English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Huntsville, AL

Rescue groups and members of the community answered Huntsville Animal Services’ call to adopt or foster dogs at its shelter on Triana Boulevard.

But the shelter remains “pretty full,” according to animal care supervisor Stefany Moseley.

“We did really good before the holiday, but then we started taking them in over the weekend because of all of the fireworks,” Moseley told AL.com. “Fireworks are a dog’s worst enemy. They get scared. They run. They hide. They take off if they are loose. It’s just like a vicious cycle on that weekend.”

Moseley said there were 104 dogs at the shelter before Animal Services put out the call for help before the Fourth of July holiday weekend. As of midday Wednesday, there were about 80 at the shelter.

“Our comfortable capacity is about 75,” she said. Mosely said Animal Services prefers to keep the number under 75 to give the dogs more kennel room.

“We always have large breed dogs,” Moseley said. “Our smaller dogs tend to go faster. Fifty-to-60-pound dogs are harder to adopt.”

Mosely said the cat population is also high at the shelter with summer being peak breeding season.

“Luckily, our cats do tend to get adopted pretty quickly,” she said. “But we are pretty full in cats, too.”

Moseley said Animal Services still seeks residents who are interested in adoptions. Some of the dogs at the shelter have been there for several weeks or longer. Most adoption fees at the shelter are between $35 and $50.

“We do waive fees every now and then,” she said. “Even with the $35-50, that’s your spay and neutering, microchipping, three months of flea and tick preventative, heart worm tests on dogs. They are fully vaccinated.”

Animal Services also continues to seek residents who will foster some of the animals to give them a break from their time in the shelter.

“Even if they can’t adopt, they can foster,” Moseley said. “We do even have short term fosters called sleepovers. They can just take them over for a night or over the weekend. Then they can bring them back. They can write a little bio for the dogs. That way we know a little more about the dog outside the building. It gives the new adopters more information. Do they get along with kids? Do they get along with their cats? Things like that.”

To become a foster, residents must live in Madison County, be 19 or older and complete a foster application. Potential adopters and fosters can then visit the shelter to find a dog that matches their home and lifestyle.

The shelter is also in need of volunteers who will come and walk the dogs. Information about becoming a volunteer is on the Animal Services webpage on the City of Huntsville website.

Animal Services is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 256-883-3782, visit HuntsvilleAL.gov/Animal, or visit their Facebook page to learn more about the animals available for adoption, fostering and volunteer opportunities.

People across Madison County have expressed interest in an IKEA furniture store for well over a decade.

Rumors of the Swedish warehouse building its first full;-size Alabama store started swirling this week when a Facebook user posted a supposed chat with the IKEA help bot.

The chat wrote that while the furniture giant hasn’t “officially announced” a location in Huntsville, the “store format and opening date are still being finalized.”

This sparked excitement across social media about the possibility of an IKEA furniture store in the Rocket City. But...

IKEA responds

IKEA has since responded to AL.com’s request for comment.

“At IKEA, we are always looking at new opportunities for expansion and growth. As we continue to transform our business, we are considering new ways to meet our customers needs across the U.S. However, IKEA has not announced any plans for a new location in the Huntsville area.”

IKEA a sought-after store

It’s landed on Huntsville’s list of most-wanted retailers since 2011. Locals want access to its large showrooms, buildable furniture and Swedish meatballs.

It’s possible that the Rocket City could land a full-size IKEA or a “Plan & Order Point,” which allows customers to work with IKEA specialists to plan their spaces and order the pieces necessary to build their rooms.

IKEA already has Plan & Order Points in Nashville and Birmingham. The closest full-size store is in Atlanta.

NASA is set to lose 2,145 highly experienced staff – including hundreds in Huntsville - under the Donald Trump administration’s downsizing efforts, according to a POLITICO report.

The publication reported Wednesday that documents show the federal employees are levels GS-13 to GS-15, indicating mid-to-senior positions, “with specialized skills or management responsibilities.” They represent most of the 2,694 civil service staffers who have agreed to leave under the administration’s efforts to trim the federal workforce.

More than 10% of those senior-level reductions – 279 in total - are to take place at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, according to the report. Trump’s budget proposal called for a total reduction at MSFC of 526 full-time equivalent positions. The POLITICO report means 53% of those reductions would come in the form of highly experienced staffers.

The reductions follow a budgetary back-and-forth surrounding NASA’s flagship Artemis moon program, with Trump’s budget proposal calling for a historically large cut that included phasing out the Space Launch System and Orion. The SLS is the super-heavy, expendable launch vehicle that is scheduled to carry crews to lunar orbit -- aboard Orion -- throughout the life of the agency’s Artemis moon program.

