Alabama
NYT headline asks why Trump attended Alabama-Georgia game if he 'says he's in danger'
A New York Times headline asked why former President Trump sought “the embrace of 100,000 fans” while claiming “he’s in danger” as he campaigns.
NYT writer Shawn McCreesh wrote how Trump appeared to be “relishing the dangers of his job” by attending the Alabama-Georgia college football game Saturday night despite having “bragged about the mortal danger in which he finds himself” after two assassination attempts.
“Are his supporters, his rivals, the press and the public to treat his every appearance from here on out as an act of death-defying bravery, as he and his boosters suggest? And if he really is the most marked man in the world, why was he wandering around a football stadium in the Deep South in a state he does not need to campaign in, tossing out poultry and posing for selfies?” McCreesh asked Sunday.
Sep 28, 2024: Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Former president and current Republican nominee for president Donald J. Trump waves to the crowd as he speaks with Republican Senator Katie Britt (right) from Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium for a football game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs. (Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images)
McCreesh added “some” at the game expressed “cynicism” at Trump’s appearance, citing one anonymous grounds and facilities worker over security measures.
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“I don’t think it’s a smart move for him to come,” the worker said. “I would say about half the people are probably annoyed.”
McCreesh reported, “Security was tight, traffic was gridlocked, bomb-sniffing dogs prowled the grounds and a hundred thousand people were told to arrive early to pass through magnetometers in time for kickoff.”
He also spoke to Thomas Radney, a 53-year-old Alabama lawyer McCreesh described as “a rare Democrat among the red-wearing, red-voting masses there that day.”
“He’s as safe as in his mother’s arms here — 95 percent of the folks here think he is the second coming,” Radney said.
New York Times writer Shawn McCreesh suggested some game attendees were frustrated with Trump’s appearance. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Radney suggested Trump’s appearance was mostly for his ego.
“Alabama is going to vote for him by huge numbers,” he said, “so the fact that he is here just proves what he wants is accolades and people waving, that’s his whole deal. ‘I want people to cheer for me.’”
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Trump supporter Ben Wilson conceded the former president probably shouldn’t have attended the game because of the intense security measures.
“I’m for him, but I would have preferred he just stayed away today,” Wilson said, “for logistical reasons.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Leave it to the New York Times to disgustingly call everyone a threat to democracy. They’re just big mad that Kamala Harris would get booed out of the stadium if she were to show her face there. The fact is that Kamala Harris, Democrats, and their media enablers are the ones who are deranged by emboldening those who threaten the safety of President Trump. There have been two heinous assassination attempts on President Trump’s life, and their violent rhetoric are directly to blame.”
The Trump campaign attacked the New York Times for publishing the piece questioning Trump attending the football game. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
He continued, “Their outright lies and weaponization of the justice system to perpetuate countless witch-hunt hoaxes against President Trump have been nothing short of disgusting and abhorrent. If the Democrats and Kamala Harris do not come out and apologize for their hateful rhetoric and tone down their attacks that have stoked the flames of violence, they are explicitly advocating for and inciting more bloodshed against President Trump.”
This was the first time this year Trump had attended a college football game.
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Alabama
Husband, 19, fatally shot wife, 24, himself at Alabama hospital moments after welcoming their first child
A husband fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself at an Alabama hospital just moments after they welcomed their first child on Sunday.
Kynath Terry Jr., 19, gunned down 24-year-old Precious Johnson before fatally shooting himself inside the Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, WTVM 13 reported.
Johnson delivered a healthy baby just before she was murdered. It’s not immediately clear if the baby was present during the shooting, but police said that Terry and Johnson were the only ones injured.
Terry’s mother told the outlet that the couple were having some marital issues leading up to Johnson’s due date, but nothing that made her fear her son would become violent.
She told the outlet that Terry completed Army National Guard training before tying the knot with Johnson.
She noted that Johnson didn’t want Terry’s side of the family at the hospital for her child’s birth, but it’s unclear if anyone from the mother-to-be’s own family was there.
The hospital was plunged into a lockdown “out of an abundance of caution” while police investigated reports of a shooting. It wasn’t lifted until hours later when they determined there was “no active threat to patients, team members or the public,” the outlet reported.
The Homewood Police Department described the tragedy as “an apparent murder-suicide and is domestic in nature.”
Danne Howard, the president of the Alabama Hospital Association, told the outlet that the chilling attack “was an isolated incident” unlike anything she’d encountered during her three decades working in the state.
Howard said, in the wake of the tragedy, the Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital would undergo a security overhaul implementing “lessons learned” from a mandated after-action report.
Just three months ago, in a town six miles outside of Homewood, a beloved sports reporter was fatally shot by her husband before taking his own life. Their 3-year-old son, who was unharmed, led his grandfather to his parents’ bodies.
Hegseth on Iran: ‘This is not Iraq. This is not endless.’
