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9/7

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I don't scream. I don't cry ouch -unless someone steps on my toes.

I don't whine when yet another insulting generalization rooted in an insipid stereotype (or three) invades my social media timeline. I don't scream. I don't cry ouch-unless it steps on my toes. Unless I'm guilty.

Joe Biden stepped on MAGA's toes, and they're crying. They're wailing. Ouch!

Because they're guilty. Guilty of exactly what the president accused them of being: A threat to decency. A threat to our democracy. A threat to us.

I'm kinda thinking Biden sneaked a peak at Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin's recent flurry of body shots at the Birmingham Water Works Board. I can see a white-haired guy shadowboxing in the West Wing. Jab! Jab! Body shot! Uppercut! With "Rocky" on Vol. 10. Woodfin piledrives the BWWB as an overflow of beleaguered water customers roars.

That's the vibe Biden took to the podium last Thursday night at a $1 million party fundraiser hosted at Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland - a Democratic safe zone. A vibe infused by recent bipartisan wins - bills funding too-long-neglected infrastructure throughout the nation, addressing access to the deadliest guns (the first weapons reform bill in more than a decade), promoting high-tech manufacturing (boosting even a few Alabama companies), and Democrat-led legislation tackling climate change (just one of the areas that make MAGA nation apoplectic) and lowering costs of healthcare drugs.
Jab! Jab! Body shot! Uppercut!
The jab was subtle (as most jabs are, just enough to get your opponent's attention), but effective. He made it clear what was about to say was not aimed at all Republicans. "Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans," he said, "are MAGA Republicans."

The man ripped the logo right off the bright red cap.
Ouch!
"Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology," Biden said. I know because I've been able to work with these mainstream Republicans. But there's no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country."

And that wasn't even the piledrive.

"It's not just Trump," the president said, "it's the entire philosophy that underpins the - I'm going to say something - it's like semi-fascism."
Boom!
Let's all take a deep breath. Let's define fascism. This is for the people in the back-the MAGAs who typically scream about things they can't define (critical race theory) or that scare them (transgender youth, history, there's a whole lot more here), people whose ancestors came from different shores, women making their own decisions about their bodies, and who want to ban books they haven't read.

That doesn't cover it all, but you get the gist.

Fascism isn't simple to define. The term goes back about a century. Its poster children are Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, the faces of historical authoritarianism - at its most evil. Author (" How Fascism Works") John Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale, told All About History magazine: "[Fascism is] based on an ethnic division between 'us' and 'them', an extreme ethnonationalism. It's based on nostalgia for a mythic past, typically in which members of the chosen ethnic group had an empire - and it represents the present as loss of that great empire, that natural standpoint in which members of this ethnic group dominated their environment militarily, politically, and culturally."

You really could've stopped at ethnic division between 'us' and 'them'.

Ouch!

Trump, of course, was the first to huff, puff, and pout. The classified documents the obstructionist (alleged, I'm sorry) was the first to scream. Biden "demonize[ed] half the population," the ex-president said-ignoring that Biden actually said, "not even the majority of Republicans are MAGA".

Predictably, MAGA lemmings followed, starting with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, and sycophant ear-coverer who, like the rest of MAGA nation, only heard what he wanted to hear. Which was pretty much one word. Biden, he spewed, was "slandering tens of millions of Americans as 'fascists.'"

Do MAGAs do math?

The sum of this hilarity is simple. Trump is going to run for president again. We all know this. He's going to cannonball into the deep end of the pool of 2024 Republican presidential aspirants. He'll do it because he thinks, truly bless-his-heart thinks, the office is his. Not ours.

He's going to sink. Or hit bottom in a drained-out pool, at a party that can't afford him to represent them anymore. To be their pompous face, their divisive voice. Not anymore.

A party, frankly that may be scared to death of him, but afraid to say so. Because it's not quite so sure how many of y'all are out there, MAGA Nation. How many of the ones who tolerate, even celebrate Trump's egregious, most insipid actions and ideals? And will vote.

I'm sure of this: Donald Trump 2024 is dead. Yes, it is.

To be sure, MAGA Nation is voluble and prolific. It's the greased squeaky wheel. One wheel, though, doesn't drive; MAGA \isn't large or strong enough to sustain its almost pitiable self. And that's what the Republican Party will have to decipher: Who's at the wheel?

"The Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans," Biden said.

Boom! Biden didn't pose after that blow, did he?

Polls are cute. They're a snapshot of time. Of a moment. We've learned, though, that they're not the bet-your-momma call they were in the past. They're not always a reflection of a movement. That said, digest this: Seven in 10 Republicans don't believe Trump won the 2020 presidential election, says a recent poll conducted by Economist-YouGov. And this, only one in four Republicans, says an NBC News poll, support the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Thus, three in four Republicans-my reasonable Republicans, as I've written before-support decency, support our democracy, support us.

Do the math MAGA; you're done. No matter how much you scream.

Ouch.
More by Roy S. Johnson World Games' $14 million debt indeed 'sucks', city council's anger did not KKK image used by GOP county chair may have been an 'error,' it was not a mistake Black pastor arrested for watering flowers: 'God will work it out for me' When Bill Russell stopped blocking my shot The future of the Magic City Classic? It's a no-brainer
Roy S. Johnson is a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary and winner of 2021 Edward R. Murrow prize for podcasts: "Unjustifiable", co-hosted with John Archibald. His column appears in The Birmingham News and AL.com, as well as the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Press-Register. Reach him at rjohnson@al.com, follow him at twitter.com/roysj, or on Instagram @roysj.

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Roy S. Johnson: MAGA whining about Biden means Donald Trump 2024 is dead

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I don't scream. I don't cry ouch -unless someone steps on my toes. I don't whine when yet another insulting generalization rooted in an insipid stereotype (or three) invades my social media timeline. I don't scream. I don't cry ouch-unless it steps on my toes. Unless I'm guilty.

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9/15

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House Passes Bill to Insulate Federal Workers, Addressing a Trump Threat

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The legislation would prevent a president from gutting the civil service, a move that former President Donald J. Trump attempted and has threatened to revive should he win another term.

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9/6

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Alabama election 2022: What’s the earliest you can vote?

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Alabama voters can cast an early ballot if they are going to be out of town on election day, are ill or incapacitated or for certain other reasons.

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8/11

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Where is Alabama Governor Kay Ivey? Her office refuses to say.

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9/16

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This story first appeared in the Lede, a digital news publication delivered to our subscribers every morning. Go here to subscribe.
District 2 residents will decide who will replace Frances Akridge on the Huntsville City Council on Tuesday when they go to the polls to vote in a runoff between David Little and Bell Yell.

Little, a wealth management and financial planning advisor, and Yell, former Huntsville Utilities manager, received the most votes in a five-candidate field during the Aug. 23 municipal election.

After the first vote, Little led the field with 2,178 votes, followed by Yell with 1,194 to force the runoff.
What interested you in running for a position on the Huntsville City Council, and what experience would you bring to the position?

Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The winner will take his seat on the council on Nov. 7.

Little and Yell discussed the issues with the Lede leading up to the runoff.

David Little: Running for city council has been a dream of mine for many years. I am a lifelong resident of Huntsville and have a sincere passion for our city. I have been involved in the community on several levels, serving in leadership roles with local non-profit organizations like Heals Inc, Huntsville Rotary Club and Leadership Greater Huntsville. I was appointed to the Huntsville Police Citizens Advisory Council in 2010, a position I am very proud of. Simply put, I am ready to have a larger role in serving not only the residents of District 2, but all of Huntsville.

Bill Yell: Two years ago, I was approached by several individuals who asked me to run for the city council. They had concerns with the direction that the council was taking.
What role do you believe a member of the council should play in the running of the city?
I spent 40 years working for Huntsville Utilities, retiring at the end of 2018.

During that time, I was the communications director for the organization representing all divisions of HU. I was also assigned to be HU's representative to the Huntsville City Council for several years. In my role at HU, I was involved in every major event that affected Huntsville/Madison County and was the voice of HU to the community. The other half of my career at HU I spent in the operations side of the organization in various management roles.

David Little: Council members need to be responsive to constituent concerns and listen to their ideas, while maintaining strong working relationships with other council members and the mayor and his administration.
What is your opinion of the current state of the city?
Council members should be good stewards of our taxpayer dollars and ensure we focus on the work of the city, by maintaining our infrastructure, supporting our public safety departments, maintaining a strong quality of life. Huntsville is the shining star of the state, and we want to keep it that way. We need to continue attracting businesses and a strong workforce to our area and make sure all residents are represented equally.

Bill Yell: A council member should be giving guidance to the mayor and city departments and representing their constituents about their concerns and issues.
What do you feel are the most important issues facing the city, and how do you think they should be addressed?
David Little: I feel like the state of the city is great but realize that is only my opinion. My wife, Mimi and I have raised our family here and have worked in the local business community for most of our careers. Huntsville is a vibrant growing city but, growth comes with challenges we must face.

Bill Yell: The current state of the city is good, but there are a number of major issues facing Huntsville with the rapid growth that we are seeing.

David Little: 3,000-4,000 people move into the area every year. Maintaining and expanding our roads is going to be a priority, but progress can be painful. I-565 and the interchange with Memorial Parkway is well beyond the capacity it was designed for and making it better will present challenges for travelers.

Our public safety departments need to keep up with our growth. Hiring and recruiting for both HPD and HFR should remain a priority and we need to ensure both are fully funded and supported in those efforts.

