Alabama

The nearly week long hostage situation in Alabama involving a five-year-old boy has finally come to an end.

On Tuesday afternoon, a man in Dale County, Alabama, near Midland City, got on a school bus, demanded a child be let off with him, then shot and killed the bus driver when he refused. The shooter, identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, then took the boy from the bus and is currently holed up with him in an underground bunker nearby.

The day that all college football fans have been waiting for is here: the BCS National Championship between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

As expected, Notre Dame and Alabama will meet in the BCS National Championship Game to award another trophy to one of college football’s most successful programs. However, the complete bowl lineup was not without some surprises, including #15 Northern Illinois crashing the BCS party and 9-3 Louisiana Tech being left home for the holidays after their administration turned down an Independence Bowl

If there's any doubt how strong the GOP's hold on Alabama is, consider this -- a Republican nominee beat out the Democratic incumbent for a seat on the Bibb County Commission last week despite the fact that he died a month earlier. Congratulations, Alabama, on taking partisanship to a whole new level.

A huge college football showdown and a battle of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks highlight the upcoming sports calendar. Here's what to watch this weekend:

An elderly Alabama widower is doing battle with local officials over his right to keep his late wife’s remains buried in the front yard of his home.