moisture on roads to freeze and become slippery.
Wind Chill: A measure of how cold people feel due to the combined effect of wind and cold temperatures; the Wind Chill Index is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin. Both cold temperatures and wind remove heat from the body; as the wind speed increases during cold conditions, a body loses heat more quickly. Eventually, the internal body temperature also falls and hypothermia can develop. Animals also feel the effects of wind chill; but inanimate objects, such as vehicles and buildings, do not. They will only cool to the actual air temperature, although much faster during windy conditions.
Pamela Anderson “almost got killed,” she shared, when a man mistook her for someone else on a plane.
The “Baywatch” star, 57, revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast an irate man “tried to attack” her because he thought Anderson was a member of the Chicks.
“This one time, I was on a flight and this guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you know what this country’s done for you?’” she said.
Anderson said the man continued to give her looks throughout the flight and tried to attack her. He had to be restrained by a flight attendant.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, my God. What have I done?’ And then I looked back at him and he’d (growl at me). This stewardess had to handcuff him to the chair because he was trying to attack me.
“Yeah. And, it ended up … he thought I was a Dixie Chick. Remember that whole Dixie Chicks thing? I almost got killed on a plane!
“When you look back and he’s like (scowling) at you. That was minor (though)! I was scared to fly after that!”
The Chicks made headlines in 2003 when Natalie Maines was critical then-President George W. Bush after the United States’ invasion of Iraq.
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.
Recently, I got stoned. Only, I got my buzz from off the shelf at my local grocery store — THC in a can.
I’ve never cared much for weed, but I was born with the fabled cat’s fatal curiosity and I couldn’t let this go. Something labeled THC. On a shelf. At the store. In Alabama.
This couldn’t be real, right?
Instead of the acrid stench of a college dorm, the fizzy beverage gave off a hint of grapefruit and a tickle of carbon dioxide. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought I was drinking a LaCroix.
But after my second can, I had my answer: Yep, this was weed.
Music sounded different. Brushing my teeth took way too long. That feeling that someone in the bushes was watching me followed, only this time what I was doing was …
Legal?
I’ll let the chemists explain the difference between the delta-8, delta-9 and THC-A. When my colleagues looked at this issue last year, they produced a nifty side-by-side comparison showing them to be nearly the same thing.
Spot the difference between delta-8 and delta-9Bill Schulz for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Nor do I get the legal distinctions between marijuana and hemp. But I can now tell you from experience, the effect is close enough. Those billboards along the roadway already dispensed with the pretense.
“Bama’s Best Bud” isn’t an advertisement for Anheuser-Busch.
Manufacturers maybe took the long way around to get here, processing and concentrating ingredients from hemp, but in the end: This is weed. You can buy it at the grocery store and from a growing number of gas stations throughout the state. Use enough and it will make you high like weed. The delta-9 stuff contains the exact same main psychoactive ingredient as weed. My colleagues even reported you can test positive for weed after using it.
And somehow that’s … legal? In Alabama?
I’m not arguing it shouldn’t be. Rather, I’m puzzled why the old-fashioned stuff, the plant growing out of the earth, still isn’t.
Because, if you shift the context a little and switch up the people involved, messing around with nearly the same kind of stuff results in very different outcomes.
You could get thrown in jail.
Or end up dead.
Consider the case of Randall Adjessom, a 16-year-old from Mobile who died in late 2023 after a fatal encounter with police.
Adjessom was asleep in bed when someone burst through the door of his family’s home, where he lived with his mom, grandmother and three sisters. The teenager found a pistol and turned a corner into the hall to confront the intruders.
The intruders were a Mobile Police SWAT team on a no-knock raid.
According to a lawsuit filed in federal court last month, Adjessom put his hands up, but one of the officers shot him anyway — four times in the chest and torso. (There’s bodycam footage of this, but Alabama has decided taxpayer-funded videos meant to hold police accountable are not public records, so the public can’t see them, to hold police accountable.)
The police were looking for Adjessom’s older brother. What for? They suspected him of dealing marijuana. Out of the home, rather than out of the grocery store or gas station.
Adjessom lay bleeding for several minutes as police searched the house. He died at the hospital.
As it turned out, Adjessom’s older brother didn’t even live there, according to the complaint.
A no-knock warrant in a castle doctrine state is deadly stupid by itself. (At least, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson suspended the practice after the teen’s death.) But it’s long past time we confronted another question.
Why are we still doing this?
If you’re a suburban middle-aged, middle-class white man, you can get your buzz from the Piggly Wiggly and nobody at the checkout will look at you funny for buying drugs at a grocery store.
But if you’re a 16-year-old Black kid, you can be shot and killed without warning, in your own home, because the cops thought your brother might be selling practically the same drug there.
How does this make any sense?
About half of U.S. states have legalized recreational cannabis, and the so-called deleterious effects on society seem to be a lot of nothing. The most significant problem has been non-fatal overdoses among children because someone thought it would be a good idea to make pot look like candy.
Almost four years ago, the Alabama Legislature ostensibly legalized medical cannabis, but it handed control over to a group of hapless yokels called the Alabama Cannabis Commission. Since then, wannabe state-sanctioned drug dealers have been fighting a bureaucratic range war over who gets to sell gummies to people who need them to treat doctor-diagnosed diseases.
But every time the commission has tried to grant these limited licenses, somebody gets left out, and then that somebody sues and the state winds up in court. One time they even drew license winners out of a bowl. That didn’t work either. Nearly a whole presidential administration has come and gone and Alabama doesn’t seem any closer to using cannabis as medicine.
Alabama is so bad at this, it can’t even legalize drugs when it wants to.
Meanwhile, I can buy funny fizzy water at the Pig.
Meanwhile, kids are getting shot in their homes.
I’ll ask again, how does this make sense?
It’s high time for Alabama to admit that this is stupid. This is deadly as it is dumb. It’s time for us to stop. It’s time to relax the law. It’s time for lawmakers to chill out.
In the weeks after the death of the 40-year-old “Ellen DeGeneres Show” executive producer and DJ, Holker and her friend found a shoebox of his that was housing a “cornucopia” of drugs.
“I was with one of my really dear friends, and we were cleaning out the closet and picking out an outfit for him for the funeral,” the 36-year-old “So You Think You Can Dance” judge recalled to People in its latest cover story.
Among the substances inside were mushrooms, pills and “other substances I had to look up on my phone,” recalled Holker, who was married to Boss from 2013 to his death. Though she was well aware that Boss would smoke marijuana or drink once their kids — Weslie, 16, Maddox, 8, and Zaia, 5 — went to bed “to recharge,” Holker didn’t realize the extent of what was really going on.
“It was very alarming to me to learn that there was so much happening that I had no clue [about],” said Holker, whose new memoir, “This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light,” will be released Feb. 4. “It was a really scary moment in my life to figure that out, but it also helped me process that he was going through so much and he was hiding so much, and there must have been a lot of shame in that.”
Boss’ autopsy results, reported on in May 2023, showed no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
In Boss’ journals, which Holker read following his death, she said he alluded to childhood sexual abuse he had suffered.
“He was wrestling with a lot inside himself, and he was trying to self-medicate and cope with all those feelings because he didn’t want to put it on anyone because he loved everyone so much,” Holker said. “He didn’t want other people to take on his pain.”
Holker, though, said she’s publicly sharing the family’s pain, as well as Boss’ own struggles, in hopes that those “dealing with the same thing will help themselves out of the shadows and [know] you’re going to be OK.”
The state of Alabama’s football teams were long ago eliminated from contention for the College Football Playoff, but there are still some connections with the four teams — Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State — that will play semifinal games this weekend.
Most notable among them is Riley Leonard, the Notre Dame quarterback. Leonard grew up in Baldwin County, where he was a star at Fairhope High School in both football and basketball.
Leonard might have been a more-dominant high school player in basketball, but as a 6-foot-4 forward was limited to small-college opportunities in that sport. He wasn’t all that highly recruited in football, either, with Ole Miss and Vanderbilt his lone SEC offers and Duke, Nebraska and Syracuse his only other offers from power-conference programs in the 2021 recruiting class.
To be fair, Leonard’s recruitment came during the height of the COVID pandemic, and he was thus not able to take official visits or attend camps prior to and during his senior year. The NCAA treated the 2020-21 school year as essentially one long dead period when it came to contact with recruits.
Leonard, of course, chose Duke. He had a breakthrough season with the Blue Devils as a sophomore in 2022, when he passed for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns while rushing for 13 more scores.
Leonard was injured much of the 2023 season, and afterward entered the NCAA transfer portal. He landed at Notre Dame, where his grandfather, Gib Leonard, had played in the 1940s.
Heading into Thursday night’s Orange Bowl vs. Penn State, Leonard has passed for 2,383 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for 831 yards and 15 more scores. After his season ends, he’s ticketed to return to his home area and play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile on Feb. 1.