Homelessness is a concern, and the city needs to continue working with local advocacy groups and our non-profit partners to ensure our homeless citizens have the resources necessary to move towards permanent housing. Maintaining greenspaces and continuing to make our roads more bike friendly is important.
What ideas do you bring to the position that you haven't mentioned?
Bill Yell: With the rapid growth in Huntsville, we need to make sure that we keep up with infrastructure needs. This includes roads, wastewater management, utilities, and basic city services along with law enforcement and fire services. The immediate need is to review budget projections to ensure we can meet the rapid expansion of this community. We also need to make sure we are spending taxpayer funds the correct way. New flashy things are great and attract more people to the community, but we need to make sure we are meeting the taxpayer's basic needs.

We need to immediately address the road situations and work with the State DOT to make sure Huntsville remains a priority for them. We also need to make sure that proper decisions are made with new development [so] that they do not become problems in the future that taxpayers will have to fund to fix.

David Little: My family was involved in a head-on collision caused by a distracted driver in 2008. I spent two weeks in the hospital and needed a wheelchair for another eight weeks. Over the years, I have become acutely aware of the dangers cell phones cause on our roads. For the last four years we have tried to get a statewide hands-free bill passed into law, but that has been a challenge for a variety of reasons. Perhaps we can make our roads safer in Huntsville and be the example for our state legislature.
Scott Turner reports from Huntsville for the Lede.
I realize that if elected, I will be one of six members on the council and no matter how good an idea is, if there is not support (three other votes), it will not happen. Building and maintaining strong relationships with the other council members, the mayor and his administration, and our department heads will be vital to keeping Huntsville moving in the right direction.

Bill Yell: I want to improve the communications channels from the city to the residents. As the former communications director of a large public utility, I understand the great need to have open channels of communications with the community you serve. I will utilize all modes of communications including townhalls, social and broadcast media along with meeting constituents at their locations to better understand their needs and issues.

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Huntsville City Council seat up for grabs

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Candidates discuss issues before Tuesday's runoff.

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9/2

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WASHINGTON - The top economic officials of the world's leading advanced economies agreed on Friday to forge ahead with a plan to form an international buyers' cartel to cap the price of Russian oil, accelerating an ambitious effort to avoid a price shock while draining President Vladimir V. Putin's war chest.

Finance ministers from the Group of 7 nations said after a virtual meeting that they were finalizing details of the plan, which needs to be put in place by early December, ahead of a European Union embargo on Russian oil imports and a ban on the insurance and financing of Russian oil shipments. The Biden administration has been fearful that these moves could send energy prices skyrocketing and potentially tip the global economy into a recession.

In recent months, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and her team have been traveling the globe to solidify support for the price cap idea, an untested proposal that aims to stabilize volatile energy markets that have been roiled since Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. A central component of those discussions has been how the price would be set, and how it would be enforced.

The price cap would create an exception in European sanctions by permitting insurers to grant coverage for oil cargo only if it was being sold at or below a certain price. Britain and the European Union are global hubs for the maritime insurance industry, and bans on insuring or financing transactions involving Russian oil could cause broad disruptions to shipments of Russian oil around the world.

Ms. Yellen met earlier this week with Nadhim Zahawi, Britain's chancellor of the Exchequer, and said that she was optimistic about progress that the G7 was making toward a price cap agreement.

"At a time when Russia's war has resulted in high energy prices globally, I think a price cap is one of the most powerful tools we have to fight inflation by ensuring a stable flow of oil into global markets at lower prices," Ms. Yellen said.

The proposal still faces considerable obstacles.

Energy analysts have been skeptical that it can successfully corral oil prices. The maritime insurance industry, which would be responsible for making sure that buyers and sellers were honoring the price cap, have warned that they lacked the capacity to police the transactions.

In addition, while the United States and Europe have moved to cut themselves off from Russian oil, nations such as China and India have been buying it at heavily discounted prices. That has allowed Mr. Putin to support his economy despite global sanctions that have been imposed on its central bank, financial sector and military industry.

The United States has been working to broaden the coalition beyond the Group of 7, actively courting the support of nations such as South Korea and India. Last month, Ms. Yellen's deputy, Wally Adeyemo, met with counterparts in India to discuss global energy security and promote the price cap concept.

Biden administration officials hope that if a broad enough coalition agrees to the price cap, it would give nations that do not want to officially join more bargaining power to negotiate lower prices with Russia.

It remains unclear how Russia would respond and if it would retaliate by refusing to sell its oil to drive up global prices.

Alexander Novak, Russia's deputy prime minister, said this week that the country would not sell oil products to countries participating in the price cap, according to Russian state media.

Biden administration officials have argued that Russia is bluffing because it needs the revenue from oil sales. Allowing its oil to be shut in would also be harmful to its economy, they contend, by damaging its wells.

After surging earlier this year, oil prices have slumped in recent weeks amid increased output from the United States and concerns about a global economic slowdown.

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Price Cap on Russian Oil Wins Backing of G7 Ministers

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WASHINGTON - The top economic officials of the world's leading advanced economies agreed on Friday to forge ahead with a plan to form an international buyers' cartel to cap the price of Russian oil, accelerating an ambitious effort to avoid a price shock while draining President Vladimir V. Putin's war chest.

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8/16

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The Space Launch System and Orion capsule will launch on Aug. 29 to formally start the Artemis moon exploration program

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NASA's Space Launch System moon rocket began its slow crawl toward the launchpad, ahead of schedule. The target date for its uncrewed maiden flight is Aug. 29. Credit Credit... Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

NASA's big moon rocket rolled out to the launching pad for the third time - and it actually is slated to launch to the moon.

For once, NASA is ahead of schedule.

For the past month and a half, the Space Launch System rocket, which is the most powerful since the Saturn V that took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, has been parked in a building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, technicians have been getting the rocket ready for its maiden flight, which could occur in two weeks.

The rollout from the building to the launchpad had been scheduled for Thursday, but NASA announced on Monday that the move had been moved up to Tuesday evening. This all leads to the launch of NASA's Artemis I mission, an uncrewed test of the giant rocket and the Orion spacecraft where astronauts will one day sit.

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NASA's Space Launch System at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. It is the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and '70s. Credit... Joel Kowsky/NASA

The rocket started moving around 10 p.m. Eastern time. The transport operation got underway about an hour late because of weather in the area, including lightning. After traveling through the darkness, the rocket was in place around 7:30 a.m. before a large banner reading "WE ARE GOING!"

It is about 4.2 miles from NASA's huge Vehicle Assembly Building to the launchpad, which is known as Launch Complex 39B. NASA first used the pad during the Apollo program in the 1960s. The rocket and launch tower traveled on a gigantic vehicle that NASA calls a crawler-transporter. It is the same vehicle that carried the Saturn V for the moon landings, but it has been renovated and upgraded.

The crawler, indeed, crawls. Bigger in area than a baseball infield and able to carry up to 18 million pounds, it moves at a speed up to 1 mile per hour over a gravel path to the launch site.

The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft being rolled to the launchpad on the mobile launcher at the Kennedy Space Center in March ahead of a dress rehearsal. Credit... Aubrey Gemignani/NASA

Technicians will be making final preparations, including hooking up power and propellant lines to the rocket and the launch tower. Although the rollout is sooner, the target time for the Artemis I launch has not changed: Monday, Aug. 29 at 8:33 a.m. Eastern time. You can subscribe here to get a reminder about the launch, as well as other space events, on your personal digital calendar.

The Space Launch System and Orion are two of the core components of NASA's plans to return astronauts to the surface of the moon in the coming years. Getting there requires a rocket powerful enough to push a large spacecraft out of low-Earth orbit to the moon, some 240,000 miles away. Orion is a capsule designed to carry astronauts on space voyages lasting up to a few weeks.

NASA first rolled the S.L.S. rocket to the launchpad in mid-March. In early April, it attempted to conduct a "wet dress rehearsal" of countdown procedures, including the loading of more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen rocket propellants. However, technical glitches, including a hydrogen leak during three rehearsal tries, cut the countdowns short.

NASA then rolled the rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to conduct repairs. In June, the rocket returned to the launchpad for another attempt at the wet dress rehearsal. That attempt, on June 20, encountered a different hydrogen leak, in a fuel line connector to the rocket's booster stage. However, the propellant tanks were fully filled for the first time, and controllers were able to continue the rehearsal until the countdown terminated with 29 seconds left. Originally, the aim was to have the countdown stop with just under 10 seconds, when the engines would start for an actual launch.

Despite the leak, NASA officials decided that all of the critical systems had been sufficiently tested and declared the test a success. The rocket headed back for the Vehicle Assembly Building once again for final preparations, including the installation of the flight termination system, which would blow up the rocket in case something went wrong during launch and eliminate the possibility of crashing into a populated area.

The flight termination system's batteries, installed on Aug. 11, are normally only rated to last for 20 days, but the part of the United States Space Force that oversees launches from Florida granted NASA a waiver that extends the period to 25 days. This allows the Aug. 29 launch date as well as backup opportunities on Sept. 2 and Sept. 5.

NASA hopes it fixed the hydrogen leak, but it will not know for sure until the Aug. 29 countdown, when the propellant line is cooled down to ultracold temperatures, something that cannot be tested in the Vehicle Assembly Building.

A small NASA-financed spacecraft, CAPSTONE, is en route to the moon to explore a highly elliptical orbit where NASA plans to build a lunar outpost for future astronauts. It is scheduled to arrive in lunar orbit in November.

On Aug. 5, South Korea launched Danuri, its first robotic space probe to the moon, scheduled to arrive in mid-December.

