Alabama's jobless rate dropped slightly to 3.1% last month and average wages increased, signs of what the governor's office said Friday was the state's continuing recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

A federal judge has indefinitely blocked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee from allowing parents to opt out of school mask requirements in Shelby County, saying Friday that evidence shows Lee's order prevents children with health problems from safely going to school during the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the first day of classes, Melissa Minter has driven her three children every morning to middle school and high school in the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio.

Within his first week back at school after a year and a half, 7-year-old Ben Medlin was exposed to a classmate with COVID-19, and he was sent home, along with 7,000 other students in the district, for 14 days of quarantine.

Wahid Dorany, an Afghan American and Chattanooga area resident, is awaiting the day that his parents, wife and two siblings can join him after he helped facilitate their evacuation from Afghanistan.

Nonprofit organization Friends of Special Children is raising funds to make improvements to Signal Centers' Therapeutic Playground for the Arts, which was the first of its kind in the nation when it was built with funds raised by the friends 12 years ago, said the group's president, Lynn Reese.

Chattanooga police opened an investigation this week into a man's claim that he was assaulted by a group of teenagers downtown last weekend.

The Chattanooga area's first meadery, Flora de Mel, is now open in Rossville, along with kitchen-in-residence Calliope.

One of the nation's biggest automotive oil change retailers will enter the Chattanooga market next week with the first of several planned shops in the area.

One of Chattanooga's oldest and best-known investment advisory firms is moving to a new downtown address after decades at its existing offices.

First We Feast's "Hot Ones," the YouTube web series that features Emmy-nominated host Sean Evans sharing 10 hot wings covered in increasingly hot sauces with celebrity guests, will feature Hoff's Haus Sauce made by Chattanooga-based Hoff & Pepper during Season 16.

DEAR ABBY: I love my wife very much, but we are, unfortunately, having a communication/interpretation issue.

Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will split "Jeopardy!" hosting duties for the remainder of 2021.

Silverdale Baptist Academy running back Connor Delashmitt doesn't mind being busy on Friday nights, and especially not when it comes with success like the Seahawks' 33-29 victory at rival Boyd Buchanan in a Division II-AA East Region showdown.

Anyone who has spent much time around the McCallie School football team knows it can sometimes be hard to get head coach Ralph Potter to smile, even after a win.

South Pittsburg was able to shrug off not only the drama of this week, when head coach Chris Jones abruptly resigned to return to coach in the CFL, but also a sluggish first half in a lopsided Region 3-1A win over Whitwell on Friday night

It's a wonder anyone wants to be a public school teacher today, but thank goodness for the dedicated souls who do.

Fate is fickle. And justice is unsure. And often slow.

Lots of political billboards in the news this week.