Metro News

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Murderer off death row; to stay imprisoned for rest of life
Herbert Williams Jr., who was sentenced to death in the slaying of a local businessman two decades ago, had his punishment changed to life in prison without parole on Thursday in a Mobile courtroom.

• Ida's surge strands dolphin in Baldwin County
As far as anyone can tell, no one in Alabama or Mississippi was swept out to sea by Tropical Storm Ida.

• Greer's to shut down Florida Street store
A Midtown grocery will close its doors, the company said Thursday, pointing toward a long-running drainage project on Florida Street that has kept customers away as the reason.

• Daphne police say teenager shot, bicycle stolen
A man with a pistol shot a 17-year-old boy in the arm at close range in the Daphmont neighborhood south of Daphne, then rode away on the teenager's bicycle, police said.

• Filmmaking brothers offer advice to University of Mobile students
A duo of successful filmmakers gave a group of University of Mobile students a powerful, clear and probably unexpected message Thursday: To truly succeed, set your dreams aside. And if you have a problem doing some of the things Hollywood expects of would-be stars, just don't do them.

• Fortunes improve for Gulf Coast Classic
The Gulf Coast Classic has paid off 75 percent of the debt it owes to Southern University and Alabama State University for last year's game, and officials said they plan to pay off the remaining money in the next few days.

• H1N1 vaccine to be offered in Saraland
Staff Report

• Police: Accused robber caught in stolen car
Staff Report

• Prichard police chief tenders resignation
Prichard police Chief Lawrence L. Battiste is quitting the force, he said Thursday, stepping down about a year early in his five-year contract.

• Vase bought for $1.99 actually worth thousands of dollars
Shelia Loftin knew that the vase was worth a lot more than the $1.99 she paid for it at a swap meet 15 years ago.

• McCain questions Pentagon on tanker
U.S. Sen. John McCain wants answers from the Pentagon on how it intends to pick a winner for the U.S. Air Force tanker contract.

• Study adjusts poverty rates
Alabama's poverty rate is lower than the national average when regional differences in housing costs are taken into account, according to a recent study.

• Local Auburn student killed in wreck
An Auburn freshman, who was homecoming queen and drum major at Robertsdale High School, was killed Tuesday night on Interstate 85 in Montgomery when her vehicle

• A day of respect
Parades, ceremonies, luncheons and concerts were just some of the events held Wednesday on both sides of Mobile Bay to celebrate and recognize those who served in the nation's military.

• Authorities bust meth lab as Ida approaches area
Foley police said they evacuated several houses Monday, not because Tropical Storm Ida was approaching, but because officers found an operating methamphetamine lab in the neighborhood.

• Council questions mayor's actions
Prichard Mayor Ron Davis did not ask for approval from the City Council when he shifted reserve funds from last fiscal year's budget to pay the city's bills.

• Fairhope councilman honored in TV program
Fairhope City Council President Lonnie Mixon, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander, will be one of five veterans honored during a public television broadcast Sunday titled "America's Veterans: A Musical Tribute."

• Man shot, killed in Crichton on Tuesday night
A man was shot and killed Tuesday night in Crichton, according to Mobile police.

• Note to readers
Starting today, our daily Metro/Region section and Sports section are trading places.

• Gulf State Park's new pier damaged in storm
The Gulf State Park Pier will be closed indefinitely after being damaged by waves from Tropical Storm Ida, according to park Assistant Superintendent Trey Myers.

• State senator proposes total gambling ban
MONTGOMERY ? "Let the people vote" was the rallying cry during the last legislative session from supporters of electronic bingo.

• City Council considers 'revenue-neutral' borrowing proposal
A new $86 million bond proposal, part of which will be used to build a waterfront maritime museum, would not increase the cash-strapped city of Mobile's debt payments for at least a decade, Mayor Sam Jones said Tuesday.

• Veteran recalls his ordeal as prisoner in World War II
It was July 3, 1944, and John P. "Son" Courtney, a Mobile native and B-24 top turret gunner, was on his eighth bombing mission of the war, the target being an oil refinery south of Bucharest, Romania. Twenty thousand feet over the Danube River, the aircraft was raked by guns from German Messerschmitt fighter planes and began to lose power.

