Riley Conlon

The search continues for an Auburn University student missing in Japan. Officials and family members are searching for him after he disappeared during a family trip.

KYOTO, Kyoto — The search continues for an Auburn University student missing in Japan. Officials and family members are searching after he disappeared during a family trip.

The Birmingham Barons will celebrate the life and legacy of Rev. William “Bill” Greason on Thursday with Bill Greason Day at Regions Field.

Birmingham City Council members approved a new zoning ordinance regulating hyperscale data centers on Tuesday after an hours-long public hearing that drew hundreds of residents to City Hall

A search for two Madison County suspects in Cullman County led deputies to the body of one of the individuals, while a second suspect remains at large, authorities said.

Two people have been arrested following the fatal shooting of a Sawyerville man earlier this month.

A person was shot by an outside law enforcement agency Wednesday night in the 600 block of Bessemer Super Highway, according to the Midfield Police Department.

Video above: Previous coverageAlabama's effort to execute death row inmate Jeffery Lee on Thursday night was halted after the U.S. Supreme Court declined the state's request to move forward with the execution using nitrogen gas.Lee, 49, had been scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday. The decision came after a federal judge ruled this week that Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia protocol violates the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.The state had asked the nation's highest court to set aside that ruling and allow the execution to proceed. Alabama attorneys argued that blocking the state's use of nitrogen hypoxia would mark an unprecedented restriction on a legislatively approved execution method.>> YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD: Community coverage from WVTM 13The Supreme Court declined the request Thursday evening, leaving in place the lower court's order preventing Alabama from carrying out Lee's execution by nitrogen gas. The court's action did not overturn Lee's death sentence, meaning Alabama can seek a new execution date in the future.Gov. Kay Ivey said she was disappointed by the decision."Jeffery Lee was convicted and sentenced to death for the December 1998 murder-robbery of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson in Dallas County. While I am disappointed the Supreme Court did not allow the state to proceed with Lee's chosen method of execution, I remain committed to ensuring that justice is ultimately served for his victims," Ivey said in a statement. The ruling capped an extraordinary legal back-and-forth over the humaneness of the execution method.Lee filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama's protocol as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled the method constitutional in May.But a three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her decision Monday, saying the three minutes it could take for an inmate to lose awareness is an “intolerable” time frame “given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia protocol.”Marks reevaluated the case and ruled again Tuesday saying Lee had shown “that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.” The state appealed to the Supreme Court.“If that ruling stands, it would be unprecedented in American history. Not only does it portend the first-ever permanent ban on a legislatively enacted method, but it would expand the concept of cruelty well beyond the bounds of the Eighth Amendment,” lawyers with the Alabama Attorney General's Office wrote.The case has drawn renewed attention to Alabama's use of nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method that involves fitting a mask over an inmate's face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from oxygen deprivation. Nitrogen gas has been used in eight executions in the United States — seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. >>VIDEO BELOW: Legal experts argue inmates' human rights after historic nitrogen hypoxia death During the previous Alabama nitrogen executions, the inmates shook, pulled at the restraints and exhibited labored breathing. During the state's last execution by nitrogen gas, 30 minutes elapsed between Anthony Boyd exhibiting signs of being impacted by the gas and state officials closing the curtain to the viewing room to signal the execution was complete.The state has maintained that the method is constitutional and causes no more suffering than other execution methods. Lee, who is currently housed at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998.Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy's Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner, and Thompson, an employee.A jury voted 7-5 to give Lee a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that and sentenced him to death.Alabama ended the practice of judicial override in 2017 and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury's sentencing decision in death penalty cases.This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available. Stay updated on the latest stories with the WVTM 13 app. You can download it here.

The Birmingham Barons celebrated the life and legacy of Rev. William “Bill” Greason on Thursday with Bill Greason Day at Regions Field.

The 43rd Alabama State Games kicked off in Birmingham Friday night with an Olympic-style opening ceremony at Legacy Arena, bringing together thousands of athletes from across Alabama for a weekend of competition.