As published on insideclimatenews.org

What conservationists study and document at Paint Rock Valley will inform and influence biodiversity strategies across the globe.

As published on insideclimatenews.org

The developer behind the $14.5 billion project in Alabama has suggested residents’ concerns are based on misinformation. Here’s what we know about the project and its impacts.

As published on nextavenue.com

Instead of giving me that sense of preparedness I wanted, seeing a psychic has allowed me to accept that I have no control over my life. But the visits have meaningful benefits.

As published on insideclimatenews.org

A newly identified species of fish in central Alabama is already endangered due to human development, experts say. Now, plans to build a massive hyper scale data center could turn an already dire situation into an extinction event.

As published on insideclimatenews.org

Residents in and around Bessemer are furious over Project Marvel, a plan to build a 4.5-million-square-foot data processing facility on 700 acres of wooded land. Public officials have been sworn to silence.

As published on insideclimatenews.org

Academics, conservationists, nonprofits, government agencies—and one passionate, retired scientist—are working to rebuild reefs, reduce the carbon imprint and educate the public about the importance of restoring the oyster population.

As published on aljazeera.com

McIntosh, Alabama – Andy Lang, dressed all in black and wearing a cap, is on Highway 43, heading to McIntosh High School. Like Lang, most of the town’s 250 residents graduated from the school and today many are gathering there for the homecoming parade. As the car heads south towards the school, it passes a turnoff that leads to the sprawling sites of the two chemical and pesticide-producing companies residents say have left a lasting mark on this small community.

As published on huffpost.com

At every social gathering of middle-aged people I’ve been to recently, almost everyone has an “I tried a THC gummy bear because I couldn’t sleep and found myself in the emergency room or about to call 911” episode to share.

As published on salvationsouth.com

The red taillights of my brother’s camper receded out of the driveway. I swallowed my tears as Billy’s sinewy arm gave a last-minute wave out his window before disappearing. My mother and I turned to walk back into our kitchen, which, at the time, was painted an electric yellow. It was the late 1970s. I was fourteen, and Billy, eight years older than me, had been living on the road since he was a teenager.

As published on al.com

You were our coaches, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, preachers, future politicians. You were neighbors, family friends, family members, always charming and trusted with our care. You took us on detours after practice on the way home, you snuck us into empty classrooms, equipment rooms, and offices on school campus. You found ways into our tents on camp outs and our bedrooms and basements at home. You cruised the malls where we spent hours shopping at The Limited and hanging out at the food court. You groomed us. You targeted us. You sexually assaulted us.

As published on salvationsouth.com

…it took me until middle age to accept that trying to fix someone, much less a place like a restaurant, is a compulsion as destructive as an addict’s substance abuse. I know because I spent an entire lifetime trying to rehabilitate my family’s farmhouse — the home I grew up in — just southeast of Birmingham, Alabama.

As published on aljazeera.com

When Cara McClure was in elementary school, every year at Thanksgiving, the school delivered a box of food and a certificate for Buster Brown shoes to needy families in their small community of Powderly, on the west side of Birmingham, Alabama.

As published on salvationsouth.com

Ernestine Cromwell is the self-described “militant black woman” who rides herd over the 105 members of Alabama’s House of Representatives. She is feared. She is beloved. She is one of a kind.

As published on latimes.com

I had never imagined my own murder until one morning in January at the small church my husband and I attend in northern Alabama. I am sitting in the back pew in the small church the Sunday after Epiphany. A man with a military-style haircut opens the front door. The service is almost over. He smiles at me over his face mask as he quietly closes the door.

As published on al.com

Wendy Montealegre stood in the pouring rain. She could see the chained-up dogs a concerned neighbor had called her about. She could also see puppies in a crate nearby. “Get off my property or I’ll call the police,” a woman yelled at her.

As published on al.com

Eighty-nine-year-old Mildred Duke, a widow who grew up in Gallion, Alabama, has lived most of her life in one place, the house she’s called home since she was married in 1951. Several weeks ago, she was mowing grass in her front yard when men in yellow vests drove up in a truck.

Gabby Petito was strangled to death. Strangulation can lead to loss of consciousness in seconds and death in just minutes. This is why it’s considered a huge red flag on the continuum of domestic violence assessment and represents a very thin line between life and death for the victim.

As published on al.com

Victims of officer involved domestic violence live with the unrelenting fear and anxiety of knowing their abuser always carries a gun on his hip. They go to sleep and wake up knowing their partner has instant access to a gun.