Cover Story

‣ 2008 Nappie Awards – The 2008 Nappie Awards are out!

‣ BayFest 2006 – The Rev. Al Green headlines this year’s BayFest music festival, which will take place in downtown Mobile Oct. 6-8. Lagniappe has the complete rundown on all the acts, times and stages.

‣ Cover Story – Though the war in Iraq rages on, some young people are still looking to join the military in order to better their lives. We go inside the recruitment process to see what still attracts these would-be soldiers.

‣ Cover Story – Mobile’s private eyes have lives that are far more "Rockford Files" than "Magnum P.I." We talk with one of the Port City’s gumshoes about sleuthing in South Alabama.

‣ Cover Story – In a few decades, Mobile’s Chastang Landfill will be loaded to the gills. What can be done to help delay that event and make our environment cleaner?

‣ Cover Story – Homelessness in Mobile isn’t always what you might think about when you see someone panhandling for change on Dauphin Street.

‣ Cover Story – A new horse-jumping league is pushing the art of hurtling a large, heavy beast over an obstacle into the realm of professional sports.

‣ Cover Story – Mobile is no stranger to theatre of most every manner, but downtown has been without one for quite some time. A pair of local men aim to rectify that with the rebirth of the Crescent Theater.

‣ Cover Story – Only a handful of exotic dancers are women who use the bills tucked under their garter belts to take care of their families and lead somewhat "normal lives."

‣ Cover Story – A spate of new economic developments has many Mobilians wondering what’s coming our way. We take a look at what the future may hold for the Port City and its residents.

‣ Cover Story – A new era for Mobile sports began when the University of South Alabama introduced its new head football coach recently. We look at what fans can expect from the program over the next few years.

‣ Cover Story – The Saenger Theater’s interim manager has left the building and the city’s most famous venue may be on the verge of some significant changes.

‣ Cover Story – The buzz surrounding filmmaker Margaret Brown’s new doccumentary about Mardi Gras has a lot of people around town talking. But there seems to be good reason to withhold passing judgement.

‣ Cover Story – Thomas Ranes left Bay Minette to make his fortune in Alaska. Now police say he made a fortune in selling pot and killed his business partner along the way.

‣ Cover Story – We asked some of Mobile’s movers, shakers and trouble-makers to peer into their crystal balls and tell us what 2008 will hold.

‣ Cover Story – The holidays are especially hard on the children of men and women spending Christmas behind bars. Now the Angel Tree Program is trying to help them have a merry Christmas.

‣ Cover Story – For years, residents in and around downtown Mobile have been complaining that coal being shipped through the Port of Mobile is responsible for dust that is inundating their homes.

‣ Cover Story – We asked Mobile’s most learned palates who tickles their taste buds and they came up with an outstanding list of this area’s best chefs.

‣ Cover Story – Five years ago, Jamila Ali faced oppression in her homeland of Afghanistan. Today she is among the former refugees who have made the Mobile area a permanent home.

‣ Cover Story – Lights, cameras, interaction is the theme for the latest installment of Arts! Alive, and this time you’d better be ready for your close-up.

‣ Cover Story – Henry Ewald tried to clean up Mobile, but this newspaper editor’s own dirt ended up being his undoing.

‣ Cover Story – Mayor Sam Jones says annexation is life-or-death for the city, but others say the upcoming vote is just a money grab. The pros and cons of annexation.

‣ Cover Story – Part Two of our series on Attorney General Troy King and those who believe he has been swayed by politics in determining who gets investigated.

‣ Cover Story – An alarming number of people across Alabama believe Attorney General Troy King is playing politics with his power.

‣ Cover Story – Mayor Sam Jones wants a new multi-million-dollar park in downtown Mobile, but some say the city’s other parks could probably use a little TLC first.

‣ Cover Story – You voted, our intern counted and the results are in — this year’s Nappie Awards are in. Prepare to be wowed by this year’s compendium of excellence and not-so-excellence!

‣ Cover Story – Indigent defense appointments have increasingly become sought after by attorneys in Mobile. We look at the practice, who is getting the assignments and how they’re made.

‣ Cover Story – A Baldwin County group is using cameras and tape recorders to try and gather proof of life after death. Our intrepid reporter tags along for a recent ghost chase.

‣ Cover Story – Motorists aren’t the only ones hurting as gasoline prices spike. Those on the front lines of the fuel service industry are finding shrinking margins and some unhappy customers these days.

‣ Cover Story – When the Wat Buddharaska Temple in Irvington burned a couple of months ago, it brought together a group of people determined to see it rise again from the ashes.

‣ Cover Story – Brighter days could be right around the corner for The old Port City. We look at the best case scenario for Mobile, should all our economic development dreams become reality.

‣ Cover Story – While most people may blanche at the thought of getting out on a rugby field, the guys from Mobile’s Battleship Rugby team have experience a lot of fun and success playing this traditional sport.

‣ Cover Story – Arts! Alive has been an unprecedented success and it’s next incarnation should only improve its record. Downtown Mobile will "go green" April 21 as Arts! Alive’s makes its spring offering.

‣ Cover Story – As blogging has become more popular in other parts of the country, folks here in the Port City have discovered the joys of having strangers read your most intimate thoughts.

‣ Cover Story – The City of Prichard has been flat on its back for years, but new leadership and a $624 million racetrack could lead to better days.

