A season ago, the Alabama Crimson Tide advanced to the College Football Playoff despite losing a game during the regular season. Their inclusion in the four-team CFP caused controversy as it forced undefeated Florida State to be left out of the tournament for the national championship.

One year later, and Alabama did not get the benefit of making the now 12-team CFP with a worse record than another team in contention. Despite ranking No. 11 in the final College Football Playoff Top 25 and the AP poll, Alabama was left out of the inaugural 12-team CFP after finishing the regular season 9–3. Instead of competing for a title, Alabama will face Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

The exclusion of Alabama has garnered further scrutiny after No. 8 Indiana fell completely flat at No. 5 Notre Dame in the first game of the CFP. Several college football and Alabama fans called out the committee putting Indiana into the tournament over the Crimson Tide following the Hoosiers’ 27–17 loss to the Fighting Irish.

Though Indiana disappointed in their CFP debut, they were not necessarily on the brink of missing the CFP this season. While the Hoosiers faced an easy schedule during the regular season, they went a commanding 11–1, only falling to Ohio State during the regular season, another CFP team.

As plenty of other fans pointed out, Alabama did not take care of business when it mattered during the regular season. The Crimson Tide were blown out by Oklahoma at the end of the season, and also fell to Vanderbilt. They might have been a better team overall, but losing to two unranked teams cannot be overlooked.

Big Lots has announced it is preparing to close all its remaining store locations, marking the end of an era for the chain that has served customers for decades. This announcement follows months of uncertainty surrounding the company’s financial future and its efforts to secure a going concern transaction.

Big Lots has 23 stores in Alabama, according to their website.

“We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale,” said Bruce Thorn, President and CEO of Big Lots. “While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB process.”

Big Lots’ decision to initiate GOB sales underscores the challenges the retailer has faced in an increasingly competitive retail landscape. While the company will continue to operate both in-store and online during this process, the impending closures signal a significant shift for loyal customers who have relied on Big Lots for affordable home goods, furniture, and everyday essentials.

The company has assured customers and stakeholders that it will provide updates as developments occur. Additionally, those involved in related legal proceedings can find detailed information, including how to file a proof of claim, through resources provided by Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC.

As Big Lots prepares for its closure, its legacy as a go-to destination for budget-conscious shoppers will not be forgotten. For now, the focus remains on the transition process and the possibility of securing a transaction that could preserve some aspects of the business. In the meantime, shoppers can expect significant discounts as the GOB sales commence in the coming days.

DADEVILLE, Ala. — No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. With a sprawling labor system that dates back more than 150 years — including the brutal convict leasing era that replaced slavery — it has constructed a template for the commercialization of mass incarceration.

Best Western, Bama Budweiser and Burger King are among the more than 500 businesses to lease incarcerated workers from one of the most violent, overcrowded and unruly prison systems in the U.S. in the past five years alone, The Associated Press found as part of a two-year investigation into prison labor. The cheap, reliable labor force has generated more than $250 million for the state since 2000 — money garnished from prisoners’ paychecks.

Here are highlights from the AP’s reporting:

Where are the jobs and what do they pay?

Most jobs are inside facilities, where the state’s inmates — who are disproportionately Black — can be sentenced to hard labor and forced to work for free doing everything from mopping floors to laundry. But in the past five years alone, more than 10,000 inmates have logged a combined 17 million work hours outside Alabama’s prison walls, for entities like city and county governments and businesses that range from major car-part manufacturers and meat-processing plants to distribution centers for major retailers like Walmart, the AP determined.

While those working at private companies can at least earn a little money, they face possible punishment if they refuse, from being denied family visits to being sent to high-security prisons, which are so dangerous that the federal government filed a lawsuit four years ago that remains pending, calling the treatment of prisoners unconstitutional.

Turning down work can jeopardize chances of early release in a state that last year granted parole to only 8% of eligible prisoners — an all-time low, and among the worst rates nationwide — though that number more than doubled this year after public outcry.

What is oversight like for the prisoners?

Unlike many states, those working among the civilian population include men and women with records for violent crimes like murder and assault. Many are serving 15 years or longer.

It’s not unusual for Alabama prisoners to work outside their facilities without any correctional oversight. And in some cases, there is no supervision of any kind, which has led to escapes, often referred to as “walkaways.”

Kelly Betts of the corrections department defended the work programs, calling them crucial to the success of inmates preparing to leave prison. But she acknowledged that even those sentenced to life without the possibility of parole are eligible for so-called work release jobs.

“Each inmate’s situation is unique, and each inmate is evaluated on his or her own record,” Betts said.

Most companies did not respond to requests for comment, Those that did said they had policies against the use of forced labor and prison labor and would investigate.

How much money does this involve?

As part of its investigation, the AP analyzed 20 years of Alabama corrections department monthly statistical reports to calculate the more than $250 million generated for the state since 2000 — money taken in via contracts with private companies and deductions taken out of prisoners’ paychecks.

Reporters also parsed information from more than 83,000 pages of data obtained through a public records request, including the names of inmates involved in Alabama’s work programs. Over the past five years, prisoners were hired by public employers — working at landfills and even the governor’s mansion — and by around at least 500 private companies. That information was cross-referenced with an online state database, detailing the crimes that landed people in prison, their sentences, time served, race and good-time credits earned and revoked.

What do prisoner advocates say?

Few prisoner advocates believe outside jobs should be abolished. In Alabama, for instance, those shifts can offer a reprieve from the excessive violence inside the state’s institutions. Last year, and in the first six months of 2024, an Alabama inmate died behind bars nearly every day, a rate five times the national average.

But advocates say incarcerated workers should be paid fair wages, given the choice to work without threat of punishment, and granted the same workplace rights and protections guaranteed to other Americans.

Prisoners nationwide cannot organize, protest or strike for better conditions. They also aren’t typically classified as employees, whether they’re working inside correctional facilities or for outside businesses through prison contracts or work release programs. And unless they are able to prove “willful negligence,” it is almost impossible to successfully sue when incarcerated workers are hurt or killed.

____

AP data journalists Arushi Gupta and Larry Fenn contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Public Welfare Foundation for reporting focused on criminal justice. This story also was supported by Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures. The AP is solely responsible for all content.