Alabama shark attack survivor Lulu Gribbin made an appearance on the third hour of this morning’s “TODAY” show after “Lulu’s Law” was passed by the state’s House of Representatives.
On June 7, 2024, Gribbin, of Mountain Brook, was one of three people bitten by a shark while vacationing along the Florida Panhandle. The teen lost her hand during the attack and had to have her leg amputated.
“I lost about 2/3rd of my blood, which is crazy that I was able to just make it and be able to make it to the hospital, so I’m super grateful that I’m here today,” Gribbin said during a video interview with the “TODAY” show.
On Thursday, the Alabama House of Representatives passed the bill unanimously. It is now headed to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved. If enacted, the system would go into effect beginning in October 2025.
“I really just want to inspire others who are also going through similar situations that its important to never give up even when challenges and curveballs at you,” Gribbin said in the interview. “You just have to keep going.”
The Tennessee Titans are expected to select Miami (Fla.) quarterback Cam Ward with the first pick in the 90th NFL Draft on Thursday night. If that happens, the Cleveland Browns could have first choice of the non-quarterback prospects.
But the Browns are unsettled at quarterback as Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry weighs his options at No. 2, so that triggered plenty of quarterback questions at his pre-draft press conference on Thursday. During his answers, Berry cited four former Alabama quarterbacks – the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa, Carolina Panthers’ Bryce Young and current draft prospect Jalen Milroe.
“Obviously, quarterback’s the most important position,” Berry said. “I think the biggest thing that we’re thinking about going into this draft is really just adding good players and good prospects. Not overthinking it that way. Can’t necessarily dictate the draft, although certainly you have more influence when you’re picking as high as we are this year. But we’re really just looking to add good players. …
“I think the biggest thing for us is we want to have long-term players across the roster. We’re not going to necessarily force something if we don’t think the value’s right or anything along those lines. But we want to be thoughtful and disciplined in our decision-making.”
Berry said the league is full of top-flight quarterbacks who did not start Game 1 of their NFL careers that way.
“We firmly believe that it’s not about picking a player who’s ready to contribute now,” Berry said. “It’s about trying to find the player that you think is going to be the best if you have access to that player. And look, I think you can think about Patrick Mahomes had his whole first year. Josh Allen, it really took to Year 3 for him to become Josh Allen. Lamar (Jackson) probably hit the ground running pretty quickly. Jalen Hurts, there were doubts about him until he probably hit Year 3. So quarterbacks mature and grow at their own pace, and our thought isn’t in terms of immediacy, but making the best long-term bet.”
After Ward, draftniks generally have Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders as the No. 2 quarterback, and it’s easy to find mock drafts with Sanders as the Browns’ pick at No. 2. But quarterback projections, particularly in the short term, don’t always hold true, with Berry citing Young and C.J. Stroud, the first and second selections of the 2023 draft as an example.
The Panthers picked Young at No. 1 and went 2-15 in his rookie season. The Houston Texans took Stroud at No. 2, made a seven-game improvement from 2022, captured their division title and won a playoff game in 2023.
“The reality of it is, like, every situation is different,” Berry said. “Every player acclimates differently. Like, I think back to, what was it? I want to say ’23. And you look at Bryce and CJ. Bryce had played a lot of football and played in the SEC at Alabama. It took him a little bit of time to get his sea legs in Carolina. Whereas like with CJ, there were probably more questions about him going in the process, and he hit the ground running. So I just think there are plenty of those examples where you really just don’t know how they’ll transition and why it’s important to have patience at the position.”
The Browns also hold the first pick of the second round and, with 10 picks, have the draft capital to trade into position to get a targeted player – perhaps Sanders later in the first round or one of the other QB prospects – Milroe, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart or Louisville’s Tyler Shough.
Berry said the NFL success of those quarterbacks could depend on which team picks them.
“I think that a lot of the quarterback position is the environment that you put the individual in,” Berry said. “Whether that’s with teammates, schematically, what you ask them to do and, honestly, what you ask them to do early in their career. And I think you’re starting to see it more and more across the league that quarterbacks can produce in a number of different ways. The way that Josh Allen produces is a lot different than the way that Brock Purdy produces. The system that Tua runs is a lot different than the system that Lamar Jackson runs. And I think it’s of great importance for any organization bringing in a quarterback to understand what that individual does well and how you both build an offense and design a scheme to accentuate that individual strength, because I think as long as they have a level of baseline talent, you can have a productive player at the position as long as you’re thoughtful in terms of building the environment around them.”
“He’s got rare physical talent,” Berry said. “When he gets in the NFL, he may be the only quarterback who’s faster than Lamar. Don’t tell Lamar I said that, please. He’s got rare physical gifts. He’s strong, he’s fast, he’s got a really strong arm, and any system that you build around him, you want to take advantage of the fact that he has things that no other players at the position have.”
Cleveland has extra insight on Milroe because the Browns’ offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees, served in that spot for Alabama’s 2023 SEC championship team.
“It helps a lot,” Berry said. “To have your OC having been at Alabama with him for a full year, calling plays for him, knowing his strengths and weaknesses, it helps a lot.”
The Browns are in a quarterback quandary because of another injury to Deshaun Watson. Watson went down in the seventh game of the 2024 season with an Achilles tendon injury and his availability for the 2025 season is up in the air.
“I can say that Deshaun’s done a great job of rehabbing,” Berry said. “He’s been in every day. He’s progressing, and that’s really our focus. But it’s just too early to say.”
Cleveland started four quarterbacks last season, and Watson is the only one who remains on the roster.
The Browns traded with the Eagles to obtain Kenny Pickett, a two-year starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers before spending the 2024 season as Hurts’ backup. Cleveland also signed Joe Flacco for an 18th NFL season after he started six games for the Indianapolis Colts in 2024 and a year removed from rallying the Browns to the postseason after Watson went out with an injury.
“It’s about breeding competition,” Berry said, “and whatever that room looks like as we go into the spring and then, probably most importantly, training camp, all those individuals will have a chance to compete to be the starter.”
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. would “move on” if a way to end the war in Ukraine can’t be found soon — as Russia said a one-month pause on targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure had ended.
“We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term. Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio told reporters at Le Bourget airport outside of Paris on Friday morning, according to a transcript provided by the State Department.
His comments followed a meeting of U.S. officials — including Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff — with representatives from France, Germany and the UK in Paris on Thursday, where the U.S. indicated its aim was to secure a full ceasefire in Ukraine within weeks, according to people familiar.
Rubio also said the European nations could help “move the ball” to get a resolution and that their ideas had been “very helpful and constructive.”
“We had a good meeting yesterday,” he added. “But this isn’t going to go on forever.” The war in Ukraine, now well into its fourth year, “has no military solution to it,” Rubio said. “Neither side has some strategic capability to end this war quickly.”
President Donald Trump, who predicted on the campaign trail that he could quickly secure a ceasefire, hits the 100-day mark of his second stint in the White House on April 30.
Trump “has dedicated a lot of time and energy to this, and there are a lot of things going on in the world right now that we need to be focused on,” Rubio told reporters. “There are a lot of other really important things going on that deserve just as much if not more attention.”
Thursday’s talks in Paris also included a meeting between Witkoff and French President Emmanuel Macron and were attended by Ukrainian officials.
U.S. officials indicated they expected to make significant progress soon, and the participants agreed to work toward that, said the people familiar. National security advisers and negotiators from Germany, France, the U.S. and the UK plan to gather again in London next week to follow up on their discussions.
The meetings came almost a week after Witkoff traveled to St. Petersburg, where he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for almost five hours. He described the conversation as “compelling,” saying they discussed steps that could end the war and perhaps lead to business opportunities for Russia as well.
European officials have attempted to influence the outcome of peace efforts kicked off by the Trump administration, especially after being sidelined during recent bilateral talks between Russia and the U.S.
Trump has expressed frustration at the pace of negotiations with Russia, which has so far declined to accept his proposal for a truce in Ukraine as a starting-point for broader peace talks. But the U.S. leader has also at times blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the war that began with Russia’s invasion in 2022.
On Friday, the Kremlin said an order to pause strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days had expired, with no updated instructions in place.
“The month has indeed expired,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “At the present time there have been no other instructions from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.”
Putin agreed to limit attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days during a March 18 phone call with President Donald Trump, an outcome that fell well short of the White House’s aim for a total halt to the fighting over that same timeframe.
Kyiv and Moscow each accused the other of breaking the accord, though the month passed without a strike on any of Russia’s major refineries, and many of the alleged violations were related to transformers and power lines.
As of early April, Russia’s refinery runs were on track to reach a four-month high thanks to an absence of the drone attacks.
Kremlin forces have stepped up strikes on other targets in recent weeks, including deadly missile attacks on civilians in Kryvih Rih, Zelenskiy’s home town, and Sumy in Ukraine’s northeast.
Separately, Trump told reporters on Thursday that a deal on critical minerals that he’s demanded with Ukraine is expected to be signed on April 24.
His comments suggests both sides have agreed to the contours of an accord governing postwar plans to exploit Ukraine’s mineral deposits and rebuild its infrastructure.
The deal would grant the U.S. first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund to be controlled by Washington. In negotiations, Kyiv has pressed for better terms and refused to recognize past U.S. assistance as debt.
An American citizen was sitting in a Florida jail at the orders of federal immigration authorities despite a judge finding his birth certificate to be legitimate.
Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, 20, was on a 48-hour U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement hold in the Leon County, Florida Jail after being a passenger in an allegedly speeding car stopped by state troopers, according to the Florida Phoenix, which first reported on Lopez-Gomez’s plight.
Lopez-Gomez, who was born in Grady County, Georgia and moved to Mexico when he was a year old, his distraught mother, Sebastiana Gomez-Perez, told the Phoenix.
The U.S. citizen returned to Georgia four years ago and lives in Grady County, adjacent to the Florida state line.
A Florida state trooper pulled over the car Lopez-Gomez was riding in because it was traveling at 78 m.p.h. in an area where the speed limit is 65 m.p.h., according to the Georgia man’s arrest report.
Lopez-Gomez handed over his Georgia state ID to the trooper, who wrote that Lopez-Gomez was illegally in the U.S., the Phoenix reported.
The Homeland Security Investigations Office in Tampa, Florida issued a 48-hour ICE detainer against Lopez-Gomez on Thursday, the Phoenix reported, noting that the ICE officer whose name appeared on the detained declined to speak to the outlet.
Lopez-Gomez was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, and although the charge was dropped, he remained held on the ICE detainer.
The Georgia man had a virtual court appearance Thursday.
An immigration advocate handed the Lopez-Gomez’s American birth certificate to the judge, who found it to be “an authentic document” after viewing it in the light.
But the Leon County judge said she did not have the authority to release Lopez-Gomez because of ICE’s detention order.
However, Lopez-Gomez was released from the Leon County Jail on Thursday night, according to Thomas Kennedy of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, who advocated for Lopez-Gomez and his family in court.
The driver and another passenger of the vehicle Lopez-Gomez was in appeared in court Thursday, with the driver also charged with driving without a license.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law earlier this year that makes it a misdemeanor for undocumented immigrants over age 18 to “knowingly” enter Florida “after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers,” according to the Phenix.
Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked the state from enforcing the law amid a legal challenge.
But Kennedy said Lopez-Gomez was arrested under that law:
The Homeland Security Department told CNN it will look into the detention order.
Lopez-Gomez’s case comes as another puts President Donald Trump’s immigration policies under scrutiny.
For Democrats, the Abrego Garcia case is about fundamental American ideals — due process, following court orders, preventing government overreach. For the Trump administration and Republicans, it’s about foreigners and gang threats and danger in American towns and cities.
This dichotomy is playing out as Democrats double down on their defense of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man mistakenly deported and imprisoned without communication. They’re framing his case as a threat to individual rights to challenge President Trump’s immigration policies.
The effort comes as the Trump administration pushes back harder, turning this deportation into a test case for his crusade against illegal immigration despite a Supreme Court order saying Abrego Garcia must be returned to the United States.
An Alabama Port Authority railroad project that generated concern in Mobile’s Africatown community has passed a review by the Federal Railroad Authority, which says the work will not disrupt historic properties.
The FRA report removes a potential obstacle to the port’s Chickasaw Lead Line project, which will add a siding to an existing track. However, the research involved in the review did more clearly map Africatown historic sites that lie outside the existing Africatown Historic District. Among other things, researchers involved in identifying the wreckage of the slave ship Clotilda have confirmed the location of the shipyard where it was built.
The FRA says the report “constitutes a reasonable and good faith effort to identify historic properties” that might have been disrupted by the project, and that it found none. Anderson Flen, chairman of the board of the Africatown Historic Development Foundation, said he was just coming to grips with the report but was skeptical.
“I grew up in that area and I know the history of that area,” said Flen. He said that as he studies the report, he will be “trying to figure out how did you come to that conclusion.”
The Port’s Chickasaw Lead Line project has been the subject of discussion since August 2023. According to the Mobile Area Environmental Justice Action Coalition (MEJAC), that’s when the Africatown Historic Preservation Foundation learned of the project and shared the news with other community groups.
MEJAC, the foundation and other partners created a report on resident concerns that was presented to the FRA, the Port Authority and engineer firm Volkert Inc. at a preliminary meeting in November 2023. One outcome of that meeting was that “all parties agreed to further community engagement,” according to MEJAC. MEJAC later published its report under the title, “Key Concerns about the Port of Mobile’s Africatown Railyard Expansion Project.”
Community leaders then held a couple of at times contentious gatherings leading up to a “public involvement meeting” presented by the Federal Railroad Authority, the Port Authority and Volkert on February 29, 2024.
The plan calls for the Port Authority to build 1.9 miles of new track alongside an existing Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks (TASD) track. The new track would stretch northward from Three Mile Creek into the Plateau area; while it primarily passes through industrial territory, it does come close to residential areas in places.
The Port Authority said the new track would be used as a siding for short-term storage, improving the efficiency of a nearby switchyard along Telegraph Road south of Bay Bridge Road. The agenda for the February 2024 meeting contained a more detailed description:
“The purpose of the proposed Chickasaw Railroad Lead Line Project is to improve the efficiency of the TASD railroad system north of the TASD interchange yard. Under the existing conditions, only one track exists for much of the distance between the TASD interchange yard northward to Berg Spiral Pipe Road. When a train stops along this portion of the track, other trains are forced to stop on the mainline track. This condition results in congestion along the TASD mainline track, within the TASD yard, and on the nearby Alabama Gulf Coast Railway and Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks. In addition, under the existing conditions, the congestion leads to trains frequently idling for hours. The proposed project will allow trains up to 10,000- feet, or approximately 175 cars to be moved off the TASD mainline track to the new sidetrack while waiting for trains to pass. The new sidetrack will also reduce idle times.”
The new track would parallel the existing track on land that the Port Authority owns. Planners say the work also will involve temporary easements for grading and drainage work, as well as work on multiple road crossings and the removal of an unused pedestrian bridge that once served an industrial workforce. Funding has been secured through an $8.7 million federal appropriation.
A Federal Railroad Administration map of the Chickasaw Lead Line project shows the federally-defined Africatown Historic District in blue, the rail line in red, and certain historic sites in yellow.Federal Railroad Administration
Africatown residents and advocates, wary after a decades-long fight with industrial encroachment, voiced a variety of worries in the MEJAC report and in the community meetings. One was that the existing line was already close to residential neighborhoods at some points, and an additional line might mean more noise and more potential pollution for those residents. Some voiced concerns that the siding might eventually be extended to carry through traffic, or that engines might sit idling on the new track.
For the federal authorities, the particular focus of that February 2024 meeting was the requirement under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 to consider the project’s possible impacts on historic properties, what it calls a Section 106 Review.
An Africatown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The project site does not touch that historic district. But it does come close at its southeast corner, where Chin Street turns north to meet Paper Mill Road, an area where heavy industry already sits close to homes, causing health concerns for residents. MEJAC’s report says the line comes within 160 feet of occupied residences.
It’s also close to residential blocks at the northeast corner of the historic district, where Jakes Lane meets McKinley Street and where Mobile County Training School serves as a community anchor. According to the MEJAC report, it’s a little over 300 feet from the school’s athletic field.
An Alabama Port Authority rail project would add a siding to a track that passes close to Mobile County Training School (at left).Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
The FRA guide to the February 2024 meeting said that the process would consider possible sites of historic interest including hunting grounds, a baptismal site and a community gathering space.
At least one community leader came away disappointed with the session, which was designed to allow the Railroad Administration and the Port Authority to provide information on the project and to encourage people to submit written comments to the Railroad Administration’s process.
Joe Womack, executive director of the Africatown-CHESS community group, stated afterward that “Quite a number of Africatown supporters left disappointed because they had come to the meeting with a lot they wanted to say and was not given the opportunity to express themselves verbally.”
“I include myself as one of those people,” he said in his report on the meeting. “It’s unfortunate, but most residents will not take the time to write their opinions and questions down and turn them in later. They would rather express themselves at an open microphone rather than put something in writing. Africatown’s CHESS environmental organization will continue to collaborate with other local and national environmental organizations to push for more transparency within the community and more open community meetings.”
“In addition, the project is very close to residential homes and Africatown’s Historic School within the historic district,” Womack wrote at the time. “Unfortunately for Africatown residents, The Africatown Historic District is only about 40% of where Africatown residents live and about 20% of the entire Africatown Planning Area.”
In its new report, “Supplemental Historic Property Identification to Support Section 106 Review of the Chickasaw Lead Line Project” the FRA indicates that the feedback it gathered in late 2023 and early 2024 led it to determine “that supplemental historical research was needed to properly assess effects from the Project to the Africatown Historic District.”
According to the report, the FRA conducted additional research of its own and the Port Authority hired an archaeological consulting firm: SEARCH Inc, a company instrumental in conclusively identifying the wreckage of the slave ship Clotilda.
A “technical memorandum” from SEARCH Inc. addresses “The Clotilda Shipbuilding Site and Surrounding Maritime Industrial Site and Their Relationship to Africatown.” The researchers involved include Marine Archaeologist James Delgado, Alexandra Jones and project manager Timothy Parsons.
An Alabama Port Authority rail project would add a siding to this track. The Africatown Bridge, to south, can be seen in the distance.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
Their research, going back to 18-century maps and documents, gives an account of a landscape that has been heavily changed by shifting industrial use over the last two centuries, the St. Louis Point area where Three Mile Creek and Chickasaw Creek meet the Mobile River. Accounting for the altered topography, they said they were able to precisely identify the location of features such as a sawmill, wharf and shipyard. These would have been known to the Clotilda survivors who settled Africatown, in part because they were owned by Timothy Meaher, the driving force behind the voyage that brought them into slavery, and his brother, Burns Meaher.
“Historic references not previously consulted by other scholars clearly note that the sawmill and shipyard co-existed,” says the report, “and with that, we can clearly assert that that site was a location where local Clotilda survivors settled prior to settling Africatown.”
The key question for the FRA, however, was whether the new project’s Area of Probable Effect would disturb any historic sites. Maps in the report show that while it’s close to a couple – a community garden site on the north side of the historic district and a baptismal site along Three Mile Creek – none of them are within its boundaries.e
Maggie Oliver, the Port Authority’s vice president for communication and federal affairs, said the FRA’s findings clear the way for engineering work to continue on the project. The start of construction is probably about a year away, she said.
“I actually grew up on the east side of the track,” said Flen. “I was actually born there, and I know some of the things that went on. I know some of the people and some of the things that happened there, so I really need to look at the document and then try to determine how they went about the process … I don’t know how they came to that conclusion.”
For the Africatown community and historians interested in it, the SEARCH Inc. report brings fresh precision to landmarks that would have been familiar to Clotilda survivors. It also concludes that “Meaher’s Hummock,” as an area of elevated ground near the mouth of the Chickasabogue was once known, could be a treasure trove of historical artifacts.
“We suggest further archaeological assessment take place at the now more closely defined ‘Meaher’s Hummock’ with probable prehistoric, historic, and maritime archaeological remains from the indigenous shell mounds, the sawmill, shipyard, and original settlement of the community before 1865,” says the SEARCH Inc. report.
Such research, it says, might “suggest a revision” to Africatown’s entry in the National Register of Historic Places. Such a review would not necessarily expand the historic district, it said, but would note the importance of “historically linked archaeological sites” such as the wreck of the Clotilda, thesawmill and shipyard.
Delgado said that, like the wreck of the Clotilda, the location of the Meaher sawmill and shipyard was never truly lost: The locations had been documented at the time, and the knowledge had been passed along within the community. But over time, as with the Clotilda, they had fallen into obscurity.
For example, he said, some had come to think that the Meaher sawmill and shipyard had been on Three Mile Creek. But old records, particularly tax records, deeds and some precise 19th-century geological surveys, left no doubt that they were a bit farther north, on Chickasaw Creek. Furthermore, the high ground they were built on was, at least partly, ancient shell mounds.
“There are these amazing resources,” said Delgado said the surveys. “But what most people don’t know is that the originals, that is the original surveys done by these guys starting in the 1840s … survive and are in the National Archives in a drawer that nobody ever opens.”
“I know those well because I was the director of Maritime Heritage for NOAA, and we’ve used those records before,” he said. “And those records are amazing because they include the notebooks these guys were carrying with them.”
With the help of archival experts John Cloud and Timothy Parsons, Delgado’s effort turned up a map from U.S. Coast Survey work in 1845-1848. The map and accompanying notes “precisely locate original shorelines, areas of swamp and marsh, the banks of the Mobile River and Chickasabogue (now Chickasaw) Creek, as well as the Meaher’s structures,” says the SEARCH report. Additionally, we found a detailed confidential description and assessment of the Meaher’s industrial properties on the site.”
For Delgado, it all adds up to a better understanding of the landscape that the founders of Africatown had to navigate. The hull of the Clotilda was built in a shipyard near the mouth of Chickasaw Creek, using timbers from an adjacent sawmill. Then it was towed down to Mobile to be rigged and outfitted, said Delgado, and when ready it returned to the sawmill for a load of lumber.
Its infamous final voyage ended nearby, when its captives were transferred to a steamer and the Clotilda itself was burned and scuttled. Delgado said its timbers still show the marks of the steam-powered saw that cut them.
