Skip to main content

Coronavirus

Alabama News

Alabama school workers sue over county's demand for $55,000

Two school workers have filed suit claiming a central Alabama school system is wrongly trying to make them repay more than $55,000 total in salary that administrators claim they weren’t due. Chilton County school employees Christie Payne and Shellie Smith sued on Friday. Both workers deny they were overpaid. The system is seeking more than $23,000 from Payne and nearly $33,000 from Smith. Superintendent Jason Griffin is named in the lawsuit. He didn’t file an immediate response in court but has publicly defended the repayment demands in the past. A judge blocked the system from collecting the money and set a hearing for May 31.

National News

EXPLAINER: Who were Mariupol's last defenders?

The Ukrainian forces who made a determined last stand in a Mariupol steel mill against Russian troops were a mixture of seasoned soldiers, border guards, a controversial national guard regiment and volunteers who took up arms in the weeks before Russia’s invasion. As Russia announced it had completed its takeover of Mariupol with the surrender of the fighters who served as the final obstacle, Ukraine’s government did not confirm the city’s fall. Earlier in the week, Ukrainian officials said its combantants in the Azovstal steel plant had completed their mission and were being evacuated, describing them as heroes who had fulfilled a grueling task.