• Bigbox license fees to go up in Mobile?
Mobile officials are considering a proposal that could almost double business license fees for some big box stores.

• Driver who hit cyclists in Baldwin County pleads
FAIRHOPE ? Bradford Barron Maples, who plowed into three bicyclists in August in his BMW, pleaded guilty Friday to drunken driving and three counts of third-degree assault.

• DA 'exceedingly angry' about gang rape
A 14-year-old girl who police say may have helped arrange a gang rape of her Monroeville classmate could be charged as an accomplice based on her comments in a televised interview, according to the prosecutor.

• America's Junior Miss may change its name
America's Junior Miss, a longtime Mobile institution, may be changing its name, officials with the scholarship contest confirmed Friday.

• Correction
Headlines Friday gave incorrect information about Bama, a manatee tagged in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta in September. The manatee was never stranded and did not require rescue. It was tagged in Alabama before beginning a normal migration to Florida waters in October.

• Davis hires new administrator
A week after Prichard's police chief announced his resignation, Mayor Ron Davis said he has hired a retired New Orleans police officer for one of the department's top jobs.

• Explosion kills two, injures four in Jackson County shipyard /BYBy APRIL M. HAVENS and AMBER CRAIG
Staff Reporters

• Judge rules for Daphne in sexual harassment lawsuit
In a legal victory Friday for the city of Daphne, a federal judge in Mobile rejected an employee's sexual harassment lawsuit before the defense even presented its case.

• Man charged in girlfriend's stabbing
Staff Report

• Man found guilty of attempted murder in shooting that left victim paralyzed
Victor Reed was found guilty of attempted murder and first-degree robbery Friday in the shooting of a man who was paralyzed from the neck down and blinded in one eye from the bullets.

• Man pleads in carjacking spree
A Mobile man accused of going on an eight-day crime spree in December pleaded guilty Friday to four carjackings and faces a sentence that could jail him for the rest of his life.

• Mobile County's state legislators split on charter schools
State legislators gathered for their annual luncheon with the Mobile County school board had mixed feelings about whether Alabama should allow the formation of charter schools.

• Police searching for gas station robber
A man held up a west Mobile gas station cashier early Friday morning, according to police, making off with money from the store's cash register.

• Saenger offering discount on 'A Smooth Jazz Christmas'
Staff Report

• Suspect in toddler shooting sought
Prichard police worked Friday to track down a 24-year-old suspect in the shooting of a 19-month-old girl earlier in the month.

• Tasered man files $2M notice against city
Antonio Love, a deaf and mentally disabled man whom Mobile police forced from a store restroom using pepper spray and a Taser, has filed a notice with the city of Mobile claiming $2 million in damages.

• Two men robbed of their vehicles
A man was accosted in his north Mobile driveway early Thursday morning, as a pair of men held him at gunpoint and stole his wallet and his sport utility vehicle, according to police.

• Yesterday's news
From 1859

• Hubbert vows to fight charter schools
Calling charter schools a "fad" that takes money away from public schools, teachers union boss Paul Hubbert said he will fight Gov. Bob Riley's proposal to bring them to Alabama.

• Jesse Jackson rips Artur Davis on no vote
The Rev. Jesse Jackson ripped U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, for voting against the House health care bill, saying, "You can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man."

• Con man receives 40-year sentence
A Baldwin County circuit judge handed down four consecutive 10-year prison sentences Wednesday to a man who pleaded guilty to stealing money while posing as a recruiter for construction workers at the ThyssenKrupp AG steel plant site.

• Correction
Thursday's Bay Weekend calendar gave incorrect information about two performances by Lisa Christian. She will appear at 5 p.m. today at Big Daddy's on Fish River, and 7 p.m. Saturday at North Shore Grill and Deli in Orange Beach.

• Daphne employee, city spar in court
A Daphne city employee testified Thursday that Councilman Greg Burnam sexually harassed her over a period of years and that the city terminated her without offering a sufficient opportunity to challenge the decision.

• Deputies lead on chase after robbery
An Irvington man led sheriff's deputies on a 20-minute chase Wednesday night after he snatched money from the cash register of a Dollar General Store on Dauphin Island Parkway, authorities said.

• End of a New Era Closings next year mean 392 layoffs
New Era Cap Co. will close

• Explosion in meth lab burns man
A Seminole man was severely burned in what law enforcement officials say was a meth lab explosion at a mobile home on Mitchell Lane at about 10 p.m. Wednesday.

• Former bank manager pleads guilty to fraud
A former RBC Bank manager on Thursday admitted that she shuffled nearly $1 million among customers' accounts, with some of the money ending up in the accounts of her relatives.

• Judge gives minimum sentence to paralyzed man
Robert Vezendy, a partially paralyzed man who admitted to secretly recording young girls in the bathroom of his Satsuma home, received Thursday the most lenient sentence allowed by law, after the judge heard about his difficult experiences in prison while undergoing psychological evaluation.

• Local Democrats' suit thrown out
WASHINGTON ? Mobile County Circuit Judge Rick Stout has turned back a legal challenge to the Alabama Democratic Party's decision to disband and reconstitute its Mobile County chapter.

• Man gets life in fatal shooting
Staff Report

• Meetro Briefs
Swine flu shots offered TuesdayThe Mobile County Health Department will offer free flu shots to protect against the H1N1 strain Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Christ United Methodist Church, 6101 Grelot Road. The shots are intended for people in high priority groups.

• Mobile leaders push split buy in D.C.
WASHINGTON ? After mounting a personal lobbying trip to Capitol Hill this week, Mobile Mayor Sam Jones expressed hope Thursday that lawmakers are open to the possibility of buying new aerial refueling tankers from both sides vying for the lucrative military contract.

• Mobile police arrest 6
Mobile police have arrested five people on felony charges and were searching Thursday for two more following a two-month undercover narcotics investigation off Mobile Street, near the University of South Alabama Medical Center.

• Officials ID suspects in alleged gang rape
MONROEVILLE ? Police on Thursday continued the investigation into the alleged gang rape Monday of one 14-year-old girl and attempted rape of a second, and released the identities of the young men arrested.

• Rescued manatee heading to Florida
The first manatee ever captured in Alabama is safely out of Mobile Bay and headed for the warmer waters of central Florida, according to a satellite tag affixed to her tail.

• SGA leader charged with failing to fulfill duties
The University of South Alabama's top student leader is being accused of failure to perform his duties, a charge that could result in impeachment.

• Yesterday's news
From 1859