The Huntsville Planning Commission received a detailed look at the Big Spring Park East expansion at its meeting on Tuesday night.
Chad Bostick, principal at Bostick Landscape Architects, went over the artist renderings of the expansion with commission members before they approved the character, extent and location of the addition, which is on the site of the former City Hall at 308 Fountain Circle. The park is expanding by 2.4 acres. The expansion includes the grassy slope near the AT&T building that was the former home of the City Hall Annex.
Current plans call for an upper plaza with a pavilion with additional trees to be planted. It will also include a much-needed restroom facility. The city had a fountain designer helping with plans for a water feature.
Residents will be able to use the pavilion approximately 10 months out of a year, city officials said at a previous commission meeting.
“The pavilion itself will have garage doors and would be intended to be open during the day for public access and use,” said Bostick, whose company has a contract with the city to design the expansion. “It has the potential that is the same for other pavilions in other city parks where it can be reserved for events.”
Artist rendering of the expansion of Big Spring Park East.City of Huntsville
A lower plaza area will be elevated above the existing Big Spring Park East. It will have built in seating with tables and chairs for chess and lunch space, Bostick said.
“It will eventually have a few more trees in that area that connects with Big Spring East,” he told the commission. Bostick said the addition will include a playground with a more “naturalistic” look.
“It fits more in the context of Big Spring,” he said.
The expansion does not come without challenges. It will be an elevated portion of the park. The city is designing American with Disabilities Act-compliant switchback trails that will include concrete seating and new landscaping.
A winding path similar to San Francisco’s Lombard Street will provide ADA connection from Church Street to Fountain Circle at the south end of the park that will also integrate public art.
“It really works to tie in the art in City Hall all the way down to the art museum as it falls down onto Church Street,” Bostick said.
Huntsville City Councilwoman Jennie Robinson, who is a member of the planning commission, called the drawings something concrete she could show residents and said it was a more detailed look than what has been shown at City Council meetings.
Bids are expected to be let for the park expansion in July with construction beginning soon after. It will take about 12 to 14 months to complete.
“As our downtown thrives, so does the need for recreational spaces,” Mayor Tommy Battle said. “This property presents an opportunity to expand Big Spring Park, solidifying its position as a cherished community landmark. By enlarging the footprint, we provide an even larger public space for everyone to enjoy.”
Artist rendering of the expansion of Big Spring Park East.City of Huntsville
Other commission action
The commission approved the character, location and extent of the parking lot expansion at Huntsville International Airport. The airport is expanding its parking deck. The project includes moving the entrance plaza.
A Residence 2 zoning district was approved for a recently annexed 27.61 acre site west of Old Big Cove Road and north of Buford Drive. The annexation came at the request of Louis Breland, the founder of Breland Properties and Breland Homes. Breland is the developer of Town Madison and Clift Farm. Single-family homes will be developed on the annexed property.
The commission granted final approval for the 44-lot third phase of the Nursery at Blue Spring subdivision. Stanley Developer, LLC, is the developer. Mullins, LLC, is the engineer for the site south of Winchester Road and west of Blue Spring Road.
The 38-lot third phase of Sequoyah Cove also received final approval. It is located west of Old Big Cove and north of Knotty Walls Road. Anslem Developing, LLC, is the developer. Stratanova Engineering is also involved with the project.
The commission also approved 73 lots in the first phase of the Southpointe subdivision being developed by Concord Land Development. Mullins, LLC, is the engineer. The subdivision is north of Hobbs Island Road and west of Hegia Burrow Road.
The 174-unit third phase of Locust Grove apartments received final boundary plat approval. It is located south of Winchester Road and west of Blue Spring Road. Dixie Nell and Laddy B. Ratliff are the developers. Halliburton Surveying & Mapping, LLC, is the engineer.
By Cindy Carcamo, Dianne Solis & Alfredo Corchado | Edited by Dudley Althaus
SANTA ANA, Calif. — At Hector’s Mariscos restaurant in this heavily Latino and immigrant city, sales of Mexican seafood have plummeted. Seven tables would normally be full, but diners sit at only two this Tuesday afternoon.
“I haven’t seen it like this since COVID,” manager Lorena Marin said in Spanish as cumbia music played on loudspeakers. A U.S. citizen, Marin even texted customers she was friendly with, encouraging them to come in.
“No, I’m staying home,” a customer texted back. “It’s really screwed up out there with all of those immigration agents.”
Increasing immigrant arrests in California have begun to gut-punch the economy and wallets of immigrant families and beyond. In some cases, immigrants with legal status and even U.S. citizens have been swept into President Trump’s dragnet.