• Baldwin County lawmakers pledge to tackle insurance reform
SPANISH FORT ?The same day Tropical Storm Ida drenched the Gulf Coast, several Baldwin County state legislators pledged to work on lowering the insurance of coastal residents who say they face expensive premiums because of their susceptibility to storm damage.

• FDA regulators, lawmakers to continue oyster talks
WASHINGTON ? Federal regulators and Gulf Coast lawmakers said they'll keep talking following a closed-door meeting Tuesday over a bitterly contested plan to reduce the threat posed by the oyster-borne bacteria Vibrio vulnificus.

• Ida leaves little damage on coastal Alabama
Tropical Storm Ida zipped across Alabama's coast early Tuesday morning with gusty winds and rain, leaving most of the region soggy but largely unharmed.

• Ida not enough to shut down USA; some students unhappy with decision
University of South Alabama student Benjamin Lyles said that he didn't want to miss his art history class.

• Monroe County man arrested on murder warrant
MONROEVILLE ? A 30-year-old Beatrice man, charged with capital murder, remained in the Monroe County Detention Facility without bail Tuesday after an 81-year-old man was found dead with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

• Tennessee housing lawsuit settlement covers Gulf Shores condo development
Staff, wire reports

• Two wreck victims remain at USA Medical Center
Staff Report

• Veterans Day events planned in Mobile Bay area
Staff Report

• Couple spots monkey on Fort Morgan peninsula
The business of responding to south Baldwin County monkey sightings is littered with false alarms, be they boozy hallucinations or cases of mistaken identity.

• FANTASY DELAYED BY IDA'S ARRIVAL
Mobilians have waited for more than a year for the Fantasy to come true. Now they'll have to hang on for one more day.

• Farmers worry that Ida could hit crops hard
Farmers and agriculture experts watched the skies Monday wondering how Tropical Storm Ida would affect crops already hit hard by heavy rains this fall.

• H1N1 VIRUS
Students younger than 10 will be the first to receive swine flu vaccine injections at school-based clinics beginning Nov. 30, state health officials said.

• Ida-related cancellations, postponements
SCHOOLS:

• Ida rides in
Mobile and Baldwin county officials closed schools and opened shelters Monday, while residents bought bottled water and moved plants inside as driving rain and gusts

• Lawmakers, FDA focus on oysters
WASHINGTON ? It's a step that federal regulators say is essential to stamping out the stubborn threat posed by a potentially lethal oyster-borne bacteria.

• Storm surge up to 6 feet was expected
Tropical Storm Ida was expected to slosh ashore along the Gulf Coast overnight with a storm surge as high as 6 feet and as much as 6 to 8 inches of rain for the region.

• Veteran of Year gets the job done
Dr. Barry Booth, a Vietnam War veteran and Spanish Fort dentist, has been named 2009 Veteran of the Year by the Mobile Bay Area Veterans Day Commission.

• Veterans Day events planned
Staff Report

• Wreck injures two
Staff Report

• Hurricane Ida targets coast
Coastal flooding and heavy rains are likely as Hurricane Ida, a rare, late-season tropical system continues to make its way toward the Gulf Coast.

• Father, baby girl shot in Prichard
A 19-month-old girl was in critical condition Sunday at the University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital, a day after she and her father were shot in broad daylight on Prichard's busiest street, police said.

• FEDERAL COURT DIGEST
Federal prosecutors in Mobile may be close to hammering out a plea bargain with a reputed international arms dealer charged with trying to smuggle jet engine parts into Iran.

• Free memory screenings Tuesday
Staff Report

• Political Announcements
U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner , R-Mobile, will be the featured speaker at the quarterly meeting of the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce at noon Thursday in Foley.

• Skinny: Poll finds Barbour big winner in elections
Willie Bean , the canine candidate who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor of Fairhope last fall, is off and running again.

• Teen jailed over wreck that injured four
The teenager who Alabama State Troopers said caused a three-vehicle crash Oct. 24 that injured four people and forced doctors to prematurely deliver a baby was returned Sunday to Mobile to face charges, according to the Mobile County Metro Jail.

• USA adding hybrid classes
Next fall, more students at the University of South Alabama might be watching their professors while sitting in their dorm rooms.

