The good folks at Scripps Howard News Service have picked up this profile on Taylor Hicks for the news wire. (Thanks, Karen!) Meet Brad Hicks, Taylor’s father and best friend. And learn what Taylor has in common with “American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard.

Look for it in print and online in your favorite news sites, such as the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel, the Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune, the Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News, ABC 15 (Phoenix), the (Wichita Falls, TX) Times Record News, the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times, the Decatur Daily and the (Fort Wayne, Ind.) Journal Gazette.

And be sure to kindly ask your local newspaper and TV station to run the story from the Scripps Howard News Service.

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The 12 “American Idol” hopefuls sang the praises and phrases of Stevie Wonder live. And Birmingham’s Taylor Hicks brought the house down. How did he stack up against the other finalists?

Recap after the jump …

Updated with video, elimination.

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Drive out to the country, and you’ll find … a whole lot of nothing. Long winding roads, open fields, dense forests, an occasional farmhouse.

And churches.

Unlike citified America, where some McMansions of God dot the thoroughfares alongside strip malls and car dealerships, country churches are often the hub of rural life. It’s not that they depend on God more, just the connection among worshippers disconnected by distance.

It took arsonists only a couple of thrill-seeking evenings to torch those “networking hubs.” Federal agents arrested three Birmingham college students this week for the crime.

Perhaps saddest of all isn’t the loss of these buildings, but the loss of lives. Yes, no one was killed in the fires, but if found guilty, these typical suburban brats didn’t just incinerate churches, but their chance to better themselves.

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Taylor Hicks not only sang a scorcher live tonight, but also danced … sorta. At least his “American Idol” missteps were from the ankles down and looks golden for the Top 12.

Recap after the jump …

Updated with video, eliminations.

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Taylor Hicks kicked off tonight’s competition. But will the judges’ reviews get him kicked off this week?

Recap after the jump …

Updated with video, eliminations.

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The soul man is on a roll, man.

Birmingham native Taylor Hicks is adjusting to life on and off camera after surviving the first round of competition last week on the reality TV competition “American Idol.” Even so, the pressure is growing as he prepares to out-sing the 19 other contestants.

Hicks filled us in by phone this afternoon from Hollywood inbetween rehearsals and interviews before Wednesday night’s 10-man competition.

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Saving the best for last, Taylor Hicks sang last against middling competition in tonight’s “American Idol.” Shouldn’t be hard for him to nab one of the six men’s spots, given the weaknesses among the group.

Recap after the jump …

Updated with video, eliminations.

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EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Hicks, the latest “American Idol” hopeful from Alabama, said his soulfulness will help him stand out from the 23 other singers in the reality show competition. Producers announced the finalists Thursday.

Hicks, 29, is the second-oldest contestant this season; Mandisa (yes, one name), a songstress from Antioch, Tenn., is older by just five days, he said. That experience means Hicks may have an advantage over the others, some as young as 16.

“Considering I’ve had more years performing, playing every honky-tonk imaginable in the Southeast, that’s helped a lot,” said Hicks, by phone today from Hollywood.

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The Alabama Ballet can make the impossible look easy onstage, though we know hard work and determination went into the performance. So why not go behind the scenes to see how dancers interpret a classic for today’s audiences?

Such is the premise behind Alabama Public Television’s latest documentary, “Alabama Ballet: The Making of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ “ While the hourlong film shows fleeting glimpses into the some of the labor in putting on a performance, viewers will gain little insight into what makes this company or this performance unique.

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Randall Publishing, a family-owned magazine publisher in Tuscaloosa, became part of the Wachovia empire on Monday.

You may not have heard of Truckers News, Modern Woodworking or Overdrive, but the company employs 400 and has been around for 70 years.

It’s part of a trend of homegrown businesses gobbled up by out-of-state owners.

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Fit-to-be-bow-tied righty George F. Will strays from his baseball worship for a heftier topic: college football. In the current Newsweek, the columnist, ahem, tackles the problem of bigger players leading to more injuries in ” 'Eleven Men And Sic 'Em.' “

Will discusses how Bryant’s 1966 team averages out to be a typical high school team today. And he slips in a little history, sports, health and a few growled “Bear” quotes.

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As long as we’re playing dress-up …

It occurred to me that I haven’t given the lowdown on the Will Ferrell movie. We start with the learning objectives.

Important lessons of Hollywood:

1. Your latte isn’t coming. It never was. Dammit.
2. Talldega during race weekend? Traffic jams and pileups. Talladega during movie shoot? Andy Richter and deafening silence.
3. Mr. Ferrell, most recently of “Bewitched” and “Kicking and Screaming,” owes us. With change.

[More exclusive photos from the set after the jump.]

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Alabama has always distinguished itself in ways both humbling and humiliating. But its service record has always been above reproach, volunteering in high numbers for guard duty.

That patriotism carries a high cost.

On Oct. 22, the military death toll in the Iraq war reached a milestone. George T. Alexander, Jr., of Clanton, died in a Texas hospital after being injured five days earlier in Samarra, Iraq. He was the 2,000th soldier killed in the ongoing war.

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Our spy tells us that Zoe’s in Forest Park was filled yesterday with young women on the prowl for last-minute costume ideas.

Nothing scarier than going out on Halloween with ye olde kitty cat costume again.

As a public service, we present a few ideas of our own for those still without a stitch to wear for this weekend’s many Halloween parties.

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Talladega is becoming the Hollywood of the Southeast, right behind Savannah, Memphis and Wilmington. Don’t believe me?

OK, I don’t believe me either.

But as mentioned previously, “The Amazing Race” took a swing through Huntsville, then Anniston and then the NASCAR-loving, checkered-flag-waving, track-circling town of Talladega.

[photos and exclusive insider notes from the Talladega leg on the jump]

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