Leonard is one of two players on the Notre Dame roster with state of Alabama connections, though the other did not grow up here. Senior defensive lineman Howard Cross III is the son of the former Alabama and NFL tight end of the same name.
Howard Cross Jr. played at Alabama in the late 1980s before winning a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants during a 13-year pro career. He settled in New Jersey after his playing days, and Howard III graduated from Saint Joseph Regional High School in 2019.
Howard Cross III has totaled 24 tackles and four sacks in 11 games this season, but missed the Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia with an ankle injury. He reportedly returned to practice this week, though it’s not entirely clear how much — if at all — he’ll play against Penn State.
Penn State cornerback A.J. Harris (4) played his high school football in Alabama at Central-Phenix City and the Glenwood School. He joined the Nittany Lions this season after one year at Georgia. (Joe Hermitt | [email protected])PennLive
Speaking of the Nittany Lions, they have four players — two of them starters — who played their high school football in the state of Alabama.
Cornerback A.J. Harris, a five-star recruit in the 2023 signing class out of Central-Phenix City, transferred to Penn State this season after spending his freshman year at Georgia. Harris — who played at the Glenwood School in Smiths Station prior to his senior year of high school — was a third-team All-Big Ten pick in 2024, totaling 46 tackles, four tackles for loss, five pass breakups and an interception in 15 games.
Wide receiver Harrison Wallace is in his fourth season at Penn State after a standout career at Pike Road High School near Montgomery. An honorable mention All-Big Ten selection this season, Wallace is second on the Nittany Lions’ team in receptions (46) and yards (723) and is fourth in touchdown catches (4).
Serving in backup roles for Penn State are linebacker DaKaari Nelson (Selma High School) and offensive lineman Henry Boehme (Mountain Brook), both redshirt freshmen. Nelson has played in 14 games this season, totaling five tackles.
Ohio State safety Caleb Downs played his freshman season at Alabama, winning the Shaun Alexander Award as national freshman of the year in 2023. He was a first-team All-American for the Buckeyes in 2024. Getty Images
Ohio State — which faces Texas in the Cotton Bowl on Friday — has three players with state of Alabama connections. Two of them are starters, while the third was a very high-profile recruit.
Running back Quinshon Judkins joined the Buckeyes this season after two years at Ole Miss in which he rushed for a total of 2,725 yards and 31 touchdowns and was SEC Freshman of the Year in 2023. The former Pike Road star has shared the Buckeyes’ backfield with TreVeyon Henderson this season, but has rushed for 924 yards and 10 touchdowns in 14 games.
Then there is safety Caleb Downs, who transferred in from Alabama after winning the Shaun Alexander Award as the top freshman in the country in 2023. Downs was a first-team All-America pick at Ohio State this season, and has totaled 72 tackles, seven tackles for loss, six pass breakups and an interception in 14 games.
Freshman quarterback Julian Sayin was at Alabama for only a few weeks after signing in December 2023, transferring to Ohio State following the retirement of head coach Nick Saban. The California native — a 5-star recruit in the 2024 class — has appeared in four games as the Buckeyes’ third-string quarterback, completing 5 of 12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was on the Alabama staff in 2016 and again in 2019-20. Three of his assistants also coached with the Crimson Tide under Nick Saban. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)Getty Images
However, it is Texas that has the largest volume of Alabama connections, with four coaches and two players (plus one very recent former player) with in-state ties.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian was an offensive analyst (and interim offensive coordinator for one game) at Alabama in 2016 and returned to be the Crimson Tide’s full-time offensive coordinator in 2019-2020. When he left Tuscaloosa for Austin prior to the 2021 season, he took with him special teams coordinator/tight end coach Jeff Banks, offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach A.J. Milwee. A Boaz native, Milwee was a walk-on quarterback at Alabama in the early 2000s.
Two Longhorns players also transferred to Texas from Alabama after last season. Tight end Amari Niblack has played only sparingly behind standout starter Gunnar Helms, catching five passes for 33 yards in nine games after totaling 20 receptions for 327 yards and four touchdowns for the Crimson Tide in 2023.
Wide receiver Isaiah Bond — famed for the “Gravedigger” winning touchdown catch against Auburn in 2023 — has had a much larger role at Texas. Bond has 33 receptions for 532 yards and five touchdowns, third behind only Matthew Golden and Helm in yards for the Longhorns this season.
