Haley Laurence

2 months ago | thisisalabama.org | Lesley Delchamps |Jenny Stubbs |Haley Laurence

Chris McGhee’s path to the fire service was strongly influenced by family. His father, Gerry McGhee, served as Fire Chief in Atmore for 17 years, instilling in him a deep commitment to public service. McGhee began as a volunteer firefighter before joining the Gulf Shores Fire Department, where he gained invaluable experience. In 2009, he joined the Poarch Creek Indians Fire Department as a Training Officer and Fire Inspector, gradually advancing to Assistant Fire Chief and now Fire Chief.

Nov 27, 2024 | thisisalabama.org | Bob Carlton |Haley Laurence

This story originally appeared in the daily digital edition of the Press-Register. Subscribe to the daily digital edition for daily, up-to-date news. A half-hour or so from Mobile on the other side of Mobile Bay, Fairhope is a Coastal Alabama treasure — an easy, fun little getaway whether you want to spend an afternoon there or stay for the whole weekend. We don’t get there often enough, but when we do, we never run out of places to go and things to do, and we always leave wishing we had more time.

Nov 13, 2024 | thisisalabama.org | Lawrence Specker |Haley Laurence

As Austal USA’s final Littoral Combat Ship takes shape, a top company executive says the shipyard is on the verge of a huge growth surge that will add 2,000 new workers to its labor force and a third giant assembly building to the Mobile waterfront. A keel-laying ceremony was held Friday, June 16, for LCS-38, the future USS Pierre. Like a christening or a commissioning, a keel-laying is a symbolic milestone on a ship’s creation and entry into service.

Oct 28, 2024 | thisisalabama.org | Bob Carlton |Haley Laurence

The date was Jan. 1, 1963, a steamy New Year’s Day afternoon in sunny South Florida. The scene was Miami’s iconic Orange Bowl Stadium, where Paul “Bear” Bryant’s fifth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and Bud Wilkinson’s seventh-ranked Oklahoma Sooners squared off in the first meeting between two of college football’s most storied programs. “You had Alabama and Oklahoma,” author and sports historian Allen Barra recalls. “You had Bear Bryant and Bud Wilkinson — Bear and Bud.

Oct 10, 2024 | thisisalabama.org | Deborah Storey |Haley Laurence

A boy fidgets in his seat and bangs on the restaurant table as other diners stare disapprovingly. His parents try to calm him. With an autistic child, though, threat of punishment when you get home won’t work. Birmingham pediatric critical care doctor and professor Dr. Michele Kong grew so frustrated by similar experiences that her family quit eating out. Then their autistic son’s younger brother wanted to know why they couldn’t do things like other families. Good question, his parents agreed.