A couple of commercial companies, ispace of Japan and Intuitive Machines of Houston, are also hoping to launch small robotic landers to the moon late this year. Two countries, India and Russia, postponed their planned robotic moon landings this year.

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NASA's Big Rocket Reaches Launchpad. Next Stop: The Moon.

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The Space Launch System and Orion capsule will launch on Aug. 29 to formally start the Artemis moon exploration program Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

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9/26

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Top State Judges Make a Rare Plea in a Momentous Supreme Court Election Case

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In a surprising filing, state chief justices opposed an argument pressed by Republicans — that state legislatures may set federal election rules unconstrained by state constitutions.

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9/1

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The debut of Omicron-specific vaccines raises a thorny question: How long should you wait between shots?

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Epidemiologists predicted that having updated booster vaccines by next week, rather than mid-November, could save between 7,500 and 18,000 lives by the spring. Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended that the vast majority of Americans receive an updated coronavirus booster shot, adding a critical new tool to the country's arsenal as it tries to blunt an expected wintertime surge of the virus.

The decision cleared the way for health workers to begin giving people the redesigned shots within days. And it marked a milestone in the fight against a rapidly shape-shifting pathogen: For the first time in the pandemic, manufacturers have capitalized on the potential of mRNA technology to begin distributing a Covid vaccine that perfectly matches the circulating strain of the virus, a feat that had long seemed improbable.

For all their promise, the arrival of updated boosters also adds another wrinkle to what is the country's most complicated vaccine. Vaccine recipients have already had to parse shifting eligibility rules and decide between brands. Now they face a weighty new question: how long to wait after their last vaccine dose or infection before seeking an updated booster.

In authorizing the new boosters, federal regulators said on Wednesday that people needed to wait at least two months since their last Covid vaccine dose to receive an updated booster shot. Several members of a panel of expert advisers to the C.D.C. expressed concern during a meeting on Thursday that two months was too short, but the C.D.C. pushed to endorse the same minimum interval.

Immunologists said in interviews that waiting roughly four to six months after a last vaccine or infection would strengthen people's response to an updated vaccine, even if those scientists also saw the rationale for giving Americans flexibility in choosing when to seek a new shot.

The decision by the C.D.C. director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, mirrored a recommendation from the expert panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which on Thursday endorsed an updated booster for people as young as 12. People who have received a primary Covid vaccine series are eligible for that booster no matter how many additional doses they have gotten so far, C.D.C. scientists said.

Hundreds of thousands of updated vaccine doses were being delivered around the country on Thursday, the C.D.C. said. Providers nationwide are expected to have millions by Labor Day, the agency said, though some doctors have said they were told that initial supply would be small in their areas.

The new boosters are designed to generate immune responses to the original version of the coronavirus and to BA.5, the Omicron subvariant that is now dominant. Pfizer and BioNTech's shot was authorized for people as young as 12, and Moderna's for those 18 and older.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the C.D.C. Credit... Pool photo by Stefani Reynolds

Exactly how much benefit the new boosters will offer over the existing shots is not clear. In a bid to catch up with the virus's evolution, regulators authorized them while relying heavily on human trials of a different updated shot, one that was reformulated to defend against the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron.

Moderna and Pfizer scientists on Thursday released their most detailed findings yet from studies of the latest BA.5 vaccines in mice. They found that those vaccines substantially increased immune responses to Omicron subvariants, including BA.5.

Moderna also deliberately infected mice with the BA.5 virus, and found that a BA.5 booster offered significantly better protection against infection in the lungs than the original vaccine did. The company's scientists argued that immune responses in mice had correlated with human immune responses in past studies.

Immunologists said they were confident that the new shots were the best available Covid boosters, and that they would put something of a damper on the outbreak this fall and winter.

Simply having updated vaccines by next week, rather than in mid-November, could save between roughly 7,500 and 18,000 lives by the spring, leading epidemiologists have estimated.

"We're still seeing just under 500 deaths per day, which is putting us at about four times the level of yearly deaths we'll tolerate for influenza," said E. John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania. "That's still an unacceptable level of death. I'm hopeful we'll make a dent in that because of updated boosters."

The reformulated shots will deliver the biggest benefits for older and more vulnerable Americans, scientists said. While the existing shots offer more durable protection against hospital admission and death than they do against infections, their effectiveness does also wane over time against severe outcomes, scientists said. That makes updated boosters a potentially important aid in surviving an infection, they said.

But it is often younger, healthier people who spread the virus to more vulnerable Americans, Dr. Wherry said. Even if those younger people are at relatively low risk of severe Covid themselves, scientists said, the updated boosters were likely to reduce their odds of getting infected in the first place and, in turn, spreading the virus to someone more vulnerable.

The higher levels of immunity generated by an updated booster could also decrease the likelihood of developing long Covid, said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology.

"If people take these boosters, they'll be better off, almost no matter what their situation is," Dr. Crotty said. "If we can get as many people to take these boosters as possible, that will definitely reduce the number of cases this winter."

Success of the shots will depend largely on how many Americans get them, as the country's vaccine machinery has been scaled back since booster shots were last offered to all adults. Credit... Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

But other scientists have expressed concerns that not enough evidence had yet been generated showing that updated boosters were an upgrade to the existing offerings. They have also worried that updated vaccines would give recipients a false sense of security.

"I understand that we need better vaccines," Dr. Pablo Sánchez, a professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University and member of the C.D.C. panel, said during Thursday's meeting. But he said that he was struggling "to make a recommendation for a vaccine that has not been studied in humans," even if those human studies were ongoing. He was the only one of the 14-member panel to vote against recommending the updated vaccines.

Scientists said that serious adverse reactions had been very rare after booster doses, and that changes to the updated shots were so subtle that they would be highly unlikely to present new problems.

The success of the shots will depend in large part on how many Americans get them. The country's vaccine machinery has been scaled back since the United States last offered booster shots to all adults, a result in part of congressional resistance to more pandemic response spending.

That has especially hurt efforts to give updated vaccines to marginalized and vulnerable Americans, some of the very people who face the greatest risks of being exposed to the virus and of becoming severely ill from it, epidemiologists said.

Many Americans seeking an updated booster shot this fall will have passed the four-to-six-month period that immunologists recommend waiting between doses, C.D.C. data showed. Older adults were only made eligible for their last booster shots this spring, but uptake was highest five months ago, during the early period of the rollout in April. Younger people were made eligible for their most recent boosters almost a year ago, and most of them are more than six months past their last shot, the C.D.C. said.

But millions of people have also recently gotten Covid. When it comes to the timing of future vaccine doses, those infections act like earlier vaccinations, scientists said, mitigating the benefits of getting a new booster shot shortly thereafter. Receiving a booster soon after an infection could also potentially raise the small risk, most prevalent in younger men, of post-vaccine heart problems, members of the C.D.C. panel said.

Federal guidance indicates that people should wait at least until their Covid symptoms have resolved before getting a booster shot, and that they may want to wait a full three months after an infection.

Some scientists said it was reasonable to want to give people flexibility about when to get an updated booster.

People may want to strengthen their immune defenses before partaking in an unusually high-risk activity. Others may have weakened immune systems that limited their responses to an earlier shot. An approaching case surge, especially this winter, could raise the risk of waiting. And the C.D.C. has urged health providers to offer people flu and Covid vaccines at the same visit.

Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, said that C.D.C. recommendations could afford to space out doses of routine childhood vaccines at precisely the right intervals because children are unlikely to be exposed to those pathogens in the interim. That's not the case for the coronavirus, which is circulating so widely that someone leaving a long gap between doses faces higher odds of getting infected in the meantime.

"Honestly, that's probably the more important factor to consider - what's happening in the real world - rather than in an ideal world of immunological optimization," Dr. Bhattacharya said.

Still, he and other scientists said that waiting four to six months between doses would strengthen people's response to the updated boosters. That would help people steer clear of a situation in which their antibody levels were so high when they received an updated shot that their immune systems partly cleared out the vaccine before building strong defenses against new Omicron subvariants.

"You can really only boost the responses after you've gotten below your ceiling," said Jenna Guthmiller, an immunologist at the University of Colorado. But, she said, "Without testing ourselves and figuring out what our ceilings are, which is very complex, the best option is honestly just to get the vaccine."

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Updated Booster Shots Expected Within Days as C.D.C. Signs Off

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The debut of Omicron-specific vaccines raises a thorny question: How long should you wait between shots? Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

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9/14

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Town hall in Huntsville to help Alabama veterans with mental illness

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The event Sept. 28 is part of a campaign to fight the stigma that can keep veterans from receiving help for mental illness.

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9/30

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A state court today denied the former Limestone County sheriff's appeal of his convictions on two felony charges of theft and abuse of power.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the jury's guilty verdicts and denied former sheriff Mike Blakely's request for a new trial.

"This evidence was sufficient for the jury to have concluded that Blakely acted with intent to use his public office to obtain personal gain," says the opinion written by Mary B. Windom, the presiding judge, on behalf of the unanimous court.

Blakely's attorneys did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

In the appeal, Blakely's attorneys argued that the state did not show sufficient evidence that he intentionally used his office for personal gain. The jury last summer found him guilty of obtaining $29,050 in interest free loans from a safe that held money belonging to people incarcerated in the county jail he oversaw as sheriff. Blakely's attorneys argued that none of the people in the jail were ever deprived of their money.

"The practice of borrowing funds from the inmates cash fund was not permissible, and Blakely abused the practice," Windom wrote in the opinion.

At trial, the former jail clerk testified that Blakely routinely asked her to give him cash from a safe that held money belonging to people in the county jail. She told the jury that each time she gave Blakely the cash, she scribbled an IOU onto a post-it note and put it in the safe.

Blakely eventually gave the clerk 19 checks from his personal bank account to replace the funds, according to financial records shown to the jury. But Blakely routinely asked her to hold the checks - sometimes for weeks - before taking them to the bank, according to testimony.

Louie Wilson, a special agent in the public corruption unit of the Alabama Attorney General's Office, testified that there were 271 days during which the clerk held Blakely's checks to repay the inmate money.. The agent testified that had the clerk cashed those checks on the day Blakely gave them to her, his personal bank account would have been overdrawn.

[Read more: Alabama prosecutors: Former sheriff 'will not escape justice' with 'misguided allegation ']

The appeals court also rejected Blakely's argument that the trial judge, Pamela Baschab, should have declared a mistrial because of a dispute about one of the state's key witnesses. Blakely's attorneys alleged that state prosecutors hid an investigation of the witness, Trent Willis- an allegation the attorney general's office disputed.

The appeals court opinion says that Baschab "could have reasonably concluded" that Blakely knew ahead of trial that Willis was under investigation.

"In any event Blakely has not shown that had he been formally made aware of the investigation prior to trial he would have used a different strategy or that he was otherwise prejudiced in any way," the opinion says. "As indicated above, Blakely appeared to know as much or more than the state about the investigation into Willis..."

The jury found Blakely guilty of stealing $4,000 from his campaign account by funneling the money through Red Brick Strategies, a .Huntsville consulting firm Willis owned.

The jury acquitted him of eight other charges.

Blakely was Alabama's longest-serving sheriff until the two felony convictions immediately removed him from the office he held for 10 terms spanning 38 years. Judge Baschab sentenced Blakely to three years in jail.

Blakely is out on bond while he appeals. He can ask the Alabama Supreme Court to review the case.

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Court upholds guilty verdicts against former Alabama sheriff

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A state court today denied the former Limestone County sheriff's appeal of his convictions on two felony charges of theft and abuse of power. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the jury's guilty verdicts and denied former sheriff Mike Blakely's request for a new trial.

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10/2

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The odds will be stacked against Auburn when it hits the road for the first time this season.

Auburn opened as a four-touchdown underdog against rival Georgia for the teams' Week 6 matchup in Athens, Ga. According to VegasInsider.com, the Bulldogs will be favored by 27.5 points against the Tigers when the two cross-division rivals meet for the 127th time.

Auburn (3-2, 1-1 SEC) will take on No. 2 Georgia (5-0, 2-0) at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Sanford Stadium. The game will be carried on CBS as part of the network's Week 6 doubleheader, which also features a primetime matchup between Alabama and Texas A&M.

Read more Auburn football: Trying to make sense of Auburn's ill-fated trick play against LSU
Bryan Harsin assesses job security after latest blown-lead loss Blown leads becoming commonplace for Auburn under Bryan Harsin
The 27.5-point spread is a considerable shift from the early lines that posted over the summer, which favored Georgia by two touchdowns (13.5) in the latest installment of The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. Since then, Auburn has had a tumultuous start to the season despite a five-game homestand to open the year.

The Tigers' three wins have looked uneven, at best, with an FCS win to open the season followed by a Week 2 victory against San Jose State. Auburn was then walloped by Penn State, suffering its worst home loss in a decade, before it opener SEC play with a 17-14 overtime escape against Missouri, which fumbled away a walk-off touchdown just short of the goal line in the extra period.

Auburn is coming off a 21-17 loss to LSU in which it squandered a 17-point first-half lead and failed to score in the second half. Auburn has blown double-digit leads in five consecutive SEC games, going 1-4 in those contests.

Georgia, the defending national champion, heads into Saturday's game with an undefeated record -- though Kirby Smart's team has looked vulnerable the last two weeks. After three straight impressive wins to open the season -- including blowouts of Oregon and South Carolina, both away from home -- Georgia beat Kent State, 39-22, in Week 4 and then secured a comeback win on the road against Missouri in Week 5. The Bulldogs erased an early 13-point deficit on their way to a 26-22 win in Columbia, Mo.

Now Auburn and Georgia will renew their longstanding rivalry Saturday in Athens. Georgia leads the all-time series, 62-56-8, and has won five straight since a regular-season loss at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2017. Though Auburn is 18-16 all-time in Athens, the Tigers have not won on the road against the Bulldogs since 2005, losing seven straight at Sanford Stadium during that stretch.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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Auburn opens as 4-touchdown underdog on road against rival Georgia

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The odds will be stacked against Auburn when it hits the road for the first time this season. Auburn opened as a four-touchdown underdog against rival Georgia for the teams' Week 6 matchup in Athens, Ga. According to VegasInsider.com, the Bulldogs will be favored by 27.5 points against the Tigers when the two cross-division rivals meet for the 127th time.

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9/10

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See all the scores from Friday’s Week 4 HS football games

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Here are all the scores from Friday’s Week 4 statewide high school football games.

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10/1

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Opinion | There Is a Tax That Could Help With Inflation

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The case for a progressive levy on consumption.

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8/30

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Naked mole rats live in large, underground colonies and have an elaborate vocal repertoire. Credit... Felix Schmitt for The New York Times

Scientists are using machine learning to eavesdrop on naked mole rats, fruit bats, crows and whales - and to communicate back.

Naked mole rats live in large, underground colonies and have an elaborate vocal repertoire. Credit... Felix Schmitt for The New York Times

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The naked mole rat may not be much to look at, but it has much to say.The wrinkled, whiskered rodents, which live, like many ants do, in large, underground colonies, have an elaborate vocal repertoire. They whistle, trill and twitter; grunt, hiccup and hiss.

And when two of the voluble rats meet in a dark tunnel, they exchange a standard salutation. "They'll make a soft chirp, and then a repeating soft chirp," said Alison Barker, a neuroscientist at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, in Germany. "They have a little conversation."

Hidden in this everyday exchange is a wealth of social information, Dr. Barker and her colleagues discovered when they used machine-learning algorithms to analyze 36,000 soft chirps recorded in seven mole rat colonies.

Hear two naked mole rats exchange soft chirps

Recording by Alison Barker, Alena Lemazina and Sanjana Joshi

Machine-learning systems, which use algorithms to detect patterns in large collections of data, have excelled at analyzing human language, giving rise to voice assistants that recognize speech, transcription software that converts speech to text and digital tools that translate between human languages.

In recent years, scientists have begun deploying this technology to decode animal communication, using machine-learning algorithms to identify when squeaking mice are stressed or why fruit bats are shouting.Even more ambitious projects are underway - to create a comprehensive catalog of crow calls, map the syntax of sperm whales and even to build technologies that allow humans to talk back.

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The field is young and many projects are still in their infancy; humanity is not on the verge of having a Rosetta Stone for whale songs or the ability to chew the fat with cats. But the work is already revealing that animal communication is far more complex than it sounds to the human ear, and the chatter is providing a richer view of the world beyond our own species.

"I find it really intriguing that machines might help us to feel closer to animate life, that artificial intelligences might help us to notice biological intelligences," said Tom Mustill, a wildlife and science filmmaker and the author of the forthcoming book, "How to Speak Whale." "This is like we've invented a telescope - a new tool that allows us to perceive what was already there but we couldn't see before."

Studies of animal communication are not new, but machine-learning algorithms can spot subtle patterns that might elude human listeners. For instance, scientists have shown that these programs can tell apart the voices of individual animals, distinguish between sounds that animals make in different circumstances and break their vocalizations down into smaller parts, a crucial step in deciphering meaning.

"One of the things that's really great about animal sound is that there are still so many mysteries and that those mysteries are things which we can apply computation to," said Dan Stowell, an expert in machine listening at Tilburg University and Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands.

Several years ago, researchers at the University of Washington used machine learning to develop software, called DeepSqueak, that can automatically detect, analyze and categorize the ultrasonic vocalizations of rodents.

DeepSqueak has been repurposed for other species, including lemurs and whales, while other teams have developed their own systems for automatically detecting when clucking chickens or squealing pigs are in distress.

Decoding the meaning of animal calls also requires large amounts of data about the context surrounding each squeak and squawk.

To learn more about the vocalizations of Egyptian fruit bats, researchers used video cameras and microphones to record groups of the animals for 75 days. Then they reviewed the recordings, painstakingly noting several important details, such as which bat was vocalizing and in what context, for each of nearly 15,000 calls.

The bats are pugilistic, frequently quarreling in their crowded colonies, and the vast majority of their vocalizations are aggressive. "Basically, they're pushing each other," said Yossi Yovel, a neuroecologist at Tel Aviv University who led the research. "Imagine a big stadium and everybody wants to find a seat."

But a machine-learning system could distinguish, with 61 percent accuracy, between aggressive calls made in four different contexts, determining whether a particular call had been emitted during a fight related to food, mating, perching position or sleep. That's not a perfect performance, Dr. Yovel noted, but it is significantly better than the 25 percent accuracy associated with random guessing.

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A recording by Yosef Prat, a former student of Dr. Yovel's, of fruit bats engaged in perch aggression. Credit Credit... Yosef Prat

"This implies that an eavesdropping bat is theoretically able, to some extent at least, to identify if individual A is addressing individual Bor individual C," the researchers wrote in their 2016 paper.

Although the idea remains unproven, the bats may vary their vocalizations depending on their relationship to and knowledge of the offender, the same way people might use different tones when addressing different audiences.

"It's a colony, they're very social, they know each other," Dr. Yovel said. "Perhaps when I shout at you for food, it's different from when I shout at somebody else for food. So the same call will have slightly different nuances, which we were able to detect using machine learning."

Still, detecting patterns is only the beginning. Scientists then need to determine whether the algorithms have uncovered something meaningful about real-world animal behavior.

"You have to be very careful to avoid spotting patterns that aren't real," Dr. Stowell said.

After the algorithms suggested that naked mole rat colonies all had distinct dialects, Dr. Barker and her colleagues confirmed that the rodents were far more likely to respond to soft chirps from members of their own colonies than those from foreign ones. To rule out the possibility that the naked mole rats were simply responding to individual voices they recognized,the researchers repeated the experiment with artificial soft chirps they generated to match the dialect of a rat's home colony. The results held.

Other major projects are underway. Project CETI - short for the Cetacean Translation Initiative - is bringing together machine-learning experts, marine biologists, roboticists, linguists and cryptographers, among others, at more than a dozen institutions to decode the communication of sperm whales, which emit bursts of clicks that are organized into Morse code-like sequences called codas.

The team is planning to install its "core whale-listening stations," each of which includes 28 underwater microphones, off the coast of Dominica this fall. It plans to use robotic fish to record audio and video of the whales, as well as small acoustic tags to record the vocalizations and movements of individual animals.

Then, the researchers will try to decipher the syntax and semantics of whale communication and probe bigger scientific questions about sperm whale behavior and cognition, such as how large groups coordinate their actions and how whale calves learn to communicate.

"Every which way we turn there's another question," said David Gruber, a marine biologist at Baruch College who leads Project CETI. "If there was a big event that happened a week ago, how would we know that they're still communicating about it? Do whales do mathematics?"

Hear sperm whale codas

Recording by Project CETI

The Earth Species Project, a California-based nonprofit, is also partnering with biologists to pilot an assortment of machine-learning approaches with whales and other species.

For instance, it is working with marine biologists to determine whether machine-learning algorithms can automatically identify what behaviors baleen whales are engaging in, based on movement data collected by tracking tags.

"Is there a specific signature in the data for when an animal takes a breath or when an animal is feeding?" said Ari Friedlaender, a marine ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who is collaborating on the project.

The researchers hope to overlay that behavioral data with audio recordings to determine whether there are certain sounds that whales consistently make in certain contexts.

"Now you can do really interesting things, like, 'Let's take orcas, look at their motion, translate the motion into the sound that goes with it,'" said Aza Raskin, the president and co-founder of the Earth Species Project. "Or you can start with the audio and say, 'What behavior goes with what they're saying?'"

They will then compare the results to historical recordings of wild Hawaiian crows to identify specific call types the birds might have lost over their years in captivity.

"Their vocal repertoire may have eroded over time, which is a real conservation concern," said Christian Rutz, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland who is working with the nonprofit on the project. "They keep them in these aviaries to breed birds for future releases. But what if these crows no longer know how to speak crow?"

Scientists can then study the function of any lost calls - and perhaps even reintroduce the most critical ones to captive colonies.

The Earth Species Project has also partnered with Michelle Fournet, a marine acoustic ecologist at the University of New Hampshire, who has been trying to decipher humpback whale communication by playing prerecorded whale calls through underwater speakers and observing how the whales respond.

Now, Earth Species Project scientists are using algorithms to generate novel humpback whale vocalizations - that is, "new calls that don't exist but sound like they could," Dr. Fournet said. "I can't say how cool it is to imagine something from nature that isn't there and then to listen to it."

Playing these new calls to wild whales could help scientists test hypotheses about the function of certain vocalizations, she said.

Given enough data about how whales converse with each other, machine-learning systems should be able to generate plausible responses to specific whale calls and play them back in real time, experts said. That means that scientists could, in essence, use whale chatbots to "converse" with the marine mammals even before they fully understand what the whales are saying.

These machine-mediated conversations could help researchers refine their models, and improve their understanding of whale communication. " At some point, it might be a real dialogue," said Michael Bronstein, a machine-learning expert at Oxford and part of Project CETI.

The prospect of ongoing, two-way dialogue with other species remains unknown. But true conversation will require a number of "prerequisites," including matching intelligence types, compatible sensory systems and, crucially, a shared desire to chat, said Natalie Uomini, an expert on cognitive evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

"There has to be the motivation on both sides to want to communicate," she said.

Even then, some animals may have experiences that are so different from our own that some ideas simply get lost in translation. "For example, we have a concept of 'getting wet,'" Dr. Bronstein said. "I think whales would not even be able ever to understand what it means."

These experiments may also raise ethical issues, experts acknowledge. "If you find patterns in animals that allow you to understand their communication, that opens the door to manipulating their communications," Mr. Mustill said.

But the technology could also be deployed for the benefit of animals, helping experts monitor the welfare of both wild and domestic fauna. Scientists also said that they hoped that by providing new insight into animal lives, this research might prompt a broader societal shift. Many pointed to the galvanizing effect of the 1970 album "Songs of the Humpback Whale," which featured recordings of otherworldly whale calls and has been widely credited with helping to spark the global Save the Whales movement.

The biologist Roger Payne, who produced that album, is now part of Project CETI. And many scientists said they hoped these new, high-tech efforts to understand the vocalizations of whales - and crows and bats and even naked mole rats - will be similarly transformative, providing new ways to connect with and understand the creatures with whom we share the planet.

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Scientists are using machine learning to eavesdrop on naked mole rats, fruit bats, crows and whales - and to communicate back. Naked mole rats live in large, underground colonies and have an elaborate vocal repertoire. Credit... Felix Schmitt for The New York Times Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month.

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8/23

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Biden to Announce Decision on Student Debt, Affecting Millions of Borrowers

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The decision, expected Wednesday, will cap months of deliberations over fairness and the potential to exacerbate an inflation rate that has reached a 40-year high.

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8/28

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The last-man standing in Auburn's quarterback competition was also the first one to enter the race.

T.J. Finley, the former LSU transfer and the lone returning scholarship quarterback from last year's roster, is expected to be named Auburn's starting quarterback for its season opener against Mercer. ESPN first reported the news, which brought an unsurprising ending to an offseason competition that gained clarity over the last three weeks. Finley emerged as the No. 1 option from a competition that began in the spring, spanned the offseason months and hit its stride during preseason practices this month.

Read more Auburn football: Seven potential candidates for Auburn's next athletics director
Final projections for Auburn's 2022 season-opening depth chart Auburn preseason roundtable: Best-case, worst-case scenarios for Year 2 with Bryan Harsin
An official announcement from the team could come as early as Sunday afternoon. According to a source, Finley had not yet been informed of the decision as of noon.

Finley edged out Oregon transfer Robby Ashford for the starting role, as well as Texas A&M transfer Zach Calzada, to take the reins of Auburn's retooled offense in Year 2 of the Bryan Harsin era.

Finley's rise to the top of Auburn's depth chart is the culmination of a goal he set out to accomplish more than a year ago, when he transferred to the Plains after his freshman season at LSU. The 6-foot-7, 250-pound junior started five games at LSU as a true freshman in 2020 but left the program the following spring and transferred to Auburn, where he tried to push Bo Nix for the starting job but couldn't unseat the third-year starter last season.

Finley appeared in nine games for Auburn last fall, making six appearances as Nix's backup and starting the final three games of the year following Nix's season-ending ankle injury. He completed just 54.7 percent of his passes for 827 yards, six touchdowns and an interception while averaging 6.5 yards per pass attempt.

As a starter, in losses to South Carolina, Alabama and Houston, Finley completed 53-of-95 passes (55.8 percent) for 552 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. His most memorable moment of the season, though, came in a relief appearance against Georgia State. With the offense struggling at home against a Sun Belt opponent, Finley provided a jolt off the bench and helped Auburn erase a 12-point second-half deficit. He completed 9-of-16 passes for 97 yards and threw a go-ahead touchdown to Shedrick Jackson on a broken fourth-down play with 45 seconds left in the game.

Despite Finley's late-game heroics - and the questions they conjured up for Auburn entering SEC play - he remained No. 2 on the depth chart until Nix's mid-November injury.

"It wasn't a problem sitting behind Bo and learning," Finley's father, David, told AL.com last season. "We didn't go there to say, 'We know we can beat Bo out.' No, we went to compete. But we understood the program and the keys got to be turned over to somebody. There's a lot of patience in this family. Me and my wife, we preach a lot of patience and humbleness and knowing that when your time comes, God will open up the door for your time."

For Finley, that time is now.

He didn't flinch when Auburn brought in three new quarterbacks this offseason, including Calzada, who like Finley arrived on the Plains with prior starting experience in the SEC. Calzada started 10 games for Texas A&M last season, including a win against Alabama that marked the best passing performance of his career.

"Life is all about competition," Finley said after A-Day. "When you think about it, life as a whole, you're always competing for a job, you know what I'm saying? Bringing those guys in only put fire in me to get better, which I needed, especially after the season like last year. So, we're all supportive of each other, and we understand what's going on, and we understand we're competing for one job, so may the best man win."

Finley remained steadfast in his approach, even as Ashford earned A-Day offensive MVP honors and caused headaches for Auburn's defense with his mobility, and even as buzz grew in the offseason surrounding Calzada's candidacy.

The Texas A&M transfer was limited in the spring while recovering from a non-throwing shoulder injury he sustained against Auburn last year, and he was fully cleared to return this summer, with many perceiving him as the favorite to emerge as the Tigers' starter this preseason. Calzada's candidacy faded over the course of preseason practices, though. Harsin disclosed last week that Calzada dealt with some setbacks in the summer that caused him to miss some time, while offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau acknowledged it has taken Calzada longer than expected to get up to speed. Consistency was an issue, and Calzada was still playing catch-up during fall camp.

It didn't take long for him to drop to third in the quarterback rotation, where he spent much of the preseason.

Ashford, meanwhile, surged during preseason practices. The Hoover product showed improvement as a passer and brought an added dimension to the offense with his dual-threat capabilities. He quickly established himself as No. 2 behind Finley, and over the last couple of weeks he began to close the gap. Ashford, who did not appear in a game during his two seasons at Oregon, began to get more first-team reps ahead of the second fall scrimmage. He spent the last couple of weeks of practices still second in line but often rotating reps with Finley with the first-team offense.

Ultimately, though, Finley never relinquished his hold on the top spot, and it became evident that he was going to be tabbed as Auburn's starter heading into Week 1. He was the most consistent quarterback throughout the preseason, and his familiarity with the offense proved to be a considerable advantage. "Operation" was the word Harsin used earlier this preseason, describing it as the No. 1 attribute he was looking for at the quarterback position-someone who could smoothly run the offense, from the play-call through the snap.

That proved to be Finley, who along with having a strong command of Harsin's offense in Year 2 also made strides to improve himself overall, particularly from an accuracy standpoint - something he acknowledged he needed to do after the bowl game last year if he wanted to be QB1.

"I feel like from his time last year through what he learned playing, to where he went into the spring, just as far as his development into the summer and then where we are right now, I think he's got good command," Harsin said. "He's done a good job of really understanding what we're doing."

Now Finley will be tasked with helping Auburn accomplish its goals this season as the Tigers' newly minted starting quarterback.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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T.J. Finley to be named Auburn's starting quarterback

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The last-man standing in Auburn's quarterback competition was also the first one to enter the race. T.J. Finley, the former LSU transfer and the lone returning scholarship quarterback from last year's roster, is expected to be named Auburn's starting quarterback for its season opener against Mercer.

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9/5

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Judge's go-ahead homer against the Twins has him on pace for 64 this season. He says he just wants to win. "It's not all about me, no matter what happens."

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As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

Aaron Judge went 2 for 3 with a double and a two-run homer in the Yankees' 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday. Credit... Noah K. Murray/Associated Press

Sixty-one years ago, in the 135th game on the Yankees' schedule, Roger Maris blasted his 52nd and 53rd home runs of the season. The first one came off the Detroit Tigers' Frank Lary, who was widely known as "The Yankee Killer" for somehow mastering the best lineup of the era.

"I got a belt out of both homers," Maris said after the game, as quoted by The Detroit Free Press. "But especially on Frank Lary's. He's got me out plenty of times."

For Maris that September, the competition hardly mattered. Sixty-one years later, it is the same for Aaron Judge. Facing the Minnesota Twins on Monday, in the Yankees' 135th game, he hooked his 54th homer just inside the left field foul pole to lift the Yankees to a 5-2 victory. Judge is ahead of Maris's pace, on track to break the American League record of 61 home runs in a season, overpowering everyone in his path.

Judge has homered this season off Max Scherzer, a three-time winner of the Cy Young Award. He has homered off Shohei Ohtani, the reigning winner of the A.L. Most Valuable Player Award. He has homered off Shane McClanahan, the A.L.'s starter in the All-Star Game.

It was all but guaranteed, then, that Judge would connect against Minnesota. In the last two decades the Twins have been the anti-Frank Lary: They almost always lose to the Yankees. This is baseball's biggest mismatch, with the Yankees going a frightful 112-39 against Minnesota, playoffs included, since 2002.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Judge both homered on Monday. It was Kiner-Falefa's second homer of the season. Judge has five in his last seven games. Credit... Noah K. Murray/Associated Press

Two first-year Twins, Chris Archer and Trevor Megill, took their turns allowing 109-mile-an-hour lasers to Judge on Monday. The first was a double off Archer in the first, and the next was a go-ahead two-run homer on a hanging slider in the sixth. Judge walked in between.

"Especially when guys don't want to pitch to him and he's still able to do that, that's what makes it so impressive," said shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who also homered on Monday. "He's not out there just swinging at everything. He gets one or two pitches a game, and that's all he sees."

From the fifth inning last Wednesday until the third inning Monday, Judge was the only Yankee to score a run. On Monday the Yankees played without Andrew Benintendi (wrist), DJ LeMahieu (toe) and Anthony Rizzo (back), then lost Giancarlo Stanton after three at-bats when he fouled a ball off his foot. Judge just keeps slugging, with homers in each of his last three games and five of his last seven.

"You've got to post every day - if guys are there, if guys are not there," Judge said. "If the normal crew we had in April's there or not, it really doesn't matter. I've still got to go up there and do my best for four or five at-bats and play my heart out on defense."

The Yankees' division lead, which stood at 15½ games on July 8, dwindled to four over the weekend. But LeMahieu, Rizzo and Stanton remain on the active roster, and Benintendi will have surgery on Tuesday but could still return this season. The Yankees can separate themselves on this home stand against the pushover Twins (sorry, but facts are facts) and division-rival Tampa Bay.

The playoff push is all that matters, Judge insists; pursuing Maris is almost incidental. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds all topped 61 homers between 1998 and 2001 (with Bonds holding the record at 73 in 2001), but baseball did not test for steroids then. The 61 mark has deep historical resonance, and it might take an approach like Judge's to reach it.

"It's just not important to me," he said. "What's important to me is winning - winning this division, first off, and putting our team in a good position going into the postseason. It's not all about me, no matter what happens. One guy can't win or lose you a ballgame. All those accolades, all the records, stuff like that, that's off-season talk."

Roger Maris had 53 homers through 135 team games in 1961 - one fewer than Judge. Credit... United Press International

For Judge, maybe, but not for everyone. Manager Aaron Boone is keenly attuned to the home run chase, he said, especially because no other player is hitting like this.

"I think when you put it up with the context of where the league's at - who's the next guy in the American League, Yordan, with 31 homers?" Boone said, referring to Houston's Yordan Alvarez, who indeed ranked second in the A.L. with 31 home runs before Monday. "I mean, that's amazing."

Judge, of course, began the season by turning down the Yankees' seven-year, $213.5 million contract offer - a fortune, clearly, but the average annual salary ($30.5 million) would not have ranked among the top 10 in the game. Judge has proved his personal value while immersing himself in the team.

"He comes up to us and talks pitching all the time," starter Jameson Taillon said. "If he gets out, he's immediately rooting on the next guy. And it's all genuine. It's not like he's doing it to say, 'Look at me, I'm a good team guy.' He just genuinely is that invested in everybody."

The Yankees have not had a losing record since 1992, the year Judge was born, and he wants a championship attached to his legacy. But 61 or more homers this season would all but ensure something else for Judge: a spot beyond the outfield in Monument Park, just like Maris.

"I don't want to say anything too soon, but the way it's going, he could be out in center field one day," Kiner-Falefa said. "To be able to play with somebody that has that honor, it's something that you're going to remember for the rest of your life."

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With the Yankees on His Shoulders, Aaron Judge Stays Ahead of Maris

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Judge's go-ahead homer against the Twins has him on pace for 64 this season. He says he just wants to win. "It's not all about me, no matter what happens." Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

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9/3

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Brother Martin of New Orleans won the Invitational Boys' division, while St Joseph's Academy of Baton Rouge won the Invitational Girls' title for the third year in a row at the Mobile Challenge of Champions Cross Country Meet held at Langan Park on Saturday.

The meet was contested on a soft course with temperatures in the mid-80s.

Brother Martin placed five runners in the top 10 to overcome a resounding individual win by St. Paul's Mac Conwell, last year's individual Invitational Boys' winner, to defeat the Saints 28-56. American Christian Academy of Tuscaloosa was third with 62 points, while Teurlings Catholic of Lafayette, Louisiana and Baker rounded out the top five with 118 and 175 points respectively.

Conwell won the Invitational Boys' race with a strong early season time of 15 minutes, 54.86 seconds, but the Crusaders got a second-place finish from Gabriel Metoyer (16:18.16) and placed four more runners in fifth through eighth places to secure the win.

St. Joseph's Academy won its third team title in the Invitational Girls' division, defeating McGill-Toolen 38-77 despite McGill-Toolen getting a solid individual win from Anna Adams (19:46.76). St. Joseph's top finisher was Hannah Vaughan (third, 20:10.11), while Elise Brown (20:36.98) and Michelle Daigle (20:38.59) finished fifth and sixth respectively to secure the team win.

Rounding out the top five schools in the Invitational girls were St. Thomas Aquinas of Hammond, LA (98), St. Paul's (128) and another Louisiana school, Mt. Carmel of New Orleans (141).

In the Open Division, a pair of local athletes won individual titles. UMS-Wright's Alex Gamble won the Open Division boys' race in 17:30.33, while Daphne's Sophie West won the Open Division girls' race in 21:31.68. In the team competition, Brother Martin took the boys' title, defeating Davidson 41-110, while McGill-Toolen won the Open Girls' team title, defeating Daphne 32-77.

Performance of the day: Definitely Conwell, who looked in midseason form as he defeated his nearest competitor by 26 seconds.

By the numbers: Total number of finishers in Open Division boys' race: 242; total number of finishers in Open Division Girls' race: 139. Total finishers in Invitational Boys' race: 71; total number of finishers in Invitational Girls' race: 92. Total numbers of schools represented: 23; total states represented: 3.

Did you know? This was the 30th edition of the Mobile Challenge of Champions Cross Country meet.

Coachspeak: "It was our first meet of the year, so they were a little nervous. They were a little down because it has been storming so much in Baton Rouge. We've been running slop the past two weeks and we're kind of beat up a little bit. We did about what we expected we could do, with coming off the past couple of weeks being rained out and not having consistent training." -- Mark Lahaye, St. Joseph Academy head coach.

"This is a special group. Ever since they've been freshmen, they've been close knit at practice. They're friends, they do everything together and they train together. I tell them that every year they're going to get better. That's a nice reflection of how this group is." -- Drew Harro, Brother Martin boys' coach.

They said it: "It was hot for sure, but we train at 3:30 every day, so I was ready for it. The competition we've been in has been incredible, and with us being in Class 7A for cross country and Class 6A for track & field, we're getting the best of the best." -- Conwell.

"It was the first time I've ran a 5K race in a year. I took last season off from cross country because I played soccer last year. But I wanted to go out strong in the first mile, hang on in the second, and take control of the race with a half mile to go." -- Adams, on her win in the Invitational Girls' race.

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Louisiana schools dominate Mobile cross country meet

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Brother Martin of New Orleans won the Invitational Boys' division, while St Joseph's Academy of Baton Rouge won the Invitational Girls' title for the third year in a row at the Mobile Challenge of Champions Cross Country Meet held at Langan Park on Saturday.

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9/8

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The death of Queen Elizabeth II has set in motion a meticulously choreographed process - known as Operation London Bridge - that the palace, and the nation, has spent decades planning.

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Queen Elizabeth II waved from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 1953 after her coronation. She was Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Credit... Associated Press

LONDON - The death of Queen Elizabeth II sets in motion a meticulously choreographed and coordinated procedure for which the palace, the government, the news media, the local authorities and the queen herself had long planned.

Amid the public mourning, the national grief and the lowering of flags will come a transition of power and national memorializing, known as Operation London Bridge, that will overtake the country's agenda for days and play out potentially for months before the coronation of a new monarch.

"From the moment the queen became monarch, Whitehall started the planning process about what would happen when she died," said Philip Murphy, a professor of British and Commonwealth history at the University of London.

A moment of silence on the steps of St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England, signaled the start of the funeral service for the queen's husband, Prince Philip, last year. Credit... Justin Tallis//Afp Via Getty Images

"I think it's going to be an extraordinary psychological dislocation for British people," Professor Murphy said. "By now you've pretty much got to be in your late 70s or 80s to remember a time when Queen Elizabeth wasn't on the throne."

Many of the granular details of the palace's planning for the queen's death were laid out in a 2017 investigation by The Guardian, providing a blueprint for the hours and days ahead. That planning has been discussed in meetings between government and palace officials, the police, the army and broadcasters two to three times a year since the turn of the century, and occasionally reported on.

According to the blueprint, the queen's death would be communicated with one coded phrase - "London Bridge is down."

Then the Foreign Office was responsible for relaying the message to Commonwealth leaders, a loose organization largely composed of former colonies of the British Empire, which includes 15 countries where the monarch is also the head of state. Charles, as the new king, automatically became the head of state for the realms once ruled by his mother.

"It will just be an automatic transition, whatever popular sentiment is about it," Professor Murphy said. "Whoever succeeds her becomes king of Canada, king of Australia, king of Tuvalu."

Based on earlier blueprints, news outlets across the country, and around the world, would learn of the queen's death in tandem. However, the news first appeared in a post on the Royal Family's Twitter account, and on their website, before being sent to news organizations around the world by the British Press Association.

The BBC played the national anthem shortly after the announcement and showed a photo of the queen, followed by an image of the royal crest on a black screen and the words "Queen Elizabeth II."

The flag at Buckingham Palace was soon lowered to half-mast. In the tradition of decades of royal announcements, a notice was placed on a sign at the gates of the monarch's official residence, Buckingham Palace.

Prince Charles on Wednesday. By the time the world knew about the queen's death, he had already become king. Credit... Pool photo by Jane Barlow

While the sovereign's political power is largely symbolic, the monarchy plays a constitutional role, so there will be formalities conducted with the expected royal flair. According to protocol, within 24 hours of the queen's death, lawmakers in Parliament will take oaths of allegiance to the new king.

The Accession Council, a ceremonial body, will be summoned to St. James's Palace, a Tudor royal residence near Buckingham Palace, to officially proclaim the new sovereign. And the first Privy Council of Charles's reign will be held.

Charles will make four traditional public statements as he enters his new role. At the first meeting of the Privy Council, he will give a personal and political inaugural declaration. In the past, this happened in a closed ceremony and the text was published after the fact in the London Gazette - the official government record.

But the planning document suggests this could be televised.

Then come more formalities, most of which date to a narrow period of British history that has become enshrined in law and nods to the foundations of the modern British state.

Charles will make a statutory oath to uphold the Church of Scotland during the first Privy Council and confirm the timing of the queen's funeral. He will later make the accession declaration oath, a vow to maintain the established Protestant line of succession, usually made at the next state opening of Parliament. And lastly, he will make the Coronation Oath, which includes a promise to uphold the rights and privileges of the Church of England.

At 11 a.m. on the day after the queen's death, a proclamation will be read that officially declares the reign of the new king, which is then passed across the country, first by heralds who will arrive on horseback wearing official uniforms that have roots in the clothing from the Middle Ages to read the news in Trafalgar Square and then the Royal Exchange in London.

Members of the royal family at a memorial for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey in March. His death, in 2021, was likened by many to a dress rehearsal for the inevitable main event. Credit... Dominic Lipinski/Agence France-Presse, via Pool/Afp Via Getty Images

Two days after the queen's death, according to the plan, the proclamation will be read out in ceremonial fashion in capitals across the United Kingdom - Edinburgh; Cardiff, Wales; and Belfast, Northern Ireland - and later, high sheriffs in traditional garb will declare the news in towns and villages across the country.

Plans have also been underway on the local level for years, with the National Association of Civic Officers issuing a framework for local officials that maps out every detail from when bells should be rung (fully or half-muffled on the day of the announcement, according to guidance from the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers) to the clothes worn by local officials to the paper to be used in books of condolences.

Flags across the country are to be lowered to half-staff and stay that way until the morning after the queen's funeral, with one exception. On Proclamation Day, flags will be raised until the next afternoon, and then revert to half-staff.

After the proclamation of the new king, attention will once again turn to the funeral of Britain's longest-serving monarch.

The procedure and pomp around royal deaths and funerals is not unfamiliar in Britain, with the deaths of Princess Diana, Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother very much a part of a national collective memory. The death of Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, in 2021, was likened by many to a dress rehearsal for the inevitable main event.

However, the death of a sovereign is a far more consequential loss, and one that has not been felt in 70 years, since the death of Elizabeth's father, King George VI. While the process around his funeral offers some guidance as to how the coming days will unfurl, looking back may offer only a partial sense of what the events may look like.

The queen's coffin is expected to rest in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace for four days after her death, before being moved in a formal parade to Westminster Hall, where it will lie in state until the funeral. The coffin will be placed on a raised platform draped in regal purple, and tradition dictates that each corner of the platform be guarded around the clock.

Members of the public will most likely be allowed to file past and pay their respects, and international dignitaries are expected to descend on London in the coming days. The queen's funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey.

On the morning of Elizabeth's funeral, as her coffin pauses at the entrance to the church at 11 a.m. after a short procession, protocol calls for the nation to fall silent in a moment of reflection. After the funeral ceremony, the queen's coffin is expected to be placed on the same green gun carriage that carried her forefathers' coffins, in a final procession down the Mall, which runs between Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

It will then be driven to Windsor Castle, about 23 miles away, to the resting place of nearly all British sovereigns since George III. Elizabeth will be buried alongside her royal predecessors at St. George's Chapel.

The queen's husband, Prince Philip, was buried there in April 2021 after a muted funeral ceremony because of restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Her father, mother and sister are also interred there.

With Charles's formal coronation still most likely months away, the British public will have time to mourn a monarch who came to embody their national identity, and to imagine a future without her.

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Planning for the End of Elizabeth's Reign Began at the Beginning

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The death of Queen Elizabeth II has set in motion a meticulously choreographed process - known as Operation London Bridge - that the palace, and the nation, has spent decades planning. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month.

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8/31

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A vegan woman convicted of murder in the malnutrition death of her young son was sentenced Monday to life in prison.

Sheila O'Leary, 38, whose family followed a strict vegan diet, was convicted in June on six charges - first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter, child abuse and two counts of child neglect - in the death of Ezra O'Leary. Her sentencing in Lee County, Florida, had previously been postponed four times.

Her husband, Ryan Patrick O'Leary, remains in jail while awaiting trial on the same charges. Investigators said the couple told them the family ate only raw fruits and vegetables, although the toddler also was fed breast milk. The 18-month-old boy weighed 17 pounds (8 kilograms) and was the size of a 7-month-old baby when he died in September 2019, a police report said.

The Cape Coral couple had two other children, ages 3 and 5, who also were malnourished, investigators said. A fourth child had been returned to her biological father during an earlier malnutrition case in Virginia, court records show.

