Thomas Blanton, KKK bomber of 16th St Baptist Church, dies

June 26, 2020 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., the last of three one-time Ku Klux Klansmen convicted in a 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four Black girls and was the deadliest single...

Students write bill to open civil rights files

By JERRY MITCHELLJuly 14, 2018 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Doug Jones introduced a bill this month that would clear the way to open records from civil rights cold cases — a bill written by high school students.

The Alabama Democrat, who was joined on Capitol Hill by 18 of the students who helped craft it, knows these cases well. In the early 2000s, he led the successful prosecutions of Bobby Frank Cherry and Thomas Blanton in connection with the Ku Klux Klan's bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four girls in 1963.

Utility critic says he won’t sue over power plant deal

February 21, 2018 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Hattiesburg oilman and longtime critic of Mississippi Power Co. says he won't sue to overturn a settlement that regulators approved earlier this month.

1963 church bombing echoes throughout Alabama Senate race

By JAY REEVESDecember 4, 2017 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Convicted of murder in the deadliest attack of the civil rights era, the one-time Ku Klux Klansman glowered when the judge asked if he had anything to say before going to prison for the 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls. Bobby Frank Cherry pointed at a prosecution table that included Doug Jones.

"This whole bunch lied all the way through this thing," Cherry said in a deep Southern drawl. "I told the truth. I don't know why I'm going to jail for nothing."

Regulators nix Mississippi Power push to exclude testimony

November 7, 2017 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Regulators have again denied a request by Mississippi Power Co. to narrow proceedings over how much customers should pay for a power plant.

The Mississippi Public Service Commission, voting 3-0 Tuesday, mostly rejected a request by the unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. to exclude testimony concerning the Kemper County power plant.