Luis Pérez, chef at Michelin Guide-listed Lola Gaspar and Chapter One in downtown Santa Ana, says business has declined and workers are fearful following June 10 immigration sweeps.Photo by Cindy Carcamo/Puente News Collaborative
The 2004 fantasy film “A Day Without a Mexican” – chronicling what would happen to California if Mexican immigrants disappeared — is fast becoming real-life weeks without Mexicans and many other immigrants. The implications are stark for many, both economically and personally.
“We are now seeing a very significant shift toward enforcement at labor sites where people are working,” said Andrew Selee, president of the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. “Not a focus on people with criminal records, but a focus on people who are deeply integrated in the American economy.”
In California, immigrant workers comprise a larger share of certain industries than they do of the nation overall. Here, the foreign-born make up 62% of agricultural labor and 42% of construction workers, according to the American Immigration Council. Some 85% of sewing machine operators in garment factories are foreign-born. Fully 40% of entrepreneurs are foreign-born.
“[The current enforcement trend will] lead to a strategy that will have big economic implications if they continue to go after people who are active in the labor force rather than those who have criminal records.”
Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute
Nationally, approximately one-fourth of workers in agriculture and construction are foreign-born, according to the American Immigration Council. More than half of drywall hangers, plasterers, and stucco masons are foreign-born. And in science-technology-engineering-and-math, so-called STEM fields, nearly a quarter of workers are foreign-born, says the ACI.
The current enforcement trend, Selee added, will “lead to a strategy that will have big economic implications if they continue to go after people who are active in the labor force rather than those who have criminal records.”
In California and across an aging nation, about half of the foreign-born are naturalized U.S. citizens – a crucial defense in immigration raids and arrests.
Protesters march through downtown Santa Ana on June 10, 2025, denouncing ICE raids across Southern California.Photo by Cindy Carcamo/Puente News Collaborative
Selee said the current strategy was launched when “the Trump administration realized they weren’t getting large numbers by following traditional approaches to pursuing people who are priority targets for deportation.”
Now, the threat and chilling effect from immigration raids can be felt in disparate communities from Dallas to El Paso to rural Wisconsin — among migrants and in some cases, the employers who hire them.
In the tiny town of Waumandee in Wisconsin, dairy farmer John Rosenow said he can’t find U.S. citizens who can withstand the rigors of dairy work.
“Fact of the matter is, if you want to eat or drink milk, you are going to need immigrant workers.”
“Yes, we want to get rid of the people who are bad actors,” Rosenow adds. “But the people I know, people who are working in the dairy farms, are just hard-working people, getting things done, doing jobs Americans don’t want to do.”
“They’re going to disrupt the harvest and food chain. This will hurt the American consumer.”
Joe Del Bosque, rancher and melon grower in California’s San Joaquin Valley
In California’s San Joaquin Valley, rancher and melon grower Joe Del Bosque has heard reports of U.S. immigration agents chasing workers in the strawberry fields south of his operation.
The San Joaquin Valley, known as the food basket of the world, is heavily dependent upon foreign-born workers, especially at harvest time, Del Bosque said. He currently has 100 people working for him, and those numbers will double as the harvest picks up in the coming weeks.
“They’re going to disrupt the harvest and food chain. This will hurt the American consumer.” Del Bosque said. “These people are hard workers. They come to work, especially if they have families here or in Mexico.”
In a surprise pivot late last week, Trump announced an easing of the crackdown in the agriculture and hospitality industries. The New York Times first reported that new guidance from a senior ICE official called for a “hold on worksite enforcement investigations/operations” on agriculture, restaurants, and hotels. The ICE guidance, issued in an email, also said agents weren’t to make arrests of “noncriminal collaterals,” a key point amid those who note that many detained immigrants have had no criminal record.
Ruben Garcia, executive director of Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, speaks to protesters on June 10, 2025: “It will require huge numbers of people peacefully coming together and saying, ‘Trump, it’s time for you to leave our government.'”Photo by Aaron Montes/Puente News Collaborative
Raids or the threat of them are also taking an emotional toll on families and generating protests in Chicago, Seattle, Spokane, Wash., New York, San Antonio, Dallas, and elsewhere. Larger protests are expected in the days to come.
In El Paso, protesters flipped the White House script that undocumented immigrants were “criminals.” They waved mostly U.S. flags and shouted “No justice, no peace. Shame on ICE.”
Among the protesters was Alejandra, a U.S. citizen and a junior at the University of Texas at El Paso. She asked for partial anonymity for fear of reprisal against her mixed-status family.
