Today’s report is below. First, the weekly Alabama News Quiz:

Now the daily Down in Alabama report. Here’s today’s podcast episode, with the newsletter version beneath:

A third nitrogen execution

The State of Alabama executed its sixth Death Row inmate of the year, the third using the new nitrogen hypoxia method, reports AL.com’s Kent Faulk. Those are the only three executions in the United States using nitrogen.

Carey Dale Grayson was put to death a little after 6 p.m. Thursday.

Kent reported that after the nitrogen gas started flowing, Grayson gasped and raised up, shaking his head. He lifted his legs on the gurney a couple minutes in, gave a few gasps over the next six minutes, then stopped moving.

Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said the initial movements were all show but the rest were consistent with the nitrogen executions the state has had so far.

Grayson was 19 in February 1994 when he and three younger teens picked up hitchhiker Vicki Lynn Deblieux at a Trussville exit off I-59.

They took her to an abandoned area, drank awhile, then killed her and threw her off a cliff in St. Clair County.

Three of the teens, including Grayson, returned to the scene and mutilated the body. One of them showed a finger to friends, and police were contacted.

Katt’s studios

Comedian Katt Williams announced he has purchased a former military base in Alabama to use as a movie studio, reports AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz.

He’s not saying where it is or how much it cost, but we do know that Fort McClellan’s barracks in Anniston had been on the market. Locals call the old Cold-War-era barracks “Starships.”

Williams told GQ he wants to become a movie mogul. “It’s just not fair to put all that pressure on Tyler Perry,” he said. “He can only do so much.”

Rebranded Winn-Dixies

People who grocery shop at the same place, week after week for years, develop a comfort level with the store almost like you have with the place where you get your hair cut.

You develop a system for working those aisles, and you know what produce you can count on.

So it’s a significant thing when folks lose their regular grocery store.

That’s why we’re sharing this reporting by AL.com’s Heather Gann that Aldi has announced the first seven Winn-Dixie locations that’ll be taking on the Aldi brand.

Aldi acquired Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores from Southeastern Grocers last year. Aldi said that 39 Alabama Winn-Dixies will become Aldis, and the rest will remain Winn-Dixies.

And so far seven stores have been closed for renovations as they convert to Aldis: locations on McFarland Boulevard in Northport, Centerpoint Road in Pinson, Morgan Road in Bessemer, Moffett Road in Semmes, Government Street in Mobile and South College Street in Auburn.

Updates

We have a handful of updates of stories we’re previously carried here:

• The Irondale man who set off an explosive device outside the Alabama Attorney General’s Office in Montgomery has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison, reports AL.com’s Carol Robinson. Kyle Calvert had placed stickers on Montgomery buildings that carried mostly Antifa and anarchist messages.
• Hush Lounge, the hookah bar that was the site of that sidewalk mass shooting that killed four and injured at least 17 on Birmingham’s South Side, will close, reports AL.com’s Cody D. Short. Sleek Sports Bar, a nearby establishment under the same ownership as Hush, will also close.
• Florida’s Matt Gaetz withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s Attorney General nominee, reports The Associated Press. We’d been following the Alabama angle on this story that opened up when our U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville threatened to run off any Republican senators who didn’t support Gaetz’s confirmation.

By the Numbers

1,000

That’s how many turkeys attorney Alexander Shunnarah gave away in front of his business in Birmingham Thursday.

More Alabama News

On the podcast

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