Linebacker Justice Finkley played three seasons at Texas after starring at Hewitt-Trussville High School, but has entered the transfer portal. Finkley totaled 26 tackles, four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in 32 games during his time with the Longhorns.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCORES, SCHEDULE
First Round (campus sites)
Friday, Dec. 20
No. 7 Notre Dame 27, No. 10 Indiana 17
Saturday, Dec. 21
No. 6 Penn State 38, No. 11 SMU 10
No. 5 Texas 38, No. 12 Clemson 24
No. 8 Ohio State 42, No. 9 Tennessee 17
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, Dec. 31
Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.): No. 6 Penn State 31, No. 3 Boise State 14
Wednesday, Jan. 1
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Atlanta): No. 5 Texas 39, No. 4 Arizona State 31, 2 OT
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.): No. 8 Ohio State 41, No. 1 Oregon 21
“Police Academy” star Steve Guttenberg is doing his part to help evacuees escape the 1200-acre inferno ravaging the Pacific Palisades.
While moving abandoned cars on Palisades Drive, Guttenberg approached a KTLA reporter to share an announcement about clearing the roadway for first responders and escaping citizens.
“Here on Palisades Drive, if anybody has a car, and they leave their car, leave the keys in the car so that we can move your car so that these fire trucks can get up Palisades Drive,” Guttenberg said.
“What’s happening is people take their keys with them as if they’re in a parking lot. This is not a parking lot. We really need people to move their cars.”
Guttenberg, who was not immediately recognized by the reporter, went on to say that he lives in the area and “has friends” in the Palisades who “can’t evacuate” due to abandoned cars plugging up roadways.
“There are people stuck up there. So we’re trying to clear Palisades Drive and I’m walking up there as far as I can moving cars,” Guttenberg added. “They’re families up there, they’re pets up there. They’re people that really need help.”
Guttenberg continued, “We got a huge fire up there, we got huge winds right now and it’s really important for people to help each other. It’s really important for everyone to band together and not worry about your personal property. Just get out. Get your loved ones and get out.”
Guttenberg told CNN later Tuesday that it was “the most unbelievable fire I’ve ever seen,” describing the devastation he had witnessed across the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
Evacuation warnings have been issued for all of Pacific Palisades, including Rustic Canyon, Sunset Mesa and Palisades Highlands. More than 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
A “significant” winter storm is increasingly likely for parts of Alabama starting late Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters issued winter storm watches for north and part of central Alabama that will go into effect at midnight on Friday.
North Alabama could see 4 to 6 inches of snow, with 8 inches not out of the question in isolated areas, according to the weather service.
Those in the winter storm watch in central Alabama have the potential to see 2 to 5 inches of snow and sleet.
That amount of winter precipitation, combined with very cold temperatures and cold roadways, expected to make travel difficult or impossible in many areas in north and central Alabama starting late Thursday, according to forecasters.
Nester Romeles shovels snow in front of a store at the Summit during a heavy snow on Jan. 30, 2014. (Frank Couch/[email protected]) al.comal.com
The weather service said hazardous road conditions are expected to continue through Saturday morning as temperatures fall below freezing once again Friday night.
The weather service said some snow or a wintry mix could be possible as far south as the U.S. Highway 80 and Interstate 85 corridors.
The snow or wintry mix could change over to rain for much of the state during the day on Friday, but temperatures are expected to quickly fall below freezing Friday afternoon.
Here’s a look at what to expect by region.
NORTH ALABAMA
The winter storm watch for north Alabama includes these counties: Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan, Marshall, Jackson, DeKalb and Cullman.
The watch will be in effect from late Thursday night through Saturday morning.
The weather service said heavy snow will be possible, with total snow accumulations between 4 and 6 inches and possible with higher amounts up to 8 inches.
CENTRAL ALABAMA
The winter storm watch for central Alabama includes these counties: Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Winston, Walker, Blount, Etowah, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Clay and Randolph.
It will be in effect from late Thursday night through late Friday night.
The weather service said heavy snow will be possible, mixing at times with sleet and freezing rain. Total snow and sleet accumulations between 2 and 5 inches possible.
SOUTH ALABAMA
No winter storm watches had been issued for south Alabama as of Wednesday morning. However, the National Weather Service in Mobile will be closely watching conditions on Thursday into Friday.
Forecasters noted that there was still “considerable uncertainty” about the type of precipitation that south Alabama could get, but there could be a brief period of snow and sleet for areas generally north of U.S. 84.
The precipitation should change over to all rain on Friday morning, and forecasters think that will limit or eliminate any accumulations or impacts.
However, the weather service noted that “one thing to keep in mind is that just a 1 to 2 degree difference in temperature could change the precipitation type, so this is something we’ll continue to monitor. Trends have been in our favor keeping all wintry precipittation accumulations north of our area, but still, something to check back on.”
