English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Montgomery, AL

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - There’s just something about that taste from home. Whether it’s your favorite childhood restaurant or the way mom made things, where you grew up helps shape your favorites.

For Mike Oliver, home is Chicago. After a long career in construction he moved to Montgomery, and decided it was time to bring that taste to Alabama.

“It’s authentic Chicago food,” said Mike Oliver, owner of restaurant in downtown Montgomery.

He stared with a food cart and then it just took off. So, he took the leap an opened in his restaurant less than a year ago. Everywhere you look, it’s a reminder of his home.

“Well they’re gonna see the future Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears, the Cubs, the White Sox- sorry- the Bulls. Everything here is pretty much Chicago.“

The decorations may get you inside, it’s the food that’ll keep you coming back.

“We’ve got Italian Beef and real hot dogs from Chicago. Everything’s brought in from Chicago.”

They do things a little differently in Chi-town. The Italian Beef dipped in au jus is about a Chicago as it gets.

“You’re gonna have to travel a long way to get food like this. So, if you want to try it, this is the place to try it.”

For those who share that “Windy City” connection, there’s a special place to let em’ know.

“I said ‘hey, why don’t you guys write your name and streets on the wall?’ It’s getting out of hand now.”

When you come, come hungry.

“Seeing the joy on their face when they get some of the food- when it comes out- how overwhelmed they are by how large the portions are. It’s just fun to me.”

Oliver’s is located at 31 South Court Street, open from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - A familiar face is returning to the Montgomery Catholic Knights football program. Aubrey Blackwell will lead the program once again.

Blackwell was head coach for the Knights from 2015 through 2020.

“I’m excited to be able to bring home my friend and the first head football coach I hired here at Catholic 11 years ago, Aubrey Blackwell,” said Athletic Director Daniel Veres. “I could not think of a better family to bring back into our own.”

During his first run as head coach, Blackwell led Catholic to a 54-19 win/loss record, along with five playoff appearances and the program’s first state championship appearance.

“Aubrey Blackwell is not just a familiar face and a tremendous football coach, but he is also the man responsible for launching the program he returns to lead,” said School President Justin Castanza. “Championship play became a Montgomery Catholic standard under his leadership, and that is exactly what we are excited to continue. The time is right!”

Blackwell says he plans on staying at Catholic for a long time.

“I am so excited to be coming back to Montgomery Catholic, a place that values my family as much as it does my work,” he said. “I accept this role with commitment, gratitude, and pride in a culture that puts people first and with the community that we hold close to our hearts.”

who left after his first year with the Knights to take over the Opelika High School football program

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It didn’t take long for Montgomery Catholic to find a new head football coach.

The Knights just had to look to their recent past.

On Friday, Catholic announced that Aubrey Blackwell would return as the school’s coach. He served in the same position from 2015-2020.

He replaces Jonathan Chandler, who left after one year to become the new coach at Opelika.

“Aubrey Blackwell is not just a familiar face and a tremendous football coach, but he is also the man responsible for launching the program he returns to lead,” school president Justin Castanza said in a release. “This is a beautiful homecoming in every way. Aubrey and his family will come home to Montgomery Catholic and continue what he and Daniel Veres started. Championship play became a Montgomery Catholic standard under his leadership, and that is exactly what we are excited to continue. The time is right!”

Blackwell went 54-19 in his previous six-year stint at Catholic. In his final year (2020), the Knights went 12-3 and reached the Class 3A state title game.

“I’m excited to be able to bring home my friend and the first head football coach I hired here at Catholic 11 years ago, Aubrey Blackwell,” athletic director Daniel Veres said. “I could not think of a better family to bring back into our own. Brandi, Will, and Kayla are coming back to a place that helped them grow to where they are now. Selfishly, now I get to see the fruits of all their work and cheer for them again as Knights.”

After leaving Catholic, Blackwell spent one year as Benjamin Russell’s head coach, two years at Jackson Academy in Mississippi and one year at rival Saint James. In 2025, he served as Spanish Fort’s offensive coordinator.

In 10 years as a head coach overall, Blackwell has an 80-40 record.

“I am so excited to be coming back to Montgomery Catholic, a place that values my family as much as it does my work,” Blackwell said in the release. “When everyone is valued, excellence becomes inevitable. That’s why this opportunity matters so much to me.”

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Alabama could have as many as 12 medical marijuana dispensaries open next year after the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission voted to award licenses on Thursday.

Birmingham is in line to have two dispensaries, while Mobile and Montgomery will have one each.

None are planned for the city of Huntsville, although two are planned for the metro area.

Officials said the dispensary license awards marked a breakthrough after more than two years of delays caused by disputes over the process and lawsuits by companies competing for a limited number of licenses.

The initial rollout for medical cannabis will be limited because disputes continue over licenses for integrated companies, which will be able to operate a total of 25 dispensaries.

On Thursday, the AMCC voted to follow the recommendation of an administrative law judge who presided over a hearing requested by competing companies and found that four applicants were most suitable for dispensary licenses.

Under the medical marijuana law the Legislature passed back in 2021, the AMCC can award no more than four dispensary licenses, and each of the companies can operate three locations.

The companies included their proposed locations with their license applications.

The companies picked for licenses are GP6 Wellness LLC, RJK Holdings LLC, CCS of Alabama LLC, and Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries LLC.

Some steps remain, including the payment of $40,000 license fees by the companies.

If all goes as planned, GP6 Wellness, RJK Holdings, and CCS of Alabama will be issued licenses on Jan. 8.

