Alabama

Marijuana laws, colonoscopies: Down in Alabama

Published

2 years ago

May 28, 2024

Marijuana laws, colonoscopies: Down in Alabama

Welcome back. It’s a short work week, so we’d better get started. If you didn’t read yesterday, note that the answers and results from Friday’s quiz are there.

Dangerous storms

The storms that blew threw the state early yesterday knocked out power for some 137,000 Alabama Power customers and likely led to one death.

According to authorities, a woman in her late 70s in Mountain Brook was killed when a tree fell on her apartment. She was alone at the time, and no other injuries were reported. The woman was pronounced dead on the scene.

Several thousand remained without power as of this recording, according to the Alabama Power outage map.

Attention pot enthusiasts

We may soon see the federal government reclassify marijuana. But, as Savannah Tryens-Fernandes reports, that would not affect state drug laws.

See, the FDA recently recommended that marijuana move from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug. That move would reflect the FDA’s stated belief that the vast majority of weed users are not doing something that is dangerous to themselves or others.

So last month, the DEA proposed to reclassify marijuana to reflect a view of the drug as less dangerous that it’s currently treated. There are still a few steps left on the federal level before that happens. If it does, it’ll probably give those in the marijuana business some tax advantages, but it doesn’t legalize or decriminalize it in Alabama.

Here, possession can be a misdemeanor if law enforcement believes the marijuana is just for you, and a felony if not. Selling it can get you up to 20 years in prison, and selling it to a minor can get you up to 99.

A life saver

If you’re someone who’s been sitting out your colorectal cancer screenings or you’re wondering whether having a colonoscopy is worth the time, here are some numbers that came up in a story that might interest you.

AL.com’s Sarah-Whites Koditschek reported on free screenings for low-income and underinsured Jefferson County residents that are being given at UAB through a state grant.

UAB says that in the first year of the program, 100 colonoscopies were performed, mostly for low-income minority patients. Half of them resulted in removed polyps from the colon, and three of them resulted in the detection and treatment of early-stage cancer.

All three cancer cases were successfully treated.

In a state full of people who’d love a chance to play the lottery, 3% is a relatively sizeable portion, so make sure you start getting screened as you get into middle age.

The free screenings at UAB for patients of federally qualified health centers will be available through September.

Quoting

“We’re just a gritty group of girls that are gonna scratch and claw their way to a world series. And we did it.”

Alabama softball catcher Riley Valentine, in an ESPN interview after the Tide upset Tennessee in a super regional to reach the Women’s College World Series for the second straight year.

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Born on this date

In 1916, writer Walker Percy of Birmingham.

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Alabama

When will it warm up in Alabama? Old Farmer’s Almanac, NWS weigh in

Published

1 hour ago

February 2, 2026

Press Room

When will it warm up in Alabama? Old Farmer’s Almanac, NWS weigh in

After weeks of cold mornings and unpredictable winter swings, Alabama residents are asking the same question: when will it finally start to feel like spring?

New outlooks from the National Weather Service and the Old Farmer’s Almanac suggest the answer depends on where you live, but signs point to a warmer-than-normal start to the season for much of the state.

Overall, forecasters expect spring temperatures in Alabama to trend warmer than average. Here’s what to know.

When will it start warming up in Alabama?

February may still deliver a few reminders that winter isn’t finished, NWS forecasters say. While the broader spring outlook favors the warmer-than-normal temperatures across the South, lingering La Niña influences mean winter isn’t quite done.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac spring outlook calls for warmer-than-normal temperatures across the Deep South. April is expected to average about 4 degrees above normal, while May might trend closer to seasonal levels, coming in about 1 degree below average overall.

According to the NWS three-month temperature outlook for February through April, the likelihood of above-average temperatures varies across Alabama:

Southern Alabama: The strongest signal for warmth, with above-average temperatures most likely. This region is expected to feel spring-like conditions first.
Central to northeast Alabama: A 40-50% chance of above-average temperatures, indicating a steady warm-up with occasional cool periods.
Northwest to northern Alabama: A 33-40% chance of above-average temperatures, making the arrival of consistent warmth less sure early in the season.

Will it be a rainy spring in Alabama?

The National Weather Service also predicts below-average precipitation across much of Alabama during the February through April period, signaling a drier-than-normal start to the season.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac echoes this trend, calling for below-normal rainfall in parts of the Deep South, particularly farther south in the state.

Combined with warmer temperatures, the drier pattern could help spring conditions settle in more quickly.

What is the Old Farmer’s Almanac?

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is a long-running publication, first issued in 1792, that predicts seasonal weather trends. It uses historical patterns, climate data and astronomy to provide a general outlook for the months ahead, not day-to-day forecasts. Many people use it as a guide for gardening, travel and planning around the seasonal weather.

