Alabama
Nearly all of the 130 guns confiscated at Alabama airports in 2024 were loaded, TSA says
All but three of the 130 guns found by Transportation Security Administration officers at checkpoints at Alabama airports last year were loaded when they were intercepted, the agency said Wednesday.
“This is a safety concern for our officers and the travelers in the checkpoints, especially because nearly all of these firearms were loaded,” said Tara Corse, TSA federal security director for Alabama.
“We commend our officers for their vigilance as we carry out our mission throughout the year to keep the traveling public safe.”
At Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, 69 of the 71 guns were loaded. Of the 33 confiscated at Huntsville International Airport, 32 were loaded, according to the agency.
Every other airport in Alabama where guns were found, the firearms were all loaded: Mobile Regional Airport (15 or 15 loaded); Montgomery Regional Airport (eight of eight loaded); and Dothan Regional Airport (three of three loaded).
TSA officers intercepted 130 guns at airport security checkpoints in the state in 2024 — a 23% increase from 2023, when 106 were caught in 2023.
Huntsville International Airport recorded the largest increase in Alabama. Officers found 33 firearms at security checkpoints compared to 20 interceptions in 2023.
Across the country, TSA officers intercepted 6,678 firearms at airport checkpoints in 2024. In 2023, 6,737 firearms were intercepted at airport checkpoints.
Last year marked the first annual nationwide decrease in firearms detected at checkpoints, other than in 2020, when COVID led to a sizable decrease in the number of passengers who flew that year.
Of the national number of firearms intercepted in 2024, approximately 94 percent were loaded. Firearms were stopped at 277 airport checkpoints nationwide in 2024.
“Make sure your firearm is not in your carry-on bag before you enter the checkpoint,” said Corse. “And also check that you do not have a pocketknife or other threats that are not permitted in the cabin of the aircraft.”
Most items that are prohibited in your carry-on bag can be placed in a checked bag, according to the agency.
Anything that is flammable, corrosive or explosive cannot travel anywhere on a plane. Hand grenades, even replica ones, cannot travel on the plane in checked or carry-on bags.
If you are going to travel with your firearm it must be in your checked bag, unloaded and in a locked hard-sided case. You must declare it to the airline at check-in.
“Travelers are responsible for being aware of what the firearm laws are on each side of their trip or they may be cited or heading to jail instead of to their vacation or business trip. Firearms may not be legal to transport even in checked baggage in some jurisdictions,” said Corse.
Adrian Klemm, meet the challenge of a career.
Alabama football’s first-year offensive line coach is one of three new faces at Kalen DeBoer’s conference table. And, next year, history says there might be three more. At the major college level, heavy turnover among assistant coaches is business as usual. But make no mistake; Klemm was DeBoer’s most important hire of the offseason. He might well be the most important hire DeBoer has made in his 26 months on the job.
That’s the magnitude of the mess that Alabama’s 2025 offensive line left behind.
The Crimson Tide’s 2025 rushing attack was an insult to the word attack. It was more like a rushing surrender; ranked 123rd out of 134 FBS teams, and 15th of 16 SEC teams, at 104.1 yards per game. Rock bottom came in the SEC Championship Game, when Georgia sent it backward for minus-3 yards. It’s frankly remarkable that quarterback Ty Simpson assembled a 28-5 TD-INT ratio, as a first-year starter no less, with virtually zero help from a ground game. And while we’re on the subject of the passing game, Simpson wasn’t very well-protected, either. At 2.13 sacks allowed per game, UA ranked 90th in the country.
If Klemm even bothered to watch film of last year’s offensive line, he had to do it with one eye closed.
UA tried all sorts of combinations up front, looking for a solution to what was plainly its biggest problem. In 45 years paying attention to college football, I never saw so many substitutions on an offensive line as Alabama made in 2025. Backups got every chance that could have asked for. On one hand, it was understandable that now-fired offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic refused to stay with a failing five all season.
But it also smacked of desperation.
In the end, it was clear that no combination was effective; the first-team unit Kapilovic finally settled on late in the season was the one that got manhandled by Georgia in Atlanta.
It was a shock to the system for Alabama fans, who know what a dominant run game looks like whether they’re young or old. Jam Miller led Alabama with 504 rushing yards on the season; former UA star Derrick Henry once ran for 557 in a three-game stretch against Tennessee, LSU and Mississippi State.
Miller, of course, is no Henry. But the gap between those two is no bigger than the gap between Henry’s 2015 offensive line and the disastrous line that took the field a decade later.
Klemm is tasked with turning that mess around in a single offseason, with only one returning part-time starter in sophomore Michael Carroll, a promising cornerstone to be sure. But an offensive line is only as strong as its weakest link, and Klemm must find four links to line up beside Carroll. A collection of returning backups, transfers and incoming freshmen have a lot of improvements to make, along with a strong impression on a new position coach.
With spring practice underway, that process has begun in earnest.
And Klemm faces a taller task than any assistant on the practice field.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
The mother of an Enterprise toddler, reported missing Feb. 16, has been charged with capital murder, said Police Chief Michael Moore.
Adrienne Reid, mother of Genesis Nova Reid, reported her daughter as missing to authorities and said the two-year-old was not in the home and the door was open. On March 9, she was charged with capital murder of a child under the age of 14 and abuse of a corpse, Moore said. March 9 would have been Genesis’ birthday, he said. Adrienne Reid had previously been charged with filing a false report about her daughter’s disappearance.
She is being held without bond, Moore said. Adrienne Reid could not be reached for comment and court records do not show if she has an attorney.
The case shocked Enterprise and southeast Alabama. Hundreds of volunteers searched for her, and people were asked to wear pink to honor her.
Early on in the investigation neighbors told law enforcement that they hadn’t seen the child for several weeks.
Moore said evidence points to the capital murder charge even though Genesis’ body has not been found. The last time she was seen was Christmas night while visiting family in Dothan, Moore said. Video footage at the apartment complex where they lived showed Adrienne Reid about 11:30 p.m. Christmas night pulling a rolling duffle bag to a dumpster at the complex, and throwing the duffle bag inside, he said.
Coffee County Sheriff Scott Byrd said his office began the process of planning to search the landfill early in the investigation. The landfill covers 100 acres. He said the area where the contents of the dumpster that allegedly contained Genesis’ body was likely dumped has been narrowed down to an area covering a few hundred feet.
Active searches will begin soon, he said. District Attorney James Tarbox said the state will be seeking the death penalty.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com. To support his work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
BREWTON, Ala. — A 46-year-old woman is charged with the murder of a 27-year-old woman in Brewton, Alabama.
Deputies arrested Renotta Seltzer on Friday. She was booked into the Escambia County Jail in Alabama around 4:15 p.m. She’s being held without bond.
The shooting happened Friday on McGougin Road.
The victim is 27-year-old Anna Brown.
Sheriff Heath Jackson tells WEAR News that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The sheriff’s office is expected to release more details on Monday.
Stick with WEAR News on-air and online for more updates on this story.
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