Oxford council approves annexation

  The Oxford City Council  council voted Tuesday to annex 411 acres, zoned agricultural, next to the Interstate 20 and U.S. 431 interchange. The land begins near exit 188 on Interstate 20 and ends near exit 191. A portion of that land is in Cleburne County, expanding the city into three counties, Cleburne, Calhoun and Talladega counties..  The property is owned by Bennett Realty, and had  most recently the site of a sod farm.  City officials say they are  trying to get the interchange into the city giving Oxford three interchanges on interstate 20. City officials say the annexation will help attract commercial developers to the city.,

Gadsden Regional, Riverview Rigional and Stringfellow Memorial Hospitals to merge

Gadsdens two hospital will be coming under one corporate umbrella.   Community Health Systems Inc., parent company of Gadsden Regional Medical Center, has announced they will merge with Health Management Associates Inc., parent company of Riverview Regional Medical Center and Stringfellow hospital in Anniston.  Community Health systems will acquire health management associates for about $7.6 billion, including taking on about $3.7 billion of debt. When the merger is complete, once complete the company will own or operate about 206 hospitals in 29 states.  Under the terms of the agreement, Community Health Systems will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common stock of HMA for a combination of cash and CHS stock. HMA shareholders will own about 16 percent of the shares of the combined company following the close of the transaction.

Anniston police release name of 5 year old who died friday

Anniston police this morning released the name of the 5 year old boy who died Friday afternoon.  Captain Alan George identified the victim as 5 year old Gregory Caver.  George would not release the cause of death saying they were awaiting one more piece of information.  Police received a preliminary autopsy report Monday.  George indicated that they do expect that an arrest will be made in connection with the childs death.  Police have arrested two people in a separate child abuse case as the same address where Gregory Caver was found.  26 year old Vonta Montrell  McClellan whom police say lived at the address was charged with abusing his 7 year old daughter by beating her with a belt.  McClellan remains today in the Anniston city jail.  Sunday, officials with the department of human resources went to a home on Ferron Avenue to meet with the girls mother when the mother, 23 year old Teshondra Huguley grabbed the child and fled in a car.  She and her children were located and the children were taken by DHR employees while Huguley was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of tampering with physical evidence.  She was released on a thousand dollar bond with the condition that she have no contact with her daughter.

Anniston police investigate death of 5 year old

Authorities say a 5-year-old Anniston boy died Friday afternoon in a Birmingham hospital, and police are investigating the circumstances of the death..  Anniston police responded to an emergency call Friday afternoon on Wilmer Avenue and  the boy was taken to Stringfellow Memorial Hospital and later to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, where he died.  Police say the case is under investigation, and would not discuss circumstances that led to the child’s death, potential suspects or what they could be charged with.  Calhoun County Coroner Pat Brown said he knew only the child’s last name and could not release it because the case is pending a police investigation. Brown said he expected the name and cause of death to be released today after an autopsy is completed.

Goodyear and UAW reach tentative agreement

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and the United Steelworkers reached a tentative agreement Saturday night on a new master contract covering about 8,000 employees at six U.S. plants, just hours before the existing contract was set to expire.  Ratification votes on the new agreement will be scheduled at the facilities in the near future.  The tentative agreement must be approved by a majority of the members at the majority of union locals.  If approved, it will cover employees at Goodyear plants in Gadsden; Akron, Ohio; Buffalo, N.Y.; Danville, Va.; Fayetteville, N.C.; and Topeka, Kan.  The talks between the USW and the tire companies had begun in April. The main issues on the table were wages, vacation time, health-care costs, pensions and grandfathering of employees in some categories.  More details of the tentative agreement are expected to be released today.

Murder suspect to undergo mental evaluation

An Etowah county judge ordered Friday that Murder suspect

Stephon Lindsay

Stephon Lindsay of Gadsden, accused in the march murder of his 20 month old daughter,  must undergo a mental evaluation before he can be arraigned.   Lindsay’s arraignment was scheduled for Friday but has been pushed back until after his mental evaluation.  Lindsay, faces capital murder charges for allegedly killing his 20-month-old daughter, Maliyah, with a knife or a sword. Her body was found March 12 in a makeshift dumping ground near the intersection of Plainview Street and Block Avenue.  Lindsay was arrested March 12 and was indicted June 17 by a grand jury.