Freed after the Civil War, some of the former Clotilda captives found work at the sawmill and even used wood from it as they built homes in nearby enclaves such as Lewis Quarters.
“There is nothing earth-shattering here,” said Delgado, emphasizing that “the community had a pretty good idea of where things were.”
“But it does come back to the point of, going back to the original primary sources done at the time, we can say … we know exactly where that stuff was,” he said. “And there is the possibility that digging there, if it was done, might reveal something. But as to what has survived after all the subsequent development is unknown.”
“This is a community that’s proud of its history,” he said. If forensic archaeology and primary historical research can confirm that history, “that’s a good thing,” he said.
“This is a small contribution,” he said, “But I think it adds to our sense … of the larger landscape of Clotilda.”
Season three of the Emmy Award-winning series Jane premieres exclusively on Apple TV+ Friday, April 18.
For those unfamiliar with the Apple TV+ original series, Jane follows a 9-year-old budding environmentalist who’s on a quest to save endangered animals. Using her powerful imagination, Jane takes her best friends David and Greybeard the chimpanzee on epic adventures to help protect wild animals all around the world.
Ava Louise Murchison, Mason Blomberg and Tamara Almeida star.
Apple TV+ is known for releasing multiple episodes at a time when it comes to their projects, and Jane season three is no different. All five episodes of season three are set to be released on Friday, April 18. Users can stream the episodes back-to-back or craft their own viewing schedule.
How can I stream Jane season 3 on-demand?
As Jane is an Apple TV+ original series, viewers will need an Apple TV+ subscription to watch the show. Luckily for newcomers, Apple TV+ has an ongoing promotion offering money off your first three months when you commit to a paid subscription. New users will pay just $2.99 for their first three months, and afterwards, pay only $9.99 a month.
What is Apple TV+?
Designed by Apple, Apple TV+ is a popular streaming service that offers exclusive Apple Original shows and movies from some of the industry’s top talent, with new content arriving each month meaning users will never be short of entertaining content to watch.
Along with Jane, subscribers can catch other Emmy-winning shows such as Ted Lasso, or other popular Apple TV+ shows such as Severance, Slow Horses and For All Mankind.
A change in how Walmart maps out its delivery routes means the service will now be available to 12 million more people, including some who may qualify for same-day-delivery for the first time.
The nation’s largest retailer announced this week it was switching to “geospatial technology” to optimize delivery zones. In the past, Walmart delivery was based on traditional boundaries like ZIP codes. Now, large areas will be divided into smaller, more precise hexagonal grids that resemble pixels in a digital image. The hexagons are linked together to cover a greater area and prevents small areas around the edges from being left out of the delivery zones.
Different delivery elements – things like available times, drive time and store location – are available for each hexagon.
The change, Walmart said, allows it to adjust delivery zones with greater accuracy, including making it easier for items that aren’t available from one store to be delivered from another.
Here’s how Walmart explained the importance of that change.
“Customers can now have their delivery orders fulfilled by multiple Walmart stores within their service area. Previously, a customer’s order might have been fulfilled by a single Walmart store based on their location, which sometimes meant that if a product wasn’t available at that store, the customer would receive their order in multiple deliveries at different times. Now, with geospatial technology refining and expanding our delivery zones, a customer may be covered by multiple stores. If one store doesn’t have a particular item but another nearby location does, Walmart delivery drivers can pick up products from both, ensuring customers receive everything they need in one seamless delivery.”
The change opens up delivery to 12 million more households, including an expansion of same-day delivery.
A Division II national champion will be making his way to Jacksonville State.
Former Ferris State defensive back Jacarvis Alexandre has committed to Jax State out of the NCAA transfer portal, he announced on social media Friday.
The move comes one day after Jax State’s spring game, which he attended Thursday night; the 6-foot-1 defender has one season of eligibility left.
He also held offers from Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, UTEP, Miami-Ohio and Missouri State out of the NCAA transfer portal.
Alexandre played in eight games last season with Ferris State, finishing the season with 13 tackles (11 solo), six pass breakups and an interception before being sidelined due to injury.
One of the two people killed in Thursday’s shootings at Florida State University was the son of Ricardo “Monkey” Morales, a shadowy Cuban-American CIA operative and anti-Castro militant throughut the 1960s and ’70s who died in a bar fight in Miami in 1982.
Roberto Morales, 57, was among several university employees who had gathered for a meeting when the shooting began, his brother, Ricardo Morales Jr. said. He worked at the university’s department of dining services.
“Today we lost my younger brother, He was one of the victims killed at FSU. He loved his job at FSU and his beautiful Wife and Daughter. I’m glad you were in my Life,” Ricardo Morales Jr. wrote Thursday night in his X account.
Roberto Morales was one of two people, neither of whom were FSU students, who were killed. Five others were hospitalized in the shootings, which began shortly before noon. Authorities said the shooter, who is in custody, is the son of a Leon County Schools deputy and had used one of her weapons.
Roberto Morales had been deeply affected by his father’s death while he was a teenager, his brother said. His father, who had been a central figure in Cold War-era espionage and anti-Castro militancy, was killed in a Key Biscayne bar on December 20, 1982, during a fight. He was 43. Police ruled the incident a justifiable homicide, though his controversial past has long fueled speculation about the true nature of his death.
“Monkey” Morales operated in the shadowy realms of intelligence and counterintelligence for multiple agencies — including the CIA, FBI, DEA, the Israeli Mossad and Venezuela’s DISIP. His legacy is marked by covert operations, bombings and alleged ties to drug trafficking. Despite numerous brushes with the law, he was frequently shielded from prosecution, feeding theories about his connections to high-level covert U.S. operations.
In the 1960s and ’70s, Morales, who took part in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, was one of many Cuban exiles collaborating with the CIA to undermine Fidel Castro’s regime.
