BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama once again leads the nation in per capita non-business bankruptcy filings, with experts pointing to persistent poverty, limited access to healthcare, and weaker social safety nets as key reasons for the state’s outsized financial distress. According to the latest available data, Alabama recorded 527.3 bankruptcy filings per 100,000 residents in 2024,…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama’s sweeping new vaping law, which took effect June 1, has sparked a statewide debate as it bans most flavored e-cigarettes from convenience stores, imposes tough new permit requirements and restricts sales to specialty shops accessible only to adults. The law, known as Act 2025-403, now allows only 34 tobacco- and mint-flavored…

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Today, June 2, Alabama marks Jefferson Davis’ Birthday, a state holiday that shuts down government offices and schools to honor the president of the Confederacy. The observance, falling on the first Monday in June, is a painful reminder for many residents that Alabama still officially celebrates a man who led a failed…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For the second time in just over a year, residents of Alabama may catch a glimpse of the northern lights tonight as a powerful geomagnetic storm pushes the aurora borealis unusually far south. The northern lights, typically reserved for far northern latitudes, could be visible low on the northern horizon in Alabama…

ENSLEY, Ala.— For more than a century, Ensley High School stood as a pillar in its neighborhood, a landmark of Birmingham’s once-thriving industrial heart. Founded in 1901 to serve a community built around the massive U.S. Steel and American Cast Iron Pipe Company plants, the school’s three-story brick building, designed by architect David O. Whilldin,…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The East Lake Branch Library, a cherished architectural landmark in Birmingham’s East Lake neighborhood, is set to reopen its doors Monday following extensive renovations that honor its nearly century-long history and safeguard its distinctive design. Originally established in 1914 in a modest 25-by-50-foot room on the second floor of the East Lake…