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Vegan Florida mother gets life in prison for son's malnutrition death

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A vegan woman convicted of murder in the malnutrition death of her young son was sentenced Monday to life in prison. Sheila O'Leary, 38, whose family followed a strict vegan diet, was convicted in June on six charges - first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter, child abuse and two counts of child neglect - in the death of Ezra O'Leary.

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9/9

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Venice Film Festival 2022

Including a new group of fashion superstars.

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As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

Timothée Chalamet, skin on display, at the premiere of "Bones and All." Credit... Ettore Ferrari/EPA, via Shutterstock

The Venice Film Festival, which began Aug. 31 and draws to a close this Saturday, has long been a spawning ground for indie blockbusters and award season darlings. This year it also solidified its position as the most glamorous red carpet of the year.

Less kitschy and marketing-oriented than Cannes; less grungy-intellectual than Toronto or New York; and free of the campy themes that have turned the Met Gala into a competitive costume party, Venice is the elegant, adventurous adult in the public dressing room. Forget princess gowns and mermaid frocks (for once). There's something about the vaporettos and Viscontis that just raises the bar.

There was no question, given the gossip circulating about "Don't Worry Darling," and rumors of a rift between its star Florence Pugh and the director Olivia Wilde, that attention was going to be on Ms. Pugh.

Maybe it was inevitable when you combine the furor Mr. Chalamet caused at this year's Oscars by going shirtless under his tux, and the fact that "Bones and All," the film he had premiering, is about the pleasures of the flesh (eating it, anyway). But Mr. Chalamet's gleeful appearance in a crimson Haider Ackermann halter top and trousers may have been the most transgressive of the week. Apparently the sight of a man's naked back is to the early 21st century what the woman's ankle once was to the early 20th. It's hard not to wonder which body part Mr. Chalamet may choose to reveal next.

From left: Taylor Russell in Balenciaga; Laura Harrier in Saint Laurent; Sadie Sink in Alexander McQueen Credit... Vianney Le Caer/Invision, Andreas Rentz/Getty Images, Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

And speaking of Valkyries ...

Ms. Thompson has long seemed to sense the fun in fashion, but in Venice she blew up - quite literally - by playing with volume and drama in a series of brightly colored, highly constructed gowns that claimed center stage without trying too hard.

First in silver Armani Privé at the opening ceremony, with a peplum that undulated around her hips in waves; next in highlighter green corseted and swagged Christopher John Rogers; then in a ruby Elie Saab number that curved up and around her head like a breeze, caught in the act; and then in citrine Marc Jacobs with a nebula of sequins wrapping the torso and trailing out behind.

It made for a breakout moment, as did the unapologetic maximalism of Jodie Turner-Smith,on display from the time she arrived in a sheer sunset-toned Casablanca pantsuit through her appearance in a painterly, floor-sweeping Christopher John Rogers and bandeau-baring, opera-skirted Harbison.

Together, the two women provided a master class in dressing to express themselves.

It's the difference between making their clothes work for them and working for the brands that make the clothes. As an approach, it deserves the award for best direction. May there soon be a sequel.

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Venice Film Festival 2022 Including a new group of fashion superstars. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. The Venice Film Festival, which began Aug.

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8/24

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Sometimes you need to go back to the basics: A no-frills, blue-collar meat-and-vegetable plate. Preferably a meat and three vegetables. So here's a quick look at some Mobile-area meat-and-threes worth knowing about.

This is a topic that can inspire some passion, so before you even start getting mad, please know that we're already thinking about a follow-up list or two. Got a favorite you'd like to see included? Email LSpecker@AL.com. We don't even mind if you stretch things a little bit. Maybe the place you have in mind is better known for hot dogs that stain the buns red. Maybe it's got a lot of stuff on the menu besides blue plate specials. It's okay. We're all on the same side of the table here.

Mary's Southern Cooking

Mary's, at 3011 Spring Hill Ave. in Mobile's Crichton area, is an absolute essential in this category. Its website promises exactly what you're craving: An "Unfussy, cafeteria-style eatery dishing up hearty, down-home Southern and soul food classics." It's a small place with a tight parking lot but if you make the effort to squeeze in, you'll be glad you did. Most options come with three vegetables, as the Lord intended. The menu changes daily; Tuesday's includes beef tips ($16.99), chop steak ($13.99 lunch/$15.99 dinner), turkey necks ($11.99); spaghetti ($11.25), liver and onion ($12.99 lunch/$14.99 dinner), chicken tetrazzini ($11.25) and more. maryssoutherncookingmobile.com. Closed Saturdays and Mondays.

Big Time Diner

An accessible location (4936 Cottage Hill Road) that's west of the beltline but not way out there in west Mobile doesn't hurt. Neither does a reputation for good food. But ask people why they keep coming back to Big Time Diner and they'll tell you the quality of the service is a big draw. You get a pretty big menu that includes seafood dinners, burgers and sandwiches, old-fashioned shakes and malts and more. What you're looking for at the moment is the Blue Plate Special, which gives you a meat and three for $12.75. There's a two-veggie version for $11.75 and a four-veggie plate for $8.75. www.facebook.com/BigTimeDiner. Closed Sundays.

Cheryl's Café

Cheryl's is just across the Causeway from Mobile, at the top of the hill in Spanish Fort; 6580-D Spanish Fort Blvd. is the address. From the outside it's a fairly generic storefront; inside it's a bustling café with a small-town vibe, as longtime staff greet and tend to regulars. The chalkboard menu, posted daily on the restaurant's Facebook page, is guaranteed to start you drooling. Tuesday's version had a parmesan crusted pork chop, meatloaf with marinara, red beans & rice with Conecuh sausage and chicken & dumplings, your pick with three sides for $14.98. That was amid soups, salads, sandwiches and a homemade dessert lineup including chocolate dream pie, strawberry dream pie, Snickers dream pie, carrot cake, banana pudding and fresh peach ice cream. www.cherylscafespanishfort.com.

Cozy Brown's Kitchen

Cozy Brown's Kitchen, at 847 Wasson Ave. in Prichard, is as famous for the community-oriented mindset of its namesake as it is for its food. When the SEC Network Show "True South" did an episode on the Mobile area, it picked Cozy Brown and his restaurant as icons that exemplified the culinary and cultural landscape of the area. "Fish and grits is a birthright food here," raved host John T. Edge. "Walk the line and make your choice. Cheese grits are regular. Gravy made from cooking pork chops or chicken legs. All served at prices that embarrass the fast-food houses." Online menus show a breathtaking range, including seafood breakfast options.

Mama's on Dauphin

Mama's, at 220 Dauphin Street, has been downtown Mobile's bastion of home cooking since 2003, and regulars don't need a menu to know when their favorites feature in the daily rotation. Meatloaf or red beans and rice with Conecuh? Be there on Monday. Fried pork chops? You're a Wednesday guy. Daily entrees are $11.25 with three sides, $9.95 with two. Seafood platters, sandwiches, salads and burgers round it out. They'll round you out too, if you're not careful. www.mamasondauphin.com.

Judy's Place

Judy's, at 3977 Government Boulevard, is another one of those places where a sleek strip-mall exterior gives way to a much homier vibe inside. It's also surprisingly spacious. How strong is its drawing power? A visit on Monday, during a typical late-summer monsoon, found it packed despite weather that would make at lot of people think twice about going out at all. They stuck around even when a brief power outage plunged the place into darkness and left the registers scrambled. The staff soldiered through it like troupers who've seen it all before. The menu is large, encompassing salads, sandwiches, burgers, wings, steaks, seafood platters and more. Lunch entrees include smothered hamburger steak, country fried steak and chicken, chicken tenders and a pork chop, ranging from $9.99 to $12.99 with two veggies. One other note that might make a difference for some: Where many meat-and-three type places are alcohol-free, Judy's offers a full bar. judysplacemobile.com.

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6 essential meat-and-three restaurants in the Mobile area

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Sometimes you need to go back to the basics: A no-frills, blue-collar meat-and-vegetable plate. Preferably a meat and three vegetables. So here's a quick look at some Mobile-area meat-and-threes worth knowing about. This is a topic that can inspire some passion, so before you even start getting mad, please know that we're already thinking about a follow-up list or two.

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8/12

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Balance training is an important but often-neglected skill, one that impacts both our longevity and our quality of life, beginning around age 40. It's never too late to start working on it.

Sign up for the Well newsletter, for Times subscribers only.

Essential news and guidance to live your healthiest life.
Get it in your inbox

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Can you pass the 10-second balance test?

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Balance training is an important but often-neglected skill, one that impacts both our longevity and our quality of life, beginning around age 40. It's never too late to start working on it. Sign up for the Well newsletter, for Times subscribers only. Essential news and guidance to live your healthiest life.

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8/26

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The newest series Diary of an Old Home will be available for streaming Friday, Aug. 26.

Those who want to watch the show can stream it exclusively on Discovery+.

In this series, we'll see homeowners give an intimate look at the original features and modern renovations that make their old homes unique.

These individuals will also share their passion for understanding and preserving their properties' distinct histories.
What is Discovery+?
Discovery+ is the streaming home of food, home, relationships, true crime, paranormal and so much more.

Some popular channels offered with the streaming service include HGTV, A&E, TLC, Food Network and Lifetime.

Plans start at $4.99 with limited ads or $6.99 without ads. First time subscribers can also take advantage of a 7-day free trial.

Students and veterans can also receive a discounted price for the streaming service.

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How to watch the 'Diary of an Old Home' premiere

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The newest series Diary of an Old Home will be available for streaming Friday, Aug. 26 where we'll see homeowners give an intimate look at the original features and modern renovations that make their old homes unique. Here's how you can tune in.