MONTGOMERY — A federal judge says he will rule by Friday on whether to leave Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley in jail until his trial in June on gambling corruption charges.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson heard about two hours of arguments Monday on defense attorneys' appeal to have Gilley released. A federal magistrate judge ordered Gilley jailed a month ago after prosecutors said he offered financial incentives to a former lobbyist Jarrod Massey not to plead guilty.

MOBILE, Alabama -- A federal judge here last week sentenced three men involved in a wide-ranging Ecstasy conspiracy.

The trio was part of an indictment handed down in 2009 stemming from an investigation that dates back almost a decade — a probe that was disrupted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Those sentenced Friday include:

Long T. Do, who was sentenced to 10 years and a month in prison for money laundering and conspiracy to distribute 7,720 tablets.

OPP: We have received reports that the school in Opp Elementary School is on lockdown and law enforcement is on the scene.

UNCONFIRMED reports are someone had been at the school with a gun. Law Enforcement have blocked the streets around the school. We are getting conflicting reports as to full details.

with law enforcement had been issued a BOLO for a person that had been released from rehab in Naverre Florida.  reports were the subject had  called the school with threats and had kidnapped his mother.

According to reliable sources the subject was released from rehab in Naverre Florida. The subject has made threats to kill all of the members of his family which one worked at the school. The incident began in Florida and as information developed Opp Police placed the school on lockdown.

No one at the school had been injured. They locked down the school and area based on the threats and incidents that started in Florida.

The subject is in custody at this time. It is beleived that Covington County Sheriff Department has taken the subject into custody.

The situation was at South Highlands Elementary School in Opp.

The name of the subject is Christopher Kip Jacobs We have researched the name in the court system. It appears there is a pending domestic violence/assault with an order from the court the subject is not to have any contact with family.

The school has been taken off lockdown.

Reports are the mother is safe.

Stay tuned to WKNI TV 25 for this and more. Only on WKNI TV 25!

Covington County

Media Report

Wednesday 03  02 through 03 05

292    Total Calls

34     Medical Emergency

6     MVA

14   General Disturbance

Jail Report

Booked In    33

Released     38

Total in Custody   189

Andalusia-Quiet

Opp-Quiet

Jail-5

Covington County Jail Report

Wednesday 03 02 through 03 05

Roman M. Lindsey  28     VOP         -0-

Juanita M. Gray  56     Public Intox     $300.

John D. Lawson  59     DUI(controlled Sub.)   $7,500

Randy D. Fowler  52       FTA               -0-

Thursday 03 03

Bradley M. Nolen  26    Hold for Another Agency   -0-

J.D.Cook  19   Rape2nd                $10,000

Amy K. Caudle  31    Rape2nd (X2)/

Sodomy 2nd(X3)     1,000,000.

Jeremy Norton  26    POM1st            $10,000

Marcus S. Dorsey  30    VOP

Arthur D. Phillips  33    POM 1st/PODP/

VOP         $13,000

Robert A. Simmons  56    Hold for Other Agency

John A. Spencer  40    Harrassing Comm.    $500.

Michael T. Lee  21       Back for Court

Friday 03 04

Victor A. Mathis  22    DUI         $7,500

Carolyn Franco  29    NWNI      $3,000

Jeanette Cobb  39     Weekender

Linda S. Blue  61      Serving Weekends

Donna Johns  48    Serving Weekends

Michael D. Russell  40    Hunt-Closed Season/

Night Hunting/Hunting

w/out Lics./Hunting w/

Motor Vehicle               $6,000

Michael D. Hoch  24    POM2nd/PODP               $2,000

Robert G. Eubanks  29    POM2nd/PODP          $2,000

Travis C. Bradberry  29    Crimn. Tresp./

Child Support              -0-

LaJon P. Pate  18    FTA                                    $453.

