There are a lot of beautiful places in the United States to go for a run, and an Alabama city was recently named one of the best running towns in the country.
Among the runs named as the best were the 6.4-mile Mountain Mist Loop, the 2.5-mile North Plateau Loop and the 3.3-mile South Plateau Loop within Monte Sano State Park, due to their mix of terrain and scenic views. Several local races, like the Mountain Mist 50K and the McKay Hollow Madness 25K/12K were mentioned as standouts for runners looking for a challenge.
Other cities that made the list include Flagstaff, Ariz., Boulder, Colo., Roanoke, Va., and more.
“Around The Horn” features four sports reporters from across the country who debate sports stories and headlines while host Tony Reali “scores” their arguments.
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Reali has hosted the show since 2004, when he took over for Max Kellerman, the show’s original host from 2002 to 2004.
The panelists on “Around the Horn” over the years have included Woody Paige, Tim Cowlishaw, Bob Ryan, Kevin Blackistone, J.A. Adande and Bill Plaschke.
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.
Of the top five rushers in the NFL entering Week 12 of the 2024 season, three are former Alabama ball-carriers.
Derrick Henry of the Baltimore Ravens leads the league with 1,185 rushing yards, Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers ranks third with 838 and Jahmyr Gibbs of the Detroit Lions is fifth with 796.
For Henry and Jacobs, ranking among the NFL’s rushing leaders is old hat.
Henry won the rushing crown in 2019 and 2020, when he became the eighth player in NFL history to reach 2,000 rushing yards in a season. He finished ninth in rushing yards in 2021, even though he missed nine games with a broken foot. Henry has finished second in rushing in each of the past two seasons.
In 2022, Henry ranked second in rushing to Jacobs.
Henry has his sixth 1,000-yard season. Jacobs is headed toward his fourth.
Gibbs is a second-year player and, unlike Henry and Jacobs, is not his team’s starting running back. Detroit uses Gibbs in tandem with six-year veteran David Montgomery.
In his second NFL season, Gibbs has 133 carries for 796 yards and eight touchdowns and 23 receptions for 256 yards and one touchdown. Montgomery has 137 carries for 595 yards and 10 touchdowns and 21 receptions for 205 yards.
One area where the two Detroit running backs have excelled is measured by a metric called rushing-success rate. A rushing attempt is judged successful if it gains 40 percent of the yards needed for a first down on first down, 60 percent of the required yards on second down and 100 percent of the required yards on third and fourth down.
Among the NFL’s top 33 rushers, Gibbs leads with a 59.4 percent success rate, with Montgomery next at 57.7 percent.
Lions coach Dan Campbell worked as the assistant head coach and tight-ends coach for New Orleans in 2017, when the Saints paired rookie Alvin Kamara with veteran Mark Ingram at running back to great success.
The former Alabama running back was the veteran in that pairing (although Kamara spent a redshirt season in Tuscaloosa without playing for the Crimson Tide). Campbell said the Montgomery-Gibbs tandem reminded him of the Ingram-Kamara duo.
“No. 1, they were both great teammates,” Campbell said on Wednesday. “AK was the young guy that came in, and he had the electric juice, as the player he is now. He was young; he was raw. And Mark, he wasn’t old, but he was a savvy veteran in his prime. Was more our hammer, but could do everything. I mean, he could run choice routes out of the backfield. He could run inside zone, wide zone. You could toss it to him. He had enough breakaway speed to finish down the field. He had this all-encompassing – protections, the whole thing. And so, AK was able to learn under him, around him, watch him and develop his game a little bit, gravitated more towards Mark, but yet he had what he’s got. He’s got the other things that Mark never had, and so I just think it makes you well-rounded, and you begin to mesh. You begin to take each other’s abilities and try to use them as your own a little bit, and it just elevates each one of them. And they’re also competing, and they’re friends.
“And I think that’s what we’ve got here. I think David and Gibbs are like brothers. I really do. And I think David’s big brother. He’s not going to let anybody mess with (Gibbs). That’s his guy. Now, he’ll mess with him, and he does something wrong, he’s going to let him know. He takes him under his wing. And I think they’ve elevated each other. He’s made Gibbs better, and I think Gibbs has helped him, too. When you have that competition, when you have that love for one another, the whole thing, to me, they’re the perfect combination. It doesn’t come any better, in my opinion. You got everything you need out of those two players – run or pass game.”
In 2017, Ingram and Kamara became the only backfield duo to each reach 1,500 yards from scrimmage in the same season.
In Detroit’s 52-6 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Gibbs surpassed 1,000 yards from scrimmage in the Lions’ 10th game this season.
Jacobs also achieved that feat on Sunday. Gibbs and Jacobs join Henry among the eight players with 1,000 yards from scrimmage in the NFL in 2024.
The Alabama Game of the Week is the New England Patriots-Miami Dolphins contest on Sunday. Thirteen players from Alabama high schools and colleges are on the teams’ active rosters.
Ryan Pryor, the owner of both businesses, confirmed with AL.com that Hush is set to close December 1st but he has not decided on a date for Sleek.
Pryor, a retired police officer who opened Hush in 2019, would not give any details as to why he has decided to close his businesses. Pryor said he will soon make a formal statement on social media.
The EightyEight Bar, another business that Pryor owns in Pickwick Place, the same Five Points South building where Hush and Sleek operate, will remain open.
Hush Lounge, known for their hookah, bottle service, parties, and DJs and celebrated its fifth-year anniversary in June.
Some people took to Facebook to mourn the closing of Hush Lounge.
“We’re going to continue to open, and prayerfully continue to be one of Birmingham’s safest and most enjoyable nightspots,” he said.
In 2017, he talked to news media about using his law enforcement background to ensure safety and regulations at Sleek Sports Bar during a time when other nightclubs were under scrutiny after incidents of gun violence at their locations.
Damien Laron McDaniel III, 22, is charged with capital murder in the massacre and with 17 counts of first-degree assault for those who were injured.
McDaniel is also charged with murder in the Sept. 19 killing of Diontranet Tinae Brown, who was shot to death inside 604 Bar and Lounge on Ninth Street North, and in the robbery shooting death of 32-year-old Jamarcus McIntyre, shot to death less than 24 hours after the Five Points South shooting.
Jussie Smollett’s 2021 conviction has been reversed by the an Illinois Supreme Court.
“Today, we resolve a question about the State’s responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants,” the Illinois Supreme Court wrote in its ruling, per WGNTV. “Specifically, we address whether a dismissal of a case by nolle prosequi allows the State to bring a second prosecution when the dismissal was entered as part of an agreement with the defendant and the defendant has performed his part of the bargain. We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we, therefore, reverse defendant’s conviction.”
Smollett was convicted of falsely reporting a 2019 hate crime against him in 2021. Smollett, who is Black and gay, alleged his attackers shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him before putting a noose around his neck on a Chicago street.
Smollett was on the television drama “Empire,” which filmed in Chicago, and prosecutors alleged he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received.
He was found guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct for setting up the attack.
Smollett’s attorneys have argued that the case was over when the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped an initial 16 counts of disorderly conduct. A grand jury restored charges after a special prosecutor took the case.
Alabama is set to execute Carey Dale Grayson for the 1994 brutal slaying and mutilation of a hitchhiker in Jefferson County on Thursday evening, making it the state’s sixth execution in 2024.
As of Thursday morning, 50-year-old Grayson was awaiting word from the U.S. Supreme Court, which he has asked to halt the execution. Grayson’s execution is to be carried out using the relatively new method of pumping nitrogen gas into a mask fitted over an inmate’s face and suffocating him to death.
He’s also awaiting word on a last minute request to have a federal judge order the state to give him a strong sedative before the execution.
Grayson was convicted with three other men– all teenagers at the time– for the murder and mutilation of 37-year-old Vicki Lynn Deblieux. The woman had been hitchhiking, when she was picked up by the group of teenagers. Her body was found days later at the base of a cliff.
This story will be updated here throughout the day
The original story continues here:
The crime
Deblieux was kidnapped while hitchhiking from Chattanooga to see her mother in Louisiana. She accepted a ride from Grayson, Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan, and Louis Mangione on the Trussville exit of Interstate 59 on Feb. 22, 1994.
