Alabama
Key court hearing as Alabama threatens prosecutions over abortion support
A bellwether test of states’ ability to prosecute people over abortions that take place across state lines will hold a critical hearing on Wednesday, when Alabama abortion rights supporters will square off against the state attorney general over his threats to prosecute groups that help women travel for the procedure.
In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, clearing the way for Alabama to ban virtually all abortions, Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall repeatedly suggested that abortion rights activists who help people go out of state for abortions could be charged as participants in an illegal conspiracy. The Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion fund that helped people pay for the procedure, and the West Alabama Women’s Center, a former abortion clinic that pivoted to providing services like miscarriage management, joined with other abortion rights advocates to sue Marshall over his comments.
Now, experts worry that a victory for Alabama could serve as a green light to other states’ efforts to attack people who want to end their pregnancies but live in states that ban abortion.
“If you go to Las Vegas to gamble, but your state doesn’t permit it, you don’t expect for your AG to suggest that anybody who helped you gamble in another state is going to be prosecuted, fined, and jailed,” said Rachel Rebouché, an expert in reproductive health law and the dean of Temple University’s law school.
“It’s a real encroachment on what we take for granted about how states treat each other – but also within the state, that the state will turn its law enforcement power against somebody who has done something that is not illegal.”
Since Marshall’s threats, the Yellowhammer Fund has stopped paying for people’s legal, out-of-state abortions, while the West Alabama Women’s Center is unable to help patients looking for out-of-state abortions, according to court documents. The plaintiffs in the case collectively receive about 95 questions each week from people looking for abortions outside of Alabama.
“The majority of our clients’ patients are poor or low income. They are people who may depend on financial assistance and support in figuring out how to get the resources they need to pay for travel,” said Meagan Burrows, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, which is representing West Alabama Women’s Center (now known as WAWC Healthcare).
“All of these patients are coming to our clients very distressed, very confused about the legal landscape and their legal options, and are rightly contacting local healthcare providers in Alabama that they trust, who they know have all of the information and resources at their fingertips by virtue of being providers of reproductive healthcare, and former abortion care providers. And our clients have to turn them away.”
The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in court filings, it doubled down on Marshall’s claims. “An elective abortion performed in Alabama would be a criminal offense; thus, a conspiracy formed in the state to have that same act performed outside the state is illegal,” one brief read.
The hearing on Wednesday, which will take place in federal court in Montgomery, will deal with requests from both sides for summary judgment, or to move forward without a full trial.
Despite the downfall of Roe, which unleashed a wave of abortion bans across much of the US south and midwest, US abortions have increased in recent years. That rise, abortion rights supporters say, is due in large part to travel, as abortion clinics on the coasts have performed a growing number of procedures on women fleeing states with bans.
In response, anti-abortion activists have begun to test out various ways to attack out-of-state abortion travel, including by limiting talk of it. In Texas, an activist has drawn abortion funds, which help people travel out of state for abortions, into litigation and asked them to turn over information about past abortions. Idaho and Tennessee have passed laws that ban “abortion trafficking” – which they define as transporting a minor for an abortion without parental consent – as well as “recruiting” minors for abortions. A court has blocked the “recruiting” provision in Idaho’s law, citing first amendment concerns, while another court has paused the enforcement of Tennessee’s entire law.
“With criminal penalties for helpers, penalties for providers, what you see are anti-[abortion] rights politicians attempting to stop anyone who is helping a pregnant person or pregnant people from seeking care,” Elisabeth Smith, the director of state policy and advocacy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Guardian last year. “The pregnant person, essentially, would be isolated and unable to seek the care that they want and need.”
Abortions have also risen thanks to the emergence of blue-state “shield laws”, which aim to protect providers who dispense medication abortion pills across state lines. Abortion opponents have, in recent weeks, targeted those providers, too. Louisiana has indicted a New York doctor for allegedly dispensing an abortion pill, while Texas has filed a lawsuit against the same doctor.
Mary Ziegler, who studies the legal history of reproduction, sees all of these efforts as intertwined. “It’s part of a broader set of issues about when states can project their power across their borders,” Ziegler said.
Regardless of the outcome of Wednesday’s hearing, red states appear to already be on a warpath. “Attorneys general are just going full speed ahead, even when it comes to out-of-state defendants,” said Ziegler, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law. “I think the gloves came off after the election was over.”
A ruling in the requests for summary judgment is expected in the coming weeks.
Alabama
How to watch Tennessee Volunteers: Live stream info, TV channel, game time | Feb. 28
Labaron Philon’s No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide (21-7, 11-4 SEC) hit the road to match up with Ja’Kobi Gillespie and the No. 22 Tennessee Volunteers (20-8, 10-5 SEC) at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28. The game starts at 6 p.m. ET.
We have more details below, including how to watch this matchup on ESPN.
Prepare for this matchup with everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s college hoops action.
Tennessee vs. Alabama: How to watch on TV or live stream
- Game day: Saturday, February 28, 2026
- Game time: 6 p.m. ET
- Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
- Arena: Thompson-Boling Arena
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Live stream: Fubo – Watch NOW (Regional restrictions may apply)
Check out: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Tennessee vs. Alabama stats and trends
- Tennessee ranks 78th in the nation with 80.5 points per game so far this year. At the other end, it ranks 62nd with 69.1 points allowed per contest.
- The Volunteers are thriving when it comes to rebounding, as they rank third-best in college basketball in boards (39.9 per game) and second-best in rebounds allowed (25.9 per contest).
- So far this season, Tennessee ranks 30th in college basketball in assists, averaging 17.1 per game.
- With 11.8 turnovers per game, the Volunteers are 257th in the country. They force 10.7 turnovers per contest, which ranks 224th in college basketball.
- This season, Tennessee is making 6.9 threes per game (271st-ranked in college basketball) and is shooting 34.7% (139th-ranked) from three-point land.
- With a 30.2% three-point percentage allowed this season, the Volunteers are 22nd-best in the country. They rank 182nd in college basketball by giving up 7.8 three-pointers per contest.
- Tennessee has taken 67.3% two-pointers and 32.7% three-pointers this year. Of the team’s buckets, 75.8% are two-pointers and 24.2% are three-pointers.
Tennessee vs. Alabama Odds and Spread
- Spread Favorite: Volunteers (-4.5)
- Moneyline: Tennessee (-222), Alabama (+179)
- Total: 164.5 points
NCAA Basketball odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Saturday at 4:11 a.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Follow the latest college sports coverage at College Sports Wire.
Alabama
Alabama ‘Fully Aware’ of Losing Streak to Tennessee Ahead of Road Rematch
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Losing to a rival almost always hurts more than falling to another opponent during the regular season. Years of hatred, unforgettable moments and tradition boiled up into one game, and the delivery is nowhere to be found for one team.
No. 17 Alabama has won seven straight games and is eyeing an eighth on Saturday on the road against No. 22 Tennessee. This is the second time that Crimson Tide will face the Volunteers, as Alabama lost in Tuscaloosa in January.
The loss a month ago to head coach Rick Barnes and company brought UA’s losing streak against Tennessee to five games. It’s the first time that the Tide has dropped this many games to the Vols since 1968-72 — a streak that came two years before Alabama head coach Nate Oats was born (Oct. 13, 1974). It’s why Oats is not treating Tennessee as a faceless opponent or like any other team the Tide has faced.
“Every year we’ve been here they’ve caused us issues,” Oats said during Friday’s press conference. “Our players, are fully aware that we’ve lost five in a row. They’re fully aware of what happened out there last year. I’ve taken ownership for my share of what happened up there last year.
“We’re fully aware that they beat us at home. We haven’t lost very many home games in conference, period, really since we’ve been here, and they handed us one this year.”
After falling to Florida on Feb. 1, Alabama moved down to the ninth spot in the conference standings, and the college basketball world started to question whether or not the Crimson Tide would be a threat in the postseason.
But a switch flipped after that loss, and the current winning streak has Alabama tied for the No. 2 spot in the SEC standings. Everything seems to be trending in the Tide’s direction, as there are only three games remaining on the schedule.
Oats is in his sixth year as Alabama’s head coach. Following the retirement of former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl during the offseason, Oats became the second-longest tenured coach for one team in the conference. The coach in front of him: Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, who has held his position since the 2015-16 season.
Both Alabama and Tennessee have finished conference play in the top-4 of the standings since the 2022-23 season. The Crimson Tide was the regular-season and SEC Tournament champions in both the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons, while the Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournament and were the conference’s regular-season champions in 2023-24.
“So our guys know, but at the same time, we’ve got a lot of respect for how they play and what they do. We’ve got to come in with a healthy amount of respect for them, but we got to try to win this game.
“There’s a lot riding on this game. What happens in Arkansas-Florida, you’re either going to be all alone in second place if we could get a win, or you’re going to be one game out first. If you take a loss, now you’re in danger of losing a top-4 seed. They’ll be tied with us if we take a loss.”
“So there’s a lot riding on the SEC standings in this game here. They know that. They know what our struggles against Tennessee have Been as well.”
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Alabama
Selmont seeks incorporation to become independent Alabama city
SELMONT, Ala. (WSFA) – An unincorporated community in Dallas County is seeking to establish itself as an independent city, hoping to gain control over local government services and community priorities that have long been managed at the county level.
Selmont, located across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma, is home to approximately 2,700 registered voters and carries a significant place in civil rights history.
The community was the site of a pivotal moment during the Bloody Sunday march in 1965, when roughly 600 civil rights marchers were tear-gassed by Alabama state troopers, including 13-year-old Mae Richmond.
“People ask us ‘Were we afraid?’ No. We were not afraid. We were not afraid, first of all, even as a 13-year-old child, we knew that we were doing what God was permitting us to do,” Richmond, a 60-plus year resident of Selmont, said of the historic event.
As an unincorporated community, Selmont lacks its own municipal government. Residents must contact the Dallas County Commissioner for public works services. It’s a situation that community leaders say limits responsiveness to local needs.
Erice Williams, a community activist leading the incorporation effort, said the change would fundamentally alter how the community operates.
“It would give us decision power and allow us to get funding that we can allocate to our own community that we can make our own priorities be clear and resolved at the same time,” Williams said.
Williams also highlighted the strain on current county services. “Connel Towns (county commissioner) is the only person we have to call, and the resources and time that he would have to serve our community is very limited,” he said.
Operation Selmont, the group spearheading the incorporation effort, is currently gathering signatures on a petition to present to the local probate judge. The organization needs approximately 500 signatures to move forward with the incorporation process and has already collected 40 percent of its goal.
The next meeting for Operation Selmont is scheduled for March 6 at 6 p.m.
For longtime residents like Richmond, incorporation represents an opportunity to ensure Selmont’s future and maintain its identity for generations to come.
“That we will be able to teach and train our children to give them the strength that our foreparents had that they will be able to stand up for justice and for equality,” Richmond said of her hopes for the community’s future.
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