• 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

• 14 buildings in Orange Grove Homes to be elevated
The Mobile Housing Board unanimously approved a

• Alabama soldier badly wounded in Fort Hood shootings
Randy Royer says his civilian job is fixing "broken stuff.

• ATTEMPTED MURDER TRIAL
Larry Herman, seated in a wheelchair facing a jury Wednesday, recounted driving on North Ann Street to see his girlfriend one night when he noticed two men whistling and flagging him down.

• Boeing backers want WTO dispute part of tanker contest
Boeing Co. and its political supporters on Wednesday continued to push the Pentagon to factor a World Trade Organization dispute over commercial aircraft subsidies in the U.S. Air Force tanker competition.

• Daphne attorney to run for AG
A former assistant U.S. attorney from Daphne said Wednesday that she will join the race for attorney general.

• Dentist arrested on fraud charges
A dentist who owns practices in Evergreen and Fort Deposit was arrested Wednesday on Medicaid fraud charges, stemming from services at public-school dental screenings that he claimed to have done but never performed, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

• MAERSK ALABAMA
The second pirate attack on the Maersk Alabama in seven months was different from the first in two key ways: This time, Somali pirates were turned back with gunfire, and no one was taken hostage or harmed.

• Man arrested after sexual assault
Staff Report

• Metro Briefs
Two community meetings scheduledTwo Mobile City Council members will hold community meetings tonight.

• Oyster timetable unclear
WASHINGTON ? As the Food and Drug Administration rethinks a controversial plan for oyster treatment regulations, employees there can't say at this point how long that process will take.

• Police: Victim's friend could have set up gang rape
Authorities investigating the gang rape of a 14-year-old Monroeville girl said Wednesday that evidence suggests a 14-year-old female friend may have helped arrange the attack.

• PRICHARD
Just weeks before a private company was slated to take over Prichard's water and sewer service, the utility's board has suspended its superintendent.

• Six prosecuted for fraud
Staff Report

• Southern Baptists condemn e-bingo
The Alabama Baptist Convention passed a resolution Wednesday condemning so-called electronic bingo gambling and praising Gov. Bob Riley for his efforts to stop illegal gambling in Alabama.

• WHO SHOULD SKIP THE MIST Who shouldn't get swine flu nasal mist vaccine: Children who have compromised immune systems or long-term health problems should see their physician, another health care provider or county health department to get an injectable influenza vaccine. Children in close contact with a person with a severely weakened immunized system, such as a bone marrow transplant recipient, should not receive the vaccine in nasal mist form. Children with the following conditions should not get the nasal mist vaccine: Severe, life-threatening allergies to eggs or allergies to any other substance in the vaccine. Weakened immune system. Long-term health problems. Heart disease. Lung disease. Asthma. Kidney or liver disease. Diabetes or other metabolic disease. Anemia and other blood disorders. Muscle or nerve disorders (such as cerebral palsy) that can lead to breathing or swallowing problems. Those on long-term aspirin treatment.
Some children in public and private schools statewide will begin receiving voluntary vaccinations against swine flu as early as next week, state health officials said Wednesday.

• Yesterday's news
From 1859

• Construction contracts will likely be bid out in January or February, said Tony Zodrow, the museum's executive director. Construction will take 20 to 22 months, with the museum slated to open in late 2011, Zodrow said.
GulfQuest has a green light.

• 3 teens accused in gang rape
Staff Report

• Accidents snarl I-10 near state line
Staff Report

• BYRNE'S PROPOSALS Here are the ethics reform proposals offered Tuesday by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne: Requiring public servants and their family members to disclose all work for any entity that receives public funds. Extending the ban on "double-dipping" ? earning two paychecks from the state ? to all levels of government. Eliminating so-called "pass-through" pork, which refers to state agencies spending money at the direction of connected lawmakers outside the normal legislative process. Making it illegal to hide the source of campaign contributions by funneling money through political action committees. Removing the Legislature's exemption from the competitive-bid law that applies to the executive branch. Stopping the "pay-to-play" atmosphere that he said pervades state government by requiring full disclosure of every penny lobbyists spend on elected officials. Lobbyists are now required to disclose spending that exceeds $250 a day per legislator. Requiring lobbyists to register and disclose their activities online. Requiring all state and local employees to attend training sessions put on by the Ethics Commission. Requiring all legislators and key government employees to undergo criminal background checks. Giving the Ethics Commission subpoena powers.
Gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne unveiled a 10-point ethics overhaul Tuesday that he promised would be the most sweeping reform ever offered in Alabama ? and he took a shot at one of his opponents in the Republican field.

• EASTERN SHORE
DAPHNE ? A two-hour power outage that began just before noon Tuesday put about 1,500 homes and businesses in the dark, and also affected the 1,200 or so students at Daphne High School and hundreds who were shopping or hoping to eat lunch at the Eastern Shore Centre.

• Fifteen arrested in police sweep
An undercover officer tried to shoo away a 13-year-old boy who propositioned her for sex last week during a prostitution sting in north Mobile. But the teen, police said, persisted.

• Fight at Murphy High injures teacher
Police arrested three Murphy High School students Monday after a fight erupted, slightly injuring a school employee, police said Tuesday.

• IF YOU GO John Dabiri and Jellyfish-inspired Engineering, 6:30 p.m. Alabama School of Mathematics and Science auditorium; 1255 Dauphin St., Mobile. For more information, go to www.disl.org.
When John Dabiri headed off to Princeton, he planned to become an engineer and design helicopters or cars.

• LEND A HAND Donations to Prodisee Pantry can be mailed to P.O. Box 7403, Spanish Fort, AL, 36577. For more information on how to volunteer or make a donation to the Bay Area Food Bank, call 251-653-1617.
Area food banks are expecting to provide food to a record number of families this Thanksgiving.

• Police: Saraland man kills wife, self
Married less than a year, 68-year-old Robert Lathan shot and killed his wife, Shelby Lathan, 65, in their Saraland home and then turned the gun on himself, police said Tuesday.

• Riley wants charter schools
Gov. Bob Riley told the Press-

• Schools to offer mist after holiday
When swine flu vaccinations begin after Thanksgiving at schools statewide, pupils in kindergarten through third grade will be offered a nasal mist ? not a shot ? to protect against the H1N1 virus.

• Sessions' stalling tactic not enough
WASHINGTON ? Resorting to a tactic he once denounced, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, unsuccessfully sought Tuesday to block the nomination of a federal appeals court candidate through the parliamentary technique known as the filibuster.

• WEST MOBILE
Staff Report

• Yesterday's news
From 1859

• Court denies death appeal
A serial killer from Prichard, who was convicted three decades ago of raping and murdering a young convenience store clerk, may have reached the end of the line.

• Dream: Music festival on Gulf
GULF SHORES ? Business owner Shaul Zislin has proposed spending $3 million to host a three-day music festival at the city's main public beach in May, an event he envisions someday being the musical equivalent of the Sundance Film Festival, and the City Council has given him the green light to continue planning the event.

• Man who beat 'friend' sentenced
BAY MINETTE ? A Tuscaloosa man was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison in connection with the death of his friend in a 2006 wreck that occurred after a roadside fight on Interstate 10.

• Mobile woman represents herself in legal battles with apartments
It is hard to imagine anyone fighting as hard as Linda Selensky has to hold on to a 500-square-foot apartment with blown electrical circuits, no heat or air conditioning and no working stove.

• New life planned for some vacant schools
As one vacant Mobile County school is torn down, plans are being made to find new life for other schools that recently closed.

• Northrop side: Make changes or split pact
Northrop Grumman Corp. and regional political leaders called Monday for changes to the second round of tanker bidding or for a congressional mandate to split the contract between the Northrop-led team and rival Boeing.

• Plentiful year for pecan growing farms
William Underwood said he backed out of pecan growing and sold all his pecan equipment after hurricanes Ivan and Katrina practically wiped him out.

• Teens robbed at gunpoint
Staff Report

• Yesterday's news
From 1859

• College Honors
Dauphin Island Sea LabSeagrass ecologist Dr. Susan Williams is the Wiese Distinguished Lecturer at the University of South Alabama's Marine Sciences Department and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

• COPS FIGHT 'HOT SPOTS'
When 72-year-old Estena Barnes decided to uproot from Daphne and return to her old neighborhood off St. Stephens Road in Mobile, her daughter was surprised.

• GOP's hopefuls: Put prayer in schools
MONTGOMERY ? Roy Moore made national headlines six years ago by refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building. But some of Moore's fellow GOP candidates in the 2010 gubernatorial race have even more conservative views regarding religious displays on government property.

