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Date: 1/11/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers Alabama's Head Coach, Nick Saban, reasons for retirement, as well as what his future plans look like.

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Former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban gave ESPN his first public comments since announcing his retirement Wednesday. According to the story, Saban said age was catching up with him, and it was hard to keep working the 14-hour days needed for coaching the Tide.

Saban said he decided to retire after a weekend trip to Florida with his wife Terry. He told the team in a meeting Wednesday, after spending the morning working.

"Last season was difficult for me from a health standpoint," Saban told ESPN. "Not necessarily having something major wrong, but just being able to do things the way I want to do them, the way I've always done them."

Saban was at the Alabama athletics facility Thursday morning. He told ESPN he'll be helping the Crimson Tide transition to the next coach however he can.

He also said he'll continue on at UA in some capacity. He also noted he'll have more time to spend playing golf now that he won't be running the Alabama football machine.

"There's life after football, but I'm always going to be here for Alabama however they need me," Saban said in the story

Alabama's head athletic trainer, Jeff Allen, who was with Saban for all 17 years of his Tuscaloosa tenure, said the coach spent time Thursday thanking UA staffers.

"He's been doing that all morning with everybody, literally walking around and thanking people," Allen told ESPN. "One of our custodians came up to me and said how much she was going to miss him and miss cleaning his office and how well he had treated her. People don't always see that side of him. But all this being said, we also know what he wants us to do is to move on in the right way and help the new coach to continue to be successful, and that's the way we can best honor Coach Saban."

Saban's meeting with players reportedly lasted less than 10 minutes. He said in the story that he asked the players to get "100 percent committed to coming back."

Alabama's search for his successor began immediately. Oregon coach Dan Lanning, who had been mentioned publicly as a candidate for the job, released a video Thursday taking himself out of consideration.

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Nick Saban talks reasons for retiring, continuing to help Alabama: Report

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Nick Saban gave his first public comments since announcing his retirement for an ESPN story on Thursday.

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Date: 1/13/24

This Associated Press Style news story explains the process of ultrasound experimental trials performed by Dr. Ali Rezai, in hopes of breaking new ground in the battle against Alzheimer's and drug addiction.

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Sharyn Alfonsi, Aliza Chasan, Guy Campanile, Lucy Hatcher

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Experimental ultrasound treatment targeting brains in trials to help those with Alzheimer’s, drug addiction

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New experimental treatments using ultrasound energy to target the brain are being tested to help people with Alzheimer’s and those battling drug addiction. The pioneering neurosurgeon behind the technology spoke with 60 Minutes.

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17. College or pro sport other than Football

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17. College or pro sport other than Football

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Date: 1/14/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers Auburn’s JaMya Mingo Young stripping LSU's Angel Reese of the ball at the perfect time, leading Auburn to a 67-62 win against The LSU tigers.

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LSU head coach Kim Mulkey went to her All-American.

Trailing by two points, Angel Reese - LSU's junior forward and last season's Final Four Most Outstanding Player - dribbled the basketball down the floor with 15 seconds to play while her four teammates stood parallel to the baseline.

It was LSU's last resort.

"I wasn't getting anything out of every other thing we tried to do for 40 minutes," Mulkey said when asked about isolating Reese with the game on the line. "So what the heck? Just do a 1-4 flat and let's see."

Reese made her move to the rim, looking to sink the game-tying layup from the right block. But before she could collect the ball to move into her shot, she was greeted by Auburn's JaMya Mingo Young, who was ready for the moment and stripped Reese of the ball.

"I knew I had a clean shot at the ball," Mingo-Young said. "So I just went for it."

After picking Reese's pocket, Mingo-Young was tagged - first with a foul as Reese tried to reach back in and recover the ball, and then with celebratory punches from Auburn's Honesty Scott-Grayson.

Mingo-Young and Scott-Grayson tacked on a combined three free throws in the final 10 seconds of play, paving the way for Auburn to knock off the seventh-ranked LSU Tigers 67-62

With Sunday's win at Auburn's Neville Arena, Auburn (12-5, 1-3 SEC) notched its first SEC victory of the season, while No. 7 LSU (16-2, 3-1 SEC) saw it's nation-leading 16-game win streak snapped.

The line to get into Sunday's matchup wrapped around the corners of Neville Arena with over an hour before tipoff.

Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris and her team knew they'd be playing in front of a sizeable crowd when Mulkey and LSU's star-studded roster came to town.

However, Harris admitted telling her team she didn't know who fans would be coming to see.

"We knew how big it was," Harris said of the matchup against LSU, which was the first time since 2004 that an Auburn women's basketball game was televised on ESPN's flagship network. "We knew it was going to be a big crowd. We wasn't sure how much of the crowd was coming to see us, or how much was coming to see LSU."

All Harris and her squad knew was they wanted to give Sunday's record crowd for a women's basketball game in Neville Arena a reason to come back.

And by all accounts, knocking off the defending national champions is a way to do that.

Right out the gate, Auburn came out with defensive intensity, holding LSU to just 15 first-quarter points, which put the Bayou Bengals on pace for a 60-point game - a remarkable feat considering LSU entered the afternoon with the nation's best scoring offense at 93.8 points per game.

"We knew Auburn would get into passing lanes and pressure you and make it very difficult to just make a pass," LSU's Mulkey said. "And we didn't handle that very well."

At the close of the first quarter, Auburn maintained a 23-15 lead over LSU.

Come the second quarter, however, LSU appeared to have settled in and was looking more like the seventh-ranked team in the country as it went on a 10-0 run in the opening minutes.

LSU went on to outscore Auburn 22-11 in the second quarter, which gave the defending national champions a three-point lead at halftime. And while still a one-possession game, for a team as talented as LSU's any advantage feels dangerous.

"We wanted to come back out, just like in the first quarter, and get them on their heels," Auburn's Harris said of her halftime message. "We wanted to come back out and get a stop the first possession. We wanted to come out and score and then get a stop. We just kind of broke it down there - right there."

Evidently, Harris' squad heard the message loud and clear as Auburn's Kaitlyn Duhon scored the opening points of the second half and Auburn's defense forced a quick turnover on the opposite end of the floor. Scoring off the turnover was Scott-Grayson, who made a jumper to put Auburn back out in front.

Scott-Grayson went on to lead Auburn's scorers with 21 points in a game that was "super personal" for her.

"Coach Mulkey, I played for her my freshman year. Things didn't go well. I don't want to get too much into it," said Scott-Grayson, who played for Mulkey at Baylor during the 2018-19 season. "But I've been waiting for this moment. And it came."

Leading LSU's scoring efforts was Reese with 24 points.

And while some of the folks in attendance might've decided to spend their Sunday afternoon at Auburn's Neville Arena to put their eyes on some of the sport's stars in Reese and Mulkey, Harris and her squad were going to make sure they left with reason to return -- regardless of what team is sitting on the opposing bench.

Before the arena could clear and Harris went to be with her team in the locker room, Auburn's rather soft-spoken head coach asked for a microphone.

"You guys showed up and you guys showed out," Harris said. "We appreciate you. Y'all come and support these ladies. They work their butts off and they're getting better and better."

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'We knew how big it was': Auburn capitalizes on spotlight, stuns Kim Mulkey and No. 7 LSU

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Johnnie Harris and the Auburn women's basketball team hoped to give Sunday's record crowd at Neville Arena a reason to come back. And by all accounts, upsetting the defending national champions was a way to do that.

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Date: 1/15/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers 4 high school football teams surrounding the Birmingham, Alabama area that each advanced to the championship games and earned the All-Region title.

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Four Birmingham News area football teams played for state championships this season with one title-winner.

Clay-Chalkville won its second Class 6A title in three years while Class 7A Thompson lost to Central-Phenix City after advancing to its sixth straight championship game. Class 5A Ramsay lost to Gulf Shores after winning the 2022 title and Banks Academy lost to Chambers Academy in AISA AA title play.

Class 7A Hewitt-Trussville fell to Thomspon in semifinal action while Hoover and Vestavia Hills each earned a spot in quarterfinal play.

Parker lost to Clay-Chalkville in Class 6A semifinal action and Class 5A Pleasant Grove fell in the quarterfinals.

The Birmingham News All-Region team is compiled by the AL.com high school sports staff with information from area coaches and includes teams from Jefferson and Shelby counties.

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Meet the 2023 Birmingham News All-Region football team

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Clay-Chalkville won a state title while three other Birmingham-area football teams played for championships this season.

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Date: 1/16/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers an advising story written by Annie Lane, in which an anonymous user asks Annie a meaningful question and she does her best to provide wisdom and relational advice back to them.

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Dear Annie: How do I deal with passive-aggressive siblings? When we are together, it can be all laughter and giggles, and the next minute all I hear are snarky comments. It took months to find out one sibling had purchased a new and expensive car. Then the talk was how to sell the old reliable model without asking my opinion. We all have social media accounts, though I have yet to see any of them post on my page. I have hobbies, and they do not; we all do volunteer work, yet there is seldom a conversation about it. I am reluctant to reach out fearing I might catch one of them on an "aggressive" day and be shut out. If I ask for household repair help, I am looked on as weak or ignored altogether. We are getting older, and I am at my wits' end at trying to have a healthy relationship.

How do I reconnect with my siblings? -- Torn

Dear Torn: Now that you know the pattern of their behavior, you know what to expect. When you are having good times with your siblings, focus on feeling grateful for the good times. At the same time, manage your expectations of them, and know that the aggressive parts will come. While things are good between you and your siblings, you can also let them know how much you are enjoying your time with them and how much you dislike the aggressive times. Communication and gratitude and good expectation management are three ingredients to happy and healthy relationships.
"How Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner?" is out now! Annie Lane's second anthology -- featuring favorite columns on marriage, infidelity, communication and reconciliation -- is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit Creators Publishing for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.

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Dear Annie: My siblings are passive-aggressive, how do I maintain a relationship?

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A reader wants to know: "How do I deal with passive-aggressive siblings?"

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Date: 1/17/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers the question as to whether or not a plant-based diet is worth it. Experts have pointed to this way of eating as a health-forward nutrition movement, growing in 2024 and even more so the years to come.

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/ CBS News

New year, new you? Your nutrition can help you not only look but feel better - and experts point to plant-based diets as a health-forward option for 2024 and beyond.

"Low carbohydrate diets do tend to promote weight loss, but the nutritional value of the diet still really matters. So what you want to be doing is looking for diets that are high in protein and fiber, but you want to be getting those nutrients from plant-based foods more than meat based foods," says Dr. Céline Gounder, a CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News. "When you make those adjustments to your diet, we do see a greater weight loss."

