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• Anniston Kmart hostage safe, armed man ... Incident last more than 3 hours at a Kmart store An Anniston hostage incident is ending with the hostage safe and a suspect in custody, the Anniston Star reports. The incident at a Kmart store lasted more than three hours. It apparently began with a failed robbery in the story by an armed man who took at least one hostage about 9:30 a.m.  The store was evacuated and talks began with the gunman, according to the newspaper.
  
• Birmingham firefighters respond to fire... Firefighters report smoke and fire showing. Authorities are diverting traffic off 8th Avenue North. Birmingham Fire and Rescue and Birmingham Police Department respond to a fire inside the parking structure beside the Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham, Ala., on Friday, Sept. 3, 2010. (The Birmingham News/Michelle Campbell) Birmingham firefighters are responding to a fire in the parking deck at Boutwell Auditorium. Firefighters report smoke and fire showing. Authorities are diverting traffic off 8th Avenue North. No other information was immediately available.
  
• Anniston police negotiating with armed ... Store evacuated; police report situation under control Anniston police are negotiating with an armed man holding a hostage at a Kmart store in Anniston, the Anniston Star reports. The incident appears to have started with a failed robbery at the store about 9:30 a.m. Police have evacuated the store and say they have the situation under control, according to the newspaper. FBI agents from Birmingham have been sent to the scene.
  
• Kmart store evacuated in Anniston after... FBI agents headed for scene Customers have been evacuated from a Kmart store in Anniston after a possible failed armed robbery leading to a hostage incident, the Anniston Star reports. One person has been taken from the store on a stretcher but apparently was uninjured. An armed man is in the store with a hostage. Police currently are in the store negotiating with the man, according to the newspaper. FBI agents from Birmingham are reported enroute to the scene.   
  
• Alabama news links: Attalla man charged... Jacksonville State reports record enrollment; Birmingham firm awarded project for Talladega County jail expansion Links to news from and about Alabama:Attalla man charged with sexual abuse of three children -- (Gadsden Times)Elderly DeKalb County man dies when his tractor overturns in pond -- (Gadsden Times)Jacksonville State University officials report record enrollment of 9,504 students -- (Anniston Star)Talladega County Commission awards Birmingham contractor $12.5 million job of expanding county jail by more than 300 beds -- (Talladega Daily Home)
  
• How to recycle your cell phone battery The increasingly prevalent rechargeable batteries that power cell phones and other electronics aren't supposed to go in the waste basket; they need to be recycled, according to Call2Recycle, a free battery collection program sponsored by manufacturers. ASKED & ANSWERED Q. My cell phone battery died. How should I dispose of it? A. The increasingly prevalent rechargeable batteries that power cell phones and other electronics aren't supposed to go in the waste basket; they need to be recycled, according to Call2Recycle, a free battery collection program sponsored by manufacturers. The company, which has collection agreements with national retail chains, tracks battery recycling nationwide. According to their most recent data, battery recycling is taking off in the South. So far this year, recycling of rechargeable batteries in Alabama is up 7.7 percent. But Birmingham is lagging behind, having only increased its recycling .8 percent this year. The people of Birmingham have recycled 2,970 pounds of batteries through Call2Recycle, which represents only 12.5 percent of the total pounds of batteries collected in Alabama during the first eight months of 2010. There are more than 35 active collection sites in the city of Birmingham where people can take their rechargeable batteries for recycling, including the DeWALT Factory Service Center on Valley Ave., which holds the record for the most batteries collected in Alabama; Home Depot; RadioShack; Lowe's, and Allcomm Wireless. Wondering about something you saw? E-mail AskTheNews@bhamnews.com.
  
• Jefferson County man shot during robber... The victim was shot in the stomach. A northeast Jefferson County man was shot Thursday night when he struggled with a would-be robber. The 42-year-old victim was unlocking the door to his apartment on Charter East Circle about 11:30 p.m. when a man came up behind him, put a gun to his side and forced him into the apartment. Once inside, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian, the two began to fight for control of the gun. The struggle continued into the dining room and down the hallway where the gun discharged. The victim was shot in the stomach. The attacker dropped the gun and fled the apartment. The victim was taken to UAB Hospital. Christian said the injuries aren't believed to be life-threatening.
  
