Top 9@9 for August 15, 2012 - FOX 54 WZDX – Huntsville News, Weather and Sports

1. A 7 year old barely escaped the clutches of a kidnapper in Huntsville. The boy says he was able to run away after a man grabbed him and pulled him inside an apartment.

2. A convicted murderer from Jackson County is asking for a new trial to get off death row. Relatives of his victims are protesting.

3. An expansion of a Walgreens customer care center in Muscle Shoals is expected to bring in 350 new jobs. The operation opened in 2004 at Southgate Mall.

4. The failure of lawmakers in Washington to reach an agreement of the nation's debt could mean hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts for the department of defense. That could mean hundreds of layoffs for defense contractors in the Valley.

5. We have new images of this past weekend's meteor shower from the Marshall space flight center. Scientists say over 100 individual meteor images were combined to create the composite.

6. Mitt Romney made a stop in Birmingham to raise money for his Republican presidential campaign. Donors gave a minimum of $1,000 to get in.

7. Hundreds of undocumented immigrants lined up Wednesday to register for the Dream Act. The new program allows applicants of a certain age a two year break from the possibility of being deported.

8. More than a dozen retailers, including Wal-Mart and Target, are stepping up efforts to allow customers to make purchases with their smartphones. Technology firms are pouring billions of dollars into digital wallets.

9. A candidate for Cullman Mayor says she's not worried that an appearance on the Jerry Springer show a decade ago will hurt her campaign. Verna Jackson Hammons went on the syndicated talk show with her lover and his wife and got into a fight with the woman.