Vegan diets aren't the only way to eat plant-based. The Mediterranean diet, for example - which as made headlines for its health benefits - also focuses on whole, plant ingredients. Patterned on the traditional cuisines of the region, the diet emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, legumes, nuts and whole grains.

"This is basically a low carbohydrate diet that's also low in animal fats and proteins," Gounder said. "You're going to have a lot of fish, beans, lentils, whole grains, fruits and vegetables." She also noted the foods tend to be healthier when flavored with herbs and spices as opposed to .

Is a plant-based diet healthier than meat?

In terms of protein, Gounder suggests looking towards more plant-based proteins like beans and lentils as opposed to red meat.

And she offered a word of caution about some meat alternatives made with processed plant proteins.

"Things like plant based burgers, for example, are getting more and more popular. They are very high protein, but they may also be high in saturated fats," she explains. "Some of them do have this long list of ultra-processed ingredients, so they may not always be so great for you."

If you are looking for a meat alternative, she suggests looking at the list of ingredients.

"Maybe something like a very simple black bean burger as opposed to some of the other alternatives," she suggests. "If you can't pronounce the words in the list of ingredients, it's probably ultra-processed."

In general, ultra-processed foods are better avoided, nutrition experts say.

"You do see an increased risk in high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, even depression with these ultra-processed foods," Gounder adds.

Plant-based eating for gut health

Experts also point to plant-based diets as a vital component in supporting gut health.

Dr. Aditya Sreenivasan, a gastroenterologist at Lenox Hill Hospital, said the advice is basically simple: "It's just a matter of quote-unquote 'being healthier' and eating a quote-unquote 'healthy' diet," he recently told . But he admits that it can be "hard to to meet these criteria, especially living in this country."

What exactly does this way of eating look like?

Focus on whole plant foods, Dr. Shilpa Ravella, transplant gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, previously told CBS News.

"Whole plant foods are incredibly important for gut health because they provide fiber for our gut microbes, and fiber is the most important nutrient for those gut microbes," Ravella says.

Despite the importance of fiber in our diets, only about 5% of Americans meet the recommended daily amounts.

"In this country we unfortunately have a fiber deficiency," she says. "We need to go beyond those recommended daily amounts for optimal gut health."

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Is a plant-based diet really healthier? Experts weigh in on nutrition for the new year.

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Looking to boost your nutrition in the new year? Experts point to plant-based diets as a way to look and feel better.

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Date: 1/18/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers the ongoing story of Daniel Williams, 22-year old male placed in Alabama Prisons for a one-year sentence due to theft who was brutally raped, drugged, and beaten to death right before his release date.

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Daniel Terry Williams was 22 years old, a young father serving a one-year stint for theft in Alabama's hellhole prisons. He was almost free, almost home when, according to his lawyer and others, he was drugged, brutally raped, tortured and beaten.

He died Nov. 9 in a hospital, on the day he was to be released.

Carla Crowder, executive director of Alabama Appleseed, appeared last month before the Alabama Prison Oversight Committee to talk about rampant violence behind Alabama's bars.

Death in Alabama prisons is five times the national average, she told legislators, and provided documents she said proved it.

But she wanted to talk specifically about Williams' death at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore County. It was a window into the brutality of Alabama's penal system.

The killing made international news.

Fox News put it this way:
Alabama dad allegedly tortured, killed in prison left eerie final Facebook post weeks before planned release.
The New York Post said this:
Alabama man beaten beyond recognition in same prison where inmate was 'rented out' and murdered.
Crowder spoke of the attack - and what preceded it - in stunning detail.

"The 38-year-old suspect in this kidnapping, rape and torture was involved in nine instances of sex assault, rape, and stabbing since 2017 in ADOC while incarcerated," Crowder, a lawyer, told the committee.

"There is no documentation that he was placed in segregation for any of these assaults," she went on. "There was no disciplinary action by ADOC."

"His classification summary showed a five-year clear record of institutional violence, which resulted in a perfect score of zero in risk assessment conducted in October, and a total score low enough for him to be placed in medium security in an open bay dorm. The psych associates signed off on this and the warden signed off on this."

"Nine days later, 22-year-old Daniel Williams ... was found, according to ADOC, unresponsive on this inmate's assigned bed."

Crowder did not use the suspect's name in her remarks, but did name him in a letter to legislators. He was also named as a suspect in a letter to prison officials from Williams' lawyer. The inmate's name appears many times in accompanying DOC documents passed to committee members.

Because that suspect has not been officially investigated or charged in many of those incidents, and because he apparently still has contact with other inmates, we will henceforth refer to him as Inmate X.

The claims are breathtaking.

That an inmate was accused nine times of heinous acts, and was still treated as if he posed no risk.

That prison officials failed even to investigate accusations against that inmate.

That failure to take violent incidents seriously allowed a dangerous inmate to have a clear record.

That incident after violent incident was reported to prison officials who in most cases did nothing to punish Inmate X, or keep him from terrorizing others.

That all this could occur in a prison system already under federal scrutiny for inhumane treatment, sexual assault and violence amounting to cruel and unusual punishment.

Crowder is not alone in rebuking the state for its failures.

Andrew Menefee, a lawyer for Williams' family, sent a letter to prison officials in mid November, contending Williams was tied up by Inmate X for at least two days, "held hostage in a corner of a housing dormitory, forced to consume drugs against his will, beaten and repeatedly raped until he was unconscious."

An ADOC spokesman responded to questions this way:

"The ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division investigation is still ongoing, and cause of death is still pending the results of a full autopsy, including toxicology report. Given that, it would be imprudent to comment on a matter pending both litigation and the outcome of a death investigation."

But how could such a series of events happen? The prison system's own records, obtained by Alabama Appleseed and passed on to legislators, provide a telling roadmap.

Inmate X's "classification summary," a series of ADOC documents that include charges, disciplinary actions and so-called "enemies reports," is filled with allegations of brutal and bloody violence that is all but ignored by guards.

In the 18-month period used by DOC to assess risk for disciplinary purposes, the system's own documents show Inmate X was accused by other inmates of:

Raping a prisoner at Fountain Correctional Facility in September 2022. The victim said he was assaulted by several inmates, taken to the middle of the dorm and gang raped. That prisoner identified Inmate X as one of the attackers.

Calling for a hit on a prisoner at Bullock Correctional Facility in October 2022. The victim said the troubles started when the two had a previous altercation at another prison.

Selling drugs and threatening a prisoner who owed him $10 at Bullock last August.

The imposing Inmate X was not disciplined for those. Instead of going to the effort to write them up as attacks, instead of sending him to disciplinary hearings or reclassification hearings or various types of secure custody to protect others, prison officials wrote them off on "enemies" reports.

Enemies reports are brief listings of disputes between inmates that are used as a reason to separate inmates or have them moved. They are not investigated or adjudicated as disciplinaries or crimes. So those incidents - and the following ones - were treated as if the issues were merely a question of two people who could not get along.

Before that, according to DOC investigations and official complaints from prisoners, Inmate X was accused of making enemies by:

Threatening a man's life in 2021 because of a debt.

Sexually assaulting a man at Bibb Correctional Facility in 2020. The victim was taken to a hospital.

In 2019 attempting to stab a man who claimed Inmate X "had been pressuring him to be in a relationship."

Repeatedly chasing a man through a dorm in November 2019, and "harassing him daily for sex."

Sexually assaulting another inmate in May of 2019.

Sexually assaulting another inmate in April of 2018.

On it goes.

In June of 2017, a guard saw Inmate X slap an inmate twice, resulting in a fight. "It was determined (Inmate X) was making sexual advances" to a man who tried to defend himself.

In February 2017, a man placed in segregation with Inmate X said he was stabbed and sexually assaulted. An investigator said the evidence corroborated his story, but ADOC did not follow up.

And in 2015 guards found an inmate slumped and unresponsive, covered in blood with stab wounds to the head, neck, chest, back and arms. An investigation found the weapon in the trash outside Inmate X's cell, and his clothes were covered in blood.

Last year, eight years after the stabbing, Inmate X was charged with attempted murder. He was convicted of assault, but ADOC took little or no action to prevent him from roaming the prison.

Inmate X had 18 disciplinary charges between 2012 and 2018, but despite the above incidents he has not faced a formal disciplinary charge since July 9, 2018, when he was cited for possession of a weapon. So he did not face restrictions that would limit his movement or put him under more observation.

On Oct. 22 of last year, according to ADOC's records, Inmate X was among those who assaulted young Daniel Williams.

"Inmate Williams was found unresponsive on (Inmate X's) assigned bed," a DOC report says. "It appeared that victim had been assaulted. (Inmate X and two others) were believed to be involved in this incident."

Alabama prison officials wrote that report on Nov. 8, the day before Williams was taken off life support, two weeks after the assault, and only after Williams' family hired a lawyer.

Williams was declared dead the next day.

The assault was not written up as a crime or disciplinary charge. Guards wrote it merely as an "enemies report."

Inmate X's story tells more about ADOC than many Alabamians want to believe. It really is a lens into the horrors too many of us would rather hold - like the inmates themselves - out of sight and mind.

"ADOC staff received numerous reports of rampant sexual violence against other incarcerated men but failed to take disciplinary measures that would have resulted in (Inmate X) being placed in segregation," Crowder told lawmakers.

Williams' death "could have been prevented by the State of Alabama," she said. "Instead, choices were made over and over again to take no investigative or corrective action in numerous cases of sexual assault at five different prisons."

Alabama prison officials knew. Alabama allowed it.

The guards, the wardens, the administration, the Legislature, the state itself does too little, even after the U.S. Justice Department sued Alabama in 2020 for ignoring the constitutional rights of inmates and failing to protect them from violence, sexual abuse, and death.

The Justice Department, beginning under Trump and continuing in the Biden administration, argued in court documents that Alabama prisons habitually encourage or allow sexual predators "to move from unit to unit without intervention."

Prison workers downplay rape and violence "and dismiss alleged sexual abuse as 'homosexual activity,' implying the sexual act is consensual."

The DOJ lawsuit, updated in 2021 and now headed toward trial, argues that ADOC is to blame for encouraging the terror, with its own acts and omissions, by:

Commingling sexual predators with victims.

Failing to properly investigate complaints.

Discouraging prisoners from reporting assaults.

Allowing prisoners to be assaulted in retaliation for reporting sexual abuse.

Punishing victims who report being sexually abused by isolating them and taking away their privileges.

Failing to stop the flow of drugs, and failing to adequately investigate sexual abuse that occurs as a result of drug debts.

Using the presence of drugs to diminish incidents of sexual assault and murder.

The Justice Department found, just as Menefee described in the case of Daniel Williams, that prisoners frequently report suffering sexual abuse after being drugged.

So a toxicology report - of the type ADOC continues to await before it classifies Williams' death - does not provide the answer. Not in that case or in others.

A dirty drug test would just be an excuse for Alabama's failures, a way to blame the dead and ignore the assailant. To assume no responsibility.

The Inmate Xes of the world know it. Alabama knows it, too.

Inmate X is far from an outlier in Alabama prisons. He is merely an example of its barbarism, of a standard in which inmates run the prisons, and guards - cowed, negligent, poorly paid, understaffed or corrupt - refuse to intervene or file the paperwork to begin disciplinary procedures.

The Justice Department compiled example after example of heinous abuse and its consequences. These are just a few, from a four-month period between December 2017 and March 2018:

A prisoner at Bibb was drugged, and awoke in the middle of being raped.

A prisoner at Bullock cut his own wrist after an attempted gang rape "because he feared being in population and needed to be placed in a single cell."

A prisoner at Donaldson cut his wrist with a razor, saying he had been sexually assaulted in a bathroom.

Doctors had to perform emergency surgery on a Donaldson inmate to remove a broomstick from his rectum.

A prisoner at Fountain reported he had been sexually assaulted every day since his arrival at the prison.

A Holman prisoner said he passed out from smoking the synthetic drug "flakka." He said he awoke to one prisoner punching him in the eye. "Then four or five prisoners put a partition around his bed and took turns raping him."

That's just a few of many. The Justice Department examples go on and on, yet says the list is in no way comprehensive, and that such cases rarely result in real punishment or action.

The prison system argued in 2021 that individual examples such as those were just anecdotal. But the DOJ suit pointed out that Alabama doesn't track or prosecute violence well, at times mistaking or misrepresenting homicides for deaths by natural causes or drug use.

So if DOJ is correct, there are no reliable stats. Just like Inmate X accusations and cases mostly lead nowhere. If no crime is recorded, there is no punishment. Nothing to see here.

It amounts to no justice.

Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, sits on the Prison Oversight Committee. He is deeply disturbed not only by the case of Williams and Inmate X, but by an avalanche of tragedies, and the state's lack of will to change things.

"That case is awful," said England. "Unfortunately it appears to be almost a common occurrence, just another day for the Department of Corrections."

DOJ in its report repeatedly pointed to overcrowding as a cause for the mayhem. Staton, where Williams was later killed, had a 257% occupancy rate in 2021. Kilby had 201% occupancy at the time of DOJ's visit, while Bibb, Bullock, Donaldson, Easterling, and Ventress all had occupancies above 140%.

ADOC's own records indicate it hasn't changed much. In November of last year, the latest figures available, Alabama prisons held 20,403 inmates in prisons designed to hold 12,115 people. That's a 168% occupancy rate, and an overall increase from the year before.

The troubles are compounded by a parole board that has stifled paroles in recent years, often disregarding recommendations of its administrative staff. Last year fewer than 10% of eligible inmates were granted parole, down from more than 50% in 2018.

The Sentencing Project surveyed 29 states with similar parole systems and found Alabama had the nation's lowest parole rate in 2022.

England said he lacked the vocabulary to describe just how bad the prison and parole systems really are. He does not.

"At this point we're all complicit," he said. "I mean, the blood is on all of our hands."

It's true. Damning Justice Department reports and higher-than-average death rates have done nothing to change behavior. In Inmate X's case, prison officials have been less aggressive in discipline than they were before the DOJ intervened, his records show.

"I think a very good argument can be made that we're worse now than we were when we got the (Justice Department) report," England said.

Perhaps a civil suit is not enough. Alabama prisons seem more like a crime.

"I wish the FBI would go in and arrest most of the correctional officers, wardens and even higher up ADOC officials," Menefee said. "Instead of having a DOJ lawsuit investigation, there should be a DOJ criminal investigation into what's going on."

Or an Alabama Attorney General's investigation. If Steve Marshall had the will, and the respect for all life and law.

Or investigations by county sheriff's and DAs. They have the authority, if not the will.

Of course it is the rest of us in Alabama who grant them every bit of their authority.

That's the real story.

It is how we continue to label people to rationalize their deaths. It is how we know of rape, and torture, and our own state's disinterest, and find no will to demand change.

It is our story, Alabama. This is who we are.
This project was completed with the support of a grant from Columbia University's Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures.

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Who killed Daniel Williams? A tale of terror in Alabama prisons

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Williams' death "could have been prevented. Instead, choices were made over and over again to take no investigative or corrective action."

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Date: 1/19/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers CBS Essentials guide to the Best Valentine's Day Gifts for Mom's, targeting people who need the perfect gift for the woman who already has everything! From designer perfume, to candles and coffee mugs, to travel bags and hair styling tools... they have all the recommendations.

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/ Essentials

CBS Essentials is created independently of the CBS News editorial staff. We may receive commissions from some links to products on this page. Promotions are subject to availability and retailer terms.

Valentine's Day is a holiday about love, and is there anyone worthy of more love and adoration than Mom? Even if she says she doesn't want a and suggests you just send a card, Valentine's Day is a terrific time to show Mom just how much you appreciate all that she's done for you.

Finding a perfect gift for the woman who has everything, knows everything and can do everything can be a daunting task. That's where the shopping experts here at CBS News Essentials come in. We never met a gift guide or a challenge we didn't like. Finding the perfect Valentine's Gift for Mom isn't easy, but she taught us to be resilient and hard working. We're up to the challenge.

The best Valentine's Day gifts for Mom

In most families, Mom is the person who comes up with clever gifts for every holiday or special occasion, while assuring the family she doesn't want or need anything in return. But even the most doting parent deserves a show of appreciation this Valentine's Day.

For the mom who loves designer brands: Tiffany Eau de Parfum

Let's face it, Mom has great taste and she appreciates the finer things. There's no shame in her high-end game, which is why she'll absolutely love the luxurious gift of Tiffany & Co.'s dazzling perfume. Mom will get a dose of luxury every day.

We love gifting a "little blue box" about as much as any mom will appreciate receiving one. The perfume's bottle is so pretty, it'll be a gorgeous addition to her vanity or bathroom counter.

Why we like the Tiffany & Co. Eau de Parfum:

This perfume's light, fresh scent mixes a combination of iris, patchouli, musk and flowers.

The gorgeous bottle was designed to replicate a Tiffany diamond.

For the mom who loves candles: Diptyque Baies and Roses duo

This limited edition Valentine's gift set from Dyptique, maker of some of the world's most luxurious candles, is a smell symphony of flowers and leaves. Burn this candle duo together for the perfect combination of greens, berries and roses.
Why we like this Diptyque limited edition candle set:
Packaged as two halves of a heart, this candle set was designed to make the perfect scent when combined together.

For the mom who loves jewelry: Gorjana "Mama" necklace

A terrific group gift for Mom, or a solo effort to show your appreciation, you can't go wrong gifting her a 14 karat gold "Mama" necklace from Gorjana. This is a timeless gift she'll enjoy for years to come.
Why we like the Gorjana Mama necklace:
When you want to send flowers (but better): Eterfield preserved roses

Sending roses to Mom on Valentine's Day is still a total win. Eterfield's 16-piece preserved roses in a box are a long-lasting gift she'll enjoy for up to a year. You can choose from ten different color options, including a multi-color box.

Why we like the Eterfield preserved rose gift box:

For the coffee-loving mom: Ember smart mug

This smart coffee mug is built to keep hot beverages hot without back-and-forth trips to the microwave or necessitating a new pot of java. Its long-lasting battery ensures that mom's drink will stay at her preferred temperature between 120 and 145 degrees on a full charge.

The mug works with or independently of the Ember app, which can set the temperature, customize drink presets and more. The mug will even remember the last temperature Mom sets it to. It'll go to sleep after two hours of inactivity or when the cup is empty, then wake up and start heating when it senses liquid or movement.

Why we like the Ember smart mug:

For the ultimate lounger: Big Blanket Co. Hideout hoodie

Sometimes a regular blanket just isn't enough. That's why we love this cozy blanket hoodie that Mom can wear around the house. Don't want to leave the covers to go grab a snack? No problem! You can bring your blanket with you with the Hideout hoodie.

"I bought this for my spouse and she practically lives in it now," a reviewer says. "It's warm, it's soft. When she discovered the thumb hooks on the sleeves, she squealed happily."

This hoodie is currently on sale for $110, reduced from $130.

Why we like the Big Blanket Co Hideout hoodie:

It has a cozy sherpa lining.

It comes with a built-in eye mask, a zippered kangaroo pouch and cuffed sleeves with thumb holes.

For the mom in need of a little luxury: Quince cashmere sweater

You've probably seen these luxurious, yet relatively affordable sweaters on your Instagram feed or For You page this fall. These social media-loved cashmere sweaters have gotten plenty of hype for being incredibly soft, as they're made from genuine cashmere.

Quince's motto is that "quality shouldn't be a luxury" and they definitely stayed true to that by offering incredibly luxurious sweaters for much less than cashmere typically goes for.

Choose from several fits and styles to find the sweater that best fits your mom's style. Prices start at just $50 and vary by style.

Why we like Quince cashmere sweaters:

They offer the luxurious feel of cashmere in a more affordable price range.

The sweaters are crafted from 100% Mongolian cashmere.

They are ethically produced.

For the hairstylist at heart: Dyson Airwrap multi-styler

The Dyson Airwrap multi-styler is the ultimate hair tool. The versatile attachments are designed to help you create hairstyles from beach waves to the perfect stick-straight blowout. It's a major way to show your appreciation to the beauty and haircare loving mom in your life, regardless of the lengthy of her locks.

"It somehow magically wraps your hair around the wand so you don't have to," says one Amazon reviewer. "It creates the perfect, flowy, slightly irregular, natural looking curls."

Why we like Dyson AirWrap Styler:

It's designed to minimize heat damage.

It's a versatile styling tool that can straighten, curl and dry hair.

Using heat to dry and curl at the same time, the Dyson AirWrap takes time off your day by combining blowdrying and styling with one tool.

For the travel lover: Monos Metro tote bag

The Metro tote is a large travel tote that can carry all of mom's travel essentials. It features a zippered interior pocket for smaller essentials like keys and passport, a tech sleeve for a laptop or tablet and an interior water bottle pocket.

