Pat Duggins

Alabama is waging a last-minute legal fight to execute a man with nitrogen gas on Thursday night, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside a judge's findings that the method violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Alabama's nitrogen protocol is unconstitutional and blocked the state from using it to execute Jeffery Lee, 49. The Alabama attorney general's office is appealing the decision.

Foreign workers building a sprawling $350 million American Consulate in Milan were paid less than $2 an hour after being promised fair wages, according to Associated Press interviews with five former employees and a review of their employment letters and pay stubs. Italian prosecutors are investigating Montgomery, Alabama-based Caddell Construction, a major builder of U.S. diplomatic missions

An Alabama man facing the death penalty by nitrogen gas was spared Thursday as the U.S. Supreme Court refused to set aside a lower-court ruling that found the method is unconstitutionally cruel, issuing a brief order that came well after the hour originally planned to initiate Jeffery Lee’s execution.

Less than one day after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to allow Alabama to use nitrogen gas to execute Jeffrey Lee for a 1998 double homicide, his legal team spoke out over Alabama’s former policy called “judicial override.” The loophole allowed the judge in Lee’s case to ignore his jury’s recommendation of life in prison and impose a death sentence. Alabama Public Radio focused on this controversial policy in its 2016 national award-winning investigation titled ‘…and justice for all.” Four months later, Governor Kay Ivey signed legislation ending “judicial override.”

Alabama on Friday asked permission to execute a man by lethal injection after court rulings blocked the use of nitrogen gas and cast doubt on the future of the state’s gas method. The Alabama Attorney General’s office filed a motion asking the Alabama Supreme Court to authorize a death warrant for Jeffery Lee, this time using lethal injection. The request came less than 24 hours after the state was thwarted in plans to use nitrogen to execute Lee, who was convicted of killing two people during a 1998 robbery.

The Alabama Republican Party said U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville will remain the party’s gubernatorial nominee, rejecting a claim on Sunday that he had not lived in the state long enough to run for governor.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says his nation wants to ban children under 16 from using a range of social media apps including Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube to protect young people from harmful content and excessive screen time. If so, the United Kingdom will join Alabama ad Australia in limiting young people and social media.

APR student reporter Emily Ahearn will examine Alabama’s CHOOSE ACT, which is set to go into effect on New Year’s Day of 2027. Her story airs on Thursday. The measure removes income as a factor for families to get $7,000 in refundable tax credits to “choose” which kind of school they attend. Home schooled children will get $2,000. An analysis of the Associated Press shows children already in private school tend to benefit from scholarships of this type.

An endorsement from President Donald Trump is worth a lot in Republican primaries. But can it propel a congressman past an insurgent outsider in Alabama? Is it worth more than $100 million in Georgia? Can it transform a candidate into a front-runner in Oklahoma? Trump has been at the center of this year's midterm campaigns, and his influence will be tested in different ways Tuesday as four states and the District of Columbia hold primaries.

The National Hurricane Center is watching a cluster of storms along the Gulf Coast could become the first named tropical storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana.