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Recent Blog Posts
Investigators find 229 pot plants in Midland City by AnnistonStar
May 06, 2010 |  0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
A total of 229 marijuana plants were seized from a Midland City residence on Tuesday after a two-week investigation by the Dale County Sheriff’s Office and Wiregrass Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force, according to authorities. Rodney German, 40, of Dale County Road 570, was charged with...
Opelika burglary suspect entered by breaking through walls by AnnistonStar
May 06, 2010 |  0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
Opelika police are investigating an incident in which a suspect burglarized several businesses along Pepperell Parkway by breaking through walls. An employee at Be Be African Hair Braiding in the 3700 block of Pepperell Parkway called police between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, when a...
Parrot's noisy commentary during family dispute causes neighbors to call police by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
When a domestic dispute erupted in Pinson this morning, the squawking was so loud that neighbors called lawmen. Jessie Hopson was arguing with his son-in-law, Michael Tolbert, authorities said, but it turns out that's not what was making all the noise. Read the full story from The Birmin...
Man accused of shooting at police arrested after standoff by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
A man accused of shooting at police officers on separate occasions in 2009 now faces federal charges after a two-hour standoff with authorities Tuesday afternoon. AC = --> .art_main_pic { width:250px; float:left; clear:left; } Steven Jeffrey Cain, 49, 3642 Franklin 20, Phil Campbel...
Gadsden City to lose 13 teachers by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
Next week, 19 employees of Gadsden City Schools will receive a letter letting them know their services will not be needed for the 2010-11 school year. Those to be cut include 13 certified teachers in the school system. Six support personnel also will be terminated. Read the full story f...
Etowah County cuts 26 teaching positions by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
The Etowah County Board of Education at its meeting Tuesday approved non-renewing 26 certified or teaching positions and 20 non-certified or support positions. “We had to cut a lot of teachers and support people,” Superintendent Michael Bailey said. “Most of them are one-year only contracts...
Meth labs found in Mobile County; 4 people, including 2 pregnant women, arrested by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
Two methamphetamine labs were found and four people were arrested Monday night by area authorities. In Tillman's Corner, two pregnant women and one man were arrested when Mobile police discovered a meth lab in their apartment. Read the full story from The Press-Register.
Andalusia man arrested on sex abuse charges by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
Nolan Temis Martin, 59, was charged with one count of sexual abuse of a child under 12 and first-degree sodomy. Covington County Sheriff’s deputies were alerted to Martin’s alleged behavior after a woman claiming to be his girlfriend reported it to the Opp Police Department, stating she ...
Toddler killed in car accident in Albertville by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
A 2-year-old was killed in a wreck just after 6 p.m. Monday on Section Line Road, according to a news release from the Albertville Police Department. Emily Brooke Walls was hanging upside down, still restrained in a child-safety seat, when first responders arrived at the wreck. R...
HealthSouth posts $50M profit in 1Q by AnnistonStar
May 05, 2010 |  0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
HealthSouth Corp. beat Wall Street expectations by posting first-quarter adjusted net income per diluted share of 48 cents. The consensus among analysts was 43 cents. The Birmingham-based inpatient rehabilitation provider cut debt by $34 million and reported net income of $50.5 million for the ...

Today's Events
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Tuesday, 18, 2013
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Pond Spring- The Gener... 3:50 PM
Oxford Farmers market 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM
Join us for the kick-off of Oxford's first...
Oxford Farmers market 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM
Join us for the kick-off of Oxford's first...
They're headed to a Game 7
by Associated Press
Jun 18, 2013 | 0 views |  0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend | print
San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) and Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) collide during the second half. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) and Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) collide during the second half. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
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MIAMI — LeBron James led a title-saving charge, and now his crown will be on the line one more time in Game 7. James powered Miami to a frantic fourth-quarter rally and overtime escape as the Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs 103-100 on Tuesday night to extend the NBA Finals as far as they can go and keep their repeat chances alive. Losing his headband but keeping his cool while playing the entire second half and overtime, James finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, making the go-ahead basket with 1:43 remaining in the extra period. Tim Duncan scored 30 points for the Spurs, his most in an NBA Finals game since Game 1 in 2003, but was shut out after the third quarter. He added 17 rebounds. Game 7 will be here Thursday, the NBA's first do-or-die game to determine its champion since the Lakers beat the Celtics in 2010. The Spurs looked headed to a fifth title in five chances when they built a 13-point lead with under 4 minutes left in the third quarter, then grabbed a five-point edge late in regulation after blowing the lead. But James hit a 3-pointer before Ray Allen tied it with another with 5.2 seconds remaining in regulation. James was just 3 of 12 after three quarters, the Heat trailing by 10 and frustration apparent among the players and panic setting in among the fans. Nothing to worry. Not with James playing like this. He finished 11 of 26, even making a steal after his basket had given Miami a 101-100 edge in the OT. Before that, he was 12 minutes from hearing the familiar criticisms about not being able to get it done, from having to watch a team celebrate on his home floor again. Then he changed the game and erased that story. The Heat, who haven't lost consecutive games since Jan. 8 and 10, had too much defense and way too much James for the Spurs in the final 17 minutes. They are trying to become fourth team to win the final two games at home since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format for the finals in 1985. James came in averaging 31.5 points in elimination games, highest in NBA history, according to a stat provided through the NBA by the Elias Sports Bureau. This wasn't quite the 45-point performance in Game 6 of last year's Eastern Conference finals in Boston, but given the higher stakes may go down as more important — if the Heat follow it with another victory Thursday. The Heat were in the same place as they were in 2011 at the end of their Big Three's first season together, coming home from Texas facing a 3-2 deficit in the finals. This is a different team. And oh, what a different James. They said they welcomed this challenge, a chance to show they how much mentally tougher they were than the team the Dallas Mavericks easily handled in Game 6 that night. James made sure they did, looking nothing like the player who was so bad in the fourth quarters during that series. He was simply unstoppable down the stretch of this one. Kawhi Leonard had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs. Tony Parker had 19 points and eight assists, but shot just 6 of 23 from the field. The Spurs had one final chance down 103-100, but Chris Bosh blocked Danny Green's 3-pointer from the corner as time expired. Bosh had said Green wouldn't get open the way he has all series — and he didn't.
