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Ike Morgan

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Taking off the iCrown

Mobile native Tim Cook announced he's stepping down as Apple CEO on Sept. 1, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

Cook will become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors, and Senior VP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus will become Apple’s CEO.

Born in 1960 to a shipyard worker and part-time pharmacist, Cook and his family lived in Mobile, Pensacola and Robertsdale during his childhood. He reportedly learned to program while attending Auburn University.

A modest business leader in a cocky industry, Cook described his younger years this way: “I was pretty a good student, and I loved math,” he said. “I loved figuring out complex equations and so forth, and I wanted to be an engineer.”

Cook took the helm at Apple in 2011 after founder Steve Jobs died. That company has more fervent fans than the Dallas Cowboys, so Cook faced criticism just for not being the legendary and visionary Jobs. But under Cook, Apple grew its annual revenue from $108 billion to more than $416 billion and introduced the Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Vision Pro, iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple TV and Apple Music.

Quoting

“I certainly need to clarify that. One thing about my fans, especially my Alabama fans: They know how I feel about being from here, and I am proud of this area where I’m from. I did think it was cool that my character was written as being from Alabama.”

Country singer Riley Green of Jacksonville, Ala., to USA Today regarding his character's disdain for Alabama on CBS's "Marshals."

New neighbors

Home sales are on the rise again in Huntsville, reports AL.com's Scott Turner.

Gateway Alabama Realty Group's Ben Wales said agents are taking calls from FBI and U.S. Space Command personnel that are moving into the area.

In the Huntsville market last month, real-estate agents sold 646 homes. That's an increase from February and March 2025.

At $320,000, the median sales price for a home in Huntsville has risen $19,000 over the past month and $12,000 year-over-year.

Birmingham fluoride fight

Jefferson County Judge Frederic Bolling ruled that Central Alabama Water can end fluoridation, reports AL.com's Joseph D. Bryant.

Fluoride has been used for years as an additive to drinking water to promote dental health. In making the case to end fluoridation, the utility's leadership has cited the cost of improvements that need to be done to Birmingham's aging water infrastructure. It has also pointed out that the old Birmingham Water Works Board had previously stopped fluoridating water at three of its four plants.

The City of Birmingham sued the water utility on March 27 to stop the plan. And Judge Bolling himself said it was a shame something else couldn't have been worked out. But he said there was no legal basis to force the utility to use fluoride in the Birmingham area's drinking water even though the board had committed a technical violation by announcing its intentioned to discontinue fluoridation before completing the official state notification.

The current debate in Birmingham hasn't been part of the recent political arguments over fluoride.

Wrote Bolling: “As a parent of three young children and a mentor and coach to hundreds, I am very disappointed that this matter had to come before me. I am encouraged by the fact that it does not appear that the decision to discontinue fluoridation is spurred on by the anti–science movement and alternate reality culture that seems to prioritize feelings over facts; however, the disappointment for this court comes from the fact that my hometown seems to be caught in a place where the leaders can’t disagree without cutting off all communication.”

Also on Monday, the water board approved a package of loans that fund the $45.6 million job of finding and removing old lead pipes around Birmingham.

By the Numbers

That's how many suspects were taken into custody during a warrant roundup in St. Clair County and nearby areas on April 15-16, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office.

Be careful out there

Cases of late latent syphilis leapt 58% in Alabama from 2022 to 2025, reports AL.com's Savannah Tryens-Fernandes.

Late latent syphilis is an asymptomatic stage of the sexually transmitted disease that could develop into the more dangerous tertiary stage if untreated.

That's the bad news. The worse news, as shared by Anthony Merriweather of the Alabama Department of Public Health, is that health officials are expecting the number of cases to keep rising.

The reason for the concern is a shortage of benzathine penicillin G, which is the drug used to treat syphilis. Pfizer is the only U.S. manufacturer of the drug, and it's warning that it could run out soon. The FDA has approved importation of the drug from France, although it will be expensive.

ADPH listed some things it offers folks to help lower syphilis rates, including free home-testing kits on its website, STD fast-track testing available at the Jefferson, Houston, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa County Health Departments, STI and HIV medication and prevention services at the Jefferson and Montgomery County Health Departments, and patient-delivered partner therapy or expedited partner therapy.

Also, we know how syphilis is spread and how to exercise caution.

There's actual good news in this story: During that same 2022-25 period in Alabama, gonorrhea cases fell by 31% and chlamydia rates dropped by about 8%.

More state and national politics

Born on This Date

In 1924, Singer and mandolin player Ira Loudermilk, otherwise known as Ira Louvin of the Louvin Brothers, from Section.

Alabama News Quiz

What controversial activity has been added to the state law that bans smoking in enclosed public places?

Vaping (CORRECT) 97%

Twerking 1%

Drinking 1%

Wearing inflatable penis costumes 2%

What technical glitch is related to the legal hold-up of the half-billion-dollar dismantling of the USS Enterprise?

Server crash 66%

"Spinning wheel of death" (CORRECT) 24%

Slack was down 5%

Message on printer: "PC Load Letter" 5%

What was found in the water along Dauphin Island's East End recently?

A new species of stingray 17%

A piece of stern from the USS Hartford 7%

A high bacteria count (CORRECT) 76%

Bruce Pearl, working on his backstroke and tan 1%

After the Fairhope woman arrested while wearing an inflatable penis costume was acquitted at trial, the defense indicated that the next step might be ...

to sue over her arrest. (CORRECT) 85%

to help other women arrested while wearing penis costumes. 2%

to organize another "No Kings" protest. 9%

to celebrate by throwing an all-genitalia costume party. 5%

A scam going around involves text messages from people claiming to work for ...

Wikipedia 7%

Apple (CORRECT) 55%

Google 34%

Milo's tea 5%

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