Tag Archives: Alabama

Huntsville’s ABC affiliate reports: A former pastor has been found guilty of sodomy after days of testimony. According to court officials, Danny Duane Pitts was found guilty of second-degree sodomy Thursday after a trial in Morgan County. Testimony in the trial began on Tuesday with former Hartselle Police Investigator Amy Crouch. Crouch testified the then-teenage accuser disclosed details about several …

Reuters reports: An Alabama man was arrested on Thursday over criminal charges that he hacked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account earlier this year, in an action that caused bitcoin’s value to spike, federal prosecutors announced. In January, a hacker posted false news about a widely anticipated announcement the SEC was expected to make about bitcoin, shocking the …

From the Justice Department: The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the State of Alabama and the Alabama Secretary of State to challenge a systematic State program aimed at removing voters from its election rolls too close to the Nov. 5 general election, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). On …

The Birmingham News reports: Gunfire erupted in Birmingham’s Five Points South entertainment area Saturday night, leaving four people dead and at least 21 others injured. Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the shooting happened just after 11 p.m. in the 2000 block of Magnolia Avenue South. Initial reports indicate club patrons were waiting in line outside Hush, a hookah and cigar lounge …

Mobile’s Fox affiliate reports: A judge today sentenced a former Mobile County minister to a total of 20 years in prison for sexually abusing two young children. Kenneth Turberville was supposed to go on trial today for sodomy. However, he pleaded guilty on Friday instead to two counts of attempted sexual abuse of a minor. Prosecutors say one victim was …

Law & Crime reports: Embattled former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore lost another defamation case Wednesday when a trio of judges appointed by Donald Trump ruled that Moore’s appeal was filed too late. Moore brought a $40 million defamation lawsuit in 2020 against conservative news outlet The Washington Examiner for a series of …

NBC News reports: A federal judge in Alabama on Tuesday refused to block the Biden administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in four Republican-led states, breaking with six other judges who have said the rules are invalid. U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon in Birmingham in a 122-page ruling, rejected various arguments that the four states led by …

Birmingham’s ABC affiliate reports: A youth minister was in court for sex crimes Wednesday. Terry Murphree is charged with nearly 20 counts of sex crimes including rape and clergy having sex with a child and human trafficking. Not only is Murphree accused of raping a 13-year-old child, Blount County Investigators also say he sexually assaulted four more underage girls and …

ABC News reports: The three University of Alabama System campuses on Tuesday shuttered diversity, equity and inclusion offices— and opened new offices — to comply with a new Republican-backed law attempting to ban the programs on public college campuses in the state. The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, along with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of …

The Alabama Political Reporter reports: A House bill that could have led to the arrest of librarians narrowly missed becoming law last session, but sponsors have already filed a follow-up for the session that begins next February. House Bill 4 is primarily sponsored by Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs, but has a total of 49 co-sponsors including House Speaker Nathaniel …

Columbus’s CBS affiliate reports: On Tuesday, 39-year-old Terry Murphree of Oneonta was booked into the Blount County Jail on the following charges: first-degree rape, sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old, nine counts of Clergy-sexual intercourse with a child, electronic solicitation, human trafficking, traveling to meet a child to perform a sexual act, three counts of first-degree …

The Birmingham News reports: Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has some thoughts on voter fraud and election integrity, and, under the right circumstances, he’ll share them. When Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Marshall sued to overturn the results. Later, he appeared before Congress to testify as an expert witness. But when asked repeatedly whether President Joe Biden had …

The Alabama Reflector reports: A bill that would have expanded Alabama’s “Don’t Say Gay” law died on the final day of the 2024 regular session. HB 130, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would have extended Alabama’s prohibition on discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to fifth grade to kindergarten to eighth grade. It also would …

The Birmingham News reports: The Alabama House voted April 25 to make school and public library staff criminally liable for distributing “sexual or gender oriented material” to minors without parental consent. HB385 places libraries in the same category as “adult-only” stores, movies and entertainment. It would force school and public librarians to remove a book that someone finds obscene or …

AL.com reports: The Alabama House of Representatives has passed a bill to expand a ban on teachers providing instruction or classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. HB130 by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would expand the ban that now applies from kindergarten through fifth grade to apply through 8th grade. The ban was first passed …

The Birmingham News reports: A bill to adjust the deadline in Alabama law for political parties to certify their nominees for president and vice president in order to get on the ballot in November has passed the state Senate. The Senate passed SB324 by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, by a vote of 31-0 on Tuesday. Twenty-five Republicans and six …

NBC News reports: Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, of Irondale, was charged with malicious use of an explosive and possession of an unregistered destructive device, the Justice Department said. The explosion outside Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office occurred around 3:42 a.m. on Feb. 24. No injuries or major damage were reported. “That device had the characteristics of an IED, and …

The Alabama Reflector reports: Democratic candidate Marilyn Lands, who campaigned on ending Alabama’s near-total abortion ban and protecting access to contraception and in vitro fertilization, won a special election Tuesday for a Huntsville-area state House seat. Lands will succeed former Rep. David Cole, R-Madison, who resigned in August after pleading guilty to voter fraud charges. In a statement, Lands said …

The Associated Press reports: Teacher-led discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity would be banned in public schools and displaying Pride flags in classrooms would be prohibited under legislation lawmakers advanced in Alabama on Wednesday. The measure is part of a wave of laws across the country that critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.” It would expand current Alabama law, …

The Birmingham News reports: A new Alabama law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programming and training in public colleges and other state agencies will go into effect this fall. Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB129, known as the “divisive concepts” bill, into law Wednesday. The law will become effective Oct. 1, 2024. The law lists eight so-called “divisive concepts,” with …