The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered a new hearing for an Alabama death-row inmate who missed a critical appeals deadline because his lawyers at a prestigious New York law firm ceased to represent him without telling him or court officials. Read full article > >

See the original post:
Supreme Court: Alabama death-row inmate Cory Maples should get new hearing

The Obama administration ordered a health insurance company to rescind the rate increases it sought or justify its refusal to do so.

Go here to see the original:
White House Calls Increases in Health Insurance Rates Too High

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Georgetown men’s basketball team played its first true road game of the season on Thursday night, and what a task it was: A game in Coleman Coliseum against undefeated Alabama , ranked 12th in the country largely on the strength of its unforgiving defense. So the Hoyas figured points would be at a premium and the outcome could come down to a late possession. Sure enough, junior forward Hollis Thompson had the ball in his hands with the game on the line, and after his three-pointer swished through the twine with 1.8 seconds left and Alabama’s desperation heave clanked off the rim, Georgetown celebrated a 57-55 triumph before a capacity crowd of 15,383. Read full article > >

Visit link:
Georgetown vs. Alabama: Hollis Thompson three-pointer gives Hoyas upset of No. 12 Crimson Tide

Alabama’s Jefferson County filed for bankruptcy court protection on Wednesday in the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Visit link:
Alabama Governor Fails to Prevent Jefferson County’s Record $4 Billion Bankruptcy Filing

Jordan Jefferson’s ability to stretch the field, particularly on the option with Michael Ford, proved effective against Alabama’s defense.

Read more here:
At Quarterback, Jefferson Gives L.S.U. the Lift It Needs

For the better part of a decade, the Navy football team has experienced a run of prosperity matched by few others. As recently as one month ago, the Midshipmen had only one less win than Alabama since 2003. Navy entered the season with eight straight seasons of at least eight wins. Not even Florida could match that, and that team won two Bowl Championship Series titles over the same span. Read full article > >

Read more from the original source:
Navy football vs. Notre Dame: Mids run of prosperity has turned to string of misfortune

ATLANTA — A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a key part of Alabama’s law that requires schools to check the immigration status of students, temporarily weakening what was considered the toughest immigration law in the nation. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also blocked a part of the law that allows authorities to charge immigrants who do not carry documents proving their legal status. The three-judge panel let stand a provision that allows police to detain immigrants that are suspected of being in the country illegally. Read full article > >

See the article here:
US appeals court temporarily blocks Alabama from checking immigration status of students

ATLANTA — The federal government asked an appeals court Friday to stop Alabama officials from enforcing a strict immigration law that has already driven Hispanic students from public schools and migrant workers from towns, warning that it opens the door to discrimination against even legal residents. Read full article > >

Link:
US Justice Department asks federal court to block enforcement of Alabama immigration law

On the same day that a federal judge upheld most provisions of a strict immigration-enforcement law in Alabama, frightened Hispanics began moving out of Albertville in the northern part of the state.

More here:
After Ruling, Hispanics Flee an Alabama Town

Cory R. Maples was not surprised the day he heard that a court had rejected his challenge to his death sentence. “Down here, they’re pretty serious about it,” he said in a phone call from Alabama’s death row. But the other news left him in “a state of shock”: the two lawyers from the prestigious New York law firm who had agreed to represent him had quit, quite some time before, without so much as a goodbye. Read full article > >

View original post here:
Supreme Court confronts case of death row inmate whose lawyers quit his case

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A federal judge refused Wednesday to block key parts of a closely watched Alabama law that is considered the strictest state effort to clamp down on illegal immigration, including a measure that requires immigration checks of public school students. U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn wrote in a 115-page opinion finding some parts of the law that conflict with federal statutes, but others that don’t. Left standing at least temporarily are several key elements that help make the Alabama law stricter than similar laws passed in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. Other federal judges already have blocked all or parts of those. Read full article > >

Continued here:
Federal judge upholds key parts of Alabama immigration law seen as toughest in nation

Hollywood’s giving you another chance, Washington — don’t blow it! Cast and crew for “The Firm” — a new TV series based on the old John Grisham book and movie — rolled into town for a few days of shooting this week. Star Josh Lucas — stepping into the Tom Cruise role as lawyer Mitch McDeere — filmed take after take at the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday, running down the steps in suit and tie with the bad guys in pursuit. One of the villains slipped and fell, in an unscripted blooper. Dozens of tourists milled around on the gorgeous pre-fall afternoon. Most of them turned out to be extras. The real-life tourists got shooed out of the shot by the crew, but few of them seemed to recognize Lucas. (C’mon, remember “Sweet Home Alabama”?) Read full article > >

Read more here:
‘The Firm’ films in D.C. — more TV production, stars to come?

A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a tough immigration law in Alabama on Monday.

Excerpt from:
Alabama immigration law blocked

Viewers of China Central Television got an unusual glimpse last month of that nation’s offensive cyber-capabilities: A video clip showed a military computer program on which an unseen user selects a “target” — in this case, a Falun Gong Web site based in Alabama — and hits a button labeled “attack.” The video amounted to just six seconds in a state media documentary called “The Cyber Storm Has Arrived!” But it offered an uncommonly candid depiction of cyber-weaponry developed by a country that is routinely accused of mounting attacks and just as routinely issues fervent denials. Read full article > >

Original post:
State-media video candidly depicts China’s developing cyber-weaponry

The Tennessee Valley Authority has approved construction on a nuclear plant in northeastern Alabama — the first U.S. agency to do so since the Japan nuclear disaster this year.

Continue reading here:
Alabama nuclear plant gets go-ahead