BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix will kick off Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park but many festivities started Friday. Ticket sales from the whole weekend plus proceeds from Friday night’s Racing for Children’s dinner will be given to the hospital. Children’s of Alabama says Friday's dinner will be specifically helping with the pediatric cancer program at the hospital. Officials with the hospital say some patients came to the dinner to cheer everyone on. "Throughout the weekend, you’ll have a chance to see some of our other patients come out and represent al ..read more

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — Alabama lawmakers are running out of time to decide on the most important issues to resolve by the end of the legislative session. The main priority is the state budgets. By law, the legislature must pass the General Fund and the Education Trust Fund. Both of which are still unresolved as of Friday. The budgets keep everything from state law enforcement to public schools running. "Very prudent and frugal budgets -- given the amount of money they had -- they even put reserves aside all over the place," political analyst Steve Flowers said ..read more

Tonight: Partly to mostly cloudy and muggy. Lows will be in the lower to middle 60s. Weekend Outlook: The upper-level area of high pressure will be south of Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico and keep any weather systems away from us all weekend. A surface high pressure will sit off the U.S. East Coast, bringing us warm and breezy southeast winds. Saturday and Sunday will be breezy with a mix of sun and clouds, and a slight chance for a stray shower mainly over western Alabama. High temperatures will be in the lower to middle 80s each day. This will be great weather for the 12 PM Indy Race at Barb ..read more

HACKLEBURG, Ala. (WIAT) — Saturday marks 13 years since a record of 62 tornadoes touched down across Alabama, resulting in the deaths of 250 people and leaving thousands injured. One of those tornadoes was an EF-5 that hit Hackleburg, a town in north Alabama's Marion County. “It was just unbelievable. you didn’t even recognize the town you grew up in your whole life," resident Trey George said. George remembers the day the storms forever changed his hometown. “The elementary was about where that little parking area was and then the cafeteria we would share would have been right in that ar ..read more

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Academy graduated its latest class of recruits Friday morning. Four are local recruits, while others will serve in more than a dozen counties across Alabama. CBS 42 spoke with women graduates regarding their thoughts about entering a male-dominated field. They feel strongly about helping others and believe the support is there for women in the industry. “Many women don’t want to do it because it’s a male-dominated field,” graduate Cheyenne Legg said. “But I think if you want to do it, go for it ..read more

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — The City of Birmingham announced plans to highlight small businesses from April 28 through May 4. This year's Birmingham Small Business Week will feature a series of events designed to support, educate, and connect local entrepreneurs and small business owners ..read more

WALKER COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — Authorities are searching for a suspect in Oakman, leading to local schools being put on lockdown Friday afternoon. As of 3 p.m., Oakman schools are currently on lockdown status. According to the Walker County Sheriff's Office, an adult Black male fired shots near the Oakman Apartments who then fled the area on foot ..read more

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An angler at a lake in Austin, Texas, said she caught a huge koi fish near the Waller Beach area. Callie White said about an hour into fishing at Lady Bird Lake on March 17, her line began getting dragged out to the center of the lake. “I began to reel it in. After a quick, 5-minute fight, the fish was close enough to see some bright orange peak through the water. At this point, I was very shocked by what I saw," White wrote in a message to Nexstar's KXAN. Koi fish caught in Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. (Credit: Colton Eubanks) “I was thinking I hooked onto a catfish or a c ..read more

Rylan Griffen, a starter on the Alabama team that reached the NCAA Final Four, has signed with Kansas out of the transfer portal, Jayhawks coach Bill Self announced Friday. The 6-foot-6 guard started 33 of 37 games and averaged 11.2 points per game for the Crimson Tide. He should help a KU offense that ranked 11th in the Big 12 in 3-point shooting ..read more

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — The Birmingham Public Library's "Loud at the Library" series is hosting saxophonist Fred Jones Jr. next week for a free jazz show to celebrate International Jazz Day. The event will take place Tuesday from 1 to 3 p.m. in the courtyard across the street from the Central Library. The courtyard is located between the BPL Research Library and Jefferson County Courthouse ..read more