This is a Valentine's gift for the stylish mom that is always on the go, or who has a strong sense of wanderlust and loves to travel.
Why we like the Monos Metro tote:
For the mom that loves dessert: Ninja Creami ice cream maker

Does your mom love a sweet treat? Surprise her with this bestselling ice cream maker. The TikTok viral ice cream maker can be used to make unique frozen concoctions right at home.

It can be used to make ice cream, smoothies, gelato, sorbets, protein ice cream and milkshakes. Mom can also add her favorite mix-ins for personalized ice cream flavors. Making custom ice cream is also a super fun (and tasty!) activity to do as a family, so it's a fun way to give mom a gift and spend some quality time with her too.

It's on sale at Walmart for $169, a savings of $30.

Why we like the Ninja Creami ice cream maker:

It's easy to use with seven one-touch programs.

It comes with a recipe guide with 30 recipes.

It allows for ultimate customization so she can make just about any flavor she can think of.

For the mom with a green thumb: Uncommon Goods flower garden in a box

Does mom love to garden? Then consider this Uncommon Goods flower garden in a box gift set. It's great for experienced gardening enthusiasts, or moms looking to take up gardening for the first time.

The gift set includes seeds for 36 flowers that can grow anywhere in the country. Plus, it includes some fun unique shades like plum-colored sunflowers that may surprise even the greenest of thumbs.

Why we like the Uncommon Goods flower garden in a box set:

For the sentimental mother: Aura Carver digital photo frame

This sleek, freestanding smart picture frame displays photos sent from an iPhone, Android and other smart devices. It comes equipped with an ambient-light sensor that automatically adjusts display brightness and dynamic orientation; that means recipients can switch the frame from portrait to landscape mode. It also offers wireless connectivity to make uploading photos easier.

This makes the perfect gift for the mom who's always pulling out family photos to show off or asking for photos of your kids. Got new photos to share? You can upload those too -- and surprise Mom with fresh images.

Why we like the Aura Carver digital photo frame:

For the self-care queen: Theragun Pro

Theragun Pro is a professional-grade massage gun device constructed for physical therapists, trainers and other professionals, but it's also great for the fitness-obsessed mom or the mom who needs a little extra TLC on stiff joints after a day of running after the kids.

The Theragun Pro is equipped with an OLED screen and a customizable speed range of 1,750 to 2,400 PPMs (percussions per minute) with three presets. However, instead of 40 pounds of force, the Pro boasts 60 and is the only model with an adjustable arm, allowing for easier use.

It's currently $479, reduced from $599.

Why we like the Theragun Pro:

It comes with six attachments: a dampener, standard ball, wedge, thumb, cone and super soft tip.

It's great for relieving soreness, tension and stiffness.

For the health enthusiast: Oura Ring Gen3

Traditional activity trackers often have a high-tech look that doesn't quite fit formal occasions. That's why we like the -- the tracker is designed to look great in any situation, so mom can track her fitness while still looking stylish.

The Oura Ring tracks how well you sleep, your daily movement and heart rate, can help set health goals, take you through guided meditations and more. This small wearable can sync your health and workout data from your favorite apps through Apple Health, Google Fit, Strava and Natural Cycles.

Why we like the Oura Ring:

Choose from six finishes including silver, gold, black and rose gold to find an Oura ring that will perfect fit mom's style.

It provides useful insights into your health and wellness beyond basic fitness tracking.

For the mom looking for a better night's sleep: Brooklinen weighted throw blanket

Weighted blankets provide a comfortable, calming weight to help relieve anxiety and provide a better night's sleep. This Brooklinen weighted throw combines the quality and softness of Brooklinen bedding with the comforting weight of traditional weighted blankets.

"I have now bought two of these, neither for myself," a reviewer says. "I did lay under the first one, once, and I will say it is quite cozy. My wife has really enjoyed hers for about a year, and my daughter discovered it recently and had to have one, too."
Why we like the Brooklinen weighted throw blanket:

It's made with a premium cotton material.

It weighs 12 pounds, evenly distributed throughout the blanket,

For the mom that likes a bit of bling: Diamond Nexus Simply Bound lab-grown diamond bracelet

Jewelry is a Valentine's gift that keeps shining for years to come, but diamond bracelets can easily cost an arm and a leg. Fortunately, there's an alternative that the average person can't distinguish from the real deal: lab-created diamonds.

This classic diamond-alternative bracelet from Diamond Nexus is a timeless gift that your mom will enjoy for years to come. It offers the glamour of a diamond tennis bracelet without costing you thousand of dollars. The diamonds on this piece are lab-created, but indistinguishable from a perfect diamond. The silver chain is easily adjustable for a perfect fit on your mom's wrist.
Why we like the Diamond Nexus Simply Bound bracelet:

You can customize the carat size to fit your mom's personal style.

It comes beautifully packaged in a little gift box.

For the mom that needs a pajama upgrade: Dagsmejan Nattwarm pajama gift set

Who deserves a comfortable sleepwear set more than your mom? This Nattwarm gift set from Dagsmejan is the perfect winter pajama upgrade thanks to it's breathability and soft fabric.

The sleepwear gift set includes a pair of pajama pants, a long-sleeved pajama top and a luxurious sleep mask.
Why they'll love the Dagsmejan Nattwarm pajama set:

The pajamas are made with premium merino wool.

The pajamas are ultra-breathable to keep the wearer warm without overheating.

For the funny mom: 'Mom Life: A Snarky Adult Coloring Book'

Adult coloring books have become popular in recent years, a fun way to unwind and reconnect with your artistic side. After all, it's been a while since most of us got to sit down and color. This snarky adult color book is filled with humorous yet relatable sayings and images for moms.

"This coloring book contains 32 pages of mom life pictures for coloring," an Amazon reviewer says. "I think that it contains the perfect blend of snarky, sentimental, and silly that only a mother can appreciate."

Why we like the 'Mom Life: A Snarky Adult Coloring Book'

It's made with high-quality paper.

It's a great budget gift if younger kids want to contribute and buy a gift themselves.

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Even if she says "don't bother getting me a gift," Mom is worth the effort this Valentine's Day.

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Date: 1/20/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers CBS's Entertainment tab regarding a lawsuit being filed against Sofia Vergara, as well as Netflix, for the alleged misuse of personal images not previously approved by the Blanco family-- the inspiration for Netflixs' "Griselda."

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Sofia Vergara and Netflix are being sued by the family of Griselda Blanco, the Columbian drug lord that Vergara portrays in an upcoming miniseries on the streaming network. Blanco's son, Michael Corleone Blanco, is one of the plaintiffs who filed the suit in a Miami-Dade County Court last week.

According to court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, the family says they did not authorize the use of their images and want to block the series from airing.

Blanco, who is listed as Michael Sepluvedablanco in the lawsuit, says since 2009, he has been giving interviews to people who are interested in developing productions about his mother's life. Dubbed the "Cocaine Godmother," Blanco ran a successful drug ring in Miami. She was killed in Colombia in 2012.

Her son says Netflix expressed interested in his mother's story, but they did not consult his interviews to create "Griselda," the miniseries due out on Jan. 25. Blanco says they relied on anecdotes from others and did not properly compensate him for his mother's story.

While the family is fine with Griselda's likeness being used, they said that their likenesses was used in the production and they want to stop it from streaming.

Blanco was also portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones in a 2018 movie that aired on Lifetime in the U.S.

Vergara, who executive produced the Netflix show, is one of seven defendants listed in the lawsuit, including Netflix and talent management company Latin World Entertainment Holdings, LLC. CBS News has reached out to Netflix and LWE for comment and is awaiting response.

Blanco and his wife, Marie, are listed as plaintiffs in the suit. In September, Marie and attorney Elysa Galloway jointly posted the following statement on Instagram: "The Blanco family is in no way associated or connected to the promotional project 'Griselda' set to air on Netflix. Michael Corleone Blanco, nor any other member of the Blanco family have been consulted or have taken any part in the 'Griselda' project. All legal rights reserved."

CBS News has reached out to Galloway and the attorney representing Blanco in the lawsuit for comment and is awaiting response.

In December, Galloway posted that Blanco had trademarked the book title: "My Mother, the Godmother and the True Story of Michael Corleone Blanco." Blanco posted on Saturday that the book was available.

In a recent interview with CBS News' Jonathan Vigliotti, Vergara explained what intrigued her about Blanco. "As a woman, I was fascinated. Like, how did she become even more ruthless, more horrific than any man," she said.

Blanco first became involved in illegal drug trade as a desperate way to support her children and allegedly had hundreds of people killed during her time as a drug lord.

Vergara, like Blanco, grew up in Colombia. The actress' brother was among the estimated quarter of a million people killed during Colombia's decadeslong drug war. "My brother was part of that business. I know what that kind of business can do to a family, to a person, to a country," she said.
More

Caitlin O'Kane

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Sofia Vergara and Netflix sued by family of Griselda Blanco ahead of miniseries about drug lord

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Sofia Vergara and Netflix are being sued by the family of Griselda Blanco, the Columbian drug lord who Vergara portrays in an upcoming miniseries on the streaming network. Blanco's son, Michael Corleone Blanco, wants to block the show from streaming.

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Date: 1/22/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers Auburn University Men's Basketball movement of spots to be ranked number 8 in the Associated Press top 25 poll. This marks the first time the tigers have been ranked in the top 10 since the 21-22 season, and is a clear result of their hard work and dedication while on their 11 game winning streak.

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Auburn moved up five spots to be ranked No. 8 in the Jan. 22 edition of the Associated Press top 25 poll.

The Tigers have won 11 straight games and are 16-2 overall and 5-0 in the SEC. Auburn is alone in first place early into SEC play. Auburn was previously ranked No. 13.

Several teams in the poll ahead of Auburn lost this week. No. 3 Kansas, No. 7 Duke, No 9 Baylor, No. 10 Memphis and No. 11 Wisconsin all lost at least once.

This is the first time Auburn has been ranked in the top 10 since the final poll of the 2021-22 season.

Auburn has spent 23 total weeks ranked in the top 10 during head coach Bruce Pearl's tenure which began in 2014. All 23 of those weeks have come since February 2018.

Auburn has only spent 46 other weeks ranked over the entire rest of the program's history. Auburn began playing basketball in 1905.

Though while Auburn has not been ranked often over the history of the program, when it is ranked, it is good. This is Auburn's 170th all-time week being ranked and in 41% of those polls, Auburn has been ranked in the top 10.

Auburn has arguably its toughest week of the season to date coming up, with a trip to face Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday immediately followed by a Saturday afternoon game at Mississippi State. Auburn will travel directly from Tuscaloosa to Starkville without coming back to Auburn.

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Auburn men's basketball enters top 10 of AP poll following 11-game win streak

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This is the 23rd total week Auburn has been ranked in the top 10 under Bruce Pearl.

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Date: 1/23/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers a court order being placed by the state of Alabama on Unique Bar, located on the Strip in Tuscaloosa. The closing action was followed by the Alabama Department of Labor against the bar's owners, in which they have yet to provide proof of worker's compensation insurance.

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A court order has closed Unique bar on University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa.

Passersby can see the bar's entrance closed with yellow "Caution" tape covering the door and several court documents explaining the closing. A grease board nearby still bears prices of drink specials.

According to court documents, the bar was ordered closed in December in Tuscaloosa Circuit Court following action by the Alabama Department of Labor against the bar's owners, Royale Service and Hospitality.

The court fined the bar's owners $3,100, plus court costs, for not providing proof of worker's compensation insurance.

There is no word yet on when the bar may reopen. Attempts to contact the owners for comment were not immediately successful.

Unique opened in 2021, replacing Egan's, a legendary dive bar located in the heart of the Strip after 42 years of operation.

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Tuscaloosa bar on the Strip closed by court order

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Unique Bar opened in 2021, replacing Egan's, a legendary dive bar located in the heart of the Strip in Tuscaloosa.

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Date: 1/24/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers Alabama Governor Kay Ivey's words spoken at a recent rally to provide Education Savings Accounts for students in Alabama. She explained that creating this savings account is her priority for the legislative session starting February 9th.

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Education savings accounts, or ESAs, have spread like wildfire since the pandemic, with 15 states now operating some kind of ESA program. To supporters, they represent educational freedom. To opponents, they're a threat to public school funding.

ESAs failed to get support from top Republicans last year, but prospects for passage look different this year. Gov. Kay Ivey said providing ESAs to students in Alabama is her top priority for the legislative session, which starts Feb. 6. She said her office is working on an ESA bill but it has not yet been filed.

That's a turnaround from saying she would focus on "improving the school choice we already have" - meaning charter schools and Alabama's tax credit scholarship program - during last year's State of the State Address.

ESAs are accounts established by the state where periodic deposits are made that parents can then use to pay for goods and services related to their child's education. The state determines which students and which expenses are eligible.

Most states have eligibility requirements either based on income or whether the student has a disability, but four states - Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Utah - have universal ESAs, meaning all students are eligible.

Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, told school choice supporters during a rally Monday that he plans to file a bill that will look a lot like last year's PRICE Act that would offer an ESA worth $6,900 to each student in the state. During a four-year phase in, costs would rise from $47 million to $697 million according to the fiscal note attached to the bill.

AL.com wanted to ask folks in public schools what impact ESAs could have on their public schools.

Anthony Sanders is the principal at Greensboro Middle School in Hale County. He said he is particularly worried about the cost of universal ESAs and that he doesn't see how ESAs will benefit the 230 middle school students enrolled in his school.

"From my perspective," he said, "this could be money that could be used to fully fund assistant principals, math and reading coaches to support teachers, and interventionists to support at-risk students."

Instead, he predicts students already in private schools will most benefit. There is one private school in Hale County, according to federal and state records, with 280 students.

Sanders pointed to improvements Alabama students have made in recent years, including test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and expansion of career technical programs.

"I am afraid that we will lose some ground in those areas if we divert funds because of ESAs."

Pleasant Home Principal Barry Wood leads a 480-student K-12 rural school in Covington County, which shares a border with Florida. When asked his thoughts on how ESAs might impact their school, Wood said he is concerned for a lot of reasons.

"There's only so much room at the table," Wood said. "I know right now we're operating under a surplus and I think there's a tendency to think that that kind of money will always be there." Wood is referring to three years of surplus income tax revenue that state lawmakers have stashed away for a rainy day.

"Any time you start splitting up a pie with legislation, it does concern me."

Wood said there are education initiatives that state lawmakers created that, while good for students, the state hasn't fully funded. "We've made a lot of progress with the Literacy Act and the Numeracy Act," he said, "but those are not fully funded to the degree we'd like them to be."

"We don't have math coaches," he said, which are supposed to be provided under the Numeracy Act, which focuses on improving foundational math skills. In kindergarten through fifth grade.

Federal pandemic relief money has paid for summer learning programs, which schools are required to offer for students in the elementary grades as part of those initiatives.

For students at Pleasant Home School, federal relief funding has paid for interventions and to bring class sizes down, Wood said.

Federal pandemic relief will no longer be available after September.

Wood said he doesn't know if students already in public school will use the ESAs to pay for private school tuition because there is only one private school nearby, Guardian Angel Christian Academy. According to Privateschoolreview.com, the school serves 101 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Most of the students not enrolled in public school are being homeschooled, he said.

"That's perfectly fine and appropriate. That's totally a parent's right. But if now they're going to be funded by the state with possibly no accountability, what's to say that those numbers don't grow."

State Superintendent Eric Mackey told AL.com he hasn't seen any draft bills outlining requirements for students who get ESAs, but he'd like to see those students take the same test public school students take.

Iowa's is the only universal ESA program that requires students to take the same tests public school students take.

"I think there's got to be some testing," he said. In previous discussions about ESAs, independent school leaders have said they'd like to take the state test, but lawmakers would need to provide funding for that, he said.

"Because the legislature funds part of the test and the federal government funds part of it. We cannot use federal funds to pay for testing for private schools."

Beyond testing, Mackey has other ideas about what he'd like to see in an ESA bill.

"I think there have to be some guardrails," Mackey said. "You have to have accountability, financial transparency and there has to be a cap." By "cap," he means a maximum number of students or money or both.

Hoover Board member Craig Kelley said he is concerned about the impact ESAs could have on suburban schools like those in his city, which rely heavily on local property taxes to provide advanced academic offerings and strong extracurricular activities.

Kelley said he hasn't seen a bill, and a lot of his concerns will depend on the details, like whether the amount of the ESA will be only the state-funded portion - $7,200 for the current school year - or if it could include some local tax, too.

Initially, he said, charter school supporters said local taxes wouldn't be provided to charter schools, but now some lawmakers and charter school supporters have said local taxes should follow the student, too.

Those local property taxes are voted on by the community, he said, and if the community has no idea where their money is going or how well children are doing, support for those local taxes will wane.

"I do think long term, if people are allowed to continue to siphon off public education dollars, it will be the death of public schools."

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New school choice option a 'priority' for Ivey: What's impact on public schools?

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AL.com asked folks in public schools what impact ESAs could have.

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12. Federal courts, such as U.S. Supreme Court, etc...

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12. Federal courts, such as U.S. Supreme Court, etc...

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Date: 1/25/24

This Associated Press Style News story covers the denied access to halt Alabama's inmate, Kenneth Smith, nitrogen execution by the U.S. Supreme Court. Said justices have denied Smith's lawyers appeals to extend the date of execution and review the case furthermore.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to halt Alabama's planned execution of Kenneth Smith Thursday night.

Smith is set to be the first inmate in America to be executed using nitrogen gas. The execution is slated for 6 p.m. CST at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

The justices denied Smith's lawyer's request to review the case and for a stay of execution on Wednesday afternoon. No opinion was issued.

Smith's lawyers had sought the court to review the case while another appeal centering on the method-- nitrogen hypoxia-- is pending before the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court has yet to rule on Smith's arguments.

If the federal appeals court also rules that the untested method of execution can go forward, Smith's lawyers can again appeal to the nation's highest court in Washington D.C.

Smith was convicted for his role the murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in her home in Colbert County in 1988. Sennett was a pastor's wife who was beaten and stabbed. Smith confessed to his role in the crime after the slaying.

He's set to be put to death by breathing in pure nitrogen through a fitted gas mask. In theory, he will lose consciousness without any source of oxygen and die.

Smith was first set to be executed in November 2022, when the state attempted to execute Smith via lethal injection. But the execution was called off just before midnight, when prison workers couldn't get set up the intravenous lines needed for the three-drug lethal injection cocktail.

Protestors and anti-death penalty advocates have sought to get the execution called off, asking Gov. Kay Ivey for a stay and rallying in Montgomery earlier this week.

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U.S. Supreme Court declines to halt Alabama's nitrogen execution set for Thursday

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Smith is set to be the first inmate in America to be executed using nitrogen gas. The execution is slated for 6 p.m. CST in Atmore.

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Date: 1/26/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers a story under CBS's Essentials tab, describing their suggestions for the best walking shoes in 2024. A new year equals new fitness goals, which ultimately leaders to a healthier lifestyle-- by walking in your Hoka's, New Balances, and Nike Sneakers, you can achieve a more comfortable exercising atmosphere.

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Best walking shoes for 2024: Hoka, New Balance and more

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Crush your daily step goal in comfort with these plush, supportive walking shoes from Hoka, New Balance and more.

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Date: 1/29/24

This Associated Press Style News story covers an FBI investigation that discovered the truth behind hate-crimes occurring at schools or college campuses. While this is devastating, it goes to show that centers of education are potentially not the safe space for people to learn/grow, as they used to be.

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New FBI report finds 10% of reported hate crimes occurred at schools or college campuses in 2022

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Anti-Black sentiment was the most common bias behind hate crimes reported between 2018 and 2022, followed by antisemitism, new FBI report says.

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19. High school sport other than football

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19. High school sport other than football

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Date: 1/30/24

This Associated Press Style News story covers top-ranked Huntsvilles' boys basketball loss against a team from Tennessee after their visit on Monday night. Huntsville's last home game loss was back in 2021, making this one especially devastating for the boys.

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Top-ranked Class 7A Huntsville lost its first game since November and its first at home in the past 31 games when Bartlett, Tenn., visited Monday night and left with a 58-55 win. Huntsville had won 23 straight before the setback.

Bartlett improved to 21-2 on the season with its fifth straight win while Huntsville dropped to 26-2 - with both losses coming from out-of-state foes. Huntsville is 7-1 in games decided by 10 points or fewer this season.

"What a game for both teams," Huntsville coach Christian Schweers said. "I am so proud of our team for their resilience to overcome adversity in this game. I have a ton of respect for Bartlett and their program. They are talented, they compete, do things the right way and we needed this game.

"You never want to lose, but if you are a competitor at all and you are keeping the big picture in mind - you have to play this game when it becomes available. We will be better for it in the long run."

Huntsville had scheduled the game against the nation's No. 65 team - according to MaxPreps rankings - last week after the cancellation of games against Kell, Ga., and Pinson Valley due to the winter storm. Huntsville was ranked No. 9 headed into the contest.

