• Questions on a church-and-state issue
You may have missed this inside-the-local-section story during the holidays. Even if you noticed the headline - "Planners approve church's zoning request" - you may not have been compelled to read beyond finding out whether it was your church that sought the change.

• Will the 7th District have a Senate voice?
Not to cause undue alarm, but if you live in Alabama Senate District 7, you may not get much representation in the upper chamber in the 2009 legislative season.

• Shelby's stance: principles or politics?
The most prominent conservative Republican on the key national issue of the moment isn't Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee or any GOP presidential wannabe but Alabama's own Sen. Richard Shelby, who is leading the fight against any federal bailout of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

• Lock (up) and (un)load those firearms
Well, darn it, the Tide lost Saturday, but they are going to a nice bowl game because they remain in the top 10. The state of Alabama is in the top 10 in many things, and this is one of the good ones.