Editorial: Schools on trial — In Anniston, improving education remains the ultimate goal
by The Anniston Star Editorial Board
Jun 18, 2013 | 229 views |  0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Any cocoon of stability that may have surrounded Anniston Middle School is now shattered. Last month, after decades of debate, the Anniston Board of Education voted to close the school on Alabama 21 and move its students to other campuses as part of a system-wide reorganization and cost-cutting measure. Last week, Superintendent Joan Frazier announced her retirement for June 2014, meaning someone else — possibly from outside the system hierarchy — will shepherd the system through the middle school’s closure. And Tuesday, the state Board of Education included Anniston Middle on its list of “failing” schools that, as part of the Alabama Accountability Act, will allow parents zoned for AMS to receive tax credits if they transfer elsewhere. For the Anniston Board of Education, the state board’s list of 78 “failing” schools represents two different headlines — both significant. No other Anniston schools made the list. (For that matter, Anniston Middle was the only school in Calhoun County to be deemed “failing” by the state board.) Anniston High School, whose dropout and graduation rates have long been serious civic concerns, and the system’s five elementary schools are free of both the stigma and the practicality of being considered “failing” institutions. We are glad that’s the case. But the other headline didn’t bring a sigh of relief to a city desperate to use public education in its efforts to reinvent the city’s outlook on vital matters such as job creation, economic growth and crime reduction. A city without vibrant and well-supported public schools is a city that struggles to educate its children and sustain its future. A city without successful public schools is a city that faces stagnation and decline, not prosperity. That is Anniston’s struggle today. Our advice is to consider Anniston Middle School’s label as a “failing” school as part old news and part opportunity. Don’t overreact. Instead, see Anniston Middle as what it is — a school already destined for closure. That’s not a rationalization; it’s a fact. What’s important now is the system’s still-developing reorganization that, once completed, is expected to lessen the system’s fiscal concerns. More important, still, is this community’s understanding that the education of the children within Anniston’s public schools must be a grade-A priority. It is not the priority solely of the city’s educators or its black community, whose children are overwhelmingly the majority of the city’s schools. It must be a priority for all who want Anniston to prosper. Make no mistake: We are disappointed that the state considers Anniston Middle School a “failing” school. But we cannot lose focus on the larger, vital picture — the reinvention of Anniston’s school system and the improvement of its public education. The ailments are well known. Repairing them with hard work and rational decisions is the key.
Editorial: In Alabama, best path is to scrap this wishful policy
by The Anniston Star Editorial Board
Jun 18, 2013 | 87 views |  0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Tommy Bice, the state’s superintendent of education, had the unenviable task Tuesday of carrying out a poorly conceived policy that, its authors assure us, is designed to raise the quality of Alabama public schools. Playing the good soldier, Bice produced a list of failing schools as defined by the so-called Alabama Accountability Act, the controversial law handed down earlier this year by Montgomery’s ruling Republicans. The strict definition of failing, Bice said Tuesday, meant he was “unable to remove a school from the list although they’ve shown improvement.” Sadly, that’s merely the start of the problems with this policy. As private school administrators from Calhoun County told The Star earlier this year, the law’s intent — allowing students in “failing” schools to transfer to a private school or better public school — almost certainly won’t work. The law’s tax credit — approximately $3,500 annually — won’t be enough to cover private school tuition. What’s more, private schools are balking at accepting state-administered scholarship dollars. Public schools are under no obligation to take transfers from failing schools. Several local districts have confirmed to The Star that they aren’t interested in taking on these new students. In Anniston and elsewhere across Alabama, there’s also the matter of a federal court order concerning desegregation that severely limits student transfers between public schools. All this adds up to a law that seems unlikely to have the intended effect. The shame is that Alabama’s public schools desperately need improvement. Of course, the 78 schools listed Tuesday as “failing” need help, but so does the entire state, especially when considering our ranking in national comparisons of student achievement. Perhaps the best path forward would be for the Legislature and the governor to scrap this policy’s wishful thinking and head back to the drawing board. Putting Alabama’s schools on the path to excellence will require a greater investment, in money, of course, but also in tougher standards for teachers and students.
Speak Out: The state of foreign missions
by our readers
Jun 18, 2013 | 69 views |  0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Today, one assumes that much of our commerce and industry have gone overseas — primarily to China. We further assume that China is a nation of non-traditional religious values, living virtually in the Stone Age with hostile attitudes toward Christianity. It may surprise the Christian community that China is now the largest Bible publisher in the world. Amity Publishing in Birmingham recently opened a sprawling printing complex in Nanjing dedicated just to the Holy Bible and is scheduled to turn out 12 million Bibles per year. But the unique twist is that local Chinese caught with an Amity printed Bible do not face harassment and are at liberty to practice their Christian faith just as they would be in America. This is a remarkable feat accomplished by the missionary effort of the Christian community. By relocating and vastly expanding the publishing arm of the effort and making it a Chinese industry, worldwide missionaries have been able to establish themselves permanently and become accepted for what they are in the previously most obstinate mission field ever targeted. To say foreign mission work has come a long way in the past 40 to 50 years would be the understatement of the year. If only U.S. foreign missionary Lottie Moon, who starved herself trying to save hungry Chinese on the mission field, could know this feat today. James W. Anderson
Talladega
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