Alabama
In vitro bills, Britt’s gig, AU perfection: Down in Alabama
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Temporary IVF fix?
Both chambers of the Alabama Legislature Thursday passed bills that would shield in vitro fertilization clinics from legal actions, reports AL.com’s Mike Cason.
The bills are nearly identical, so it’s possible that early next week they’ll be able to give final passage to one for the governor to sign. The House of Representatives passed its bill 94-6, with four Democrats and two Republicans voting against it. The Senate passed its bill 34-0.
This almost certainly isn’t a permenent fix as lawmakers try to get IVF clinics reopened and operating after the state Supreme Court ruled that human embryos had the same rights as children according to the state Constitution. As a matter of fact, an early version of the bill on Thursday would have automatically repealed itself in June 2025.
That part was removed, but we can consider this a band-aid fix to keep and reopen the clinics.
One of the House sponsors, Decatur Republican Terri Collins, said she expects something more permanent to be carved out in the next year.
The debate we might expect includes the personhood issue (what point a fertilized egg becomes a person), whether the next step will be a state Constitutional amendment (the state high court ruling cited constitutional law), and how narrow or broad the clinics’ immunity should be.
That is, will the immunity take away legal recourse from patients who suffer legitimate medical problems caused by IVF services?
Then again, maybe it wouldn’t be a government law without unintended negative consequences.
But can she rebut all that SOTU applause?
If, in this presidential election year, the Republicans were looking for a contrast to President Biden to give the GOP response to the State of the Union address, they sure found it in U.S. Sen. Katie Britt.
Obviously Biden’s a man and Britt’s a woman. Biden’s from Pennsylvania and later Delaware; Britt’s from Enterprise.
And while Britt’s a freshman senator, Biden won a Senate seat during the same election that Nixon beat McGovern. Now 81, Biden had already been in Washington nine years when Britt was born.
AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Thursday that Britt would handle the GOP response that’ll be aired immediately after Biden’s speech on March 7.
Whether any of those differences I mentioned means a hill of beans will be up to the viewer. But one advantage Britt has is that she can say what she wants to say without being interrupted by insincere applause every 12 words — a staple of modern SOTU speeches.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey pointed out in a statement that Britt will be the first Alabamian to give the rebuttal.
“Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman,” the governor said.
Perfecto
Right-handed pitcher Maddie Penta recorded the third perfect game in Auburn University softball history Thursday night at Jane B. Moore Field.
Now, for those not highly versed in softball or baseball, pitching a perfect game means nobody on the other team reached base at all. You don’t have to strike them all out, but you can’t allow any baserunners, even by a fielder’s error. So during in the last inning of a perfect game, behind the pitcher are seven fielders, all thinking “please don’t hit it to me.”
So on Thursday the Tigers beat Georgia State 8-0 in six innings. Penta, who threw a no-hitter just Sunday, topped that with her first perfect game. She struck out 13 of the 18 batters she faced.
Seen on Jeopardy!
- Clue: Auburn QB Bo Nix made an NIL deal with Milo’s, maker of this 2-word sugary drink – then transferred out of the South to Oregon.
- Correct response: Sweet tea.
- Clue: It’s the nickname of Alabama CB Ga’Quincy McKinstry, whose smile resembled this pitch “Man;” Now he has an NIL deal with the drink, oh yeah.
- Correct response: Kool-Aid.
(These were easier than even our weekly Monday quiz.)
Quoting
“I never liked being punched in the face when I was younger. I was quickly reminded again of why I was never too fond of it.”
Florence Police Chief Ron Tyler, who was punched in the face while trying to arrest a man wanted in connection with a stolen vehicle.
By the Numbers
700
Only six high school baseball coach in Alabama have reached 700 career wins. The latest? Hewitt-Trussville’s Jeff Mauldin this week.
More Alabama News
On This Date
In 2007, A tornado outbreak across the South included one twister that killed nine people in Enterprise, eight of them students at Enterprise High School.
The podcast
Enjoy two nights of free dance at Stars on the Riverfront
Alabama Dance Theatre will present Stars on the Riverfront on June 20 and 21, at 7:30 p.m. each night at Riverwalk Amphitheater in Montgomery.
In Alabama’s coastal landscape, two Alabama bridges quietly stand among the longest in the United States.
A new World Atlas ranking of the 11 longest bridges in the United States is a reminder that not all crossings are so forgettable. These are the spans that stretch the idea of a “quick drive” into something else entirely.
As World Atlas notes, the country’s roughly 617,000 bridges are mostly routine. The ones on this list “swallow the horizon,” turning open water into a roadway that can take ten or fifteen minutes to cross.
Louisiana dominates the ranking, but Alabama also makes its presence known with two entries: the Jubilee Parkway and the General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge.
