The United States could be approaching herd immunity, which occurs when enough people become immune to a disease to make its spread unlikely, according to Suzanne Judd, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Based on the number of vaccinations that have already been administered, as well as findings […]

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) on Monday celebrated the launch of production on the all-new 2022 Tucson SUV, setting a major milestone for the Montgomery plant and the South Korea-based automotive giant. The Tucson now joins the Sonata and Elantra sedans and Santa Fe SUV on the assembly line in Alabama’s capital city. This addition […]

Balch & Bingham on Tuesday announced the addition of Brandi Russell as the firm’s chief diversity & inclusion officer and director of talent management. Russell joins the firm’s professional management team and will be based in its Birmingham headquarters office. As chief diversity & inclusion officer and director of talent management, Russell will reportedly work […]

Birmingham-based Regions Bank on Tuesday announced the company is expanding access to its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan application portal to allow even more small businesses to apply for the job-sustaining funding. PPP was established by Congress last spring and is managed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide crucial forgivable loans for companies […]

If Alabamians in November 2022 have the opportunity to vote and approve the gambling constitutional amendment proposal currently under consideration in the legislature, it could change the state in profound ways, according to State Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville). Monday on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” Chambliss called the bill the “most transformative” legislation we could […]

This week will be a pivotal week for State Sen. Del Marsh’s (R-Anniston) comprehensive gaming legislation, which, if it can reach a three-fifths majority in both chambers of the legislature, will allow Alabamians to vote on a gambling package that would allow for a lottery and the proliferation of casino gaming in various places around […]

Australia-based Austal Limited on Monday evening announced the resignation of Craig Perciavalle, the president of its American subsidiary Austal USA. In a written release, Austal said that his resignation follows the completion of an investigation conducted by external attorneys but commissioned by the company. That probe reportedly focused on what is believed to be at […]

Governor Kay Ivey has ordered flags to half-staff in Alabama to honor and remember the more than 500,000 Americans who have died due to COVID-19. The action was taken in accordance by a proclamation issued Monday by President Joe Biden; Ivey has ordered flags lowered until sunset on Friday, February 26. “Alabama joins the rest […]

A Birmingham man pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering Birmingham Police Department Sgt. Wytasha Carter and attempting to murder two other officers during an encounter in January 2019. The defendant, Jeremy Elwin Owens, will serve three life sentences in state prison and has no chance for parole. Owens, 33, avoided the death penalty for his […]

Members of Alabama’s congressional delegation are confident that a review will find that the Air Force’s decision to name Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal as the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command was the correct one based on merit. The Department of Defense’s inspector general is investigating the decision, which Governor Kay Ivey welcomed in a statement […]

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced Monday that Revive Plus, the state government’s grant program that provided aid to small businesses and other institutions, has used up all available funding. Revive Plus was created with $200 million of the federal funds sent to Alabama in the CARES Act. It allowed small businesses, non-profits and faith-based organizations […]

HUNTSVILLE — The days of residents driving around the Madison County courthouse square looking for a parking spot to conduct personal business with the County are no more. The time and energy wasted standing in lines at overcrowded offices — no more. Beginning March 1, getting licenses, automobile plates, seeing the tax assessor or paying […]

During an interview that aired on last week’s broadcast of Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” Gov. Kay Ivey seemingly dismissed members of the Alabama Legislature considering efforts to add a check to executive authority during an emergency as Alabama approaches a year of being under a health state of emergency for COVID-19. Ivey seemed to […]

The Department of Defense’s inspector general on Friday announced it is probing the Air Force’s decision announced last month to make Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command. Redstone was one of six finalists nationwide for the coveted HQ. Colorado’s Peterson Air Force Base, Space Command’s current temporary headquarters, was one of […]

Georgia’s Stacey Abrams over the weekend became the latest national leftwing firebrand to call on Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, to unionize. A vote is ongoing by employees at the Amazon fulfillment center in metropolitan Birmingham to determine whether they will join the New York City-based Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an affiliate […]

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that Devonte Lemon Hammonds on Friday pleaded guilty to counts that included defrauding the memorial fund of the late Huntsville Police Department Officer Billy Fred Clardy, III. Clardy was shot and killed in the line of duty in 2019 while participating in an anti-narcotics operation. Following his death, a […]

Altimmune Inc.’s AdCOVID vaccine candidate is set to begin its Phase 1 clinical trial this week, the company announced in recent days. This vaccine candidate was tested preclinically on mice last spring and summer at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); it also potentially offers several advantages to the vaccines currently approved by the […]

As of last week, there are measures under consideration in both the House and Senate that would add checks to executive branch authority under declared emergencies by granting the Alabama Legislature the power to have input if it desired. One proposal in the House, sponsored by State Rep. Becky Nordgren (R-Gadsden), would allow the legislature […]

In an unparalleled and unpredictable year of turbulence in global trade, Alabama’s exports of goods and services in 2020 totaled $17.13 billion. Reflecting the declines in export volumes recorded by nearly all states as well as the nation, Alabama’s total exports registered an overall decline of 17.6% in 2020 compared to the prior year, according to […]

From May 2020 through February 2021, the Alabama Legislature was out of session. While that was not unlike any other year under normal circumstances, the state government was very active in its response to the COVID-19 situation. Given that the legislative branch was not in Montgomery, much of what took place at the state level […]

The 2020 election cycle in Georgia, which saw the state go for Joe Biden in the presidential election and flip two U.S. Senate seats from red to blue, has some looking across the border to the west, wondering if the same thing is possible in Alabama. With U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) announcing he will […]

Even though State Sen. Del Marsh’s (R-Anniston) comprehensive gaming legislation has received some early praise from around the state of Alabama, margins could still be tight when a final vote is taken because of the three-fifths supermajority required in each chamber of the Alabama Legislature to make it to the ballot for a constitutional amendment. […]

CALVERT, Alabama – With a groundbreaking ceremony this week, ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel Corp. marked the official launch of a $775 million project to construct a massive new steelmaking facility at their AM/NS Calvert production site near Mobile. “Alabama and the steel industry go hand in hand, and I am proud to see continued growth […]

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Even with the continued stress from the pandemic, business leaders in the state remained mostly optimistic their businesses will have a positive start to 2021, according to a quarterly survey done by economists at The University of Alabama. The UA Center for Business Economics and Research’s most recent Alabama Business Confidence Index shows […]