In a 2021 radio interview in Miami, Ricardo Morales Jr. claimed that his father had ties to Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
Morales said his father, who served as a sniper instructor in the early 1960s at secret camps where Cuban exiles and others were trained for missions against Cuba, recognized Oswald as one of his former trainees in the hours following Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas in 1963.
It’s been a long road for Sam Star on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” but the Alabama native’s path has been paved with rhinestones, glitz and glamour.
Sam, 25, born and raised in Leeds, has been a standout during Season 17 of the MTV reality series, showcasing her skills as a performer. Throughout 14 episodes, viewers have seen Sam sing, dance, lip-sync, write jokes and appear in comedy skits. She’s also displayed major talent in the show’s workroom, creating fabulous outfits for runway challenges.
On Friday, April 18, Sam will face a key moment on “Drag Race” during the season finale. She’s competing as one of the top four queens, alongside Onya Nurve, Jewels Sparkles and Lexi Love. They’re vying for a $200,000 prize and the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.”
It’s a prestigious crown in the entertainment world, and Sam Star is in it to win it.
“To be a part of the legacy is just so beautiful,” Sam said in an interview with AL.com. “I think we don’t even really comprehend how impactful the show is on pop culture, and how it’s going to be in history books forever.”
Sam (whose offstage name is Sam Purkey) is a familiar figure on Birmingham’s drag scene, performing at Al’s on 7th and hosting karaoke nights there. Sam also is a veteran of the local theater community, appearing in the 2022 cast of “Kinky Boots” at Red Mountain Theatre, as well as productions of “Chicago,” “Memphis,” “Elf: the Musical” and “Damn Yankees” around the city.
Sam, known as the “Supermodel of the South,” spent about 30 minutes on the phone with AL.com, chatting about her experiences on “Drag Race” and tracing her Alabama roots. Here’s what she said.
(The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.)
Sam Star of Leeds, Alabama, is a contestant on Season 17 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Here, Sam Star attends a promo event for the series on Dec. 17, 2024, in New York City.(Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for MTV/Paramount)
Tell us about your background with Birmingham theater groups. Did those experiences set the stage for you as a drag performer?
Sam Star: I would say it definitely did. Growing up, I always was the kid who was a little different, and didn’t really know what to do with myself. And I found theater, and it sort of all fell into place for me. All of the eccentricities that I had that, I was made fun of, were perfect to be on the stage, and I fell in love with it. That was my dream from the beginning, to be a performer.
So I did that all growing up. I started with the little community theater here in Leeds called Leeds Arts Council, and I fell so in love with it that I ended up wanting to do it professionally. I started auditioning for Red Mountain and Virginia Samford (theaters) in Birmingham, and then followed it all the way into college. I studied musical theater at the University of Alabama. Theater just wasn’t quite gay enough for me, so I decided to become a drag queen.
Did you graduate from Alabama?
I’m a proud Alabama dropout, but still, “Roll Tide!” I just realized that I knew the stage like the back of my hand, so I was like, “I would rather be out in the world auditioning for things other than still trying to learn about how to do that.” So I went for it, and I’m glad I did, because, look, I made it all the way to “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
Was the University of Alabama a welcoming place for you?
For the most part, it definitely was. I think I lucked out because, obviously, being a part of the musical theater department, that’s definitely more progressive than, you know, the football team. But I would say that, for the most part, everyone was nice. But I’ve also kind of been fighting those battles since I was a kid, so I found a way to make my way in this conservative area we live in.
Did you start your drag career in Birmingham, doing shows here?
I did start doing drag in Birmingham. Do you remember Our Place? So back in the day. I don’t know if I should say this legally, but it’s fine. I mean, I’m grown now, but when I was a little baby gay, I would go to Our Place and I would do a drag show, little open stages, and then I’d have to go home because I had high school the next day, my senior year.
So I started in Birmingham, and then I started doing the Audrina’s Diamond Hunts, which were a competition. Then they were throwing a competition at Al’s on 7th, and from there, I won that competition. Next thing you know, you have to come back the next week. And it just kept happening and happening. Then they eventually asked me if I wanted to join the cast (the house entertainers at Al’s). And the rest is herstory, as they say.
Do you think of Al’s on 7th as your drag home in Birmingham?
Yes, it is. I’m still technically there on the cast. I mean, obviously, I’m not there as often, because I’m touring right now, but it’s my home — always will be my home.
She’s originally from (Birmingham), and I, at this point, had started performing at Al’s. I was still sort of new into it. I ended up meeting her because she was booked at Al’s for a “coming back home” show situation.
We met; she just seemed to be impressed by me. She saw potential in me. She told me about this online drag competition that she was hosting called Love for the Arts, and she said, “You should audition for it.” So I ended up auditioning for it, and then I ended up getting to the round where people could vote on who they wanted to make the official cast of the show. Alabama came through for me and made me in the top, so I ended up getting cast on it.
After all that was said and done, she said, “I see so much potential in you. If you don’t have a mentor or a drag mother, I would love to adopt you.” Any good gay would say yes. So I was thrilled. She’s been so helpful, especially at that point, I was trying to navigate all of this new world for myself. It was so helpful to have someone like that in my corner.
Why did you want to be on “Drag Race”? What can it do for your career?
My gosh, everything. I personally wanted to be on the show because it had shaped my life in so many ways. I think before I saw “Drag Race,” I didn’t really know where I fit in the world. I felt like my urges to dress up in sequin dresses and put on rhinestone jewelry was, you know, a singular thing to me. Then I turn on the TV, and I see that there are people out there who are like me, and are thriving and making a name for themselves, which is something I always dreamed of doing.
