MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – Out of 48,000 teachers in Alabama, one teacher at a River Region school received an esteemed award.

Airport Road Intermediate School teacher Deborah Stringfellow is the 2024-2025 Alabama Teacher of the Year.

Stringfellow has been in education for over 40 years. She is a first-generation high school and college graduate from Troy University.

The Elmore County teacher said she understood the value of education at a young age. Stringfellow helped her parents earn their GEDs and taught her brothers how to read.

“Education is a refuge. It’s a sanctuary,” Stringfellow said. “It’s a place that you can come and feel valued and loved every day.”

Stringfellow will represent Alabama nationally while attending conventions and visiting other schools around the state and country.

Vestavia Hills High School teacher Kira Ledbetter Aaron was named the Alabama Alternate Teacher of the Year for 2024-2025.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has scheduled a second execution with nitrogen gas, months after the state became the first to put a person to death with the previously untested method.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey set a Sept. 26 execution date for Alan Eugene Miller, who was convicted of killing three men during a 1999 workplace shooting. The execution will be carried out by nitrogen gas, the governor’s office said. Miller survived a 2022 lethal injection attempt.

The governor’s action comes a week after the Alabama Supreme Court authorized the execution.

In January, Alabama used nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Smith. Smith shook and convulsed in seizure-like movements for several minutes on a gurney as he was put to death Jan. 25.

A nitrogen hypoxia execution causes death by forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him or her of the oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions. Alabama and some other states have looked for new ways to execute inmates because the drugs used in lethal injections, the most common execution method in the United States, are increasingly difficult to find.

Miller has an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging the execution method as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, citing witness descriptions of Smith’s death.

“Rather than address these failures, the State of Alabama has attempted to maintain secrecy and avoid public scrutiny, in part by misrepresenting what happened in this botched execution,” the lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. It is anticipated that his attorneys will ask a federal judge to block the execution from going forward.

Attorney General Steve Marshall maintained that Smith’s execution was “textbook” and said the state will seek to carry out more death sentences using nitrogen gas.

State attorneys added that Miller has been on death row since 2000 and that it is time to carry out his sentence.

Miller, a delivery truck driver, was convicted of killing Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy in the workplace shootings.

The No. 21-ranked Troy Trojans dropped a nail biter to the No. 22-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide by a score of 7-6 at a packed Riddle-Pace Field in Troy on Tuesday.

The two sides slugged it out to a scoreless tie going into the third inning when Alabama managed to score three runs. The Crimson Tide added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning to go up 5-0. Troy then began its rally.

In the bottom of the fourth, Troy Scored its first run and then had a big four-run fifth inning to tie things up 5-5. Alabama added another run in the sixth and then another run in the top of the eighth to go up 7-5. In the bottom of the eighth Troy’s Mikey Bello came in to pinch hit and hit an RBI single into center field to drive home Aidan Gilroy to cut the lead to 7-6.

In the bottom of the ninth, facing one out, Will Butcher blasted a shot deep into center field that was snagged and then Troy runner Parker Sessions was tagged out as he tried to get back to first base to earn the third and deciding out for the Tide.

Despite the disappointing ending, Troy Coach Skylar Meade was happy with his team’s effort.

“Heck of a game and a heck of a crowd. That’s multiple times that we’ve been so close to beating ‘Bama,” Meade said. “The baseball Gods don’t reward you when you play the way we did in the first half. We just weren’t attacking the strike zone and weren’t disciplined enough to be rewarded.

“Alabama is an incredibly great team and when healthy, they are some of the best. They earned it. They were rewarded. We’re going to make every game a fight. This isn’t an anomaly. If you’ve watched 50 Troy baseball games, you know that’s what we do.”

Ethan Kavanagh led Troy at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs. Both Butcher and Gilroy hit doubles on the afternoon. Brooks Bryan also tied the single season Troy RBI record with his 81st RBI during the loss.

Connor Burt took the loss on the mound for Troy, giving up one hit and one earned run in one inning. Logan Ross got the start and struck out a pair of batters, while giving up one hit and two earned runs in two and 1/3 innings of work. Jay Dill struck out one and gave up three hits and two earned runs in two and 2/3 innings pitched. Michael Osmond also struck out two and gave up no hits or runs in one and 1/3 innings toeing the rubber.

Bryan wasn’t the only one to set a record against Alabama as Troy Baseball saw its attendance record broken with a crowd of 3,872 in attendance.

For Alabama, William Hamiter went 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs, two RBIs and three runs. Aidan Moza got the win on the mound, striking out three and giving up three this and two earned runs in three innings pitched.

Troy will look to regroup for the Trojans’ final road conference series of the season, as they travel to Texas State for a three-game series May 10-12.