Obama administration tries again to block Alabama law

The Obama administration is appealing a federal judge's decision to let much of Alabama's immigration law to go into effect last week by asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case to block its enforcement. The Justice Department says the law will "expose persons lawfully in the United States, including school children, to new difficulties in routine dealings," the AP reports.

Meanwhile, the state's top agriculture official floated the idea of paying nonviolent inmates to work in the state's fields, since farmers say most of their laborers are fleeing Alabama. Some farmers have complained that they've had to let their crops rot in the field this fall because of the labor shortage.