A federal appeals court is being asked to toss a lawsuit that had accused Alabama lawmakers of racially discrimination due to a law that blocked the majority-black city of Birmingham from raising its minimum wage. At issue in arguments scheduled Tuesday before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a 2016 statute requiring every city in Alabama to have the same minimum wage. Lawmakers passed the law after Birmingham's city council voted to increase the city's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. The state law effectively nullified the planned increase.

      Alabama Republican Roy Moore, who defiantly opposed gay marriage and defended the public display of the Ten Commandments, has jumped into the race for a U.S. Senate seat he lost under a cloud of accusations two years ago. In announcing his candidacy Thursday, Moore defied national GOP leaders eager to keep him out of the contest after his narrow defeat to Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. The loss in a once reliably red state came amid accusations that Moore engaged in sexual misconduct with teenage girls decades ago, which Moore has vehemently denied.

   The contest to see who will be the Republican nominee for House District 74 in Montgomery is going to a runoff. After yesterday’s election, in very light balloting, Charlotte Meadows gathered 44 percent of the vote, while second place finisher Michael Fritz took in 22 percent. The four other candidates, Jesse Heifner, Daniel Sparkman, Tobias Grant and Jay King accrued 12, 11, 7 and 4 percent, respectively. Meadows and Fritz are set for a runoff on August 27. The winner of the runoff faces Democrat Rayford Mack in the general election Nov 12.

   Lilly Baptist Church in Montgomery is celebrating the 50 year anniversary of its pastor, the Rev. Thomas E. Jordan. From a very young age, Jordan has known what he wanted to do with his life. He was baptized at 11 years old by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. At 18, he accepted his call to ministry. After receiving his Bachelor Degree at Morehouse College, he served as an assistant to the late Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy.