Governor Ron DeSantis will hold a news conference just outside Tallahassee in Jefferson County on Wednesday.

Arctic air gripping the Plains has broken cold-weather records in North Dakota.

Kentucky's largest city has been praised for managing to raise childhood vaccination rates at a time when may places are trying to prevent further declines.

The first general election ballots for the presidential race are going out as Alabama officials begin mailing them to absentee voters with the Nov. 5 contest less than two months away.

Election legal challenges were playing out Tuesday as voters cast ballots across the country in the midterm elections.

State and local election officials are hoping for a smooth election on Tuesday to demonstrate that voting is secure and tallies are accurate.

Yet state statistics also show hospitalizations are up since early April, which has some health officials worried. Some people are trying to stay 6 feet (2 meters) apart, as required under state orders, but others aren't. Leaders in Republican-controlled, deeply conservative Alabama, like many states, are stuck between trying to revive a lagging economy and prevent the spread of disease. As of Friday, more than 13,400 people had tested positive for the coronavirus in Alabama, and 533 had died. Alabamas jobless rate jumped to 12.9% in April during the economic shutdown linked to the coronavirus pandemic, the worst in nearly 38 years, the state said.

The county is taking steps to preserve the old county jail, where officials say King served his final stint behind bars in 1967 about five months before his assassination. Jefferson County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to memorialize and preserve an area on the seventh floor of the county courthouse that used to be a jail. A small area including two pale-green cells, an isolation chamber, a shower and mechanical equipment are all that remain from the old jail. But commission member Lashunda Roberts-Scales said it was important to preserve what's left of the jail regardless since King was there. “The last time he was arrested, the last time he was housed in a jail, it was in the county jail here in Jefferson County," said Pettway.

The convoy pulled over to the right of the road, and a car traveling behind the convoy was struck by debris and pulled into a grassy median. Two guardsmen jumped out of the convoy to check on the safety of the second vehicle when a third, oncoming vehicle swerved to avoid debris in the road, striking and killing Capt. Hughes told us that his brother Stone was expected to be in his wedding in a few weeks. His family told Channel 4 Monday that he leaves behind a wife and three-year-old son. The driver of the vehicle that struck the them, 22-year-old Shiv Patel, sustained minor injuries.

Kamille "Cupcake" McKinney, 3, was last seen at a birthday party in Birmingham, Alabama. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Two people have been charged with capital murder in connection with the death of Kamille "Cupcake" McKinney, a 3-year-old girl who was abducted from a birthday party in Birmingham, Alabama, according to Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr. Kamille's remains were found this week inside a dumpster in a landfill after a dayslong search, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith said. He noted the landfill was not far from the apartment complex where Kamille was last seen. Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said that the cause and time of death have not been determined.

The projects were put on a fast track, with three task forces created to consider issues such as routes and environmental impacts. "So, the earlier we can start the planning and segmentation, the earlier we can start PD&E," Watts said. The task forces -- known as the "Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance," or M-CORES, task forces -- have met once, in a joint introductory session in August. The legislation establishing the task forces outlined environmental areas to avoid, such as springs, aquifers and conservation lands. The task forces are comprised of local officials, environmentalists, representatives of agricultural interests, transportation planners, members of business groups and educators.

2013: The city government of Detroit, Michigan, with up to $20 billion in debt, files for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, exceeding the $4 billion filing by Jefferson County, Alabama, in 2011. Detroit is also the largest city by population in the U.S. history to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, more than twice as large as Stockton, California, which filed in 2012. Hide Caption