How accurate is the Old Farmer’s Almanac?

The Old Farmer’s Almanac says it predicts seasonal weather trends correctly about 80% of the time.

Unlike daily forecasts, it focuses on broad temperature and precipitation patterns, comparing historical weather, solar activity and long-term average temperatures.

For the 2024-2025 winter, it reports an 88.9% accuracy rate in predicting whether temperatures in a representative city would be above or below normal.

Jennifer Lindahl is a Breaking and Trending Reporter for the Deep South Connect Team for USA Today. Connect with her on X @jenn_lindahl and email at jlindahl@usatodayco.com.

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Alabama

Florida Forces Alabama Into Season-High Turnover Performance in Blowout

Published

13 hours ago

February 2, 2026

Press Room

Florida Forces Alabama Into Season-High Turnover Performance in Blowout

No. 23 Alabama’s roller coaster season continued on Sunday with a lackluster performance in a 100-77 blowout loss to No. 19 Florida. The Gators worked themselves into a double-digit halftime lead and cruised to victory, creating Crimson Tide questions entering the final two months of the year.

Alabama Dominated by Florida for Fifth Straight Time

“They turned us over 18 times,” Nate Oats said after the loss. “Boogie [Fland] ends up with eight steals, you’ve got to credit their guards. They played well. Everybody’s afraid of Florida’s front court, rightfully so, I mean, they’re tough, they’re good, they’re skilled. [Rueben] Chinyelu is one of my favorite players in the league, and he ends up with 14 and 17, which is ridiculous, 17 rebounds, but the guards really controlled this game here. I’m a little disappointed we didn’t have better guard play with the amount of turnovers. They didn’t turn the ball over on their side at all. We forced two turnovers the whole game, and only one of them was on their back court.

“You look at our backcourt, it was 14 turnovers. We had a lot of turnovers in our backcourt. It’s hard to win a game when you’re minus 16 in the turnovers and minus six in the O-boards. You talk about trying to win a possession game, they destroyed us in the possession game. They scored 100 points and only made three 3’s, but you don’t have to take many threes when you’re getting dunks and layups off turnovers. 25-0 on points off turnovers, not sure I’ve ever been associated with a game like that. It’s disappointing, and it’s also a credit to Florida’s game plan. They went to the switching. We didn’t handle it well, their physicality on the switches caused our guards some major problems. We did a terrible job adjusting to it.”

Florida forced Alabama into 18 turnovers in Gainesville to serve the Crimson Tide their fourth conference loss of the season. The 18 were a Crimson Tide season high for giveaways, and the Gators turned those 18 into 25 points, outpacing the Crimson Tide by scoring 26 fast break points to Alabama’s three. The Florida ball pressure allowed the Gators to take 16 more field goal attempts, and with that, they dominated Alabama inside, outscoring the Crimson Tide 72-26 in the paint.

Every Alabama guard dealt with turnovers on Sunday as Florida’s ball pressure was elite. Labaron Philon led the team with five on his own, making it his fifth game this year with five or more turnovers.

“Yeah, a lot of his [Labaron Philon] turnovers came early, I thought.” Oats said. “But he definitely had a few in the second half. He ends up with five turnovers. He’s had five turnovers way too many times this year. When he turns the ball over this much, it’s hard. You’d like to go play Holloway, and Holloway isn’t turning the ball over very much and he turned it over himself three times today. They did a really good job switching. I don’t necessarily think it was him pressing as much as him not handling the physicality of their bigs once they switched.”

The Crimson Tide has a short turnaround as they welcome the SEC leading Texas A&M Aggies into Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday. The Aggies look to follow in Florida’s footsteps and bring the heavy ball pressure to Alabama as first year head coach Bucky McMillian has his program at 26th in the nation at forcing turnovers.

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Alabama

Former Vol commits to Alabama football

Published

1 day ago

February 1, 2026

Press Room

Former Tennessee running back Khalifa Keith committed to Alabama, according to On3.

The 6-foot-1, 235-pound running back played for the Vols from 2023-24. He appeared in 16 games at Tennessee and recorded 124 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, one reception and eight receiving yards.

Keith appeared in four games in 2024. He totaled 100 rushing yards and scored one touchdown on 21 attempts, while also recording one reception for eight yards.

In 12 games during the 2023 season as a freshman, Keith totaled 24 rushing yards on 11 attempts. He was also named to the 2024 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Keith transferred to Appalachian State in 2025. In six games for the Mountaineers, the former Vol recorded eight rushing yards on three attempts.

Keith is from Parker High School in Birmingham, Alabama.

Tennessee will host Alabama on Oct. 17 at Neyland Stadium. The Vols have won the last two games against Alabama at Neyland Stadium in 2022 and 2024.

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