More voters are expected at the polls for July’s primary election runoff than in recent years, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told Yellowhammer News on Tuesday. Merrill expects turnout to be at around 15 to 18 percent. “I think it will be that high – even though that’s a low number – I think […]

For thirteen years, the beloved “tax-free weekend” has allowed Alabama shoppers to purchase school-related products and clothing without having to pay the state’s four percent sales tax. Many cities and counties also participate in waiving their sales taxes, making the products altogether tax-free. There are some limitations, however:

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) recently told the Associated Press that Alabama’s gubernatorial race is “probably the most competitive race that we’ve seen in a couple of decades.” What informs his judgment, Jones leaves unclear. Perhaps it is self-confidence, born out of his own victory last December. It doesn’t come from Ivey vs. Maddox polling […]

The U.S. House of Representatives last Thursday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2019, funding several national defense priorities that are built, maintained, or utilized by Alabama’s military and manufacturing efforts. The spending bill authorizes:

There have long been debates about what constitutes conservative economic policy – debates that continue more furiously in the days of Trump’s tariffs – but arguments almost always prioritize the best possible result for consumers. Gov. Kay Ivey’s position on the Supreme Court’s ruling in South Dakota vs. Wayfair does not do that. It does […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee did on Thursday what no one thought it could do by passing fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Defense, thereby completing the Senate’s regular appropriations process sooner than any year since 1988. “We’re trying to make this more adult behavior,” Shelby, […]

“Let them eat frozen dinners,” writes Josh Moon, a columnist for Alabama Political Reporter, in his Wednesday column. Appealing to man’s greater instincts, Moon encourages progressives to continue heckling Republican leaders out of restaurants, to “protest them at their office, boo them in public settings,” and to “not stop making life absolutely, utterly miserable for […]

The white sand of Alabama’s coast wasn’t enough to place our beaches among 2018’s best beaches for living, as determined by the finance website WalletHub. Had sand quality been a consideration, certainly Orange Beach would have cracked the top 160, and Gulf Shores would have been ranked higher than number 107.

Alabama had President Trump’s ear on Tuesday when he hosted a meeting at the White House for Republican appropriators. Present at the meeting, where members shared their concerns and wishes as they relate to the process of funding the government, were Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as Reps. […]

While he still used the platform to promote the Trump Administration’s tough immigration policies, Attorney General Jeff Sessions returned his department’s focus to the issue of school safety on Monday, during a speech to the National Association of School Resource Officers. “At the direction of President Trump, the entire government has put renewed attention on […]

In an interview with Matt Murphy of the Matt & Aunie show, Rep. Gary Palmer made clear his view of a Virginia restaurant owner’s decision to refuse service to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, due to her association with President Trump. “I think it’s a borderline civil rights violation,” Palmer said. “This is really […]

A recent lengthy and, at times, quite flattering profile of Sen. Doug Jones by FiveThirtyEight’s Clare Malone offers little breaking news – aside from the interesting revelation that Jones believes he would have beaten Roy Moore by a wider margin had sexual misconduct allegations not been raised against Moore. The story is worth reading, though, […]

Republican candidate for attorney general of Alabama Troy King lashed out at his GOP competitor on Friday, saying Marshall is not adequately tending to his duties as the state’s top law enforcement officer. “Last week, we gathered in Montgomery to look for Attorney General Steve Marshall,” King said at a press conference this morning at […]

Rep. Martha Roby has received the president’s seal of approval, a tweet of endorsement in her Republican primary runoff bid for reelection to represent Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. Congresswoman Martha Roby of Alabama has been a consistent and reliable vote for our Make America Great Again Agenda. She is in a Republican Primary run-off against […]

Astronomy news is always old news because of, you know, light years and such. About 750 million years ago, in a galaxy far, far away (queue the Star Wars intro), a black hole consumed a nearby star in an event that has revealed to astronomers the existence of something new: a mid-sized black hole. Dr. […]

Scholars and pundits have made their thoughts well-known on the Trump Administration’s biblical arguments for “zero-tolerence” immigration enforcement. Here I offer one more targeted to the structure of the argument that Attorney General Jeff Sessions made last Thursday. For review, here are his words, which have enticed the most responders.

The amount of personal and political separation between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has increased since yesterday, though no more directed swipes have been taken. Both responded to the much-anticipated Department of Justice’s Inspector General report on the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation with criticism of the bureau, but their […]

On May 18, Weston Spivey graduated high school from Ridgecrest Christian in Dothan. In the June 5 primary elections, he beat incumbent Geneva County Commissioner Bryan Hatton for his District 1 seat. “A lot of no’s and a lot of ‘there ain’t no way you can win this race with who you’re running against,’” the […]

The ever-progressive Seattle City Council yesterday repealed a head tax that it unanimously passed just a month ago tomorrow. The tax would have cost Seattle’s largest corporations $275 per full-time employee, revenue which would be utilized to combat the city’s homelessness issues. I was in Seattle when the council voted on May 14 to approve […]

My favorite research of the past ten years – mainly because it, at least to some degree, defends my verbal reaction to spilling hot coffee – is the finding that using foul language has health benefits. “The words themselves don’t help us to better tolerate pain – but the emotional and physical reaction that we […]

In a little more than three years, a single man has altered the dynamics of Republican politics drastically enough to change the scale by which candidates and voters determine the viability of their potential GOP representatives. Republicans’ fidelity to conservatism is no longer framed in terms of how conservatively they vote, but by how little […]

The results are in. Attorney General Steve Marshall and former Attorney General Troy King will face each other again next month in a Republican primary runoff, the winner of which will go up against Democrat nominee Joseph Siegelman in November’s general election. Here are a few thoughts on what happened last night, and on what’s […]

The first half of election season nears its resolution today as voters choose their party’s candidate for November. Here’s what the polls tell us may happen at the polls: Governor’s race Polling demonstrates that Gov. Kay Ivey has a commanding lead – 58 percent in the most recent poll, conducted by The Tarrance Group. Tommy […]

It’s common for even the most educated of voters to know little about the candidates on their ballots. It’s perhaps even more common for voters to lack a general understanding of the offices which those candidates want to occupy. Here’s a quick summary of the duties of each member of Alabama’s executive department. Governor The […]