The Sunrise News Sampler

Hostages have been taken in a Sydney, Australia cafe. So far, five people have escaped, but it is unknown how many hostages are being held. Two people inside were spotted holding up a flag containing an Islamic declaration of faith.

The U.S. Senate has given final passage to a $1.1 trillion spending bill, which provides money for nearly the entire government through the Sept. 30 end of the current budget year. President Obama is expected to sign it.

A 22-year-old man has been arrested on a felony warrant charging him with murder in yesterday morning's fatal shooting of Auburn football player Jakell Mitchell. The shooting took place at the same off-campus apartment complex where two former football players and a third man were killed in 2012.

Two inmates who escaped the Choctaw County Jail early Saturday morning were apprehended yesterday morning, one was in a vehicle in Tuscaloosa. Twenty-three-year-old Demarcus Woodard, who is facing a murder charge, remains at large.

Midnight tonight is the deadline for new customers to pick a health plan under the health care law and for current enrollees to make any plan changes. HealthCare.gov and state insurance websites are preparing for heavy online traffic before the deadline.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama now offers family coverage to legally married gay couples in order to comply with a federal rule that insurance companies must treat married couples the same, regardless of sexual orientation.

The Tuscaloosa City Council's Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 5pm today to consider requests to convert a 1.18-acre tract (near Bryant-Denny Stadium) on Red Drew Avenue between University Boulevard and Eighth Street to a BNU zone and to approve the planned 7-story, 120-apartment mixed-use development, which will be marketed to students.

Bill Cosby has broken his silence in the controversy surrounding him. In an interview with Page Six, he says he expects the black media to exhibit excellence in journalism by maintaining neutrality, and he says his wife Camille has relied on love and the strength of womanhood to weather the ongoing public scrutiny.