A big second quarter proved to be the difference for the visitors from just outside Memphis. Trailing 16-10 after one quarter, Bartlett outscored Huntsville 15-5 for a 25-21 halftime lead. Bartlett, also nicknamed Panthers, carried a 44-35 advantage into the final period.

Huntsville chipped away at the lead and got within 53-51 with 45 seconds left in the game on a JD Gossett layup. King answered with a driving layup and hit a free throw for a 3-point play to give the visitors a cushion. Gossett hit a short turnaround jumper to make it 56-53 with 20 seconds to play, but Bartlett closed it out with free throws.

R'chaun King, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound Arkansas State signee, did the most damage for the winners. King scored 23 points with 7-for-7 shooting from the floor and 9-for-9 from the foul line. Senior teammate Christian Alston, who has signed with Abilene Christian, scored 19, going 7-for-10 from the field.

Senior Samford University signee Caleb Harrison scored 17 for Huntsville, hitting 7-for-11 from the floor, including 2-for-5 on 3-point attempts. The 6-10 Harrison grabbed 7 rebounds and had 5 assists. Gossett, a 6-5 junior guard, scored 16 for Huntsville. He was 5-for-9 from the floor and 6-for-6 on free throws and had 5 rebounds.

Simon Walker and Josh Bowman scored 9 points apiece in the loss.

Huntsville made 46 percent of its field-goal attempts, 3-of-15 on 3-point tries. The home team hit 18-of-23 from the foul line. Huntsville was outrebounded 21-18 and had 14 turnovers to 18 for Bartlett. The winners made 53 percent of their shots, 2-of-8 on 3-pointers. Bartlett made 18-of-22 from the free-throw line.

Huntsville's last home loss was on Nov. 21, 2021, to Lee-Huntsville.

Huntsville plays at Sparkman on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and will host Geraldine at 7 p.m. Thursday to wrap up the regular season. Huntsville hosts the 7A, Area 7 tournament beginning Feb. 6.

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Tennessee team snaps Huntsville boys' 23-game winning streak

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The 58-55 loss was the Crimson Panthers' first at home since since Nov. 21, 2021.

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Date: 1/31/24

This Associated Press Style News story covers the meaning behind Travis Kelce wearing number 87, as he plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. Kelce shares the story behind the number on his jersey, giving tribute to his older brother, Jason Kelce's birth year.

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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is on his way to his fourth Super Bowl with the team after a season punctuated by success. Kelce started dating Taylor Swift, and sales of his No. 87 jersey soared roughly 400% after she attended a game. The number on that wildly popular jersey was chosen by Kelce for a meaningful reason.

In 2023, when both Kelce and his older brother, Eagles center Jason Kelce, made it to the Super Bowl, they sat down with NFL Films for an interview and talked about playing in the big game against each other.

"If there is a Kelce legacy - two brothers making it to the NFL - it started in 1987, because this big guy was born in 1987," Travis said about Jason, who quipped that he can't wear '89, Travis' birth year. Jason wears No. 62.

Travis explained in another interview that year just how pivotal his older brother was for his football career. Both brothers played football at University of Cincinnati, but Travis was suspended from the team for violating team rules.

"I got my scholarship taken, too. I was actually staying with my brother," the younger Kelce said, according to CBS Sports. "I was in his room, his house. Kind of like two brothers growing up living in the same room. In terms of rent, I wasn't paying it. In terms of food, he was helping me with that."

Travis called Jason, who helped get him back on the team, his "lifeline." He said his older brother talked to numerous coaches to convince them to give him a second chance.

"He's matured," Jason said. "He came in young and very rambunctious, but we all change over the course of a career. Life changes as we get older, with values and energy level. He's gotten older. He's gotten more mature."

"I'm forever in debt to this guy for putting his name, our name - the Kelce name - on the line. When I say I owe it all to him, I really do," Travis said.

Jason's team didn't make it to the Super Bowl this year but that has allowed him to cheer on his younger brother - and tailgate with fans. The 36-year-old drew attention while partying shirtless during the Chiefs-Bills game earlier this month alongside Taylor Swift who often draws eyes to the stadium boxes as she cheers on Travis Kelce during games.

The Chiefs went on to win that game and advanced to Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers. The game will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 11 and will be broadcast live on CBS and Nickelodeon and streaming on Paramount+.
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Caitlin O'Kane

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The meaningful reason Travis Kelce wears a No. 87 jersey

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The number on the wildly popular jersey was chosen by Travis Kelce for a meaningful reason.

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This Associated Press Style News story covers YouTube's response after a graphic 14-minute long video was released by user, Justin Mohn, who was charged with first-degree murder of his own father. YouTube states that they have very strict policies in cases of "graphic violence" and "violent extremism", yet the video was uploaded for anyone and everyone to see.

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Neighbors shocked after Levittown man allegedly beheaded father inside home

A graphic video from a Pennsylvania man accused of beheading his father that circulated for hours on YouTube has put a spotlight yet again on gaps in social media companies' ability to prevent horrific postings from spreading across the web. Police said Wednesday that they charged Justin Mohn, 32, with first-degree murder and abusing a corpse after he beheaded his father, Michael, in their Bucks County home and publicized it in a 14-minute YouTube video that anyone, anywhere could see.

A spokesperson for YouTube told CBS News that the platform "has strict policies prohibiting graphic violence and violent extremism."

"The video was removed for violating our graphic violence policy and Justin Mohn's channel was terminated in line with our violent extremism policies," the spokesperson said. "Our teams are closely tracking to remove any re-uploads of the video."

The video-sharing site says it uses a combination of artificial intelligence and human moderators to monitor its platform. YouTube told CBS News that in the third quarter of 2023, the site took down 8.1 million videos for violating its policies -- and over 95% of those videos were first flagged by automated systems.

The video-sharing site not respond to questions about how the video was caught or why it wasn't done sooner.

News of the incident - which drew comparisons to the beheading videos posted online by the Islamic State militants at the height of their prominence nearly a decade ago - came as the CEOs of Meta, TikTok and other social media companies were testifying in front of federal lawmakers frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress on child safety online. YouTube, which is owned by Google, did not attend the hearing despite its status as one of the most popular platforms among teens.

The disturbing video from Pennsylvania follows other horrific clips that have been broadcast on social media in recent years, including domestic mass shootings livestreamed from Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Buffalo, New York - as well as carnages filmed abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the German city of Halle.

Middletown Township Police Capt. Pete Feeney said the video in Pennsylvania was posted at about 10 p.m. Tuesday and online for about five hours, a time lag that raises questions about whether social media platforms are delivering on moderation practices that might be needed more than ever amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and an extremely contentious presidential election in the U.S.

"It's another example of the blatant failure of these companies to protect us," said Alix Fraser, director of the Council for Responsible Social Media at the nonprofit advocacy organization Issue One. "We can't trust them to grade their own homework."

Major social media companies moderate content with the help of powerful automated systems, which can often catch prohibited content before a human can. But that technology can sometimes fall short when a video is violent and graphic in a way that is new or unusual, as it was in this case, said Brian Fishman, co-founder of the trust and safety technology startup Cinder.

That's when human moderators are "really, really critical," he said. "AI is improving, but it's not there yet."

Roughly 40 minutes after midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, a group set up by tech companies to prevent these types of videos from spreading online, said it alerted its members about the video. GIFCT allows the platform with the original footage to submit a "hash" - a digital fingerprint corresponding to a video - and notifies nearly two dozen other member companies so they can restrict it from their platforms.

But by Wednesday morning, the video had already spread to X, where a graphic clip of Mohn holding his father's head remained on the platform for at least seven hours and received 20,000 views. The company, formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.

Experts in radicalization say that social media and the internet have lowered the barrier to entry for people to explore extremist groups and ideologies, allowing any person who may be predisposed to violence to find a community that reinforces those ideas.

In the video posted after the killing, Mohn described his father as a 20-year federal employee, espoused a variety of conspiracy theories and ranted against the government.

Most social platforms have policies to remove violent and extremist content. But they can't catch everything, and the emergence of many newer, less closely moderated sites has allowed more hateful ideas to fester unchecked, said Michael Jensen, senior researcher at the University of Maryland-based Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START.

Despite the obstacles, social media companies need to be more vigilant about regulating violent content, said Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"The reality is that social media has become a front line in extremism and terrorism," Ware said. "That's going to require more serious and committed efforts to push back."

Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at the media advocacy group Free Press, said among the tech reforms she would like to see are more transparency about what kinds of employees are being impacted by layoffs, and more investment in trust and safety workers.

Google, which owns YouTube, this month laid off hundreds of employees working on its hardware, voice assistance and engineering teams. Last year, the company said it cut 12,000 workers "across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions," without offering additional detail.

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Beheading video posted on YouTube prompts response from social media platform

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Justin Mohn, 32, was charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly beheaded his father and publicized it in a 14-minute YouTube video.

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Date: 2/2/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers Tesla, a multi-billion dollar company, recalling 2.2 million cars because the lights are too hard to read, increasing the risk of crashes. This recall was filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and plans to be fixed by Tesla within the next month or so.

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/ CBS News

Tesla is recalling almost 2.2 million vehicles - nearly all of the cars that it has sold in the U.S. - because the font size is too small on its instrument panel for its brake, park and antilock brake system warning lights.

That makes the lights hard to read, increase the risk of a crash, according to a recall notice filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The font size violates federal safety standards, according the agency.

The vehicles being recalled include:

2012-2023 Model S

2016-2024 Model X

2017-2023 Model 3

2019-2024 Model Y

2024 Cybertruck vehicles

A January 30 report posted by NHTSA noted that Tesla is not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths linked to the incorrect warning light fonts.

Tesla is fixing the vehicles by releasing a free, over-the-air software update. The automaker will also mail owner notification letters starting March 30.

Owners can also contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752. Tesla's number for this recall is SB-24-00-003.

Tesla has issued a series of recalls n recent weeks. The company January recalled nearly 200,000 vehicles in the U.S. because the backup camera can malfunction while the car is in reverse.

In December, Tesla also recalled more than 2 million vehicles across four different models to fix a flaw in its Autopilot system. That followed a years-long investigation by NHTSA into a series of crashes, some deadly, related to the Autopilot technology.
-With reporting by the Associated Press.

First published on February 2, 2024 / 7:37 AM EST

© 2024 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Tesla recalls 2.2 million cars - nearly all of its vehicles sold in the U.S. - over warning light issue

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Warning lights on the Tesla vehicles are hard to read, raising the risk of a crash, according to traffic safety regulators.

