Pat Duggins

Days before “Obsession” opened in theaters, its 26-year-old director, Curry Barker, made a bet with his manager and agent. They said if the movie opened above $20 million, they would all get tattoos.“Obsession” fell just short. It debuted with $17 million. They were still thrilled. Barker made the horror film with just $750,000. It was enormously successful.

Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has been arrested on drug possession charges in Alabama after police say they pulled him over for erratic driving and found marijuana and meth in his vehicle.

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates is making her presence known in Alabama. And in the process, a Tuscaloosa women's health center is getting an international spotlight. Here's at what four years and five million dollars can do. Our story begins with breaking news from four years ago.

Alabama is among forty three states to collect money from a court settlement with the owners of an alternative online banking system called “Cash App.” Oregon and California led the action, which alleged that the parent company of the App , Block Incorporated, deceived customers on the safety of the system, failed to provide promised safeguards and resolution services required by law. The full amount of the suit is $43 million dollars. Alabama will receive just over $500,000 of that total. In the settlement, Block denies any wrongdoing.

A week ago, 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells took a boat trip with friends to celebrate the Fourth of July on an island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. He never came back. Two days later, he was found dead on Horn Island, near the border of Alabama and Mississippi. What happened, Wells' parents say, is a mystery riddled with conflicting stories, implausible explanations and missing details

Members of Congress in Alabama are remembering the late U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham. The South Carolina lawmaker was one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress, who traveled the globe to advocate for a more aggressive U.S. foreign policy, died after a tear in his aorta, according to a preliminary medical examiner finding shared by his office.

APR News reported last week on how philanthropist Melinda French Gates invested $5 million dollars in a Tuscaloosa women's health center that features mental health treatment. A new study by CNBC ranks Alabama as one of the worst places to live in the U.S., and a lack of mental health treatment is one reason. The network said Alabama ranks dead last for mental health providers per capita, even though nearly a quarter of residents have been told by a health professional that they have a depressive disorder.

A federal judge has awarded $314 million in damages to three Americans who were jailed and allegedly tortured by what he called a “criminal enterprise” led by former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro before the men were freed in a swap for a close Maduro ally imprisoned in the U.S. Jason Saad is a native of Alabama.

Attorneys for the family of a Black teenager who went missing during a July Fourth boat trip to an island off the Mississippi coast, near the Alabama, said they will work with a local prosecutor's office to inspect the contents of his cellphone as the investigation into his death continues.

The Alabama Department of Public Health confirms eleven cases of the parasite infection cyclospora in the state. The agency says these patients are confined mostly to the north part of Alabama. ADPH is working to see if any of these cases are interconnected. Symptoms of the illnesses include diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps.