John Ross | Lobbyist | Swatek Azbell Howe & Ross Ross has spent the last decade working his way up from a staffer on then-Congressman Bob Riley’s first gubernatorial campaign to his current position as a founding partner of one of the state’s top governmental and political affairs firms. He served on Gov. Riley’s Inaugural […]

Twinkle Cavanaugh | President | Alabama Public Service Commission Cavanaugh makes her debut on the Power & Influence 40 this year, mainly because the Alabama Public Service Commission has been thrust into the limelight as ground zero in the battle between environmental groups and the state’s energy sector. In spite of the chaos, she has over […]

Nick Sellers | Vice President, Regulatory & Corporate Affairs | Alabama Power Sellers has been a steady riser at the power company and is now rapidly expanding his footprint in the broader Birmingham business community. His role as VP of Regulatory & Corporate Affairs is typically filled by executives being bred for even higher leadership slots. Outgoing Alabama Power CEO Charles […]

John McMahon | Chairman | Ligon Industries McMahon is the blueprint for how to be a major behind-the-scenes power player in Alabama politics. In the mid-90s, he and a small group of business leaders decided it was time to get more engaged in Alabama politics — from issues in the legislature to judicial races. Karl […]

Mike Thompson | Chairman & CEO | Thompson Tractor Thompson has been the CEO of his family’s company for the last quarter century and has grown it into an industrial behemoth. Thompson Tractor Company, Inc. is the full-line Caterpillar dealer for Alabama and northwest Florida and the Caterpillar forklift dealer for all of Georgia except the nine […]

Bob Riley | Lobbyist | Riley & Associates Riley served in Congress for six years before being elected Alabama’s 52nd governor in 2002. Eight years later, his final act on Goat Hill was calling the 2010 special session of the Alabama legislature, the death knell of the Democrats’ long-held majority. So ubiquitous has the Riley […]

Philip Bryan | Chief of Staff | Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh Bryan’s first job in politics was as communications director at the Alabama Republican Party during the wildly successful 2010 election cycle. He parlayed that into becoming the top staffer for the most powerful state senator in Alabama. Not a bad second stop […]

Fred McCallum | President | AT&T Alabama McCallum, a native of Florence, Ala., took over AT&T’s Alabama division in 2008. He’s ably led the company through a period of rapid transition from being the state’s largest land-line telephone service provider to becoming a force in the wireless, broadband Internet, and cable television sectors. AT&T is […]

Rebekah Mason | Senior Advisor | Governor Robert Bentley It’s easy to forget, but there was a time when Robert Bentley was a little-known state representative from Tuscaloosa launching a long-shot bid for governor. Very few people believed he had much of a chance against better funded candidates. But Mason was one of the true […]

Dave Stewart | Senior Advisor for Government Affairs & Economic Development | Bradley Arant Boult & Cummings  Stewart cut his teeth in politics working for south Alabama congressman Sonny Callahan, R-Mobile. Callahan left office in 2003, at which point Stewart joined the administration of newly elected Alabama Gov. Bob Riley as Policy Director. He worked […]

High level sources have informed Yellowhammer News that Remington, one of the world’s largest gun manufacturers, will on Monday join Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley in announcing that they are bringing over 2,000 jobs to Alabama. The company is viewing the move into Alabama as an expansion, but it will likely impact their Ilion, NY plant as […]

Earlier this week, Alabama State Rep. Alving Holmes, D-Montgomery, said on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives that he does not like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas because he’s married to a white woman, then went on to call him an “Uncle Tom.” Numerous conservative national media outlets picked up on Holmes’ comments, […]

Hillary Clinton has been the darling of the progressive left for decades now. You already can’t go anywhere without seeing “I’m Ready for Hillary” bumper stickers on the cars of many Dem’s already looking ahead to 2016. But while Hillary is the presumptive heir to the presidency in the eyes of many Democrats, one MSNBC […]

The Alabama State Auditor performs an important but little known job for Alabama taxpayers. The Auditor’s website says that the office “is responsible and accountable for all state personal property.” In addition to that, “the office is charged to perform an audit of the equipment in each State Agency every two years.” According to Alabama’s […]

On the day after Thanksgiving, the IRS quietly introduced a set of proposed rules regarding the political activity allowed by 501(c)(4) non-profit organizations. The IRS is required to give the public 90 days to comment, meaning that open period will end on February 27th. These new rules could put in danger the First Amendment rights […]

The Southern Poverty Law Center on Thursday filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage and refusal to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other states. In 1998, Alabama passed the Marriage Protection Act, followed by the 2005 Sanctity of Marriage Amendment to the Alabama State Constitution. The SPLC’s […]

The Alabama House of Representatives today passed House Joint Resolution 49, an application to Congress calling for a Constitutional Convention under Article V of the United States Constitution. Article V of the U.S. Constitution says that a convention of the states can be convened if two-thirds of the state legislatures (34) approve an application for […]

Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s heroic story is being told to audiences in theaters all across the country through the movie Lone Survivor. His book by the same name became a New York Times bestseller. And in just a few weeks, Alabamians will have the opportunity to hear him tell his story in person. Luttrell will […]

In early January, Alabama Secretary of State Jim Bennett announced that both major parties had to qualify their candidates by February 7th. The deadline was much earlier than usual, but the Secretary of State’s office was working to comply with federal laws concerning military and overseas voters. The abrupt change was due to ongoing litigation […]

A yearly report released by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) lists the US as the 46th freest press, down 14 spots from last year. The United States now ranks just above Haiti, and just below the former Soviet state of Romania. The report labels the US and Brazil as the two developed nations in the Americas […]

University of Alabama officials last week removed a pro-life display from the Ferguson Student Center without warning, citing the display’s potentially offensive nature as the reason for the decision. Now the students responsible for the display, members of the pro-life group Bama Students for Life, are fighting back and asking for the University to respect […]

One frustrated 4-year-old speaks out on behalf of the entire Southeastern United States in a 25-second YouTube video that has begun to go viral after being posted a little under a week ago. “Jesus, make it warm!” The unidentified child pleads while staring up at the heavens. “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will […]

(Above: Rep. Martha Roby appears on The Kelly File to discuss her committee’s report on the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi) A new report on the Sept. 11 terror attacks in Benghazi that has been months in the making was finally released this week and, according to Fox News’ Megan Kelly, “it takes aim […]

Continuing to prove that the phrase “government debt limit” is perhaps the world’s greatest oxymoron, The United States House of Representatives voted 221-201 on Tuesday to raise the nation’s debt ceiling once again. House Republican leadership backed off their original strategy of trying to use the debt limit hike to force the Democrats to come […]