‣ Cover Story – For the past two years, the Mobile County School System has been in turmoil. As they face getting a new superintendent, what does the future hold?

‣ Cover Story – Most people in Mobile certainly know Joe Cain’s name and celebrate his Day, but you may not know why he was so important to our Mardi Gras.

‣ Cover Story – Some say downtown Fairhope is in decline, but there are some bucking the trend, trying to help reclaim the city’s famed exclusivity.

‣ Cover Story – In nearly six decades Mobile’s Senior Bowl has gone from an all-star also-ran to one of the chief events on the NFL calendar. A look at the then-and-now of the Senior Bowl.

‣ Cover Story – The GMAC Bowl has moved to a post-New Year’s position, but it still promises to be an exciting game. We go behind the scenes with a couple of the players to get their back stories.

‣ Cover Story – How will 2006 be remembered locally? By most counts, probably as the year we DIDN’T have a hurricane. But there were plenty of other exciting occurrences. We take a look back at the biggest and best of 2006.

‣ Cover Story – Christmas is the time of the year most likely to drive you off the deep end. We’ve put together a Christmas survival guide that should at least slow that drive a bit.

‣ Cover Story – The University of South Alabama has quietly been buying the land surrounding its Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and doing it in a rather unusual way. We look behind the scenes of this land deal.

‣ Cover Story – Growing pains are going to be part of the evolution of Mobile’s downtown. We talk with a couple of the movers and shakers in LoDa about what they see happening in the next few years.

‣ Cover Story – Foster Hale was a big-shot in 1930s Mobile, but he met his match in his young concubine, Willie Mae Hancock. A look back at one of Mobile’s stranger tales.

‣ Cover Story – Just over a year ago, Sam Jones took over the mayor’s office in Government Plaza, following the long-tenured and very popular Mike Dow. Now he sits back for an interview with Lagniappe.

‣ Cover Story – In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Paul Leverett’s Colonel Dixie fast food chain dominated Mobile, but his personal life was coming off the tracks. A look back at one of Mobile’s most sensational and fascinating murder stories.

‣ Cover Story – Could The Mother of the Mystics be about to experience the biggest Mardi Gras ever? Thanks to Katrina, it’s looking that way.

‣ Cover Story – Believe it or not, you don’t have to go to a big city or a giant arena to see a little rasslin’. Gulf South Wrestling brings the local action just about as close as you want to get.

‣ Cover Story – While Hurricane Katrina hurt many individuals, there have also been some economic windfalls from this windstorm.

‣ Cover Story – Fairhope was begun as a Utopian society, and has indeed achieved great success and harmony. But there is another, grittier Fairhope. Visitors tend not to be taken through the neighborhoods in the southeastern section of the city. But some people are trying to change that.

‣ Cover Story – They’re back! You’ve voted, our intern has tallied and the results are in. The 2006 Nappie Awards

‣ Cover Story – While the entire country wrangles with what to do about immigration, the issue is front and center in the local community. A look at both sides of the immigration issue from a south Alabama perspective.

‣ Cover Story – As if the Internet wasn’t addicting enough already, two Web sites are giving users more reasons to log on.

And more ways to stalk people. A look at MySpace.com and Facebook and their pleasures and pains.

‣ Cover Story – Fires. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Firefighters are the everyday heroes who help us out of our not-so-everyday problems.

‣ Cover Story – The fight over whether an LNG terminal will be built south of Dauphin Island pits environmental needs against energy and economic needs. Who will prevail?

‣ Cover Story – The conclusion of Kevin Lee’s story on homegrown serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, who claimed the lives of nearly 20 people and attempted to kill Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.

‣ Cover Story – We all know ‘em — the local commercial catch phrases that become part of our shared lexicon. We catch up with three of the most famous local pitchmen and women and get the scoop on the commercials that made them famous.

‣ Cover Story – Our intrepid writer finds out that while it’s not so easy taking the initial plunge, skydiving is a completely addictive adreneline rush.

‣ Cover Story – A year after Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast, the Port City is finding a different type of storm surge — a surge of new money finding its way into town.

‣ Flying Saucers – We chat with one of Mobile’s best kept secrets, Matt Orum. The 2006 Murphy High School graduate is ranked sixth in the world among professional disc golfers.

‣ GMAC Bowl – It’s a long way from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, but it’s an even further journey for University of Toledo football player David Thomas.

‣ Like castles made of sand: Dauphin Islanders ponder whether or not to rebuild ... again – "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

‣ Music – Spring represents the time of the year when music lovers can slather on some sunscreen, load up the cars and the ice chests and head out to hear and see their favorite bands at festivals all over the Southeast. To help aid in your decision-making process, we’ve compiled a list of the biggest and best festivals within a tank or two of $4-a-gallon gasoline.

‣ Portrait of a Monster – There are plenty of serial killers, but there’s only one Joseph Paul Franklin.

Franklin’s case is devoid of the lurid deviance that makes for blockbuster movie fare. No captives in the basement; no adornment of his victims’ skin; no cannibalism or clown make-up or riddles mailed to law enforcement, but his victims are just as dead.

‣ Predictions for 2006 – Some local notables and not-so-notables gaze into the crystal ball to play psychic for the year that will be…

‣ Taking on Sam – Latte’ Da, located at the corner of Section Street and De la Mare Avenue, is always a center of activity in downtown Fairhope.