The AMCC placed a stay on the license award for Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries until Jan. 26 because it is expected to be challenged by a fifth company, Capitol Medical LLC.

Administrative law judge Blake Brookshire wrote in his 106-page report that Capitol Medical was suitable for a license, but did not rate it among the four most suitable.

The AMCC plans to meet on Jan. 26 to reconsider the stay on Yellowhammer’s license.

There have been no challenges to the other three companies awarded licenses.

Dispensaries can only be in cities and counties where the governing bodies have approved them.

Here are the dispensary locations for the four companies chosen for licenses.

AMCC Chairman Rex Vaughn said he hoped dispensaries could be operating as early as the spring.

The Alabama Board of Medical Examiners will certify doctors to recommend the medical cannabis products to patients. The doctor certifications cannot start until at least one dispensary license is issued. But preparations have been in place for the process.

Matt Hart, an attorney for the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, said the board plans to begin accepting certification applications from doctors on Jan. 8, if the dispensary licenses are issued.

The law requires doctors to complete a medical cannabis course before becoming certified. Hart said the course, about four hours, has been available to doctors online for more than two years.

Hart said it’s possible the board could begin approving certifications for doctors at its meeting in January, although he said that would be a tight window. The board’s next meeting after that is in February.

Patients who receive a medical cannabis card after seeing a certified doctor will be able to buy the products at the dispensaries.

The AMCC previously issued licenses for cultivators, processors, secure transporters, and a state testing lab.

Licensed cultivators have been growing cannabis since 2024.

Alabama’s medical marijuana law, the Compassion Act, allows companies to make gummies (peach-flavored only), tablets, capsules, tinctures, patches, oils, and other forms of medical marijuana products.

The law allows the products to be used to treat a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain, weight loss and nausea from cancer, depression, panic disorder, epilepsy, muscle spasms caused by disease or spinal cord injuries, PTSD, and others.

It’s been 24 years and about a month since Jacksonville State and Troy met in football, but the wait is finally over.

The Gamecocks (8-5) and Trojans (8-5) meet in the renewal of the “Battle for the Ol’ School Bell” in Tuesday’s IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery. The pairing is the first for two teams from the state of Alabama in an FBS bowl game, let alone two who were such fierce rivals as Jax State and Troy once were.

“The No. 1 piece that it honors first is the fans and the fan base of the old rivalry,” Troy head coach Gerad Parker said. “I think it’s rekindled that flame and brought the state together to have a great experience on Tuesday night. And then it’s allowed us to educate the past traditions of Jacksonville State and Troy to our team because most of our players, if not all of our players, were not even born when they last played. It allows us to tell a story of traditions and tie it together and continue to experience maybe something of who they play for and how it’s been represented through the years.”

Jacksonville State leads Troy 33-28-3 in the all-time series, which began in 1924 and continued as the Gamecocks and Trojans moved up through the NAIA, Division II and Division I-AA (now FCS) ranks. The rivalry halted just after the Trojans’ moved up to the FBS level, with the last meeting coming on Nov. 17, 2001, a 21-3 Troy victory.

Jacksonville State moved up to the FBS level in 2023, and has quickly become one of the elite programs in Conference USA in much the same way Troy has been a perennial contender in the Sun Belt Conference. Both teams finished as their league’s runner-up, the Gamecocks falling 19-15 to Kennesaw State in the CUSA championship game, the Trojans losing 31-14 to James Madison in the Sun Belt title contest.

And so Troy and Jacksonville State find themselves in Montgomery, thrilling both fan bases and no doubt boosting ticket sales for the 12-year bowl.

“That’s probably the question when I go out and am asked, ‘When are we going to play Troy again?,” Jacksonville State athletics director Greg Seitz said. “And it just happened this year that the bowl folks paired this game up and I know that our folks are very excited.”

Troy is back in the postseason after a one-year absence, having won the Sun Belt West Division under second-year coach Gerad Parker. The Trojans won back-to-back Sun Belt titles in 2022 and 2023 before coach Jon Sumrall left for Tulane (he’s now at Florida), then slipped to 4-8 last season.

Troy turned its season around with a 5-game winning streak in September and October, then beat Southern Miss 28-18 to clinch the West crown. The Trojans enter the bowl game a bit short-handed, with three offensive linemen — including second-team All-Sun Belt guard Eli Russ — sidelined by injury, and leading rusher Tae Meadows having opted out while planning to enter the transfer portal.

“It’s been a path of about a year that started on Jan. 14,” Parker said. “I stood in front of them and challenged us to take steps towards becoming what we would want to be and what’s expected of us at Troy and Troy University set by many men before us. We’re humble to be here. Our guys are excited to get the chance to be involved in an extra game and play again against another great university and a great head coach and team that’s been to watch and prepare for.”

Jacksonville State is in a bowl game for the third straight year after moving up to the FBS level, something that had never before been accomplished. The Gamecocks won the CUSA championship last season, then shared the regular-season crown before losing to Kennesaw State in the league title game.

First-year coach Charles Kelly has picked up where the departed Rich Rodriguez left for West Virginia, fielding one of the top running games in college football. Third-team All-America running back Cam Cook ranks second nationally with 1,759 rushing yards, while quarterback Caden Creel also topped the 1,000-yard mark at 1,085.

“We’ve had some ups and downs but I’m really proud of the way we fought all year,” Creel said. “I think we’re one of the most resilient teams, if not the most resilient team, in the nation. We never quit, no matter what the situation is.”

Kickoff for the 2025 IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl is set for 8 p.m. Central at Cramton Bowl. The game will air live via ESPN.