Deblieux’s nude and dismembered body was found four days later at the bottom of a cliff on Bald Rock Mountain in St. Clair County.
Court records show after picking up the woman, the teens took her to an abandoned area near Medical Center East in Birmingham, where they all drank. At some point, the teens attacked and killed Deblieux, drove her body to St. Clair County, then tossed her body and luggage off the cliff.
According to testimony in the teens’ 1996 trials, Mangione went home while the other three returned to the scene and mutilated her body. They stabbed Deblieux’s body more than 180 times, cut open her chest cavity, severed her fingers, and more. The teens later gave a finger to Mangione, who showed it to other friends who then contacted police.
All of the bones in Deblieux’s face and head were broken, and all but one tooth was missing. She was identified by an old X-ray of her spine.
Grayson was 19 at the time of the slaying. Mangione was 16, while Loggins and Duncan were both 17.
Conviction and sentence
Although different versions of who was the “ringleader” of the attack at their trials, Grayson, Loggins and Duncan were all convicted and Jefferson County Circuit Judge Mike McCormick sentenced those three to death.
Grayson’s sentence came after a unanimous recommendation from the jury.
The judge sentenced Mangione to life in prison without parole. But years later, Loggins and Duncan had their sentences changed to life in prison after the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says juveniles (17 or younger) can’t be sentenced to death. Justice Antonin Scalia cited the Deblieux case in his dissent in that ruling of teens that commit murder “that involve truly monstrous acts.”
After a separate ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, Duncan and Loggins had yet more hearings to allow a judge the opportunity to grant them a possibility of parole in the future.
Loggins was not given the chance of parole; Duncan will be eligible for parole in 2029.
Mangione was also made eligible for parole in 2029 after an appeal.
Deblieux
Vicki Deblieux’s half-brother, Mike Deblieux, told AL.com on Wednesday he hopes Grayson asks for forgiveness and that “God has mercy on his soul.”
But Mike Deblieux said he’s for the death penalty. “An eye for an eye… What they did to her, I think they all should have been put to death,” he said.
“It was horrific what they did,” Mike Deblieux added. He said he knows from reading about the trial that the boys were “on drugs and they’re taking pills and drinking and probably not in their right mind at the time, but you know, there’s no excuse for that and you got to account for your actions.”
Though, the younger Deblieux said he understands the legal reasons why the others are not on death row.
He does not know any family members who plan to attend Grayson’s execution. Mike Deblieux said he and Vicki’s mother is still alive, but is not attending. The half-siblings have different fathers.
Mike Deblieux doesn’t remember much about Vicki, who moved with her mother to the Monroe area of Louisiana after their parents divorced when he was about 7 and Vicki was about 14. He stayed behind with his other siblings. “So, you know, I have just a few memories of her growing up,” he said.
“My mother still thinks about it today. I mean, it’s affected her whole life, …I just remember when it happened, it was devastating to all of us, really. Just hard to believe it happened.”
Vicki had two daughters who would probably have been in their late teens at the time she was killed, Mike Deblieux said.
Mike Deblieux said he recalled his half-sister was living up in Chattanooga around the time of her death.
“What she was doing there (Chattanooga), I have no clue. I know she was trying to get back home to see my mother – her mother. But, you know, I guess she didn’t have the means, so she was trying to hitchhike back (to Louisiana),” Deblieux said.
Abe Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action leads a outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, against a scheduled execution in Alabama using nitrogen gas. (Kim Chandler/Associated Press)AP
Appeals
The latest appeals in Grayson’s case have centered on Alabama’s new method of using nitrogen gas to suffocate him. He and other death row inmates had previously sued in 2012 to prevent his execution by lethal injection and later when nitrogen gas was announced, he was among the inmates who signed up for that method.
However, critics — citing how the first two people executed shook for several minutes — say the nitrogen gas method needs more scrutiny, particularly if other states follow Alabama’s path and adopt the new execution method.
