Alabama

If Alabama and Louisiana had to obey the economic rules applying to most of the world, 2,400 workers at the Sparrows Point steel mill might have one less thing less to worry about. ThyssenKrupp would buy the Point, spend big money on improvements and ensure it a long and prosperous future. The German company badly wants a decent steel mill on a North American deepwater harbor, and Sparrows Point in Baltimore County is the perfect choice. At least it was - until the governors of Alabama and Louisiana stepped up. They're bribing ThyssenKrupp with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to put a new plant in one of their states.

"I remember how vivid the sounds were as the troopers rushed toward us -- the clunk of the troopers' heavy boots, the whoops of rebel yells from the white onlookers, the clip-clop of horses' hooves hitting the hard asphalt of the highway, the voice of a woman shouting, `Get 'em!' "-- Rep. John Lewis in his memoir, "Walking with the Wind," recalling the 1965 voters' rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- When Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, walks across the Edmund Pettus Bridge today, he will have a congressional delegation at his side instead of a band of civil rights protesters.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Gambling opponents can cross Alabama off their list of lottery-friendly states. South Carolina is next on their list.Despite more than a year of campaigning, Alabama Gov. Donald Siegelman could not persuade voters to approve Tuesday a Georgia-style education lottery that he had projected would raise $150 million a year."

WHEN I first learned of the brouhaha over the recent effort of the Ku Klux Klan to sneak into the "Adopt-a-Road" program in Anne Arundel County, I must confess that I chuckled and fantasized over the comic spectacle of white-sheeted Ku Klux Klansmen picking up trash along the highways in much the same way that stripe-suited chain-gangs used to perform that onerous task along the highways of Dixie not so many years ago.But comedy aside, there are serious issues...

WASHINGTON -- Five million dollars for a law-enforcement academy in New Mexico. More than a million for a manure-handling project in Mississippi. Another million for peanut research in Georgia. Three-quarters of a million for grasshopper research in Alaska. "Pork" is no longer a four-letter word in Washington.Indeed, the other white meat is on the menu again just about everywhere in the capital. In the past year, the budget surplus has made the political world safe for pork again, and much of the budget anguish that was a staple of the big-deficit years has evaporated.

WASHINGTON -- A unanimous Supreme Court broadly expanded yesterday the power of federal judges to bar technical experts from spinning out unusual and controversial theories from the witness stand in defective product and accident cases.In a ruling echoing restrictions the court imposed six years ago on testimony based on what critics call "junk science," the court has taken the same approach against "junk engineering."Federal judges, the court said in a case widely watched by business interests, have the primary role as "gatekeepers" to control the admission or exclusion of testimony by any kind of expert -- whether their special field is science, engineering, or another technical area.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A year ago, South Alabama came out of nowhere to win the Sun Belt Conference, then staged a near-upset of eventual national champion Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament.A lot has changed for the Jaguars.No longer are they lightly regarded. To repeat in their league, they had to weather a head coaching change when Bill Musselman quit to become an NBA assistant just before fall practice began and a slew of injuries during the season.But one thing hasn't changed.

Everything and nothing has changed as the NCAA women's tournament heads into its second weekend, with two top seeds gone and Tennessee still cruising.Going into the tournament, Stanford was seen as perhaps the only viable challenger to Tennessee (35-0). Instead, with starters Vanessa Nygaard and Kristen Folkl out because of knee injuries, Stanford became the first No. 1 seed -- men's or women's -- to lose to a No. 16 seed. Alison Feaster led Harvard to the 71-67 upset on the Cardinal's home court.

AS we mark Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday today, and through the federal holiday Monday, the nation once again will be bombarded with repeated broadcasts of his ''I Have a Dream'' speech, which he delivered Aug. 28, 1963, during the famous March on Washington.But the replaying of that speech to the exclusion of others, in effect, freezes King at that historical moment, making him into what distinguished black historian Vincent Harding calls a ''harmless icon,'' a ''convenient hero'' tailored to fit the comfort zone of mainstream America.

WASHINGTON -- George Corley Wallace, who died Sunday at 79, never had any realistic chance of winning the presidency. Nonetheless, the Alabama governor had a profound and lasting influence on U.S. politics.Mr. Wallace came to national attention in 1963 as the segregationist governor who "stood in the schoolhouse door" at the University of Alabama to resist racial integration of its student body. He didn't succeed, but the next year he challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson in a series of Democratic presidential primaries and came away with enough support to shake up the political establishment -- 30 percent in Indiana, 35 percent in Wisconsin and 43 percent, including a majority of the white vote, in Maryland.