Both SLS and Orion are key programs for Marshall, one of the largest of NASA’s 10 field centers. It currently employs nearly 7,000 federal workers and contractors in Huntsville and manages a multibillion-dollar budget related to human spaceflight. MSFC is the agency’s lead center for SLS, managing the booster, engines, stages, and integration.

The House and Senate, however, restored billions in funding for Artemis missions and improvements to Marshall Space Flight Center in their adopted versions of the president’s spending plan, which Trump signed last week.

The senior staff reductions hit Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland hardest, with 607 planned departures, according to POLITICO. The totals at other centers include:

The MidCity fireworks spectacular promised to be the largest and longest show in North Alabama history, with over 800 shells lighting up the sky.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — As the sun sets and the skies darken, North Alabama residents are preparing for an Independence Day celebration like no other. Fireworks are lighting up the region, but one show in particular is grabbing a lot of the attention: the MidCity fireworks display — set to be the largest and longest-running show in North Alabama history.

With more than 800 shells primed to burst across the sky, this year’s MidCity display promises to deliver a truly unforgettable Fourth of July.

FOX54News went behind the scenes of the operation to learn what goes into creating a show of this magnitude.

Lynn Broad, the lead operator for the event, has been working with fireworks since 1980 — 45 years of lighting up the skies — and this year’s MidCity display is his most ambitious yet.

“There are shows that have bigger shells, but they don’t shoot as long as this show,” Lynn explained. “This is going to be the largest and longest show in North Alabama history," he claimed.

Planning for tonight’s performance began the moment last year’s show ended. “The day I put that show to bed, I started planning what I wanted design-wise for this show,” Lynn said.

Each shell is four-inches here, manufactured in China using primarily biodegradable materials. “We’re going to make a pretty big mess tonight,” Lynn added with a grin.

The technical side of the show is just as intricate. From electrical pulses that ignite the shells, to the network of modules and firing pins that control the exact timing of each burst, every detail is coordinated down to the millisecond.

From match head to sky burst, the whole process happens in just 3.2 seconds.

As Lynn walked us through the setup, the passion in his voice was unmistakable. “I’m a very patriotic person,” he said. “You don’t get to celebrate like this every day — where you just forget about everything that’s going on in the world and love the fact that we’re Americans.”

The MidCity firework display will start at 9:30 p.m. Friday.

President Donald Trump’s “one big beautiful bill” extends the life of a flagship NASA program he once dismissed as “grossly expensive and delayed.”

His expected signature Friday would be an about-face worth potentially billions of dollars to north Alabama’s space economy.

Last month, the White House’s budget proposal for NASA included historically large cuts, mainly to the space agency’s science programs. But it also called for the phaseout of the Space Launch System and its Orion crew capsule after 2027’s Artemis III, which will put astronauts on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. SLS and Orion had been expected to be used in up to 10 missions in the Artemis moon-to-Mars program.

Congress, though, included nearly $10 billion in additional funding for SLS, Orion and the Lunar Gateway station. The provision initially came from an amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who said “targeted, critical investments” are needed to ensure the U.S. establishes a moon colony before China does.

Both the Senate and the House included Cruz’s additional funding in their adopted versions of Trump’s tax and spending bill.

Sen. Katie Britt said on X the legislation, “delivers on major promises” and will bring significant investment to north Alabama’s space industry. That includes $100 million for construction and infrastructure projects at Marshall Space Flight Center and $4.1 billion for the Artemis IV and V missions.

Rep. Dale Strong, whose 5th District includes Huntsville, said in a new release, “From our space, defense, and manufacturing sectors to our working families, farmers, and small business owners — all of North Alabama will benefit from President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.”

If Trump signs the legislation, as he is expected to do, north Alabama stands to gain from at least two additional Artemis missions run from Marshall Space Flight Center.

A 2024 study found Alabama enjoyed $5.1 billion in economic impact due to NASA’s Artemis-related work -- more than any other state. It attributed much of that to the reach of Marshall and the contracting it oversees.

Marshall Space Flight Center is NASA’s lead center for SLS, managing the booster, engines, stages, and integration. Marshall is one of NASA’s largest field centers, employing nearly 7,000 federal workers and contractors.

Major Huntsville aerospace contractors including Boeing, Dynetics, Aerojet Rocketdyne, United Launch Alliance and Teledyne Brown Engineering contribute to the development, production and operation of the SLS’s various elements.