In its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and request to halt the execution, attorneys with the Middle District of Alabama Federal Public Defenders Office representing Grayson say the case has national significance.
“Grayson’s petition for writ of certiorari (review) raises issues of national importance among the 27 states that permit capital punishment and the federal government: whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits suffocating a conscious prisoner and whether a state’s refusal to prevent conscious suffocation via a novel method of execution superadds terror and pain in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office has maintained that execution by nitrogen hypoxia is constitutional and the prior executions have gone according to plan. “What is generally uncontested from the evidence is that the ADOC’s (prison system’s) nitrogen hypoxia protocol has been successfully used twice, and both times it resulted in a death within a matter of minutes.”
When media witnesses described the first inmate – Kenneth Smith – executed by nitrogen hypoxia as having writhed on the gurney, “what the journalists who described Smith writhing did not know was that when Smith was first moving on the gurney, he had not breathed in any nitrogen gas. That suggests his movements were voluntary or associated with holding his breath.”
If the execution proceeds, Grayson’s lawyers are seeking a strong sedative.
Late Wednesday, attorneys for Grayson filed a request asking U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker to order the prison system to give Grayson the medication.
“At approximately 1:00 p.m. on November 20, 2024, Mr. Grayson had a telehealth appointment with the prison mental health care provider,” according to the motion from Grayson’s attorneys. “During that appointment, Mr. Grayson expressed his severe and increasing anxiety and distress about his execution by nitrogen hypoxia and asked if a sedative could be provided prior to his execution. The provider made no medical assessment, but simply told him it was ‘too late’ to make such a request.”
Grayson then submitted a “sick call” slip to prison health officials. “He noted his Xanax is no longer providing relief from the increasing anxiety he feels about his execution. He got a physical exam shortly after 4:30 p.m. and was told he would be referred to the prison mental health provider who had already denied the request.
The motion reiterates that prison officials previously presented testimony “that a condemned prisoner could receive a sedative via prison health services if it was therapeutically appropriate before an execution. This Court relied on that representation and testimony in denying a preliminary injunction (to halt the execution).”
That testimony came from the leader of the health services wing of the department at a federal hearing in October.
Huffaker this morning set an emergency hearing for 11:30 a.m. to consider the motion.
AL.com reporter Ivana Hrynkiw contributed to this report.
The defense was playing well, but against Arkansas and many of Auburn’s games during the 2024 season it had to be perfect. The secondary stood out most early in the game, starting with Champ Anthony putting one of the hits of the season on Arkansas’ Andrew Armstrong. But in a twisted turn of fate, Anthony went down in devastating fashion just a few plays later with a gruesome leg injury.
Auburn’s secondary was already going through an early-season shuffle, with Anthony, Antonio Kite and Keionte Scott all playing significant snaps at corner opposite Kayin Lee. After Anthony went down, though, Auburn was forced to turn to its freshmen, a group that was talented, but still unproven against SEC competition.
On a second-and-10 at the Arkansas 40-yard line, one of those freshmen emerged.
As Arkansas receiver CJ Williams made his break across the middle of the field on a slant route, Jay Crawford matched him stride-for-stride. When Taylen Green tried to connect with Williams, Crawford got there first to break up the pass, eliciting celebrations from three nearby teammates who greeted him after the play.
It wasn’t Crawford’s first action of the season, but it was his way of announcing himself to a broader audience in a conference matchup. He played just eight snaps in that Arkansas game, according to Pro Football Focus, but became a mainstay in the secondary by the next week and hasn’t looked back since.
It’s not common for a freshman corner to become an every-game starter in the SEC, but it all seemed to click for Crawford. If you ask Hugh Freeze, it’s Crawford’s ability to pick things up quickly and learn on the fly. If you ask team captain and fifth-year safety Jerrin Thompson, it’s Crawford’s confidence and technique.
But where do those traits come from for an 18-year-old playing against some of the best athletes in college football every week? Growing up in the ultra-talented and competitive metro Atlanta youth football scene, Crawford had no other choice but to pick them up.
…
Charles Lewis had a passion for coaching and developing young athletes. A father of athletes himself, he always wanted to be involved.
