The Alabama Workforce Council released its annual report on Friday. The document showed that the coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench into the state’s workforce development machinery, but progress is still being made. Hanging over all of Alabama’s workforce development efforts is Governor Kay Ivey’s stated goal of adding 500,000 credentialed workers to the state’s pool […]

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin this week filed his 2020 year-end finance report, showing $1,003,783 raised so far with $1,000,756 cash on hand for his upcoming campaign. Woodfin officially announced his reelection bid last week and already has a big cash advantage. In fact, the recent donations to Woodfin are records for any Birmingham municipal race […]

Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) on Friday announced his reappointment to the influential House Armed Services Committee (HASC) for the 117th Congress, which runs through January 3, 2023. At the subcommittee level, Brooks has been reappointed to Strategic Forces and appointed to Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems. The North Alabama congressman has served on HASC […]

Earlier this week, State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island) introduced legislation that would withhold state tax abatements or credits and economic incentives from companies that engage in censorship. Brown’s HB 213 Anti-Censorship Act has 10 other co-sponsors. The language of the bill explicitly states censorship would pertain to anything outside of incitement to violence. Tech […]

While some Republican voters have lamented the outcome of the 2020 election, given the circumstances they felt were questionable, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) says those voters are about to get a wake-up call as the Biden administration enacts its policies. During an appearance on Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5, Palmer predicted job losses would […]

The state’s economy could grow by 2.6% in 2021, a good clip that will not pull the state out of the hole created in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report published yesterday by economists at The University of Alabama. “It will be a couple of years before we get back to pre-pandemic level economic […]

Alabama’s number of new coronavirus cases and patients requiring hospitalization continued to drop sharply in the last week. Alabama’s seven-day average of new cases dropped to a rate not experienced since the Thanksgiving holiday, an event believed by experts to have kicked off the massive winter spike in numbers. Over the past week, an average […]

Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Thursday that Alabama will be receiving $9,229,421 from being part of a 47-state coalition that went after the McKinsey & Company consulting firm for its role in the opioid crisis. In total, the settlement paid by McKinsey was $573 million. Marshall’s office says it is the first multistate opioid settlement […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday passed two bills that are top priorities for state leaders. The House passed one bill that exempts from state taxes the $1,200 and $600 coronavirus relief payments most Alabamians received from the federal government in the last year. The chamber also passed a bill extending two […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate on Thursday morning passed Senator Arthur Orr’s (R-Decatur) SB 30, which would provide limited liability protections to businesses, health care providers and other entities against civil lawsuits related to COVID-19. The vote was 28-1, with Senator Vivian Figures (D-Mobile) as the only “no.” The bill would provide a “safe harbor” […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate on Thursday quickly and unanimously passed a legislative package that is designed to further improve the federal military presence and investment across the Yellowhammer State. The legislative package is the result of work by the Alabama Military Stability Commission, a panel that is chaired by Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth (R-AL). […]

Earlier this week, Gov. Kay Ivey signed 30-year lease agreements for two new mega-prisons, one in Escambia County and the other in Elmore County. The announcement drew some objections from members of the Alabama Legislature but nothing in the form of legislation that might prevent the Ivey administration from proceeding with the project. Wednesday, during […]

For whatever reason, Democrats and the media have sought to get as many Republican elected officials to offer their thoughts on U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a controversial freshman lawmaker who has reportedly taken views considered far outside of the mainstream. Among those questioned was U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn), who declined to comment […]

On Monday, State Rep. Mike Holmes (R-Wetumpka) announced he would back legislation that would strengthen the existing Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. The controversial law, which was passed in 2017, protects “monuments, markers, and other historical remembrances from removal, relocation, and destruction.” During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” the […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Legislature on Wednesday met for the second day of the 2021 regular session. Both chambers gaveled in for relatively brief periods of time, but the day’s committee schedule was pretty packed. Here’s a rundown of the day’s proceedings:

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Wednesday was appointed to four Senate standing committees. The news came after the Senate adopted a power sharing agreement that determined the two caucuses would get an equal number of senators on each committee during the 117th Congress due to the 50-50 split in the chamber. Tuberville, as a […]

A detailed breakdown of Governor Kay Ivey’s proposed budgets was provided by Alabama Department of Finance Director Kelly Butler on Wednesday, including the costs of Ivey’s proposed teacher and state worker pay raises. In large part thanks to responsible budgeting by the legislature over the last decade and increased revenues from the online sales tax, […]

For the third consecutive year, the Alabama Legislature will consider legalizing medicinal marijuana. Efforts have made progress in both chambers of the legislature in previous years but stalled out. State Sen. Tim Melson (R-Florence), an anesthesiologist, leads the effort once again in 2021. During an appearance on Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5, Melson insists the […]

Prominent plaintiff’s attorney Alexander Shunnarah on Wednesday announced the launch of Shunnarah Vail Trial Attorneys, P.C., a joint venture with former Hollis, Wright & Clay, P.C. attorney Tyler Vail. The new firm will be separate from Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys, P.C., of which Shunnarah is the founder and continues to serve as CEO. According to […]

U.S. News & World Report this week released its rankings of the top 25 hotels in Alabama, and the biggest winner was the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. The rankings are based on an analysis of travel expert and user opinions, per U.S. News. Alabama’s top five hotels were as follows:

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a resolution honoring the life and legacy of baseball legend and Mobile native Hank Aaron. The measure was introduced last week by U.S. Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) following Aaron’s death at age 86.

Alabama Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth announced two new ventures on Wednesday designed to better connect Alabama’s students and small business owners with the state’s rapidly expanding aerospace industry. One of the initiatives is a two-week summer internship for students touching on various aspects of the aerospace field. The second is a program to provide business […]

MONTGOMERY — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning gave a favorable report to Senator Arthur Orr’s (R-Decatur) SB 30, which would provide limited liability protections to businesses, health care providers and other entities against civil lawsuits related to COVID-19. The committee vote was 9-2. The bill would provide a “safe harbor” against frivolous coronavirus […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning gave a favorable report to a bill that would allow the delivery of sealed beer, wine and liquor from grocery stores, restaurants and other licensed retailers to residences across the Yellowhammer State. The bill, SB 126, would provide that the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board […]