A recent Morning Consult poll showing Democratic U.S. Sen. Doug Jones’s approval rating at 47 percent – four points under Shelby’s 51 percent – gives me reason to revisit my thoughts on Sen. Jones’s politics. A few days after Doug Jones was elected as a U.S. senator, I offered four reasons why he looks like […]

On Wednesday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) responded to the Congressional Budget Office’s recent budget outlook with, what could become, regret for his role in passing tax cuts. “If it ends up costing what has been laid out here, it could well be one of the worst votes I’ve made,” Corker told The Hill. Corker was […]

Republican candidate for governor Scott Dawson discussed his priority of instituting mandatory drug testing at all Alabama public schools in a recent interview with John Sharp of AL.com. “It is because I’m tired of drug addiction holding a generation hostage,” Dawson told Sharp. “Drug addiction doesn’t know a gender, a race, a socioeconomic status.” Dawson […]

On Monday, the Congressional Budget Office published its analysis of the budget and economic outlook for 2018-2028, giving both Republicans and Democrats some more ammunition to take into the midterm elections. For Republicans, the analysis indicates that their recent tax cuts are helping to grow the economy as they said it would. “In our economic […]

Sean Hannity will respond to Jimmy Kimmel’s sincere (at least, in letter) apology on his show tonight and will either end or prolong a public spat the two have carried on since last week. Kimmel started it all by joking about First Lady Melania Trump’s accent. Hannity called Kimmel a disgrace and eventually got around […]

When President Trump proposes a non-conservative policy, his staff and his more faithful supporters often put forth an argument that goes something like, “It’s his strategy so he can get what he wants” or “He’s playing the long game.” Such has been their response to the president’s tariff proposals. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently told […]

Facebook has had us all by the neck for a long time, and we’ve probably known it but just not wanted to admit it or consider the implications. It’s had us by the neck, not because it’s an authoritarian company that wants to take advantage of people (although that may be true – I’m not […]

The Sinclair Broadcast Group story is annoying on just about every level. That includes Sinclair’s editorial about fake news, which it had uniformly transmitted to its stations’ local audiences. It also includes the overriding criticism of Sinclair from the Left, which has been using language of cultural decay and propaganda – and more invocations of […]

The big news in golf over the last few weeks has been Tiger Woods’ potential re-ascendency, but it’s nowhere near as interesting as a third-grade Alabama girl competing – and beating – 17-year-old boys in high school varsity golf. A recent Tuscaloosa News report outlines the story of Anna Beeker, a nine-year-old who competes on […]

Last week, Pope Francis reportedly told Eugenio Scalfari, the founder of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, that Hell does not exist. “There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls,” Scalfari quoted the pontiff saying. On Friday, March 30, after Scalfari published his story, The Vatican published this statement  challenging its credibility: “The […]

Downtown Montevallo will soon have free public WiFi for all to use, thanks to a partnership between the city and the University of Montevallo. “The University is excited to support the downtown life,” University of Montevallo Chief Information Officer, Craig Gray, said in a press release. “We want students on Main Street and we want […]

Not all gun control advocates demand it, but there is growing support for semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 to be outlawed at the federal level. Some state and local jurisdictions have taken action into their own hands, enacting bans on such firearms, and those bans have been largely upheld in federal courts. In 2015, […]

If you’re hunting for a great place to celebrate Easter, you will find few better than Birmingham, Alabama, according to an analysis by WalletHub. The details: The finance website ranked Birmingham the 6th best place to celebrate Easter in the U.S. The high ranking is due in large measure to its many number of celebrants […]

The Circuit Court of Montgomery has allowed LEAD Academy to continue recruiting teachers and students as it awaits an April 30 hearing which will determine the validity of its charter, as authorized by the Alabama Public Charter School Commission. Earlier this month, the Alabama Education Association filed suit challenging the commission’s authorization of LEAD Academy, […]

In the 20 years that Tom Benz has been doing orphan ministry in Ukraine, he has built a “bridge of faith” between the Eastern European country and his home in Alabama. Bridges of Faith, Benz’s Clanton-based ministry, works with orphaned Ukrainian children, helping to facilitate adoptions and cultural exchange programs throughout the year.

Secretary of State John Merrill challenged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s revelation that his company helped disrupt the spreading of false information during Alabama’s special U.S. Senate election last December, telling Yellowhammer News that he has been shown no evidence to support Zuckerberg’s claim. In an interview published Thursday, Zuckerberg revealed to the New York Times […]

Alabama is the fourth most federally dependent state in the union, according to analysis done by the personal finance website WalletHub. The details: Researchers compared the 50 states by examining both the dependency of state governments and of state residents.

Reforming what county sheriffs do with unspent jail food allowances should have been accomplished a long time ago, Robert Timmons, Executive Director of the Alabama Sheriff’s Association, told Yellowhammer News on Tuesday. “It should have been done 50 years ago,” Timmons said. “It’s an antiquated law.”

State Rep. Mack Butler, who represents Etowah and St. Clair Counties, introduced a bill on Monday creating a local constitutional amendment providing that the Sheriff of Etowah County must deposit into a special account all excess allowances given for feeding prisoners. The excess funds can then be used for designated law enforcement purposes. Butler’s legislative […]

Back in 2003, while U.S. Army Specialist Todd Rauch and his buddies were patrolling the streets of Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city made famous by its notorious prison, a remotely-detonated mortar exploded near his patrol. His right shoulder and hand were severely injured in the blast. Rauch was eventually flown to Walter Reed Army Medical […]

Last week State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Birmingham) introduced the Forfeiture Database and Reporting Act to create a central repository of data on asset forfeitures to provide lawmakers and citizens with easily accessible information on the practice. The bill would require law enforcement to report information about the seizures that include, among others, the date of property […]

A recent report about the more than $750,000 that Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin has pocketed over the last three years in extra “Food Provisions” money has reinvigorated attention into a state law that allows sheriffs to keep leftover money not used to feed inmates. The report, authored by Birmingham News reporter Connor Sheets, details […]

Glenwood, Inc., a non-profit serving people with autism and other mental health concerns, just got three new “Hope Cottages” on its 363-acre Birmingham campus to house 16 residents who have autism.

Alabama’s efforts to create a $60 million “roll-on, roll-off” facility at the Port of Mobile to serve the state’s growing automobile industry took two big steps forward during the past few days after nearly 70 percent of its costs were funded through enormous coastal and federal grants. The money: — $28.8 million was received from […]