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Date: 2/5/2024

This Associated Press Style news story covers Jefferson County commissioners refinancing process of $2.24 billion in county sewer debt that has provided a lot of relief for customers unable to pay their bills and rate increases. While the county is still working on the timeline, it was voted on back in January that this was the right move to make.

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Jefferson County caps sewer rate hikes, creates fund to help customers with bills, repairs

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Residents in Jefferson County for years have lamented their monthly sewer bills, yearly rate increases, and a lack of aid for people unable to afford the rising costs.

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Date: 2/26/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers President Biden being set to deliver a message at the White House which urges Congress to pass a national security supplemental bill that could provide funding for Ukraine, Israel, and border security. Responses to this proposition are very conflicting and range by political party.

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Washington - President Biden is set to deliver remarks at the White House on Tuesday to urge Congress to pass a national security supplemental bill that would provide funding for Ukraine, Israel and border security, among other priorities.

The president's plea comes as more House and Senate Republicans have said they oppose the Senate-negotiated deal, which would provide $118 billion for foreign aid and overhaul key portions of the U.S. immigration system. Opposition from House Republicans was anticipated, but a growing number of Senate Republicans have also come out against the long-awaited agreement since it was released on Sunday.

"I think the proposal is dead," Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi told reporters after a meeting in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office Monday night.

The White House for months has been urging Congress to pass an emergency supplemental to provide billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Republicans insisted on including provisions to clamp down on illegal border crossings. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, Republican Sen. James Lankford and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema took the lead in hammering out a deal on the immigration portions of the larger package.

But Republicans who oppose the final product say the bill does not go far enough to deter illegal border crossings. Speaker Mike Johnson said the Senate bill would be "dead on arrival" in the House.

Separately, the lower chamber plans to vote on a standalone bill to provide more aid to Israel on Tuesday evening. The Biden administration announced Monday night that the president would veto the bill if it reaches his desk, in light of the White House's insistence on the broader national security deal.

"Instead of working in good faith to address the most pressing national security challenges, this bill is another cynical political maneuver," the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of administration policy. "The security of Israel should be sacred, not a political game ... The administration strongly encourages both chambers of the Congress to reject this political ploy and instead quickly send the bipartisan Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act to the president's desk."

The president is expected to speak at 11:45 a.m.

How to watch Biden's remarks

What: President Biden urges Congress to pass a national security bill

Date: Feb. 6, 2024

Time: 11:45 a.m. ET

Location: White House

Watch: Live on CBS News in the video player above and on your mobile or streaming device.
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Kathryn Watson

First published on February 6, 2024 / 11:14 AM EST

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Biden to urge Congress to pass border security and foreign aid bill

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A growing number of Republicans are voicing opposition to the Senate-negotiated deal.

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Date: 2/7/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers the negative impact that the COVID-19 Pandemic had on small businesses. The city of Birmingham and the Penny foundation have partnered to fund grants for small businesses in the Birmingham metropolitan area.

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The COVID-19 public health emergency has had a negative economic impact on small businesses. In response, the Penny Foundation and the city of Birmingham have partnered once again to fund grants to support small businesses in the Birmingham metropolitan area.

The Penny Foundation will give out grants to small businesses located in certain neighborhoods of the city. With $125,000 of funding available, applicants can receive between $1,000 and $2,500 in grant money. The money can be used on necessities such as mortgage, rent, utilities, building improvements and developments.

Council President Darrell O'Quinn, President Pro Tem Wardine Alexander, and Councilors Clinton Woods, Crystal Smitherman and LaTonya Tate each contributed $27,500 from their office's American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The Penny Foundation's Founder Lyord Watson spoke at Birmingham City Hall Tuesday.

"The Future Forward business grant cycle plays a crucial role in fostering innovation and sustainability. It's not just about financial support; it's an investment in the potential of organizations to make a lasting impact," Watson said. "The grant cycle allows us to identify and empower businesses that align with our mission, driving positive change in our communities. It's a partnership beyond funding - it's about collaboration, growth, and creating a meaningful difference together."

Watson told AL.com that small businesses frequently require assistance with supplies, or need help with a relatively small purchase that would help them level up their services.

"A number of different needs, with a lot of businesses, and when you talk about creatives, often times while thinking about small businesses, they will have creative looks and they needed support around supplies for their art"

Businesses can apply for funding between Feb. 1 and 15. Grant winners will be announced Feb. 29.

Eligible applicants must:

* Own a small business with a valid business license in Birmingham's District One, District Five, District Six, District Seven, or District Nine.

* Be currently active and open for business, and able to show proof of operation before Feb. 15, 2020.

* Agree to implement proposed services or upgrades within one month of the awarded grant.

* Have less than 25 employees.

* Agree to use an approved/licensed professional consultant and/or other identified professional service provider.

* Stay in business for one year after receiving the grant or pay the appropriate pro rata share of the funds back to Penny Foundation.

More information is available at pennyfoundation.org/futureforwardfund.

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Penny Foundation, city council make grants available to Birmingham small businesses

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Eligible small businesses can apply for funding from Feb. 1-15, 2024.

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Date: 2/8/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers a dangerous shift of people who are rejecting medical science that backs the safety of vaccines. Growing vaccine resistance could potentially play a role in the upcoming 2024 election.

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Rates of routine childhood vaccination hit a 10-year low in 2023. That, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, puts about 250,000 kindergartners at risk for measles, which often leads to hospitalization and can cause death. In recent weeks, an infant and two young children have been hospitalized amid an ongoing measles outbreak in Philadelphia that spread to a day care center.

It's a dangerous shift driven by a critical mass of people who now reject decades of science backing the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. State by state, they've persuaded legislators and courts to more easily allow children to enter kindergarten without vaccines, citing religious, spiritual or philosophical beliefs.

Growing vaccine hesitancy is just a small part of a broader rejection of scientific expertise that could have consequences ranging from disease outbreaks to reduced funding for research that leads to new treatments. "The term 'infodemic' implies random junk, but that's wrong," said Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. "This is an organized political movement, and the health and science sectors don't know what to do."

Changing views among Republicans have steered the relaxation of childhood vaccine requirements, according to the Pew Research Center. Whereas nearly 80 percent of Republicans supported the rules in 2019, fewer than 60 percent do today. Democrats have held steady, with about 85 percent supporting. Mississippi, which once boasted the nation's highest rates of childhood vaccination, began allowing religious exemptions last summer. Another leader in vaccination, West Virginia, is moving to do the same.

An anti-science movement picked up pace as Republican and Democratic perspectives on science diverged during the pandemic. Whereas 70 percent of Republicans said that science has a mostly positive impact on society in 2019, less than half felt that way in a November poll from Pew. With presidential candidates lending airtime to anti-vaccine messages and members of Congress maligning scientists and pandemic-era public health policies, the partisan rift will likely widen in the run-up to November's elections.

Dorit Reiss, a vaccine policy researcher at the University of California Law San Francisco, draws parallels between today's backlash against public health and the early days of climate change denial. Both issues progressed from nonpartisan, fringe movements to the mainstream once they appealed to conservatives and libertarians, who traditionally seek to limit government regulation. "Even if people weren't anti-vaccine to start with," Reiss said, "they move that way when the argument fits."

Even certain actors are the same. In the late '90s and early 2000s, a libertarian think tank, the American Institute for Economic Research, undermined climate scientists with reports that questioned global warming. The same institute issued a statement early in the pandemic, grandly called the "Great Barrington Declaration." It argued against measures to curb the disease and advised everyone - except the most vulnerable - to go about their lives as usual, regardless of the risk of infection.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, warned that such an approach would overwhelm health systems and put millions more at risk of disability and death from COVID. "Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical," he said.

Another group, the National Federation of Independent Business, has fought regulatory measures to curb climate change for over a decade. It moved on to vaccines in 2022 when it won a Supreme Court case that overturned a government effort to temporarily require employers to mandate that workers either be vaccinated against COVID or wear a face mask and test on a regular basis. Around 1,000 to 3,000 COVID deaths would have been averted in 2022 had the court upheld the rule, one study estimates.

Politically charged pushback may become better funded and more organized if public health becomes a political flashpoint in the lead-up to the presidential election. In the first few days of 2024, Florida's surgeon general, appointed by former Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, called for a halt to use of mRNA COVID vaccines as he echoed DeSantis' incorrect statement that the shots have "not been proven to be safe and effective."

And vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running for president as an independent, announced that his campaign communications would be led by Del Bigtree, the executive director of one of the most well-heeled anti-vaccine organizations in the nation and host of a conspiratorial talk show. Bigtree posted a letter on the day of the announcement rife with misinformation, such as a baseless rumor that COVID vaccines make people more prone to infection. He and Kennedy frequently pair health misinformation with terms that appeal to anti-government ideologies like "medical freedom" and "religious freedom."

A product of a Democratic dynasty, Kennedy's appeal appears to be stronger among Republicans, a Politico analysis found. DeSantis said he would consider nominating Kennedy to run the FDA, which approves drugs and vaccines, or the CDC, which advises on vaccines and other public health measures. Vivek Ramaswamy, vowed to gut the CDC should he win the Republican presidential nomination. Ramaswamy ultimately dropped out of the race in mid-January.

Today's anti-science movement found its footing in the months before the 2020 elections, as primarily Republican politicians rallied support from constituents who resented pandemic measures like masking and the closure of businesses, churches, and schools. Then-President Donald Trump, for example, mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask at the presidential debate in September 2020.

Democrats fueled the politicization of public health, too, by blaming Republican leaders for the country's soaring death rates, rather than decrying systemic issues that rendered the U.S. vulnerable, such as underfunded health departments and severe economic inequality that put some groups at far higher risk than others. Just before Election Day, a Democratic-led congressional subcommittee released a report that called the Trump administration's pandemic response "among the worst failures of leadership in American history."

Republicans launched a subcommittee investigation into the pandemic that sharply criticizes scientific institutions and scientists once seen as nonpartisan. On Jan. 8 and 9, the group questioned Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious disease researcher who has advised both Republican and Democratic presidents. Without evidence, committee member and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Fauci of supporting research that created the coronavirus in order to push vaccines: "He belongs in jail for that," Greene, a vaccine skeptic, said. "This is like a, more of an evil version of science."

Taking a cue from environmental advocacy groups that have tried to fight strategic and monied efforts to block energy regulations, Hotez and other researchers say public health needs supporters knowledgeable in legal and political arenas. Such groups might combat policies that limit public health power, advise lawmakers, and provide legal counsel to scientists who are harassed or called before Congress in politically charged hearings.