She said she took to this border city’s streets to honor the sacrifice of her grandparents who migrated from Ciudad Juárez. “All it takes is for you to look at who took that first step to bring you the life you have currently.”
More than 100 demonstrators protest the Trump administration’s deportation efforts outside an El Paso, Texas, federal building housing immigration courts on June 11, 2025.Photo by Aaron Montes/Puente News Collaborative
In the Dallas area, a Guatemalan said he’d been absent from construction sites for days.
“There’s too much fear, too much to risk,” said Gustavo, requesting his surname be withheld because he is undocumented. “I fear tomorrow, tonight. I may be deported, and who loses? My family back in Guatemala.”
Tough immigration enforcement has been the top-polling issue for Trump. But favor may be slipping. A poll released last week by Quinnipiac University showed Trump had a 43% approval rating on immigration and a 54% disapproval rating. That poll was conducted from June 5 to June 9, after several days of protests.
Meanwhile, back in Santa Ana, a city of about 316,000 in Southern California, shop owner Alexa Vargas said foot traffic has slowed around her store, Vibes Boutique, with sales plummeting about 30% in recent days.
On a recent day, the shop’s jeans and glitzy T-shirts remained untouched. Metered parking spots on the usually busy street sat empty. A fruit and snow cone vendor whom Vargas usually frequents had been missing for days.
“It shouldn’t be this dead right now,” Vargas said on a Tuesday afternoon. “People are too scared to go out. Even if you’re a citizen, but you look a certain way. Some people don’t want to risk it.”
Alexa Vargas, owner of Santa Ana’s Vibes Boutique, reports a 30% sales decline following June 10 immigration sweeps across Southern California.Photo by Cindy Carcamo/Puente News Collaborative
Reyna, a restaurant cook, told her boss she didn’t feel safe going to work after she heard about the immigration detentions at Home Depot stores in the city.
She is in the U.S. without legal status, and fears becoming an ICE target. Current immigration laws and policies don’t provide a way to obtain legal status, even though Reyna has been living in the U.S. for more than 20 years.
“I need to work, but honestly, I’m scared to death to leave my house.”
For now, her life is on hold, she says.
She canceled a party for her son’s high school graduation. She no longer drives her younger children to summer school. She even stopped attending behavioral therapy sessions for her 7-year-old autistic son.
Reyna said she can’t sleep. She suffers from headaches every day.
Early Tuesday, she said, immigration agents in an unmarked vehicle swept up her husband’s 20-year-old nephew, who is a Mexican national without legal status. The scene unreeled across from her home.
Her autistic son, a U.S.-born citizen, has begged her to allow him to play on the front yard swing set.
“No, honey. We can’t go outside,” Reyna told him.
“Why?” he asked.
“The police are taking people away,” she explained. “They are taking away people who were not born here.”
—
Aaron Montes, KTEP News reporter, contributed to this report from El Paso.
Tuscaloosa Academy senior Russell Cole was one of 82 athletes across the country selected to the National Football Foundation Team of Distinction, the organization announced Wednesday.
The team is made up of graduating seniors who play high school football and practice academic achievement, athletic accolades and community involvement.
Cole was nominated by the NFF University of Alabama Chapter.
“Each year, the NFF Team of Distinction represents the very best of what high school football has to offer — young men who lead with character, perform with excellence, and give back to their communities,” NFF chairman Archie Manning said in a release. “These 82 honorees exemplify the scholar-athlete ideal that is at the heart of our mission, and we are proud to celebrate their achievements.
“We are equally grateful to our NFF Chapter Network leaders, whose tireless efforts ensure that the values of football continue to thrive at the grassroots level.”
Cole finished his senior year with 74 tackles (31 solo), six tackles for loss, three pass deflections and three interceptions for the Knights, garnering honorable mention honors in Class 2A, Region 5.
He helped lead Tuscaloosa Academy to the Class 2A state championship game, which marked the program’s first AHSAA state title game appearance; the Knights won an AISA title in 2012.
Off the football field, Moore holds a 4.14 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta and the Spanish and computer science honor societies.
He was selected as a Football America academic All-American as a senior.
The national retail chain said it is bringing back 20 must-have school supplies for less than $20 and last year’s best-selling $5 backpack is returning. Also, the retailer’s 20% off student and teacher discounts is returning.
“The Target team will be there for families by holding last year’s prices on key school supplies and standing tall for unrivaled style, quality and exceptional value. We’re proud to be a part of back-to-school and back-to-college traditions,” said Rick Gomez, Target’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer. And across our assortment, we have great prices on everything needed to get the new school year off to a great start.”
