Jun. 23, 2025

If hot weather can cause tempers to rise and patience to wear thin, then we might be in for an unfriendly week. The heat has settled in, and while the occasional shower or storm is still a possibility, rain is likely to be a little more scarce than last week.

So find you some shade, hydrate, and during any run-ins with the neighbors we'll pray that cooler heads prevail.

Still, we're already starting the week with a few crime stories ...

Thanks for reading,

Ike Morgan

Looking for the podcast? Click here or check other options below.

A Deatsville man was convicted last week of using a Ponzi scheme to steal $8.4 million from an elderly man, reports AL.com's Carol Robinson.

The attorney general's office said that, over more than two years, the man earned the older man's trust and persuaded him to keep investing more money by giving him the impression that he was reinvesting profits.

Police say Jimmy Bulger then used his take to buy an 8,000-square-foot mansion, luxury vehicles and more. He was convicted of first-degree theft by deception, aggravated theft by deception and first-degree financial exploitation of the elderly.

Authorities also said that, after his indictment, Bulger tried offering the victim a million dollars to drop the charges.

Former state senator Shadrack McGill was arrested last week, reports AL.com's Heather Gann.

Scottsboro police said McGill was involved in a domestic incident. They charged him with criminal mischief, a lesser crime than domestic violence, and said the victim was McGill's ex-wife's "significant other."

McGill represented the Scottsboro area from 2010-2014.

There may be a heat wave right now, and parking lots might be the hottest places on earth to walk across, but it's still not OK to lose your cool and pull a gun over a parking space.

Sadly, that's not a theoretical. At least not in Calera over the weekend.

Witnesses told police that a woman who was angry over a parking spot at Walmart stepped out of her vehicle, pulled a gun and fired into an occupied vehicle, reports AL.com's Carol Robinson. The bullet entered through a rear door, passed by a thankfully empty child seat and exited the car through the other side window.

Police said the shooter switched tags on the car after leaving the scene but that witnesses gave strong descriptions that led to an arrest.

Longtime Birmingham Post-Herald sportswriter Rubin Grant passed away last week, reports AL.com's Ben Thomas.

Grant was from Montgomery and spent 25 years at the Post-Herald, covering high school sports and more, including the Birmingham Barons. In fact, he was inducted into the Barons Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 2021, he won the Mel Allen Media Award, a lifetime-achievement award for media folks given by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2022, he was named one of the 50 legends of sports writing in Alabama by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

Grant was also a licensed Baptist minister.

Former Birmingham Post-Herald sports columnist Paul Finebaum said he attended Grant's mother's funeral: “Rubin gave the eulogy. I didn’t know that part of him, the preacher side. He gave a eulogy that was electrifying. From that moment, I started thinking, ‘Rubin has a higher calling than being a sportswriter.’”

I crossed paths with Rubin only for a stint in the Birmingham News newsroom, mostly during football Friday nights, after the Post-Herald had stopped publishing. Thirty seconds into a conversation with Rubin, he made you feel like an old friend.

That happens to be a great quality for a reporter or a preacher to have. It also was just how Rubin was. 

Rubin Grant was 67 years old.

Overall results:

Five out of five: 32.6%

Four out of five: 31.1%

Three out of five: 21.8%

Two out of five: 10.2%

One out of five: 4.3%

This business, which has a lot of history in Alabama, was recently acquired by a Japanese company, and as part of the deal gave up a lot of its control to the U.S. government.

U.S. Steel (CORRECT) 91.1%

Vulcan Materials 7.7%

Regions Bank 0.9%

Flora-Bama Lounge 0.3%

Congresswoman Terri Sewell joined a Republican colleague to sponsor a bill intended to increase the numbers of these professionals.

Physicians (CORRECT) 76.0%

Police officers 20.0%

Mechanical engineers 3.7%

Chocolatiers 0.3%

The University of Alabama's next president, Peter Mohler, last worked at this university.

Ohio State (CORRECT) 80.6%

Michigan 13.3%

Troy 4.3%

Slippery Rock 1.9%

This was NOT a reason for residents' concern over the future Sports Illustrated Resort coming to Tuscaloosa.

The "Sports Illustrated curse" (CORRECT) 56.5%

Presence of bikini models 21.6%

Environmental impacts 14.5%

Traffic 7.4%

Among birthdates we noted this week was that of actor Pat Buttram, who played this distinctively voiced character.

Mr. Haney on "Green Acres" (CORRECT) 75.0%

Ernest T. Bass on "The Andy Griffith Show" 15.0%

Festus on "Gunsmoke" 7.8%

Grandpa on "The Real McCoys" 2.2%

Would you like to come on the podcast and take the quiz? We record quizzes on Thursday afternoons. Just reply to this email and put "quiz" in the subject line and we will try to get you scheduled for a Thursday soon.

If you miss that feeling of sitting down with in-depth, local reporting, consider subscribing to the Huntsville Times, Birmingham News, or Mobile Press-Register. 

By subscribing, you’ll get a new daily digital edition in an email link, or you can use an app to download the new edition every day on your smartphone or tablet. You also get exclusive access to stories written for our subscribers. 

“Down in Alabama” listeners get your first month free by going to al.com/digitalsubscription/exclusive and enter the promo code DIAPOD. 

You can find “Down in Alabama” wherever you get your podcasts, including these places:

We appreciate you for taking the time to read today. Hope you're able to check back soon. Meantime, reply to this email with any suggestions you might have.

If you're so inclined, we'd love it if you'd forward to friends who might be interested in reading. (And if you're someone who's been forwarded this newsletter, we encourage you to subscribe and get this in your inbox every day.)