• VETERANS DAY EVENTS
Several events have been planned in the area to recognize the contributions and sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Hurricane Ida may force changes in the schedule.

• West Mobile homeowners discuss annexation at meeting
The subject of annexation drew about 65 people to a Sunday afternoon meeting of the Smithfield/Brentwood Homeowners Association at Palmer's Airport Toyota.

• Prichard pension problem stresses couple
The life Alfred and Jacqueline Arnold spent their careers planning together could be gone by Christmas.

• Survey rates Alabama Ethics Commission among weakest in the nation
MONTGOMERY ? Alabama is one of only three states that gives no subpoena power to its ethics commission, according to a national survey.

• Waterborne protest by fishermen blocks Perdido Pass
ORANGE BEACH ? With their protest banners fluttering in a stout sea breeze, a small armada of private fishing boats and charter boats from Orange Beach and Dauphin Island clogged Perdido Pass for two hours Saturday morning.

• Alabama lawmakers oppose health care bill
The Alabama and Mississippi congressional delegations presented an almost united front against the Democratic health care bill approved late Saturday night, as only one member, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, voted in favor of it.

• Carnival's Holiday docks in Mobile for the last time
Two years ago, Jennie Higdon took her first excursion on the Holiday with a church group from Birmingham.

• Ida regains hurricane strength; aims for Yucatan Peninsula /byBy JILLIAN KRAMER
Staff Reporter

• Unity Point Park to have benches, after all
Mobile Mayor Sam Jones will allow benches in a new downtown park, after all.

• Judge in Thomas case says he likely would have thrown out any convictions
If jurors in the Herman Thomas trial had returned any guilty verdicts, Special Judge Claud Neilson said Friday that he likely would have overturned them.

• Two men face 6cm HALF years for overseas child sex
Two men who admitted taking trips to Thailand for sex with young boys face 6cm HALF-year prison terms, but could trim the time by testifying against the alleged organizer of the encounters.

• 18-year-old charged in north side slaying
An 18-year-old Mobile man was arrested Friday and charged with murder, three weeks after the fatal shooting of Anthony Encarnacion on Mobile's north side.

• Baldwin man convicted of raping child gets life
BAY MINETTE ? A life sentence was handed down Friday for a Bay Minette man convicted of sexually assaulting the young daughter of a woman he was dating.

• Convicted sex offender arrested near victim's home
A twice-convicted sex offender who was supposed to be living in a Morgan County motel was arrested Friday afternoon in Mobile just a few blocks away from the home of a woman he assaulted five years ago, police said.

• NOAA commissions fisheries survey ship
PASCAGOULA ? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday commissioned an advanced fisheries survey vessel and dedicated a new fisheries laboratory.

• Orange Beach bans shooting near Terry Cove islands
ORANGE BEACH ? Every autumn thousands of ducks ? some passing through on their way farther south, others waiting out the winter months ? spend time amidst a cluster of small islands north of Perdido Pass.

• Organization says 70 cats found inside trailer need homes
After finding more than 70 cats starving at a west Mobile trailer home, the Azalea City Cat Coalition is looking for people willing to adopt.

• Prichard robbery suspect shot
A man suspected of robbing a 24-hour restaurant in Prichard on Friday was shot shortly after the holdup, but police released few details about either incident.

• School board member touts local, minority contractors
Mobile County school board member Reginald Crenshaw said the district has taken a good "first step" recently in hiring local and minority contractors to build schools.

• Students brave marsh muck to help clear nuisance plant
On the northeast side of the Dog River Bridge along Dauphin Island Parkway, phragmites (frag-mite-us) once grew more than 14 feet tall inside a small estuary that curves toward the bridge from the bay at Helen Wood Park.

• Troopers to beef up enforcement on U.S. 98 in west Mobile County
State Troopers today will begin patrolling a 12-mile two-lane stretch of U.S. 98 as part of a one-week campaign to address complaints of congestion, speeding and reckless driving.

• Tropical Depression Ida heads toward Gulf of Mexico
Tropical Depression Ida spun over Nicaragua and Honduras on Friday, then moved back out over Caribbean waters, where it could regain some of its strength as it moves toward the Gulf of Mexico, according to forecasters.

• USA celebrates its first football homecoming
Nick Sherrill was excited to be a part of a new tradition at the University of South Alabama.