By JAY REEVES / Associated Press Writer BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Ah, it’s March in Alabama: Time for spring football practice, right? Well, the tide is turning in this state, with two of its college basketball teams — Alabama and Alabama-Birmingham — providing the biggest upsets of the NCAA tournament, knocking off No. 1-seeded Stanford…

By TERESA M. WALKER / AP Sports Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Too soft. Can’t win the big game. Not committed to big-time athletics. Now Vanderbilt has another slight to add to a growing list: too fast. Coach Kevin Stallings said Monday a friend pointed out his Commodores have the quickest game turnaround — by 17…

By TOM COYNE / AP Sports Writer SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw believes parity has arrived for women’s college basketball. She pointed to 13th-seeded Middle Tennessee State’s victory over fourth-seeded North Carolina on Sunday, as well as a few other surprisingly close first-round NCAA tournament games, including 14th-seeded Eastern Michigan’s…

By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS / AP Sports Writer Vanderbilt’s Hillary Hager (24) passes around Chattanooga’s Katasha Brown (3) in the second half of their second round game at the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Chattanooga Monday. Behind Hager is Chattanooga guard Miranda Warfield (20). (AP Photo) CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Vanderbilt is heading to the round of…

By BRENT KALLESTAD / Associated Press Writer TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Tennessee coach Pat Summitt has her team right where she wants it — in the round of 16 for the 23rd straight year. The top-seeded Lady Vols dismantled ninth-seeded DePaul 79-59 in the second round of the Midwest Regional on Monday night. “I think…

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — State budget makers across the country can’t seem to get enough of their tobacco settlement money. Lawmakers are increasingly plugging budget holes with the $206 billion settlement that 46 states reached with cigarette makers in 1998, according to a federal report released Monday. State officials…

By DEE-ANN DURBIN / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Susan McDonald had a 0.22 blood-alcohol level — more than twice the legal limit — when she drove into the back of a truck on New Year’s Day in 1998. Her 5-year-old daughter Carlie, who was buckled into the front seat, died in the crash.…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Legislators are considering a particularly weighty issue this year: the heft of textbooks for public school students. A bill making its way through the General Assembly would require the state to study and then set textbook weight limits for elementary, middle and high school students. Carly Joseph, 14, an eighth-grader at Grassland…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh was infuriated Monday night by Republicans trumpeting an experiment to have roll call votes on every matter that comes before the House. House Republican Leader Tre Hargett had asked the House Rules Committee earlier in the day to change a rule and force all members’ votes to…

By TOM SHARP / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Sen. Roy Herron thought he saw a train wreck coming and tried to stop it, even if some of his General Assembly colleagues thought he’d moved past caution into the realm of paranoia. Herron, D-Dresden, insisted the state’s charitable gambling law had to be airtight…