Had Brooks and Bailey Webster been born just a year or two apart, they might have ended up as college volleyball teammates, giving opponents a double dose of their hard-hitting power game. Instead, the sisters are at opposite ends of their college volleyball careers. While Brooks, a 6-foot fifth-year senior, is finishing up at Alabama, Bailey, a 6-3 freshman, is just getting started at Texas. Their five-year age difference kept them on different courts throughout their careers including high school, where Brooks, 23, was an All-Metro player at the Institute of Notre Dame, and Bailey, 18, was the All-Metro Player of the Year two years in a row at St. Paul's School for Girls.

NBA Guards Lawson, McKee to work out for Wizards Former North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson of Clinton will attend a pre-draft workout with the Washington Wizards today at Verizon Center. Lawson averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 assists and 2.1 steals his junior season in helping lead the Tar Heels to a national championship. Former Coppin State standout Tywain McKee will also attend. McKee averaged 18.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists his senior season and was named to All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference first team.

You might say that Taylor Hicks tailor-made the role of Teen Angel in Grease to his precise specifications. The Angel appears in the 1950s-era musical just once, to sing "Beauty School Dropout." And Hicks' version differs in key ways from the renditions of such pop legends as Chubby Checkers, Frankie Avalon and Davy Jones, all of whom previously performed the role. As befitting a man who won the fifth season of American Idol with more than 63 million votes, Hicks brings his own brand of bling to his solo.

GUY HUNT, 75 First Ala. governor removed for criminal conviction Guy Hunt, who in 1987 became Alabama's first Republican governor since Reconstruction but six years later became the state's first chief executive removed from office for a criminal conviction, died Friday in Birmingham, Ala. He had been treated for cancer the past two years. Mr. Hunt is credited with filling enough committees, boards and other offices with Republicans during his tenure as governor that he helped make Alabama a two-party state instead of being dominated by Democrats.

CORNELIA WALLACE, 69 Widow of George C. Wallace Former Alabama first lady Cornelia Wallace, who threw herself over Gov. George C. Wallace when he was shot in a 1972 assassination attempt, died of cancer Thursday in Sebring, Fla. Mrs. Wallace, the niece of two-term Gov. James E. "Big Jim" Folsom, married Mr. Wallace on Jan. 4, 1971. It was the second marriage for both. The union marked a merger between Alabama's two most famous political families and surprised some because Mr. Wallace had defeated Mr. Folsom in the 1962 race for governor, and the relationship between the two men was strained.

Utah is the best of the BCS busters. Brian Johnson threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns, and the No. 7 Utes upset fourth-ranked Alabama, 31-17, in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans last night to finish 13-0. With the victory, Utah became the first team from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to win two BCS bowls. The Utes beat Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Johnson's pinpoint passing led Utah to a 21-0 first-quarter lead, and the Utes refused to wilt when Alabama pulled to 21-17 early in the second half.

1 Extreme sport: Opposites attract when the Wizards meet Kevin Garnett (left) and the Celtics in Boston (7:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet). Three weeks ago, the Celtics won by 34 in Washington. 2 Sugar Bowl: Utah (12-0) and Alabama (12-1) have fewer combined losses than teams in any other bowl. Can the small but quick Utes of the Mountain West stay with the Crimson Tide? (8 p.m., chs. 45, 5). 3 Dolphins go down: Watch the Dolphins lose in a first-round playoff game - in 1974 against the Raiders (3:30 p.m., NFL's Greatest Games, ESPN2)

O's Mora commits to play in World Baseball Classic baseball Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora has filed the necessary paperwork and will play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, which starts in March. Mora, who had a strong bounce-back season last year, hitting .285 with 23 homers and 104 RBIs, was scheduled to play in the inaugural 2006 event, but he pulled out before the tournament started because of concerns about his role. Mora was miffed that Venezuelan team officials planned to use him in the outfield, which he hadn't played in several seasons, with Miguel Cabrera getting the starts at third base.

Is there any difference in your comfort level this season compared with last year? Not really. There's a little more stuff, but not much. It's pretty much like last year. In Rex Ryan's defense, the responsibilities are always going to change, but it's pretty much the same stuff with the same coverage stuff. Maybe I'm blitzing from different positions, but it's about the same. What does it mean to you that those in the media have called you the most improved player among the Ravens? I don't really look for the media's approval, but I do feel like I have played better this year than I was playing last year.

All the top teams took care of their business and the Bowl Championship Series standings were unchanged at the top yesterday, with Alabama and Texas Tech holding the top two spots and Florida, Texas and Oklahoma poised to move up. The Crimson Tide ran away from Mississippi State in the second half of a 32-7 victory that kept Alabama on top of both the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris poll. Alabama has a .9787 BCS average. Texas Tech (.9698) remained second in the polls and first according to the computer ratings during a week off. The Red Raiders head into their fourth straight game against a ranked opponent, this time at Oklahoma, in control of their national title and Big 12 championship hopes.