• United Way of Central Alabama meets $8.... Fall drive now under way United Way of Central Al­abama raised $8.4 million this year in its summer Pacesetter Campaign, an achievement leaders hope will set the stage for reach­ing a goal of $37,270,908 by Dec. 9. The agency that sustains programs in Jefferson, Shelby, Walker, St. Clair and Blount counties launched its fall campaign Thursday during a luncheon at the Birmingham Sheraton. Drew Langloh, president and CEO of UWCA, said meeting the goal for the summer campaign is good news, but it does not guar­antee success in the fall campaign. "Our hope is that we can exceed our goal, but we re­alize the economy is a challenge," Langloh said. Thirty-two businesses and nonprofits participated in the summer campaign, each with a mission of raising more than the previous year, said Samuetta Nesbitt, spokeswoman for the UWCA. "This gives us momentum going into the fall," she said. Already UWCA has recruited 50 people to serve as loaned executives who will meet with companies and organizations to help plan and implement their campaigns. Also, the agency will have 600 volunteers who will review funding requests from the more than 80 agencies supported by the United Way. The kickoff celebration began around 7:30 a.m. Saturday when volunteers and loaned executives built four playgrounds at Jefferson County daycares associated with the Success By 6 United Way Initiative. Success by 6 wants to develop opportunities for children to have safe play spaces and is building a total of 40 new playgrounds in Jefferson County in the next 18 months, Nesbitt said. On Thursday, the playgrounds were built at Sunnyside Up Childcare in East Lake, Church at Fairview Child Development Center in West End, Kidz 2 Child Development Center Ensley, and Kollege for Tots Child Care in Roebuck Construction of the playgrounds is being made possible through funding from a grant awarded to the Health Action Partnership. Through the efforts of Hands on Birmingham, another United Way program, more than 50 volunteers will assist in constructing the prefabricated playgrounds. Most of the playgrounds, which are constructed in one day, are erected to replace outdated playground equipment.
  
• Metro Birmingham forecast: Hot day foll... Nightly temperatures could be in 50s It was 70 degrees at 6 a.m. in Birmingham as central Alabama prepared for a final hot day before a cooler but sunny Labor Day weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Today's high should be near 93 degrees under partly cloudy skies , according to the forecast. There is also about a 20 percent chance of rain in the afternoon before cooling begins tonight with a possible low of 59 degrees. Saturday is expected to be sunny with a high of only 83 degrees and the low could hit 53 degrees. Sunday will see more of the same with a high in the upper 80s under sunny skies. The overnight low should be about 55 degrees. A small warming for Monday will push the daytime high to near 90s degrees with plenty of sunshine.Keep up with weather developments in the al.com Weather Center.   
  
• Thieves raid Bessemer historical sites ... Men found with a section of a riveted steel bridge loaded on the trailer. Several men were found with a section of a U.S. Steel-owned, rivetted steel bridge loaded on the trailer of a four-wheel drive truck. Several sections of the bridge had been cut out and other structures related to iron-ore mines in the area, including a water tower and a wheel house, have been damaged. (The Birmingham News / Joe Songer)   Bessemer police arrested one man and are seeking another who has been raiding historical industrial sites on Red Mountain and carting away the metal for scrap.   According to Bessemer Police Detective Perry Hurst, the men were found with a section of a U.S. Steel-owned, riveted steel bridge loaded on the trailer of a four-wheel drive truck.   Several sections of the bridge had been cut out, and other structures related to iron ore mines in the area, including a water tower and a wheel house, have been damaged.  Wendy Jackson, executive director of the Freshwater Land Trust, said the theft was not just an assault on an important piece of industrial history, the bridge and the rail right-of-way leading to it were being considered for inclusion in a greenway plan.   They could be part of a system linking western communities to Red Mountain Park, and damage done by scrap thieves may be irreparable, Jackson said.   "It's just a real loss," she said.   The incident was reminiscent of the burning of a massive railroad trestle in Brookwood that spanned a deep gorge and was to have been included in the Five Mile Creek greenway. Trails are not expensive, but the bridge links can be tremendously expensive, Jackson said.   "These structures they are tearing up tell the story of Birmingham and Jefferson County and are an important part of our industrial heritage," she said.   Hurst declined to release the name of the man arrested because charges have not been filed against him. Bessemer police are seeking the other man.   Hurst said the arrested man told police he and the other man had been out to the Red Mountain site on four occasions and were selling the metal they harvested for scrap.   The men got $200 on a load, according to reports.   The resulting damage will cost many thousands of dollars to fix, if it can be repaired at all.   The bridge was on the TCI rail line that connected the Muscoda mines in Bessemer to the highline railroad that once carried iron ore to its steel mills, according to U.S. Steel.   The bridge crossed over an L&N railroad line that served a Sloss Company mine. It was about 80 feet long and was 24 feet above the L&N track.   Alabama Labor Commissioner Jim Bennett, who is a member of the Red Mountain Park Commission and is the vice-chairman of the Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, said this is not an isolated incident. He said the state should consider making it a more serious crime to destroy historic artifacts, a misdemeanor that now carries a maximum fine of $1,000.   "It is particularly reprehensible when someone would steal our history and deny it to future generations," he said. "This is especially the case at a time when renewed efforts are being made to save artifacts and structures from our industrial beginnings like the ore mines on Red Mountain."Join the conversation by clicking to comment or e-mail Spencer at tspencer@bhamnews.com