That passion led to him starting a 3,500-square foot, all-turf gym, giving the youth football players he coached and other athletes a place to train year-round.
Crawford was 5 years old when he and Lewis first crossed paths. It came while Crawford and Lewis’ son, Charles, were teammates on a youth basketball team, something Lewis said he was using to recruit players to his youth football team.
Lewis successfully recruited Crawford to his Gwinnett Chargers youth flag football team, playing in a league that was run by now Auburn Director of Recruiting Research and Strategy Kenyatta Watson. To say Crawford found early success would be an understatement.
“He was my quarterback that year, and I’m telling you – Jay never played football. He never touched a football. But one thing I always knew he was gonna make it, because every time he touched the ball, he was gone down the sideline,” Lewis said in an interview with AL.com.
It was the start of a high-profile youth football career for Crawford who later played for well-known local youth teams such as the Tucker Lions and Atlanta Bulldogs.
According to many people close to Crawford, those two teams were where he picked up many of the traits evident in his game today.
The stint with the Tucker Lions came first, a famous program in the area known for physicality – earning the nickname of the “hit squad” – and producing top talent. Crawford joined at age 7, quickly adapting to a uniquely intense level of football at that age.
“I think it set him up very well to be successful,” Crawford’s head coach at Tucker Lions Tony Maddox said. “We know, when they get older, their bodies probably can’t take it, so just teaching the way to hit and how to hit and hit every day, it helped them blossom.”
Photo courtesy of Jason CrawfordJason Crawford
Not only was the physicality on a different level, but so was the training. It was an experience that Maddox said, “taught [Crawford] how to work.” From tackling drills to intense workouts and conditioning, it was the type of training few kids that age went through.
Tucker was where Crawford played corner for the first time, but there were still other parts of his game to be developed at a young age, leading him to the Atlanta Bulldogs, a team coached by speed and agility trainer and former NFL wide receiver Hilton Alexander.
“Coach Hilton had a lot of fun out there,” Crawford’s father, Jason Crawford said. “So I think he put, when you see the smiling Jay, the fun, like the lively Jay, that’s what he did.”
Being a speed and agility trainer holding the “route king” nickname, Jay Crawford’s ball skills, conditioning, footwork and other technical aspects of his game developed under Alexander’s tutelage. Despite still not even being a teenager, Jay Crawford’s football schooling took another huge step while playing for Alexander.
“We were using high school terminology in youth ball. We practiced on a high school schedule in youth ball. Like, we had a script, he came up in that environment,” Alexander said. “When Jay get to high school and some of these other kids I coach, the high school coach will reach out and say, ‘Hey, man, I don’t know what y’all were doing with these kids, but thank you, because they’re so ahead of the game.’
“Now he’s comfortable. He’s not caught off guard when you speak a certain terminology, certain defense, stuff like, ‘Oh, I’m used to that already, man.’ We watched film. We break film down about our opponent. We would break film of our games, correct certain things and really teach these kids up the right way. We did it on both sides of the ball as well as special teams. So now, when you say that he’s able to come in quickly and adapt, I’m not surprised.”
When asked about Crawford’s quick development prior to the Vanderbilt game, Freeze mentioned how all the moving parts within the scheme and applying correct technique is a process for freshmen corners.
“He’s getting better and better each week with, ‘All right, man, I’ve got to play outside tip right here or I need to play inside top right here or I’ve got to play off here or I need to play press-bail here,’” Freeze said.
It has hardly looked like Crawford has missed a beat on Saturdays, having only allowed 10 catches for 79 yards this season, according to Pro Football Focus. His 82.1 coverage grade is also the highest on the team.
What makes those numbers even more impressive is the fact that almost all of Crawford’s playing time has come in SEC play. But given the level of competition Crawford grew up playing, his youth coaches aren’t surprised by that aspect of his adaptability either.
Georgia has long been known as a talent-rich state, with the Atlanta metro area being the epicenter. Thirty-four players from Georgia made the top 300 of the 247Sports composite rankings in the 2024 recruiting class, with 16 coming from in and around Atlanta.
