Author: Gesi Lloyd

The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch This afternoon covering dozens of Alabama counties, with the threat window running from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The watch covers Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Walker, Blount, Etowah, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Clay, Randolph, Sumter, Greene, Hale, Perry, Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Chambers, Marengo, Dallas, Autauga, Lowndes, Elmore, Montgomery, Macon, Bullock, Lee, Russell, Pike and Barbour counties. Forecasters are expecting northeast winds of 10 to 15 mph with gusts reaching up to 30 mph. Relative humidity is projected to drop as low as 19%. The…

Civil rights activist Najee Ali has sent an open letter to Steve Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Intuit Dome, asking him to use his influence to address what a growing coalition describes as a public safety failure in Inglewood, California. The letter, signed by Ali and several community and faith leaders, follows the death of Bryan Bostic, an African American man who died while in the custody of the Inglewood Police Department after a routine traffic stop. Bostic was a father, a son, and a brother. His death has sharpened an already tense conversation around policing…

Nine Moroccan companies earned spots on Forbes Middle East’s annual ranking of the 100 Most Valuable Companies in the Middle East and North Africa, placing Morocco fourth overall by number of firms represented. Only the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar had more companies on the list, making Morocco the highest-ranked African nation in the region’s most closely watched corporate index. The ranking, published annually by Forbes Middle East, draws from market capitalization data across 12 stock exchanges in 11 countries, with figures recorded as of January 31, 2026. The top 100 firms together carry a combined valuation of…

Frank Thomas, the two-time American League MVP and Hall of Famer who spent 16 of his 19 major league seasons with the Chicago White Sox, filed a lawsuit on March 19 in Cook County, Illinois, against the White Sox, Nike and Fanatics. The suit alleges that all three defendants profited from the sale of merchandise bearing his name and likeness without his knowledge or compensation. At the center of the complaint are the team’s City Connect 2.0 jerseys, which went on sale around April 28, 2025, and feature Thomas’ No. 35 on the front along with his name and number…

Jarvis Butts, the 43-year-old Michigan man sentenced earlier this month for the murder of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris and the sexual assault of multiple children, was found dead Today at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson. The Michigan Department of Corrections confirmed the death and said Michigan State Police had been called to the facility to investigate. Corrections staff attempted to revive Butts after he was found but were unable to save him. Michigan State Police were brought in to conduct an investigation, and the death is currently being classified as a suicide. Butts had been incarcerated at…

NASA has put a permanent human presence on the moon at the center of its plans for the coming decade, unveiling a detailed road map Tuesday that includes a $20 billion moon base, regular crewed landings, nuclear power systems, and an accelerated push toward Mars. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took office in December, laid out the vision at an event called Ignition at NASA headquarters in Washington before an auditorium packed with aerospace company representatives, international space agency officials, and members of Congress. The announcement marked the first time the agency has attached a specific timeline and funding figure…

Alphabet shares closed Tuesday at their lowest level since November, falling more than 3% to around $290 and landing within striking distance of the 20% decline from recent highs that traditionally defines a bear market. The Google parent has now shed roughly 17% from its February peak near $350, a retreat that reflects growing unease about where the company’s massive spending plans are headed. The drop was the steepest single-session decline for the stock since June and came alongside broader weakness across U.S. equities. Rising bond yields and persistent geopolitical tensions have weighed on investor sentiment in recent weeks, with…

The NBA took its most concrete step toward expansion in more than two decades Today, when all 30 members of the league’s board of governors voted to formally explore adding franchises in Seattle and Las Vegas. The decision launches a bidding process that could reshape the league’s footprint for a generation and deliver a financial windfall to every current team owner in the process. Commissioner Adam Silver called the vote a reflection of both cities’ deep history with professional basketball and confirmed the league would begin engaging with prospective ownership groups immediately. Investment bank PJT Partners has been brought on…

For decades,  NCAA’s March Madness ran on chaos. A mid-major program nobody had heard of would knock off a power conference giant, and the bracket would explode. Those moments were not accidents. They were the product of smaller programs that had quietly built something real, team by team, over years of sustained work in competitive conferences. That pipeline is drying up, and the tournament is beginning to show it. The numbers behind the disappearing upset Two consecutive NCAA tournaments have come and gone without a single mid-major team advancing to the Sweet 16. Historically, at least two programs from smaller…

A True Value hardware store that served Franklin, Tennessee for more than five decades is preparing to close its doors on April 1, marking the end of a community institution that outlasted recessions, housing booms, and decades of shifting retail trends before finally running out of road. Harpeth True Value Home Center, an independently owned affiliate of the True Value cooperative, will shut down permanently after owner Mike Outlaw determined that neither a sale nor a path forward was possible. He spent months reaching out to potential buyers, exhausted every option available to him, and ultimately concluded that closing was…