What to know
The twenty school supplies for under $20 total includes often-purchased items such as crayons, colored pencils, notebooks and folders. More than 1,000 items are under $5 with supplies starting as low as 25 cents. Teacher essentials like storage bins, dry erase markers and classroom décor will be as low as $3.50. Verified teachers can also receive a one-time 20% off storeswide discount through Target Circle from July 20-Aug. 30.
Verified college students can receive a one-time 20% off storewide discount when they create a free Target Circle account. That discount will be available starting June 29, two weeks earlier than last year. Through Sept. 13, teachers and students can also receive 50% off a Target Circle 360 membership.
The discounts come as Target prepares for Circle Week. The sales event is set for July 6-12 with Target Circle 360 members having early access on July 5.
“Georgia develops linebackers,” Toodle told me Wednesday during an appearance on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5. “I felt like it was the best decision for me.”
Toodle, who committed to Auburn last July, flipped on Sunday. He still has a soft spot in his heart for the Tigers.
“It was the relationships with the coaches and the staff,” Toodle said of Auburn. “How they included me in different things, and how they wanted me to recruit other guys.
“I just felt like that wasn’t going to get me to the NFL in the long run. I felt like the development at Georgia was better.”
He added Freeze reached out, via text, to wish him well.
As you would expect, he heard from fans on both sides of the recruiting battle, and the comments were about what you would think.
“I received a lot of hate comments from Auburn, but it’s still love to Auburn and the fan base,” Toodle explained. “I just got a lot of love from Georgia, welcoming me into their home.”
Toodle pointed to the relationship with Georgia players, as well as being developed as a player for reasons for the flip. He re-iterated he’s a Bulldog.
“I feel like I took all the visits,” he said. “I’m locked in with Georgia. I’m ready to start recruiting other guys to Georgia.”
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.
State Rep. Matt Woods, a Republican from Walker County, is moving up to the Senate after winning a special election on Tuesday.
Woods defeated Democrat Ryan Cagle in a special election in Senate District 5, which includes Walker, Lamar, and Fayette counties, and parts of Jefferson and Tuscaloosa counties.
State Rep. Barbara Drummond’s campaign for Mobile mayor is about to get a major boost with key endorsements.
Former Mobile City Councilman Jermaine Burrell and former Mobile Police Chief and Public Safety Director Lawrence Battiste, both of whom exited the mayoral race just before the qualifying deadline, are set to endorse Drummond at a news conference scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at Government Plaza.
Drummond is now the only Black candidate on the ballot. This gives her a chance to consolidate a key voting bloc in a city where 47.5% of the voting age population is Black, compared to 46.1% white, following a 2023 redistricting.
Burrell and Battiste were the only other Black candidates to enter the race before stepping aside on the final day of qualifying, which was Tuesday.
The final list of qualified candidates, posted by the Mobile City Clerk, includes Drummond, former Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis, Mobile County Commissioner Connie Hudson, and former Police Chief Paul Prine.
Cheriogotis, endorsed by outgoing Mayor Sandy Stimpson, has built a formidable financial lead, raising more than $845,000 since January. That’s nearly half of the $1.86 million raised collectively by all candidates through the end of May. Hudson also launched her campaign early and has remained competitive in the fundraising race.
Alabama’s municipal elections are set for Aug. 26. A runoff, if no candidate captures more than 50% of the vote, is scheduled for Sept. 23.
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., has joined a War Powers Resolution to order the removal of U.S. Armed Forces hostilities against Iran absent congressional authorization.
“Our War Powers Resolution orders the removal of our Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran, while allowing our troops to defend our nation and our allies from imminent attack,” Sewell wrote in a recent release.
This comes in response to the President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a classified briefing for members of Congress on its unilateral military action in Iran, according to the release.
“First, President Trump blatantly ignored the Constitution by taking offensive military action without congressional approval.,” Sewell wrote.
“Now, his administration is refusing to come before Congress and provide answers.”
The resolution was introduced Monday by Reps. Jim Himes, Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Adam Smith, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee.
“The American people deserve to know—at the very least—what his strategy is, how he plans to keep our service members safe, and what steps are being taken to de-escalate this conflict,” Sewell wrote.
“For President Trump to withhold that information is unthinkable and suggests that he has no coherent plan.”
In perhaps the loneliest of all sports – running – The Huntsville Times Male Athlete of the Year Eric Moore excelled the most when he was helping his team.
Huntsville High School cross country coach Blake Borden said the “biggest driving force behind Eric’s success is that he’s motivated by team success.”
