The Sunrise News Sampler

Yesterday, a 21-year-old man was struck and killed by an Amtrak train behind Sunflower Lane in Cottondale, according to AL.com.  The man is said to have been walking down the railroad tracks wearing headphones and didn't hear the train coming.

Alabama's tax-free weekend has begun and will continue through Sunday.

This is sure to be a traffic-heavy weekend in Tuscaloosa as area residents take advantage of the tax-free holiday, college students are returning for the upcoming school term, and this Sunday is fan day for the Crimson Tide. Sunday's open practice will be followed by a 45-minute autograph session, but only one item is allowed per guest.

Judge Myron Thompson told attorneys in June he hoped to rule by the end of July on a law that could close some Alabama abortion clinics, but now he says there will be no decision before next week.

Former UAH biology professor Amy Bishop is again challenging her convictions in a shooting that killed three people in 2010. Three more people were injured.

Reports that the Affordable Care Act is giving $54 million to community mental health centers to establish or expand mental health services for over 450,000 people nationwide, and a quarter of a million will go to Health Services Inc. in Montgomery. No other clinic in Alabama received an award.

Authorities say four people were hurt when a small plane crashed in Helena yesterday near the Bessemer airport.

House Republican leaders plan to meet today in hopes that revised versions of two border bills can sway conservatives. They're also trying to secure passage of a bill to make it easier to deport accompanied children from Central America who cross into the U.S. illegally.

U.S. health officials are telling Americans to put off non-essential travel to some African nations because of an Ebola outbreak.

Economists are predicting that June's jobless rate will remain unchanged at 6.1 percent, the lowest it's been in six years. The Labor Department will release the employment report later this morning.

A Connecticut jury awarded $940,000 in damages to former minor league catcher Johnathan Nathans, seven years after Jose Offerman ended his baseball career, hitting him in the head with a bat in a brawl during an independent league baseball game.

An Ohio lawmaker says he plans to introduce legislation to create a specialty license place celebrating the return of LeBron James.

Russell Simmons and LL Cool J visited Rikers Island yesterday and spoke in the launch of a national anti-violence program from Simmons' RushCard.

Singer Kelly Rowland accidentally revealed that she's having a boy.