Alabama

Alabama coalition calls for medical cannabis access

Published

2 years ago

June 13, 2024

Alabama coalition calls for medical cannabis access

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WHNT) — Medical cannabis was legalized in Alabama in 2021.

With the licensing process still in limbo, the Patients Coalition for Medical Cannabis said access to the drug is needed more than ever.

“It’s time to stop playing all the games and stop acting so befuddled about this,” said Mike Dow, the former mayor of Mobile.

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission is charged with awarding licenses to dispensaries. The commission faces an onslaught of lawsuits after some applicants say they did not receive a fair consideration for a license. The coalition said the lawsuits are keeping dispensaries from operating.

“The march towards getting this to sick people: It has been inevitable, it has been slow, it has been opposed every step of the way,” said former state Rep. Mike Ball.

Dr. Corey Hebert is a professor and physician from New Orleans.

“The risk of opioids are so much higher and far outweigh the benefits and medical cannabis, for the appropriate patient, is what they need,” Hebert said.

“It’s also good for our economy,” said Dr. Marshall Walker, of Mobile. “Alright, this is an agricultural product. There’s processing. There’s research. There’s testing. Many, many, many good things spring from this well.”

Amanda Taylor, of Cullman, is a patient advocate for medical cannabis. She said pharmaceuticals always have side effects, unlike cannabis.

“With seven debilitating diseases that I fight, they have horrible side effects. … versus cannabis, as you heard them say earlier, there’s nobody in the hospital because they’ve overdosed on cannabis,” Taylor said.

Will Somerville is a lawyer with Baker Donelson. He has taken legal action against the commission after his client was not awarded a license. He said the cannabis commission needs to do it job.

“Follow the law. Award the licenses to people who can do the job,” Somerville said. “That’s the fastest way to get medical cannabis to the people who need it.”

Somerville said the licensing litigation is in the hands of the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. He expects them to issue a decision any day now.

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Alabama

Alabama Verizon customers hit by ‘SOS mode’ outage – here’s what to know

Published

38 minutes ago

January 14, 2026

Press Room

Alabama Verizon customers hit by ‘SOS mode’ outage – here’s what to know

If your phone suddenly flipped to “SOS” in Alabama on Wednesday, you weren’t alone.

A widespread Verizon wireless outage disrupted calls, texts, and data for customers across the country, with Alabama included among states where users reported problems.

Outage reports began climbing around 11:00 a.m. Alabama time, with many customers saying their phones showed “SOS” or “no signal” messages.

On outage-tracking site Downdetector, reports surged into the hundreds of thousands at peak.

Verizon acknowledged an issue impacting wireless voice and data and said engineering teams were working to resolve it.

Verizon’s team is on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue that is impacting some customers. We know this is a huge inconvenience, and our top priority is to get you back online and connected as fast as possible. We appreciate your patience while we work to…
— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) January 14, 2026

By mid-afternoon, at least some customers reported service returning, but Verizon said crews were still working on remaining disruptions.

What to do if you’re still stuck in “SOS”

Turn on Wi-Fi calling (if it’s set up) and use Wi-Fi for calls/texts where possible.
Try restarting your phone and toggling Airplane Mode on/off (simple, but sometimes forces a clean network handshake).
If you need help urgently and calls won’t go through: use a landline, borrow a phone on another carrier, or go in person to a nearby police/fire station.
If you have a newer iPhone and you’re in an area without any cell service, you may have satellite-based emergency options depending on device/support and conditions.

The FCC said it would investigate the incident.

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Alabama

CLEARED: Crash blocks I-10 westbound lanes at Mississippi–Alabama line

Published

13 hours ago

January 14, 2026

Press Room

CLEARED: Crash blocks I-10 westbound lanes at Mississippi–Alabama line

JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) – All westbound lanes were blocked on Interstate 10 before Franklin Creek Road at the Alabama state line due to a crash, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The crash happened before 6 a.m. Wednesday and was cleared by 7:30 a.m., according to MDOT.

Early-morning drivers experienced delays and were forced to take alternate routes.

You can get real-time traffic updates HERE.

See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE.

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Alabama

Report: Alabama QB Ty Simpson officially declares for the NFL draft

Published

1 day ago

January 13, 2026

Press Room

Report: Alabama QB Ty Simpson officially declares for the NFL draft

Ty Simpson said he was entering the NFL Draft on Jan. 7, but then, the Alabama quarterback received NIL offers from multiple teams. The University of Miami reportedly offered him $6.5 million to stay in college another season.

Simpson, though, officially is headed to the pros.

Colin Gay of The Tuscaloosa News reports Tuesday that Simpson has submitted paperwork to the NFL, making him eligible for the 2026 draft.

Gay reports that Simpson’s base salary at Alabama was $400,000 and doubled to $800,000 with incentives.

Simpson is expected to participate in the 2026 Senior Bowl in Mobile, per Gay.

He completed 305 of 473 passes for 3,567 yards with 30 total touchdowns and five interceptions in 2025.

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