Moore, who will run for the University of Virginia next fall, leaves the Crimson Panthers as a three-time first-team All-State selection, the 2024 Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 7A cross country state champion, the 2024-25 Gatorade Alabama Boys Cross Country Player of the Year and his school’s record-holder in the 5K, the 2-mile run, the mile run and the 800-meter run.
His 14:52.81 finish in the ’24 cross country state championships led his team to its ninth title and fifth of the past seven. In the 2025 outdoor track 7A state meet, Moore anchored Huntsville to a championship in the 4×800-meter relay.
“Whenever the team is relying on him, that’s him at his best,” Borden said. “The four best races of his career were all cross country races where the team was relying on him to be the No. 1 guy. In indoor or outdoor track, it’s been the relay races.
“There’s a lot to unpack when you’re talking about Eric. Obviously, his accolades speak for his talent. A lot of coaches use it as a cliché, but really and truly he is the most humble kid I’ve ever coached at his level,” said the coach, who is entering his 10th year at Huntsville with five titles and three runner-up finishes in cross country. “There are probably four or five guys in the same ballpark talent-wise, although he’s probably a little above the others, but he is super humble. He’s always been very coachable and a team-first guy.”
The 5-foot-8, 120-pound Moore was also named the High School Boys Athlete of the Year in the Rocket City Awards. He earned a 4.04 weighted grade point average, was a member of the National Honor Society and volunteered at the First Baptist Church and with the Huntsville Track Club.
Moore’s cross country title win was the fourth-fastest finish in AHSAA state championships history. He also had the best time for an Alabama runner in the Great American XC Festival to finish sixth and seventh in the NXN Southeast Regional.
“Eric is the epitome of what our program is,” Borden said. “You can see a little more out of an individual in cross country than you can in indoor or outdoor track. The question comes up a lot from coaches around the state, ‘How are you getting them to do that well in cross country and not quite as well in track?’ I just kind of boil it down to when team success is on the line, they give a bit more.”
Borden said Moore and three teammates have competed in the New Balance Nationals for the past three years. In the medley distance relay – where the first leg is a 1,200-meter run, followed by 400-meter leg, an 800-meter run and then a mile run final leg – Moore ran the anchor position.
“According to my research,” he said, “in the spring of 2024, they had the fastest DMR time in state history for high schools. Maybe there was a team in the 1970s or ’80s that I can’t find, but since the ’90s there hadn’t been a faster DMR time.
“This year, Vestavia Hills ran a second faster than that, right before my guys went to New Balance in Boston and ran 10 seconds faster. Eric anchored with a 4:07 mile outdoors, the fastest he’s ever run. They were third in the nationals, a second behind winning the national championship. That’s what a relay can bring out. Eric was in 11th place when he got the baton and he got them up to third.”
Borden said he expects Moore to continue to excel at UVA. “Eric’s going to a great program led by a legend in the sport in coach Vin Lananna. He has a history of national championships at Stanford (five) and Oregon (six). Obviously, it’s an incredible academic school.
“For the first time since he was probably 14 years old, Eric’s not going to be the best guy on his team,” Borden said. “That will be really, really interesting and what he needs. At end of his career here, he was without a teammate who could push him in practice. To see that kind of improvement where in a lot of workouts he’s flying solo was incredible. He’s just that phenomenal of a runner.
“If he gets in the right situation with the right teammates where he’s really challenged, he could do some special things.”
The 2025 WNBA season continues this week with another slate of solid games. A heavyweight battle is set to take place on Friday, with the Minnesota Lynx heading to Atlanta to take on the Dream.
It’s no surprise that the Lynx remain among the league’s best teams. Coming out of the weekend, they’re 12-1 and hold the best record in the WNBA. MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier has been on an absolute tear, averaging just under 25 points and nine rebounds per game.
The Dream have been surprisingly good thanks to the help of a few key veterans. Atlanta boasts a solid core of Allisha Gray (20 ppg), Rhyne Howard (17 ppg) and Brionna Jones (13 ppg). Rookie guard Te-Hina Pao Pao is also giving them solid minutes off the bench.
Fans looking to tune into the Lynx vs Dream game can do so on Fubo, who’s offering a free trial to new subscribers.
Here’s everything you need to know before the Lynx and Dream tipoff:
When: Friday, June 27, 2025
Where: Gateway Center Arena at College Park, Atlanta, GA
Time: 7:30 p.m. E.T.
Fans looking to tune into the Lynx vs Dream game can do so on Fubo, who’s offering a free trial to new subscribers.
