By Glynn Wilson – Perry Oliver Hooper Sr., the “baby daddy” of Nixon’s racist “Dixie Strategy” in Alabama, died Sunday at his home in Montgomery. He was 91. While he is being honored by Republicans all over the state this week, it might also be a time to remember the damage he caused. Hooper is…
Critics Say More People Are Going to Die Needlessly Due to Legislative Inaction – Watch this shocking video to see what legislators are saying about the inevitability of many people dying due to the budget shortfall. – By Glynn Wilson – MONTGOMERY, Ala. — More sick babies, old folks and poor people are just going…
By Glynn Wilson – A number of people from across Alabama have indicated they will converge on Montgomery Wednesday, April 20, when a joint committee of the House and Senate will hold a hearing on the problems of funding Medicaid in the state. After Governor Robert Bentley refused for the past three years to accept…
By Robert Reich – A crowning achievement of the historic March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream” speech, was pushing through the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Recognizing the history of racist attempts to prevent black people from voting, that federal law forced a number of southern…
A national best selling author, attorney and advocate for prisoners and justice in Alabama says Governor Robert Bentley’s plan to close some prisions and build more isn’t the answer for fixing the state’s broken system. Bryan Stevenson, the head of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, calls Bentley’s plan to build four new prisons “misguided…
But For Killing Thousands of People, Not the Alleged Sex Scandal – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — While the people and what passes for press now in my native state are all a Twitter over allegations that Governor Robert Bentley may have had sex with his chief adviser, Rebekah…
Note from Heather Gray of the Justice Initiative out of Atlanta: Welcome to the South, a region of intolerance, bigotry, racism, greed by the privileged white elites along with incredibly brave resistance to it all. Invoking the 1901 Alabama constitution that continues to destroy local democratic systems and control, the Republican governor of Alabama has…
EDITORIAL – MOBILE, Ala. – We hate to be the bearer of bad news and all. But not only did Donald Trump dominate the Super Tuesday vote across the country and win Alabama with 43 percent of the Republican votes cast. And not only did Hillary Clinton dominate the day across the country and win…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — When voters go to the polls in Alabama on Super Tuesday, not only will they be voting either Republican or Democrat for their favorite candidate, Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump or one of the others. There is an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot which is…
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.†— William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2 – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — It’s Joe Cain Day, the Sunday before Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras Day, when some people on the Gulf Coast feast before some Christians observe a…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge grilled lawyers here Tuesday about the questionable legality of a plan put forward by the administration of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to use BP oil spill environmental restoration money for economic development to build a hotel and convention center on the state park beach in…
Will they build them in Mobile? How will state and local officials and the local media respond? – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — When Alabama officials celebrated the news that Airbus would open a plant to build planes and provide jobs here, little did they know one of the biggest customers would turn…
By Walter Simon – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The last time I was in the vicinity of the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham was in the winter of 2012 at the occupy camp we set up, wrapping around the corner sidewalk of 20th and 5th avenue north in front of the entrance to Regions bank. The bus…
Environmental Group Pushes for Expedited Oral Arguments – By Glynn Wilson – The Bentley administration is stalling in federal court by opposing expedited oral arguments in a lawsuit filed against the proposed use of $58 million in BP oil settlement money — designated to restore the Gulf eco-system — to build a hotel and convention…
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the Paris climate conference just built an eight-lane freeway to Hades. Leaders and nerds from 195 countries sifted through separate plans for saving the species from itself and tried to meld them into an agreed text about shrinking…
By Glynn Wilson – MONTGOMERY. Ala. – Governor Robert Bentley issued a statement on Wednesday in response to the Obama administration’s announcement of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation into the proposed closure of state driver license offices in mostly poor counties populated by minorities. Bentley claimed there were no offices closed and…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBIlE, Ala. – While the national news is rife with stories about the death of the Keystone XL Pipeline out west, the ongoing climate talks in Paris and the low price of oil internationally, a local petroleum industry front group and the politicians and media they are trying to buy seem…
By Glynn Wilson – When we were young and naive, back in the day before the Bush Years, we consumed the government and American history text books that told us how the judicial branch of government is supposed to be above politics. When I first set foot in a newsroom across the street from a…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It seems old stories never die. They just keep going round and around, circling further from the truth as time goes by. I just got off the phone with a producer in New York who wants to interview me, again, about the political prosecution of former Alabama…
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – After a couple years trudging through the weeds and thickets of laws, regulations, technical standards, hazard assessments, health effects, economic impacts and other consequences of petroleum storage tanks, Mobile has arrived at nearly the same place it began this trek. On June 11 a three-member subcommittee presented its…
