Izzy Gould

Sports Updated: Apr. 14, 2026, 10:38 a.m. |Published: Apr. 14, 2026, 10:27 a.m. In February 2020, we made a hard call. We shut down the comments that appeared after news stories. It was the right decision, at the time. What was once intended to be a genuine exchange of conversation had curdled. A tiny fraction of AL.com’s millions of monthly readers were responsible for the bulk of the comments, and too many of them weren’t there to talk. Moderating became unmanageable.

Meet the 22 Alabamians who made a difference this year This December, we are honoring 22 Alabamians who helped make a difference in 2022. Look out each weekday for these stories.

Since December 2020, we have used the last month of the year to honor our fellow Alabamians who made our state a better place during the past year. It was necessary to do in 2020 after the pandemic turned our lives upside down, and in 2021 we weren’t quite back to the “new normal” we thought we would be. As time goes on, we at AL.com knew we needed to continue this tradition.