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said operations on Iran won’t be “endless” like Iraq.
The United States and Israel-led attacks on Iran are having an impact in Central Alabama.
The military actions that began Saturday targets the military forces of Iran and the nation’s ability to build nuclear weapons.
In Montgomery, Maxwell Air Force Base and Gunter Annex have stepped up security so that all entry points will have a 100 percent ID check, the bases said on social media. The Trusted Traveler Program is suspended, which allowed Department of Defense identification holders to vouch for passengers.
Visitors without base access will have to go through the visitor center to get a pass.
Central Alabama residents react to the Iran attacks
For Travis Jackson of Montgomery, the attacks bring back memories, bad memories. He served one tour in Iraq from 2007-2008 with the U.S. Army. He attained the rank of sergeant before leaving the service and has worked the last 10 years as a community activist and diversity, equality and inclusion coordinator.
“I had a flashback of being overseas again,” he said when he first heard news of the attack. “The first thing I thought of was corporate greed. Of yet again seeing what has transpired throughout the years of any war overseas.”
He feels the attacks are a mistake.
“It’s going to be detrimental to the economy, notably with the increase in oil prices,” he said.
Removing the current regime in Iran and establishing a more western friendly country could improve hopes for a more stable Middle East, said Amy Stephens of Elmore County.
“I don’t know if there will ever be peace there,” Stephens said. “But Iran has been the causing trouble over there for almost 50 years.”
Ray Roberts of Prattville served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990 and 1991 after Iraq invaded Kuwait. He served in an ordinance company with the Alabama Army National Guard. He was a sergeant when he left the service and now works as a draftsman at a Montgomery manufacturing plant.
“It wasn’t a surprise,” Roberts said of the attacks. “President Trump had said they were coming. When he says something like that, he means it. I am glad we are working with Israel so it’s not just the United States. I wonder if Europe and some of the other Gulf nations will join the attacks.”
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com. To support his work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey was honored for her lifelong dedication to youth and community service during the 12th annual Black Warrior Council Boy Scouts of America Circle of Honor awards luncheon.
The ceremony, which was held Feb. 27 at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Tuscaloosa, serves as a fundraiser for the council’s scouting program.
The Circle of Honor award is presented to people in west central Alabama whose livelihood and actions reflect the same values of the Black Warrior Boy Scouts. Recipients have also shown advocacy for youth and leadership in the community.
Past recipients of the award include Terry Saban, Nick Saban, former U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, scientist and philanthropist Thomas Joiner, pharmacist and retailer James I. Harrison Jr., civic leader Mary Ann Phelps and more.
Cathy Randall, a Tuscaloosa businesswoman, educator and philanthropist, presented Ivey with the award. Randall was inducted into the Circle of Honor in 2025 along with her late husband, Pettus.
Ivey said she was grateful to receive the honor by the Black Warrior Council and highlighted the importance of public service.
“I’m proud to have dedicated my life to public service, there’s no more noble calling than to uplift and empower lives,” said Ivey during the Feb. 27 ceremony.
Ivey thanked the scouting organizations, including the Black Warrior Council for its contributions to educational opportunities, economic development, and public safety.
“In particular, I’m proud of the work done by our Scouting organizations like the Black Warrior Council, who lay a foundation for successful future in both our young people and our state, thank you for all you do to build a stronger Alabama by changing lives and preparing our future leaders,” said Ivey, a native of Camden in Wilcox County.
Ivey is wrapping up her second term as governor after a long career spent primarily in government.
After graduating from Auburn University in 1967, Ivey worked as a high school teacher and a bank officer. She served as reading clerk for the Alabama House of Representatives under then-Speaker Joseph C. McCorquodale and she served as assistant director at the Alabama Development Office.
In 2002, Ivey was elected to the first of two terms as Alabama’s treasurer and in 2010, she was elected to the first of two terms as lieutenant governor. On April 10, 2017, Ivey was sworn in as Alabama’s 54th governor after the resignation of Robert Bentley. She filled out the rest of Bentley’s term before winning the gubernatorial election in 2018 and she was re-elected in 2022.
She will leave office at the end of this year.
She is the first Republican woman to serve as Alabama’s governor but she’s the second woman to hold the state’s top executive office. Tuscaloosa County native Lurleen B. Wallace, a Democrat, became Alabama’s first female governor in 1966.
Circle of Honor luncheon raises nearly $200,000
Also during the ceremony, retired DCH Health System administrator Sammy Watson, who served as the event’s emcee, announced that the council had raised $197,000 through the luncheon that day.
Proceeds from the lunch will be used to expand Boy Scouts programs, making them available to over 3,000 young people in west central Alabama.
The Boy Scouts of America is the nation’s leading outdoor education and character development program. The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
Reach Jasmine Hollie at JHollie@usatodayco.com. To support her work, please subscribe to The Tuscaloosa News.
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