Other initiatives aim to present the scientific consensus clearly to avoid both-sidesism, in which the media presents opposing viewpoints as equal when, in fact, the majority of researchers and bulk of evidence point in one direction. Oil and tobacco companies used this tactic effectively to seed doubt about the science linking their industries to harm.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said the scientific community must improve its communication. Expertise, alone, is insufficient when people mistrust the experts' motives. Indeed, nearly 40 percent of Republicans report little to no confidence in scientists to act in the public's best interest.

In a study published last year, Jamieson and colleagues identified attributes the public values beyond expertise, including transparency about unknowns and self-correction. Researchers might have better managed expectations around COVID vaccines, for example, by emphasizing that the protection conferred by most vaccines is less than 100 percent and wanes over time, requiring additional shots, Jamieson said. And when the initial COVID vaccine trials demonstrated that the shots drastically curbed hospitalization and death but revealed little about infections, public health officials might have been more open about their uncertainty.

As a result, many people felt betrayed when COVID vaccines only moderately reduced the risk of infection. "We were promised that the vaccine would stop transmission, only to find out that wasn't completely true, and America noticed," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, chair of the Republican-led coronavirus subcommittee, at a July hearing.

Jamieson also advises repetition. It's a technique expertly deployed by those who promote misinformation, which perhaps explains why the number of people who believe the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin treats COVID more than doubled over the past two years - despite persistent evidence to the contrary. In November, the drug got another shoutout at a hearing where congressional Republicans alleged that the Biden administration and science agencies had censored public health information.

Hotez, author of a new book on the rise of the anti-science movement, fears the worst. "Mistrust in science is going to accelerate," he said.

And traditional efforts to combat misinformation, such as debunking, may prove ineffective.

"It's very problematic," Jamieson said, "when the sources we turn to for corrective knowledge have been discredited."
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF - the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. This story also ran on CBS News. It can be republished for free.

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What the rise in anti-science beliefs means for the 2024 election

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Rates of routine childhood vaccination hit a 10-year low in 2023. That shift could have an impact on politics this election year.

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Date: 2/11/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's surprise entry into Maryland's open U.S. Senate race. Hogan's entry could change the political map and this article discusses his uphill battle to win the seat.

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/ CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan made a surprise entry into Maryland's open U.S. Senate race.

Hogan filed just hours before the deadline on Friday.

Gov. Hogan filed his candidacy at approx. 12:30p. https://t.co/LbkB9vVk4h
- Michael Ricci (@riccimike) February 9, 2024

The seat opened after Maryland's senior senator, Democrat Ben Cardin, announced his retirement last year.

Hogan, a Republican, won a long-shot bid for governor in 2015 and left the term-limited office in 2023.

He stressed bipartisanship in his campaign announcement Friday.

"My fellow Marylanders, you know me," Hogan said. "For eight years, we proved that the toxic politics that divide our nation need not divide our state."

Hogan said, "The politicians in Washington seem to be more interested in arguing than in actually getting anything done for the people they represent. Enough is enough."

Hogan's entry puts the seat in play and could change the national political map.

Democrats now must spend on a race thought to be reliably in their column with the margin for control of the Senate razor thin, as they defend more open seats than Republicans.

Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College wrote a book on Hogan, "Blue-State Republican."

My quick take:

1. Yes, absolutely, Hogan has a *significant* uphill battle to win a US Senate seat in Maryland.

2. I'd still avoid an outright, immediate dismissal of a two-term governor who maintained a consistent mid-60's/low-70's approval rating for 8 years.
- Mileah Kromer (@MileahKromer) February 9, 2024

"Two things are true at the same time: One, it is going to be an uphill battle for any Republican trying to win statewide in Maryland for the U.S. Senate race, for a federal race," Kromer told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "The second thing that is true is that you don't discount a two-term, Republican governor who maintained a 65 to 70 percent approval rating over eight years."

Kromer added, "I was as surprised as everyone else was that he decided to throw his hat into the ring today."

She told Hellgren, "Larry Hogan will still have to win Republican primary, but right now he certainly will have immediately more recognition and more money than any of the other candidates that are currently filed to run."

Hogan rebuffed a senate run last cycle and flirted with a run for the presidency. He previously headed the No Labels political organization and has been a fierce critic of former President Trump.

"I didn't support him in the last two elections and don't think he should be anywhere near the White House again," Hogan told CBS News last June.

The two top Democrats running for senate-Representative David Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks-quickly pounced on Hogan's entry into the race.

Statements from top Democratic challengers Trone and Alsobrooks on Hogan's run for U.S. Senate. @wjz pic.twitter.com/PSAM6bvnqS
- Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) February 9, 2024

Trone told WJZ in a statement, "Larry Hogan's candidacy is nothing but a desperate attempt to return Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to power and give them the deciding vote to ban abortion nationwide, suppress votes across the country, and give massive tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans."

Alsobrooks wrote, "We know what's at stake in this election-our fundamental freedoms over our bodies. When I join the Democratic Majority, I'll be a leader in fighting to defend those freedoms because I'm the only person in this race-on either side-who's never compromised on that issue."

Kromer said of Hogan, "He is not somebody who would get into a race where he knew he would have no chance of victory. That is not the type of political animal that he is. He's a pragmatist at heart, and so I'm sure that the Hogan campaign has done some internal polling on this race. They've taken a close look at Maryland and a close look at any potential victory. That doesn't mean that path of victory is going to be easy-uphill and incredibly steep."

Hogan could face questions about the scandal involving his former top aide Roy McGrath who was killed in an encounter with the FBI.

McGrath was facing a maximum of 100 years in federal prison for charges of illegally recording Hogan and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from state government.

Here is the full release on the Knox County, Tennessee prosecutor's findings in ex-Hogan aide Roy McGrath's death @wjz #RoyMcGrath https://t.co/8rvRZNNPxv pic.twitter.com/D0bkcoReqA
- Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) July 28, 2023

Hogan faces Republican primary competition from retired Brigadier General John Teichert.

Teichert said Friday, "Marylanders deserve to have a choice, and I welcome anyone to the race who wants to offer them one."

He has the endorsement of Hogan's former Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford.

I am running for the United States Senate - not to serve one party - but to stand up to both parties, fight for Maryland, and fix our nation's broken politics. It's what I did as Maryland's governor, and it's exactly how I'll serve Maryland in the Senate. Let's get back to work. pic.twitter.com/d0TuZchAtN
- Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) February 9, 2024

More from CBS News

Christian Olaniran

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Republican Larry Hogan makes surprise bid for Maryland's open U.S. Senate seat

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Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has announced that he will run for U.S. senate.

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Date: 2/12/24

This Associated Press Style news story covers California Governor Gavin Newsom as he was caught on camera sharing frustration with local mayors in regards to increase retail theft. The Governor placed California Highway Patrol in charge of the state's organized retail theft task force, in which they did not intervene while watching stealing occur at a local Target.

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/ CBS Sacramento

UPDATE: As we reported last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was caught on camera sharing his frustration with a group of local mayors after he said he witnessed a theft at Target and the clerk blamed "the governor" for the increase in retail theft.

"I said, 'Why aren't you stopping?' She goes, 'Oh, the governor - I swear to God, true story, on my mom's grave - the governor lowered the threshold. There's no accountability,' " he told the mayors on Zoom.

Officers can't arrest someone for a misdemeanor in California unless they witness the crime firsthand. So even if the clerk had stopped the alleged thief and called the police, the shoplifter likely would have been cited and released.

However, as several viewers pointed out, the Governor's California Highway Patrol (CHP) security detail presumably also witnessed the crime. They could have intervened and legally arrested the shoplifter.

Notably, the Governor put CHP in charge of the state's organized retail theft taskforce.

Governor Newsom's office did not respond to questions about why his detail did not intervene.

A CHP spokesperson issued the following statement:

"The California Highway Patrol's (CHP) Governor's Protection Detail is responsible for the safety and security of the Governor and his family. The CHP does not release specific information related to personnel assignments, security tactics, or protection strategies."

Speaking of mayors...

Democratic mayors join fight to reform Prop. 47 - despite the governor's opposition

A growing number of Democratic mayors are now joining the fight to reform Prop. 47, despite Governor Newsom's opposition. Some of those mayors were on the, now infamous, Zoom call last week.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and the Oakland chapter of the NAACP all announced their support on Thursday for a proposed ballot measure called The Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act. It is intended, in part, to increase theft penalties for repeat offenders and incentivize treatment for hard drug users by reforming portions of Prop 47.

Two progressive Bay Area mayors are among a growing number of Democrats and progressive groups who are backing this ballot measure, which the Governor does not appear to support.

Prop. 47 is a 2014 voter-approved law that reduced punishments for drug possession and for thefts under $950, including for repeat offenders. As a result, people with multiple theft convictions, and those repeatedly found in possession of hard drugs, could no longer be charged with felonies.

For reasons we've previously reported, people who are charged with misdemeanors in California rarely serve jail time or face any significant penalties.

Enter the new ballot proposal. It's been billed as a Republican-led initiative but it's actually sponsored by a group of victims' advocates and public safety leaders, including the former head of the California Department of Corrections and prominent district attorneys.

Top donors for the proposal include Walmart and Target, and people have been lining up outside grocery stores to sign the petition to get it on the ballot.

If passed:

District attorneys could once again charge repeat offenders with a felony.

It would create a new "treatment-mandated felony" for hard drug users with multiple convictions, which would be dismissed once they complete treatment.

Judges could once again sentence drug traffickers to state prison instead of county jail.

Sources told CBS Sacramento that the governor is opposed to the proposed ballot measure and has actively discouraged retail industry groups from supporting it.

The governor's office wouldn't comment on that Thursday but did point us to his recent budget presentation where he publicly opposed reforming Prop. 47.

"Not to say everything about Prop. 47 is hunky-dory and perfect. We want to fix some of the ambiguities, but we can do it without reforming or going back to the voters themselves. That's what we proposed," Newsom said.

Anything that would reform Prop. 47 would have to go back to the voters on the ballot. Lawmakers have begun introducing individual pieces of legislation that, if passed by the legislature, would appear on the ballot and would make a series of smaller changes to the law.

The governor is pushing his own property crime package of legislation that is focused on certain types of thefts. He's also calling for legislation to allow officers to arrest someone for a misdemeanor, whether or not they witnessed a crime.

More from CBS News

Julie Watts

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Why didn't governor's CHP detail stop retail theft he witnessed at Target?

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Also Thursday... Democratic mayors are joining the fight to reform Prop 47 despite California Governor Gavin Newsom's opposition.