Dan Carsen

The state has some of the country's most overcrowded — and troubled — prisons. Alabama is also home to a thriving life skills program that prison officials are fighting to save from budget slashes.

Dustin Jones is visually impaired, but after he got a bioptic telescope he started driving. About 40 states allow severely nearsighted drivers to use this technology on the road.

Dan Carsen of WBHM reports how 3-D printers are changing manufacturing. They're cheap, and their results can be impressive. In Alabama, a team is working to create affordable prosthetics for kids.

Security experts say the U.S. has a dearth of professionals qualified to take on cyberthreats like attacks on power grids or defense systems. A school district in Alabama and the U.S. Army Cyber Command have teamed up to help prepare a new generation for cyberwarfare careers.

There are way more veterinarians than there is work for them to do, according to a recent survey by the American Veterinary Medical Association, as the nation's veterinary schools continue to crank out graduates.

The decision by a suburban Birmingham school district to eliminate its busing program has erupted into a controversy over race and class. Officials in the Hoover school district say they were forced to drop the buses because of a severe budget shortfall. Many community members believe the decision was designed to force out the growing numbers of minority and low-income students who are lowering average test scores in Hoover schools.

Most kids look forward to their school's winter break. But millions of students in the U.S. get free or reduced-price meals at school, and when school is closed, many of those children eat less until classes are back in session.

Many schools and colleges train students and staff to lock doors, call police and stay put during shooting threats. But a growing number of schools are adopting the advice of security experts who say students should be taught when and how to fight back when confronted by a gunman.

As a handful of middle-class, white families send their kids to Birmingham's public schools, where students are predominantly black and poor, the uncommon trend raises issues about diversity, integration and gentrification.

Alabama is near the bottom of the country's academic rankings. The state has problems with test scores, school improvement ratings and dropouts. But the district in Birmingham has a different kind of issue. The state recently took over the school board because of infighting on the board. The move has triggered cries of racism.