To give perspective on what that meant for the youth football scene that Crawford played in, Maddox estimated that the top three teams in the league Tucker Lions played in while Crawford was playing produced 30-40 Division I players.
“You really just got to know how to fight 11- on-11. It’s the biggest king of the hill,” Lewis said. “To me, it’s not all the way football. It’s more survival because you know them dads, man, they don’t play. Man, and them coaches, you know hood ball coaches, they don’t play. So, man, you gotta be willing. You gotta be ready to fight.”
Photo courtesy of Jason CrawfordJason Crawford
One could argue the same could be said about the SEC. Ten games into his freshman season, Crawford has survived and then some.
When asked about the early opportunity, Crawford described it as a “dream come true.” For his father and youth coaches that helped push him through his football upbringing, Crawford’s early success is a source of pride.
For Auburn, Crawford and many of his freshman teammates’ success is an early return on investment from a top 10 recruiting class in 2024. While the overall team success hasn’t caught up yet, Auburn has a potential top five class for 2025 in the works.
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Crawford hopes his quick success and early opportunities can be a pitch for current recruits that could follow him at Auburn. And to those players, his message is simple.
“Just hang on,” Crawford said. “We’re going to flip the switch. It’s coming.”
The HART 215-Piece Mechanics Tool Set is designed for both the DIY mechanic and professionals alike. It weighs 34.4 lbs and has dimensions of 21 inches in length, 14.50 inches in width, and 12.50 inches in height. Constructed from chrome, the set features a comprehensive collection of tools, including 1/4″ drive and 3/8″ drive 6 point sockets, which come in both standard and deep well forms, along with 1/2″ 12 point sockets. Additionally, the set includes specialized tools such as star bits and a variety of hex bit sockets. The 90-tooth ratchets facilitate quick operation and enhanced access in tight spaces. A quick-release feature ensures superior socket retention, while the entire chrome finish provides rust resistance, maintaining the tools’ appearance and functionality over time.
Improved efficiency
One notable feature of the HART 215-Piece Mechanics Tool Set is its 90-tooth ratchet design, allowing for up to 20% more access in tight spaces compared to traditional 72-tooth ratchets. This functionality drastically improves efficiency when working in confined areas, making it an excellent choice for complex automotive repairs or other intricate mechanical tasks.
Rugged case
The tool set comes housed in a rugged case featuring metal latches and barrel hinges, which not only enhances portability but also provides additional storage space for other tools, ensuring that everything remains organized and easily accessible. This thoughtful design caters to the needs of customers who value both capacity and convenience in their tool storage solutions.
Tools Included: 1/4″ drive 6 point sockets (standard and deep well), 3/8″ drive 6 point sockets (standard and deep well), 1/2″ 12 point sockets, star bits, hex bit sockets
The Week 13 Cunningham Bounds Coastal Player of the Week had a huge night in a big road win in the second round of the playoffs last week.
Junior running back Noah Moss of St. Michael earned 14,563 votes – 63 percent of the 23,039 total ballots – to take the top spot in the voting from Week 2 of the Alabama High School Athletic Association state playoffs. The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder ran for 237 yards and 4 touchdowns on 37 carries in a 38-24 win over No. 2 Pleasant Grove in the Class 4A playoffs. Moss also had 5 catches for 38 yards and had a strip sack and fumble recovery on defense.
The No. 6 Cardinals (11-1) will travel to the Birmingham area again this week to play 9-3 Fairfield for a shot at the semifinals.
Vigor quarterback Dylan Jackson, subbing for the injured Sammy Dunn, got 5,233 votes – 23 percent – to finish second in the balloting. Jackson threw 3 touchdown passes as the No. 3 Wolves blanked Eufaula 19-0 on the road last week.
Vigor, 11-1 on the season, will host UMS-Wright (6-6) this week in the quarterfinals.
UMS-Wright defensive back David Lott blocked an extra point that proved to be the difference in the Bulldogs’ 7-6 win over Andalusia last week. Lott, a 5-9, 138-pound junior, also intercepted a pass in the defensive struggle.
Watch for the weekly nominees on Sundays this fall and be sure to cast your vote each week.
