Latest Alabama Headlines
All the headlines from our Alabama Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Miss. Attorney Asks Judge to Dismiss Katrina-Related Contempt Case
Feb 11 2008 // Attorneys for Mississippi attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs asked a federal judge to dismiss criminal contempt charges that he ignored a court order to turn over documents about insurance claims after Hurricane...
Alabama Senate Votes to Raise Auto Insurance Requirements
Feb 11 2008 // The Alabama Senate is ready to raise the minimum amount of auto liability insurance that Alabamians must buy. The Senate voted 33-0 on Jan. 7 for a bill that would increase the limits for the first time since...
Ala. Supreme Court Reverses, Relaxes Rules on Chemical Injury Suits
Feb 10 2008 // In a 5-4 decision, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed direction and allowed lawsuits from workers who become ill many years after being exposed to dangerous chemicals. The majority said the two-year statute of limitations...
Alabama Counties Get Disaster Aid
Feb 10 2008 // Alabama residents of Lamar and Pickens counties may be eligible for federal assistance resulting from the severe storms and tornadoes that passed through the area on Jan. 10. Gov. Bob Riley encouraged homeowners and...
Brutal Tornadoes Lacerate Southern States Killing at Least 48 People
Feb 6 2008 // A severe weather front fell upon the Southern states inciting a series of strong tornadoes that moved across Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, wreaking damage and killing at least 48. As the information of the...
Former Hurricane Program Manager to Head Ala. Emergency Agency
Feb 1 2008 // Alabama Gov. Bob Riley appointed Brock Long to serve as director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. Long has served in emergency management at the state and federal levels specializing in hurricane planning and...
Fire that Destroyed Alabama Animal Shelter Ruled Arson
Feb 1 2008 // Alabama fire marshals have determined that arson was to blame for a November fire that destroyed an unlicensed animal shelter in Rainsville, Ala., whose operator said more than 50 animals died as a result of the...
Alabama Supreme Court Reverses Course, Offers Hope to Ill Workers
Jan 30 2008 // In a 5-4 decision, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed direction and allowed lawsuits from workers who become ill many years after being exposed to dangerous chemicals. The majority said the two-year statute of limitations...
Lawsuit Claims Ala.-Based Insurance Co. Discriminated Against Haitians
Jan 25 2008 // Three Florida residents have sued Alabama-based Liberty National Life Insurance Co. claiming their insurance was canceled or undervalued because of discrimination against Haitian-Americans. The new class-action lawsuit was...
Ala. Lawmaker’s Son One of Two Arrested in Arson Cases
Jan 25 2008 // The son of an Alabama legislator is one of two men charged with arson and attempted burglary in what Cullman County authorities say is an investigation of suspicious fires in the Hanceville, Ala., area. Jerrod Heath Fite,...
Fitch: Alabama-Based Alfa Group’s Ratings Remain on Watch Negative
Jan 24 2008 // The expected reduction in policyholders’ surplus when Alfa Mutual Group follows through on its plan to privatize Alfa Corp. later this year caused Fitch Ratings to maintain its negative rating watch on the following...
Disaster Assistance Available for 2 Storm-Battered Alabama Counties
Jan 23 2008 // Alabama residents of Lamar and Pickens counties may be eligible for federal assistance resulting from the severe storms and tornadoes that passed through the area on Jan. 10. These counties are eligible because they are...
Latest Ala. Church Fire Accidental, Officials Look for Arson Link in 2 Others
Jan 17 2008 // Alabama investigators said a blaze that gutted a Blount County church on Tuesday was an accident, but they are still trying to determine whether there was a link between two church fires in Chilton County. Flames burned...
A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Alabama’s Alfa Corp. and Subsidiaries
Jan 15 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of Alabama-based Alfa Insurance Group and its members. Concurrently, A.M. Best has...
100-Year Old Alabama Home Destroyed, 9-Year Old Responsible
Jan 14 2008 // Baldwin County authorities said a 9-year-old boy has admitted to setting a fire on New Year’s Eve that destroyed his great-grandmother’s 100-year-old home in Marlow, Ala. Gib Hixon, chief of the Fish...
Ala.-Based Baggett Transportation Wins Insurance Co.’s Safety Award
Jan 9 2008 // First Guard Insurance Co., of Venice, Fla., awarded Birmingham, Ala.-based Baggett Transportation Co., with the “Fleet of the Year” award for 2007. The Fleet of the Year award is presented to the trucking...
Two Charged in East Alabama Church Fires
Jan 8 2008 // Two Smiths, Ala., men have been charged on arson and burglary charges in connection with three church fires that occurred since Jan 1, State Fire Marshal Ed Paulk announced Monday. Geoffrey Parquette, 21, was charged with...
3rd Alabama Church Arson in 2 Days Prompts Command Post
Jan 7 2008 // Investigators are trying to determine what started separate fires that gutted a church and two houses in rural Lee County, Ala. Authorities said a man was seriously injured in a house fire reported about 1 a.m. on Jan. 3,...
Ala. Insurance Agent Loses Runoff for House Distict 12 in Light Voting
Dec 21 2007 // Cullman County, Ala., Commissioner Wayne Willingham won the Republican nomination for Alabama House District 12 and advances to the general election Jan. 29 against Democrat James C. Fields. In light voting in the...
National Weather Service says Alabama at High Risk for Wildfires
Dec 19 2007 // National Weather Service forecasters and officials with the Alabama Forestry Commission say Alabama is at an unusually high risk for wildfires, despite a cold snap. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag...
