The Sunrise News Sampler

According to the Tuscaloosa City Schools, its Board of Education approved academic calendar revisions for the next school year, which includes five half-day dismissals for the purpose of professional development of employees.

The Tuscaloosa City Schools Board of Education has announced its approval of open enrollment at University Place Elementary and Middle Schools, although space is limited. The schools, which will return to their home in the Forrest Lake community this fall, will utilize the STEAM curriculum.

The leaders of the Alabama Christian Education Association and the Alabama Independent School Association say they don't expect many new students to apply for their private schools in the wake of the Accountability Act.

About 100 soldiers are scheduled to return to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia after a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan.

The Senate's immigration bill is gaining traction as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says lawmakers are closing in on a bipartisan compromise, likely to happen within the next 24 to 36 hours.

A Taliban spokesman says the group wants to build bridges of confidence and is ready to hand over U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who disappeared in easters Afghanistan in 2009, in exchange of the release of five of their senior operatives being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Actor James Gandolfini, most known for playing Tony Soprano on HBO's "The Sopranos," died of cardiac arrest yesterday while vacationing in Rome. He was 51.

Dwayne Wade is said to have awakened with swelling and stiffness in his left knee yesterday. He'd missed the start of the second half of Game 6 while getting treament and then returned. Amid speculation about his ability to play tonight, he says that he will not miss the game