MONTGOMERY — Rep. Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery) on Tuesday won the special general election in Senate District 26. Hatcher defeated Republican nominee William Green by a 78%-22% margin. Green is a former Montgomery City Council member. According to unofficial results provided by Montgomery County Probate Judge JC Love, 5,827 votes were cast in the contest, equating to […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Legislature on Tuesday convened for the 10th day of its 2021 regular session. Both chambers worked off of respective special order calendars that contained a mixture of controversial and non-controversial bills. The House gaveled in at 1:00 p.m. and adjourned for the day at 6:30 p.m.; the Senate got in at […]

MONTGOMERY — On a party line vote, the Alabama Senate on Tuesday passed SB 10, the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act. Sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville), the bill would ban the performance of medical procedures and the prescription of puberty-blocking medications and sex-change hormones used as transgender therapies for minors, with certain exceptions. […]

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Lynda Blanchard on Tuesday called upon the Alabama House Constitution, Campaigns, and Elections Committee to vote down a bill that would legalize no-excuse absentee voting in the state, among other alterations of Alabama’s elections laws. The committee is set to meet on Wednesday regarding HB 396, which is sponsored by State Rep. […]

Dr. Seuss is under fire on his birthday. March 2 is the anniversary of Dr. Seuss’ birth, as well as the annual Read Across America Day. Started by the National Educational Association in 1998 as a way to promote children’s reading, the holiday is traditionally seen as being held in conjunction with Dr. Seuss’ birthday, although […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday afternoon gave a favorable report to SB 259, which is sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road). This bill would allow the legislature to call itself into a special session through a joint proclamation by the Senate president pro tem and the speaker of the House. […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday gave a favorable report to SB 235, a bill that would ban curbside voting in the state. The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Dan Roberts (R-Mountain Brook). No Democrats were present for the committee meeting, and the favorable report came on an uncontested voice vote. […]

Alabama Power Company in recent days was the focus of a joint webinar organized by the Edison Electric Institute and the National League of Cities (NLC), as the kick-off to NLC’s Emerging Tech Webinar Series. The webinar featured a remote panel discussion moderated by John Smola, director of Business Transformation and Administration for Alabama Power. Panelists […]

Congressman Jerry Carl (AL-01) on Monday filed his first-ever piece of legislation, titled “The American Heritage Protection Act of 2021.” The Republican freshman representative from Mobile noted that his bill comes after the D.C. Facilities and Commemorative Expressions Working Group (DCFACES) last fall recommended 150 sites in our nation’s capital be either removed, contextualized or have […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Legislature on Tuesday will convene for the 10th day of its 2021 regular session. There is also one committee meeting scheduled for the day, as well as one subcommittee meeting. Read about what occurred last Thursday on the ninth legislative day here.

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Monday delivered his maiden speech on the floor of the United States Senate. In his remarks, which spanned more than seven minutes, the freshman senator thanked the people of Alabama for sending him to Washington, D.C., spoke about his background as an educator and mentor, and emphasized that he […]

National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Alabama state director Rosemary Elebash on Monday called on the Alabama House of Representatives to pass State Rep. Jamie Kiel’s (R-Russellville) bill that would effectively erase the distinction between “essential” and “non-essential” businesses during a pandemic or other declared emergency. HB 103 as amended was given a favorable report […]

HOMEWOOD — The “Reopening the Economy in the Age of COVID” conference occurred Thursday in suburban Birmingham, drawing leading academics and economists from across the nation to discuss not only the COVID-19 pandemic but also how lessons learned from the past year should help inform public policy and future decision-making to avoid repeated mistakes. The […]

The University of Alabama System on Monday announced that its three distinct institutions plan to return to traditional in-person instruction without restrictions on classroom capacity for the fall 2021 semester. While UA System campuses this ongoing spring semester continue to offer a mixture of traditional, hybrid and virtual classes while implementing campus-wide advanced health and […]

In an important and timely display of confidence for the Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) program, the U.S. Navy has selected Mobile-based Austal USA to design and build an additional EPF. The award comes in the form of a $235 million undefinitized contract action modification for the detailed design and construction of EPF 15. The modification […]

Lighthouse Labs, a nationally acclaimed startup accelerator based in Virginia, on Monday announced the 10 teams joining its milestone 10th cohort. This latest cohort will run from March 15 until June 4 and is Lighthouse’s largest and most diverse to date. Among the group is Birmingham-based Frameworq. Created initially for internal usage by KMS, formerly […]

On the heels of President Joe Biden buckling to teachers unions and refusing to follow the science in keeping schools shuttered across the nation, he has now apparently caved to behind-the-scenes lobbying from union bosses again. Biden on Sunday evening released a video in support of the New York City-based Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s […]

MONTGOMERY — U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Saturday addressed the 2021 Winter Meeting of the Alabama Republican Party. He delivered an update on his first two months in office, decrying what Democratic-control of both legislative chambers and the executive branch means for the country. Tuberville noted that between now and when he next is […]

MONTGOMERY — Mobile County’s John Skipper on Saturday defeated State Rep. Andrew Sorrell (R-Muscle Shoals) to become senior vice chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. The election came during ALGOP’s 2021 Winter Meeting. Skipper fills the seat vacated by John Wahl’s ascension to chairman of the state party.

The U.S. House of Representatives early Saturday morning passed H.R. 1319, the $1.9 trillion so-called American Rescue Plan backed by President Joe Biden and Democratic congressional leadership. The vote was 219-212; the spending bill now moves to the U.S. Senate. All six House Republicans from Alabama voted against the legislation, while Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) […]

Some of our nation’s most important — and most complex — problems are being addressed by innovators in Huntsville, which U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) called the “Silicon Valley of the South” in a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing this week. A lot of that groundbreaking work is done or otherwise made possible by engineers, […]

United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama Louis V. Franklin, Sr. on Friday retired after three decades of distinguished service to the people of our state and nation. Franklin joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama in 1990 as an Assistant United States Attorney. Over the three decades that […]

Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth (R-AL) on Friday morning interviewed with two Alabama radio shows about a wide-range of topics, including Space Command, no-excuse absentee voting and the comprehensive gaming proposal currently pending action by the State Senate. Speaking to Birmingham-area Talk 99.5’s “Matt & Val Show,” Ainsworth was asked by co-host Matt Murphy about his […]

Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth (R-AL) on Friday announced he will not be a candidate in Alabama’s 2022 U.S. Senate contest. The seat is being vacated by U.S. Senator Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) decision not to seek a seventh term. Ainsworth, who is serving his first term as lieutenant governor, is the prohibitive favorite to be the […]