Becky Brown was recognized during the first football game of the 2026 season as she prepares to retire after 20 years as public relations director for Opelika City Schools. An Opelika High School and Auburn University graduate, Brown has spent two decades helping tell the story of the school system through periods of growth, leadership changes, facility projects, athletic success and countless school and community events. Her work extended well...
Annual fundraiser brings local teams together to support adult literacy programs BY VANESSA ECHOLSFOR THE OBSERVER LEE COUNTY — Lee County’s new spelling champions are a department chairman and an English teacher. But these spelling wizards aren’t in middle or high school. They are this year’s winners of The Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Lee County Literacy Coalition.For the second year in a row, Doss Buckalew and Heather...
BY SAM VISETHE OBSERVER EAST ALABAMA — Integrea Mental Health, the regional community mental health provider headquartered in Opelika, has been awarded an $867,545 grant through the Alabama Rural Health Transformation Program.The funding is part of a statewide rollout announced by Gov. Kay Ivey on Aug. 24, distributing more than $144 million across 138 grants to healthcare institutions in all 67 Alabama counties. The program, administered by...
BY MICHELLE KEYPUBLISHER LEE COUNTY — The Lee County Commission opened its Aug. 31 meeting by recognizing a group of employees and citizens credited with helping save the life of a woman who suffered a medical emergency inside the county’s driver’s license office on Monday, Aug. 24.Probate Judge Jere Colley said Grady Latimore first noticed something was wrong with the woman while she was sitting in a chair in the office. After she collapsed,...
Photo caption: Auburn head coach Alex Golesh speaks to the media during a press conference at the Woltosz Football Performance Center in Auburn. Photo by Austin Perryman | AU ATHLETICS BY GATOR KINCAID FOR THE OBSERVER AND GATOR MEDIA AUBURN — Focused, determined and fully committed to the process — that is the mindset surrounding the Auburn Tigers as they prepare to open the 2026 college football season against Baylor in Atlanta. Auburn...
CONTRIBUTED BYALI RAUCH OPINION — College football is back on Saturday, Sept. 5, and I know exactly how it goes at my house.A flag hits the grass. I am off the couch. I have strong opinions about holding calls that I am in no way qualified to have, and I share them at full volume with someone who cannot hear a word of it.I have done this my whole life. I suspect a lot of you have too.Here is what I have never done. I have never once thought...
Community
CONTRIBUTED BY THE OFFICE OF GOV. KAY IVEY ALABAMA — Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday, Aug. 25, announced the activation of a statewide notification system to more quickly alert the public in the event of floods and other disasters. The action follows the...
CONTRIBUTED TO THEOBSERVER BY GATOR KINCAID EAST ALABAMA — EAMC-Lanier Rural Emergency Hospital celebrated the opening of new observation beds Tuesday, Aug. 25 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by hospital staff, city officials, Chamber of...
CONTRIBUTED BY EAH OPELIKA — East Alabama Medical Center has earned reaccreditation as a Robotic Surgery Center of Excellence from the Surgical Review Corporation and is the only hospital in Alabama to hold the designation. “Providing our patients...
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