Jubilee Parkway: Alabama’s 7.5-mile bridge ranks No. 7 among longest in US
Ranked at No. 7 on World Atlas’ list, the Jubilee Parkway carries Interstate 10 across Mobile Bay as a pair of parallel viaduct bridges stretching 7.5 miles between Mobile and Spanish Fort/Daphne. Opened in 1978, the four-lane crossing is often called the “Bayway.”
The World Atlas says the bridge takes its name from Mobile Bay’s “jubilee” phenomenon, when marine life is pushed into shallow water, making it unusually easy to catch.
General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge: 6.08-mile span ranks No. 10 in U.S.
The General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge ranks No. 10 on the World Atlas list, stretching 6.08 miles across the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta northeast of Mobile as part of Interstate 65.
World Atlas says the bridge is better known locally as the “Dolly Parton Bridge,” a nickname inspired by the paired arch design that, locals say, resembles a distinctive silhouette when viewed from certain angles.
Completed in 1980, it features twin parallel weathering-steel arches and concrete viaducts carrying four lanes over the wide, marshy delta.
Longest bridges in the U.S. Full World Atlas ranking
World Atlas ranks these as the longest bridges in the U.S.:
- Lake Pontchartrain Causeway: 23.83 miles
- Manchac Swamp Bridge: 22.8 miles
- Louisiana Airborne Memorial Bridge: 18.2 miles
- Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel: 17.6 miles
- Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge: 11 miles
- Louisiana Highway 1 Bridge: 8.26 miles
- Jubilee Parkway: 7.5 miles
- San Mateo-Hayward Bridge: 7 miles
- Seven Mile Bridge: 6.79 miles
- General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge: 6.08 miles
- Norfolk Southern Lake Pontchartrain Bridge: 5.8 miles
Jennifer Lindahl is a Breaking and Trending Reporter in Alabama for USA TODAY’s Deep South Connect Team. Connect with her on X @jenn_lindahl and email at jlindahl@usatodayco.com.
The iconic wooden roller coaster at Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure is officially back in action, along with some seasonal deals. This Father’s Day, dads can get into the park for free to ride the restored coaster, Rampage.
It’s not the only attraction returning; this Halloween, Alabama Adventure is bringing back not one but two haunted houses for the first time since the late 2000s.
If you can’t wait until then, the Bessemer park will be open late on Saturdays and end with a pop of color. Adventure Summer Nights will have the park open until 9:30 p.m. once a week with a fireworks show to round off the night.
And as an apology to their loyal visitors, people who bought a daily ticket before June 10 are welcome to come back and try their new and improved attractions for free. If you’re a season pass holder, don’t feel left out—pass holder discounts are doubled for the month of July.
Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday set an execution date for death row inmate Jeremy Williams, who was convicted in the 2021 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City.
Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state’s three-drug lethal injection during a 30-hour window beginning at 12 a.m. August 13 and ending at 6 a.m. August 14. The execution date comes after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a request from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office on June 16, authorizing the state to carry out the sentence.
In a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace, Ivey said the Supreme Court’s June 16 order serves as the official death warrant for Williams.
“By law, I am required to specify the time frame for carrying out the sentence of death,” Ivey said. “Accordingly, I hereby order that Jeremy Lee Williams’s sentence of death be carried out within a time frame beginning on August 13, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. and ending on August 14, 2026, at 6:00 a.m.”
Ivey noted that she retains the authority to commute the sentence before the execution takes place.
Williams, 34, was convicted in April 2024 on four counts of capital murder stemming from Holland’s death. Prosecutors charged him with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a rape, capital murder during first-degree sodomy and capital murder of a child younger than 14.
Authorities said Holland disappeared from her family’s home in Phenix City on December 13, 2021. Her body was discovered two days later inside an abandoned house less than a mile away. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
In addition to the death sentence, Williams received several other prison terms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking and for knowingly producing recordings depicting the sexual abuse of a child. He also received another life sentence for a separate sexual abuse conviction, along with a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit human trafficking and a 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse.
Unlike most death row inmates, Williams sought to speed up the execution process. During a hearing, he told the court that he accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted the sentence carried out.
In 2025, Williams dismissed his attorneys and informed the court that he wished to waive any remaining appeals and proceed with his execution. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson determined that Williams was competent to make that decision and allowed him to forgo further legal challenges.
Under Alabama law, capital convictions automatically receive appellate review. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently affirmed Williams’ conviction and death sentence in March.
After that review concluded, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court in May to authorize an execution date. The court granted the request earlier this week, clearing the way for Ivey to schedule the execution.
If carried out as scheduled, Williams’ execution would occur nearly five years after Holland’s death and a little more than two years after he was sentenced to death.
Williams’ execution would be Alabama’s first by lethal injection since April 2025. The state’s three most recent executions were carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama began using in 2024.
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