• Judge recommends dismissal of Baldwin schools lawsuit
A legal challenge to the Baldwin County school system's enrollment policies ran into trouble last week, with a federal magistrate judge recommending that the lawsuit be dismissed.

• Lawmakers eye higher thresholds for state income tax
MONTGOMERY ? Some legislators say Alabama once again should raise the income thresholds at which people start paying state income taxes, levels that are at or near the lowest in the nation.

• Luxury condo rulings mixed
After winning the first batch of disputes brought by disgruntled buyers of Turquoise Place condominiums earlier this fall, the Gulf-front towers' developer, Larry Wireman, was ordered last month by an arbitrator to refund six-figure deposits to buyers of six luxury units.

• Man arrested in meth bust, second time in two months
Staff Report Mobile County sheriff's deputies arrested a Mobile man Sunday after finding components of a methamphetamine lab, authorities said.

• Red snapper alliance splintering?
As the congressionally mandated deadline to end overfishing of red snapper by 2010 approaches, the longtime alliance between charter boat captains and recreational fishermen against the Gulf's commercial fleet is in danger of splintering.

• School board gets new leaders
The Mobile County school board last week elected its now longest-serving member as its president and one of its newest members as vice president.

• WEB WARNINGS
Snickers filled a ballroom as photos of drunken students flashed across the screen.

• Worryarises on golf deal
Just before Prichard filed for bankruptcy protection, the mayor asked council members to put up a plot of land at the city's High Pointe Golf Course as collateral for a half-million-dollar line of credit.

• Yesterday's news
From 1859

• Deadly brawl in the Gulf: FBI findings describe a struggle that left the captain of an Alabama fishing boat mortally wounded
NEW ORLEANS ? On the seventh day at sea, the arguing between the Miss Sharlott's captain and a crew member came to a head in the early morning, according to FBI findings.

• Theodore coach: Females treated unfairly
Theodore High softball coach Tyler Murray said that she's the one who filed the anonymous Title Nine complaint against Mobile County schools, believing that her team was mistreated in comparison to the football team.

• A few little words cut snapper limits
For Mike Thierry, a Dauphin Island charter boat skipper, the problem boils down to a few key words in the law governing the nation's fisheries.

• College Honors
Caesar Andrews of Mobile was inducted into the Grambling State University Alumni Hall of Fame.

• Court: Pier victims can sue
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that those injured in 2007 when their boat crashed into the remnants of the destroyed Gulf State Park Pier in Gulf Shores can sue state officials for damages.

• Gulf Coast grillin': Classic fans gather for tailgating before big game
Two men stood next to a row of about a dozen cruiser motorcycles outside Ladd-

• Police: Two invade west Mobile home
A man who offered to aid two young men Saturday night was robbed inside his west Mobile home by the same pair he tried to help, police said.

• Yesterday's news
From 1859

• Runner struck, killed on Cody Road was a young honor student
Mark Chatom was nearly six miles into a seven-mile run along Cody Road on Thursday evening when he was fatally hit head-on by a pickup truck, his family said Friday.

• Mystery box on beach yields secret
Melanie Faulkner was picking up driftwood off the Dauphin Island beach after Tropical Storm Ida when she found a curious wooden box, nailed shut, that looked like it had washed ashore.

• Man charged in overdose death of University of Alabama student
Jeanie Scott had been drinking when she put on a pain patch and died hours later of an overdose, according to the Tuscaloosa Police Department's account of events that occurred almost a year ago.

• Correction
Until this year, the Fairhope High football team had not defeated Daphne High since 1996. A Sports item Wednesday incorrectly said the streak had extended since 1990.

• Eight apply for Mobile police chief job
When the city stopped taking applications for chief of the Mobile Police Department on Friday at 5 p.m., eight candidates had submitted materials.

• Man sentenced for secretly taping naked teenager
A Baldwin County man who made secret video recordings of a nude teenager in his home will spend 15 years in prison, a federal judge in Mobile said Friday.

• Part of Gulf State Park Pier reopens
A portion of the Gulf State Park Pier reopened Friday morning, and a park official said its entire 1,540-foot length should be ready for fishing on or before Thanksgiving weekend.

• Police ask for public's help in identifying robber
Staff Report

• Yesterday's news
From 1859

• Youths charged in burglary, vandalism at Hollinger's Island school
Vulgar words covered walls, desks and dry erase boards when Hollinger's Island Elementary School reopened Thursday.