James R. McCart  36    POCS            $25,000

Quayson S. Parker  19        FTA                    -0-

Buford E. Lee  49    DUI 1st/End.Welfare

of Child                          $1,500

Shauna Spears  20     DUI (cont. Sub)          $1,000

Carl W. Anderson  57    DUI(Cont. Sub.)      $7,500

Saturday 03 05

James T. Johnson  34      FTA                  -0-

Sonya Adams  46         Serving Weekends

Margret E. Duncan  46    Dom. Vio.3rd      $500.

John A. Duncan  25      Dom. Vio.               $500.

Michael J. Blackmon  30    Back for Court   -0-

MONTGOMERY -- Some of Alabama's most venerable tourist attractions are still grappling with the financial bomb Gov. Robert Bentley dropped on them five days ago when he proposed wiping out their state funding.

In his proposed 2012 General Fund budget, Bentley would eliminate funding for 217 line items in the current budget.

Many of those include popular attractions such as the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in Birmingham, the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame in Lincoln, the State Agricultural Museum in Dothan and the Brierfield Ironworks and Historic Ironworks at Tannehill.

Others in the governor's sights are the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame in Birmingham, the Historic Blakeley State Park, just north of Spanish Fort, and the Old St. Stephens park in Washington County, the site of Alabama's territorial capital.

Most of the attractions are totally dependent on state funds, but Bentley said Alabama has more pressing needs.

Tom Mayhall's lips are zipped.

Short of a court order, the FBI agent swears he will never reveal the identity of the person who first gave agents information eight years ago that led to uncovering public corruption in the construction and financing of Jefferson County's sewer rehabilitation.

Was it a man or a woman? Was it a county employee? Or was it someone who worked for a contractor?

Mayhall won't say.

Was it a phone call that tipped agents off? An e-mail? Or a letter sent to the FBI?

Answering that question just might reveal the identity of the whistleblower, he argues.

"It's my intent to never ... expose the identity of the person," Mayhall said. "I would put it in the concerned citizen category."

Mayhall and other FBI agents want more people to step forward -- anonymously or not -- with information about public corruption. And when a person does risk stepping forward, agents will work to keep their identity secret, he said.

"We have to give people a level of confidence" to the extent possible, Mayhall said.

Stepping forward with information as quickly as possible is important. That's because the statute of limitations on certain crimes can prevent charges from being filed and a suspect can get away with a crime, he said.

WASHINGTON — The federal government, “in a word, is broke,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions.

But the Mobile Republican, who has become one of the GOP’s biggest advocates for cutting federal spending, thinks the country should still pay for rockets to Mars.

“It is the one activity that defines the United States as the world’s technological leader,” Sessions said. “If we lose that, and others surpass us ... then I think it will be seen as a passing of the baton.”

Those views are shared by some other fiscally minded Alabama Republicans — Republicans whose districts include NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

Analysts from Washington’s liberal and conservative think tanks alike said it’s typical in Washington for small-government advocates to make big exceptions for programs that benefit their constituents.

“Huntsville is going to be kind of symbolic of the whole thing,” said Larry Korb, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. “You’ve got people wanting to cut the budget — but not cut their areas.”

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Huntsville police are investigating a report that a 13-year-old boy was seen driving a car to Hampton Cove Elementary School this morning.

Police spokesman Harry Hobbs said a witness saw the boy driving with his 5-year-old brother and the boys' father in the car.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Thomas A. Wagner, who earlier pleaded guilty to murder, arson and burglary, has been sentenced to life in prison in Montgomery for the 2009 killing of Harry Steven Reece.

When rescue workers found Reece's body, they initially thought he might have been a victim of the fire that consumed his mobile home.

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MOBILE, Alabama -- Kenneth Ray Jefferson, a convicted murderer on parole who was arrested in connection with two attacks on women in Tillman's Corner, should stay in jail with no bail, a judge ruled this morning.

Jefferson, 52, was arrested Thursdayand charged with 2 counts of first-degree robbery and 2 counts of second-degree assault. Police said he approached two women in grocery store parking lots, struck them over the head with a tire iron, and stole their purses on Saturday.

Jefferson was convicted in 1982 of stabbing a woman and running over her three times, leaving her to die in a street in the Hillsdale area. He was released on parole after serving 10 years of a 50-year sentence.

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