Jay Reeves

Many Bible Belt preachers silent on shots as COVID-19 surges

Dr. Danny Avula, the head of Virginia’s COVID-19 vaccination effort, suspected he might have a problem getting pastors to publicly advocate for the shots when some members of his own church ...

Alabama restarts prep football in test of virus precautions

THORSBY, Ala. – It’s mostly quiet in the Alabama farming community of Thorsby aside from trucks and trains that rumble through bound for someplace larger. Remembering directions to the town’...

Religious faith a lifelong constant for Rep. John Lewis

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – From his childhood, when he preached to chickens in the dirt-poor South to his decades as a moral force in Congress, religious faith was a constant in the life of Rep. Joh...

Security, N.Y. incident leave some unsettled after ‘Joker’

Extra layers of security, intense on-screen action and a frightening incident inside a New York theater combined to create an unsettling experience for some moviegoers who went to see “Joker...

Southern states join to promote civil rights tourism

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Southern states that once fought to maintain racial segregation are now banding together to promote civil rights tourism at sites including the building where the Confeder...

Keith Jackson, 89, broadcaster with ‘Whoa, Nellie! call, dies

Keith Jackson, whose signature phrases like “Whoa, Nellie!” made him the down-home voice of college football during more than five decades as a sportscaster, has died. He was 89. ...

Famed Muscle Shoals music producer Rick Hall dies at 85

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama record producer Rick Hall, who recorded some of the biggest musical acts of the 1960s and ’70s and helped develop the fabled “Muscle Shoals sound,” has died. ...

Secessionists push for South to break away from U.S. again

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – As 21st century activists seek to topple monuments to the 19th century Confederate rebellion, some white Southerners are again advocating for what the Confederates tried a...

Road trip: The Overseas Highway from Key Largo to Key West

Take the highway from Key Largo to Key West

Alabama town expanding Harper Lee attractions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Nearly a year after the death of Harper Lee, a group in south Alabama hopes to develop new attractions and bring more tourists to the novelist’s hometown of Monroeville, w...

Tornadoes kill five in four Southern states

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Tornadoes that dropped out of the night sky killed five people in two states and injured at least a dozen more early Wednesday, adding to a seemingly biblical onslaught of...

Memorial to victims of lynching planned

Plans for museum spur mixed feelings