Texas man sentenced to 46 months for smuggling cocaine through Alabama
The sky over Birmingham has that deep tropical blue to it today, the puffy white cumulus clouds just adding *** little bit of color. And it’s going to be *** really nice but very steamy and humid kind of evening around here. First warning live radar. Yesterday we had some heavy rain around Birmingham, but today things are nice and quiet in Jefferson County and Shelby County, tracking *** few little isolated showers up here in Lawrence and Franklin counties. It’s raining up around the Russellville area, especially closer to the Russellville airport than downtown, and then another shower on the southwest side of Moulton. Uh, just on the north side of the, uh, the, the Black Warrior Work Center off of Highway 33, showers like these have been drifting to the south today, but they’re not likely to last all that long through the evening. Temperatures have been on the way up today. Unlike what we’ve seen in recent days, we finally made it back up into the 90s in many communities this afternoon and over in Mississippi it’s been even hotter. Look at that 92 over west of Hamilton. And Tremont in Birmingham right now we’re sitting right at 90. In Talladega County around Childersburg it’s 92. Anniston’s at 88. Gadsden also in the upper 80s, and Tuscaloosa, it’s been *** hot, humid afternoon, but right now we’re sitting right about 90. Here’s where we’re going. Scattered storms return tomorrow, *** little more numerous than today. There have been *** few of them out there, but there will be *** few more, hit or miss, those that. Get hit you’re gonna know it because they’re gonna be pretty heavy. Heavier thunderstorms this weekend, but it’s still not *** rain out. I wouldn’t cancel any plans. I’d just be in mind to keep in mind having *** backup plan in case *** storm comes close and then it’s hot and steamy going into next week. Hot and the heat index gets at least *** 105, if not higher than that. So we’re mostly clear early and then we see *** few spotty storms developing in the afternoon. The high on Friday getting. Up close to 90 degrees and there are the spotty storms through 10:00 p.m. tomorrow. You see them here and there. We’ll do something similar to that on Saturday. Maybe different communities get *** downpour Saturday and then on Sunday *** wave may come in early. Another wave develops late and then potentially even *** few more storms are possible Monday before we really start to dry things out into next week. Now if you’re thinking about the Gulf Coast, there is still this thing that’s close to Florida that’s not like. To become anything significant, National Hurricane Center is watching it, but beyond that, there’s not much of *** risk with this thing. The rip current threat on the low to moderate end through the weekend at the Alabama and Northwest Florida Gulf Coast, and then it’s low through next week with *** limited chance of some daily showers and thunderstorms. Where do we go from here? Hot weather, strong ridge building out in the West. Ridges do two things they keep it hot and they keep it dry. And with this thing nearby, it is blowing in heat that not just hot, but we’re bordering on extreme heat into next week, not because of the temperature necessarily, but because of what the humidity and the temperature together do to us. Overnight lows in the upper 70s, 77 Tuesday morning, 95 Tuesday afternoon, but the heat index there could be as high as 110 degrees.
Texas man sentenced to 46 months for smuggling cocaine through Alabama
Updated: 5:40 AM CDT Jul 17, 2026
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Above: a look at the forecastA Texas man has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison after admitting to smuggling six kilograms of cocaine through Alabama, federal prosecutors said.Brandon Azael Lopez, 30, of McAllen, Texas, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to possession with intent to distribute cocaine. U.S. District Judge Annmarie C. Axon imposed the sentence.According to prosecutors, Lopez was stopped on Interstate 20/59 in Greene County on Dec. 12, 2023, for a traffic violation. After Lopez consented to a search of his vehicle, investigators found six one-kilogram packages of cocaine hidden inside altered car batteries.The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Birmingham Division and the 17th Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany T. Byrd prosecuted it.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Above: a look at the forecast
A Texas man has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison after admitting to smuggling six kilograms of cocaine through Alabama, federal prosecutors said.
Brandon Azael Lopez, 30, of McAllen, Texas, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to possession with intent to distribute cocaine. U.S. District Judge Annmarie C. Axon imposed the sentence.
According to prosecutors, Lopez was stopped on Interstate 20/59 in Greene County on Dec. 12, 2023, for a traffic violation. After Lopez consented to a search of his vehicle, investigators found six one-kilogram packages of cocaine hidden inside altered car batteries.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Birmingham Division and the 17th Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany T. Byrd prosecuted it.