I wanted to be on the show to inspire others down the road, like the people that I saw on TV. I want to do that for other people. And to be a part of the legacy is just so beautiful. I think we don’t even really comprehend how impactful the show is on pop culture, and how it’s going to be in history books forever. So I wanted to be a part of something bigger. I always dreamed of that coming from such a small place. And as soon as I learned about “Drag Race,” I said, “I’m gonna make that happen or I’ll die trying.” And I did it, thank God.
Alabama’s Sam Star is one of the final four on Season 17 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Sam, from Leeds, attended a celebration for the 1000th performance of the “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!” production at Flamingo Las Vegas on March 15, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada.(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
On “Drag Race’ you’ve talked about being a pageant queen, and how that’s affected what you’ve done this season, and how you’re presented yourself. Tell us what it means to be a pageant queen.
I would say, stereotypically, it just means that you’re very polished, you’re pretty, you’re very prepared. Sometimes maybe over-prepared, because in pageants, we get every category for the pageant. We know exactly who we’re going to wear. We have months to prepare for it. You know, all these things. So I think in the “Drag Race” landscape, sometimes that comes across as a little too prepared.
But I think any pageant queen you’ve ever seen compete on the show has an advantage of being in those situations before, being in a competitive environment and keeping your head screwed on straight. So there’s pros and cons. I think that sometimes, especially in my case, they just said, “We get that you’re a great drag queen, but what else?”
They’re looking for more than just a fabulous drag queen. They want to see who created this fabulous drag queen, who is the person behind that persona. And I’m grateful that they asked for that. For a long time, I was scared to show that I created Sam Star to present to the world because I wasn’t fully happy with the Sam underneath Sam Star. But being on the show was so beautiful and liberating — to see that the judges and, it seems like, the world loved the Sam behind the character. What a blessing.
You did a drag makeover on your mom, Leslie Blair, for an episode of “Drag Race,” and won the challenge. What did it mean for you to have your mom there?
My gosh, what an amazing memory. First of all, I’ll hold that close to my heart forever. She came at the exact right time, especially for me in the competition. I had just had to lip-sync (to avoid elimination) the week before, for the first time. I was just in such a dark place. For whatever reason, I had sort of deduced that the next challenge might be the makeovers, especially when Ru started talking in his intro in the workroom.
But the last person I thought would walk in would be my mother from Leeds, Alabama. So to see her, I just lost it. She’s been everything to me from the beginning. She’s been my biggest cheerleader. When the world was so dark and scary, I could come home, and I felt safe, and I felt loved and supported. So to be able to give that back to her is so incredible.
I think she’s also put so many of her dreams, and so many of her life goals, on hold to take care of my sister and myself. And what an incredible way to pay her back, by her helping me make my dream come true. It was just incredible.
Was your mom comfortable in her drag outfit? What was her reaction?
She was very comfortable. What was funny is, originally she was supposed to wear the pants outfit that I ended up wearing. But she ended up convincing me that she wanted to wear her legs out and her booty out on national television. And I was like, “Mother, are you sure you want to do this?” And she was like, “This is my one chance, of course.” So she was definitely down to clown. And thank God that it went so well.
On the episode, your mom said she goes to see your drag shows every weekend in Alabama. The other parents in the workroom seemed surprised.
The other mom said, ‘You’re showing me up.“ And my mom said, “Oh, sorry.” I’m glad that all of the different parents were on the show, to show that support looks different for everybody. I know that I’m definitely in the minority of having someone who’s so supportive, and is always there at the drag club. I mean, she’s 61 years old and is out at the nightclub past 2 a.m. to support her gay son in Alabama. That is kind of an anomaly.
But I think the other parents on (“Drag Race”), just being there and saying yes to that phone call, they did not have to do that. I think all of the parents there were so incredible and so beautiful. And it’s good for people watching the show to see. Just because your parent isn’t at all your drag shows doesn’t mean they don’t love and support you. You know, support looks different for everybody.
On another episode, you talked about your family connection to Charles Barkley. Tell us about that.
He is also from Leeds, Alabama, and he grew up with my mom. They were best friends. Well, they still are — all through school, and even after. I think that is a testament to his character, that even after having so much success, he still hasn’t forgotten about little people that were part of his formative years. He’s just always been amazing, just a great role model, always been so kind.
He’s always been outspoken in support, and he frankly doesn’t have to do that. So he’s just incredible. He was someone who inspired me, that just because we’re from a small town in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean you can’t dream big, and chase things, and achieve them. He was definitely always in the back of my mind growing up, that whatever I wanted to do, I could do it if I worked hard enough.
It is kind of a crazy relationship. If I was taller, I might have ended up being an NBA player. But I’m only 5’ 7,″ so I had to become a drag queen.
Sam Star of Leeds, Alabama, is a contestant on Season 17 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Here, Sam Star attends a premiere screening for the show on Dec. 18, 2024, in New York City.(Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for MTV/Paramount)
When you started your journey on “Drag Race,” did you think you’d make it to the finals?
At the beginning, honestly, I didn’t know and I obviously have all the self-doubt voices that we all struggle with. But as the competition went on, and after I started securing my wins, I said, “Sam, you’ve worked hard, you’ve learned everything you need to learn. Just have fun with it, and if it’s meant to be, it’s gonna happen.”
I started to feel like I was gonna make it to the end. And I’m a survivor. I mean, I hung in there, and I can’t believe that I get to compete at the finale. It’s crazy. I knew that I could do it, but again, being there, it’s such a overwhelming experience. You’re not really thinking clearly. So I was hopeful, but not sure. But again, grateful.
What does it take to do well on Drag Race? It seems like you have to be funny, you have to be quick on your feet, you have to be able to sew and make fabulous outfits and you have to have a tough skin, interacting with the other queens.
