With December unemployment data to be released today, economists predict that U.S. employers added 243,000 jobs last month, keeping the jobless rate at a nearly normal 5.8 percent, the lowest in six years.

The trial for suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is set to begin, and security has been increased with Homeland Security surrounding the federal courthouse and armed U.S. Coast Guard boats in the waters of the harbor. However, any credible threats are unknown.

The Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force is working to raise awareness of human trafficking and to educate the public on how to identify potential victims. The mayors of Huntsville, Madison, Montgomery, Birmingham, Mobile, and Tuscaloosa have been asked to sign proclamations in observance of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

Yesterday, hundreds of fans converged upon the Tuscaloosa River Market to bid well wishes and get autographs from "Bronze Bomber" Deontay Wilder, who will be fighting for the World Boxing Council championship in January 17 in Las Vegas.

Legendary gospel singer Andrae Crouch died yesterday at the age of 72 after suffering a heart attack Saturday.

Alabama state troopers say 19 traffic fatalities were investigated during the recent Christmas and New Year's holiday period, which was up from 17 during the same period a year ago.

Remember Joyce Garrard of Boaz, who was charged in the running death of her 9-year-old granddaughter? Well, a hearing has been set for this morning in her capital murder case.

John DeBlase, the Mobile father who was convicted of killing his 4-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son in 2010, has been sentenced to death.

Demopolis Police say an officer was on patrol early yesterday morning when he heard a store's alarm going off and saw a white van fleeing the store's parking lot.  The robbery suspects threw chainsaws at police, who chased their getaway van from Demopolis to Selma. Fifty-seven-year-old Aundre Jerome Hendon, of Birmingham, was apprehended, but a second suspect escaped.

The Stillman College campus is now smoke-free, as smoke and smokeless tobacco products such as vapor or electronic cigarettes have been banned.

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