Everything you just said. You have to be more than a quadruple threat. You have to be able to do pretty much every discipline — singing, dancing, acting, sewing, comedy, being vulnerable, all these different things that are the formula of “Drag Race.”
But if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. You have to sort of surrender to the process. I knew going into the show that I wanted to be as prepared as I could, so there were many nights where I stayed up watching YouTube videos of how to sew this and how to do this wig, and all these different things, in hopes to one day get this opportunity.
There were many nights where I said, “Am I doing all this in vain? Am I wasting my time? Is this a pipe dream?” But for this all to happen to me has been so amazing. Now I am totally a champion of saying, “Put in the work now, and it’s going to pay off.” One day, RuPaul might call you up on the cell phone and say, “It’s your time.” And you better know how to make that gown and style that wig.
Alabama’s Sam Star is one of the final four on Season 17 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Sam Star, from Leeds, posed on the red carpet for a season finale event on March 27, 2025, in Pacoima, California.(Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for MTV)
You seem very comfortable on the show, on the runway and in the workroom. Was anything about filming the season intimidating for you? Were you ever scared?
All of it was very intimidating. I guess I’m a good actor, and I pretended like everything was cool. But every day I was just so overwhelmed and scared that, you know, it could be your last day. You just never know. .. I was always scared, but I was proud of myself for eventually settling in and realizing that I was there for a reason. The judges obviously liked me, or I wouldn’t be there, and it all was going to be fine.
I will say, the workroom was humongous, and the runway was humongous. So that was very intimidating. It was like walking into the wizard’s chamber in “The Wizard of Oz.” You felt like a little ant in this humongous Technicolor world. But it was amazing. It was honestly like living in a dream.
You’ve had ups and downs on this season, which makes for good television. Would you have preferred to go in, become the front-runner and cruise to victory?
That would have been nice, of course. But I’m grateful that everything happened in the way that it did, because I think that I have used Sam Star as an armor and a defense mechanism from being too vulnerable.
She was this character that I created who had no problems, and was always happy and silly and funny. (On the show), when I wasn’t doing as well or had a vulnerable moment, I think that allowed the audience to see more of the inner workings of me. Without those, I might have just been overconfident Sam Star the whole time, and never shown the real Sam underneath.
Sure, I would have liked to have just been able to sit back, and watch everybody else lip-sync, and sail to the crown. But that was not in the cards for me, and that’s all right.
Your Cher impression was a standout this season. Had you ever done Cher before “Drag Race”?
What’s crazy is, I had never done a Cher impression in my whole life. But I love Cher, and I’ve always loved Cher. I said on the show that I had been introduced to her through “Burlesque,” which is kind of embarrassing. But, I mean, it’s not my fault.
Anyway, I’ve always loved Cher, and I love Chad Michaels, who does a brilliant Cher impression. I’d never done it myself, but thank God I had all this theater experience, and being on stage my whole life to sort of, you know, pull it off somehow.
(Watch Sam Star’s Cher impression in the video below, starting at the 6:23 mark.)
Viewers also have seen you on “Untucked,” the gossipy backstage show that’s linked to “Drag Race.” What’s it like doing that part of the season, sitting and talking with the other queens?
That’s my favorite part, because you’d already heard from the judges if you were amazing or horrible that week, and you get to go back and either stress or relax. I would take my corset off, I’d take my wig off, I take my shoes off, and we just talk. I think that’s when I really was in my full form, on “Untucked,” when I wasn’t so stressed about the competition.
But it was so fun to be able to talk to the girls. Also, it was amazing to be able to sit down, have a cocktail, eat some food, you know? I love that. It’s like being in the dressing room after the show happened at a drag show, when all the girls are sitting around and talking about what happened. That was the vibe in the room.
As the season has progressed, what’s the reaction been like from your family and friends?
My gosh, amazing. Everyone is so proud. I think what’s crazy is, I think I was the most surprised to be on the show. It seems like everyone around me seems to have known that something like this was going to happen for me, and they just always believed in me, which makes me so happy. But people are so proud. I’ve also gotten reached out to by people that I grew up with — people that I haven’t heard from in years, just saying, “I’m so proud of you. Thanks for representing us.”
Also to see all the comments and things on my (social media) posts, from people that have supported me from the beginning, now commenting in support of a final four on one of the biggest television shows in the world … It’s crazy that those people have stood behind me. I’m just so grateful. There’s no other word than grateful.
Now that you’ve gained fans and fame on “Drag Race,” do you plan to stay in Alabama?
That’s a great question, and it’s one that I ask myself a lot, to be honest. I wish I could give a definite answer, but I’m not really sure. I have realized recently, especially after being on the show, that I’m not as in control as I think I am. I’ve learned that it’s way better to just surrender to the universe in a way. And the universe is my oyster, so whatever happens will happen.
It’s not in my plan or my goal to leave. I would love to cultivate more of a queer space and community here in Alabama. That would be my end goal and my dream. So we’ll see what happens. But y’all aren’t getting rid of me just yet, so don’t think I’m just gonna run off.
What would you like to say to the people in Alabama who are going to be watching the finale and rooting for you to win?
I just want to say thank y’all so much. I want to say stay strong. What an honor to be able to represent all the beautiful people of Alabama, because there are so many beautiful people out there who are on the right side of history, and are wanting to make change.
I’m hoping that all the little queer boys and girls out there see me from Alabama chasing my dream and doing it. And I hope they never stop chasing their dreams. Don’t listen to the outside world. Sometimes, being from a country place is not the easiest place to be different, but just know that it’s all going to work out. Shoot for the stars, and you just might become one.
If you watch:The Season 17 finale of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs on Friday, April 18, at 7 p.m. CT on MTV. Episodes are filmed in advance.
