Education Matters — By Larry Lee — Debbie Deavours has spent 33 years in the Fayette County school system, the last eight as principal at Berry Elementary in the little town of Berry with its 1,250 people. Debbie has 300 students in pre-K-6. Some 65 percent of whom get free or reduced price lunches. And…
Alabama Politics
The Alabama Legislature’s Strange Idea of a ‘Lean’ Budget
Education Matters – By Larry Lee – It was just a little snippet of news. Just a few hundred words. And while few Alabamians probably saw it, it should have made headlines on the front page of every state newspaper and been the lead story on every TV news cast. Because it was another glaring…
Alabama Legislators Want ‘Blood on the Floor’: Especially the Blood of Children and Grandparents
By Pippa Abston – Well. I heard from a very credible source yesterday that our state legislators are not playing chicken with the budget this time. You know, it seems like every year they expect us to display panic and beg them to fund essential programs — it is so predictable it is almost like…
Don’t Eat the Corrupt Sausage Served Up by the Alabama Legislature
Education Matters – By Larry Lee – We have all been told that one should never watch either legislation or sausage being made. Having grown up long ago on a south Alabama farm, I took part in more than a few “hog killins” and know all about making sausage. I’ve also witnessed legislation being birthed…
Tank Farm Harvest Plans in Mobile — Crude Oil Is the Crop — But What Gets Plowed Under?
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – The tank farms became a hot potato, singeing any official who touched them. Residents near sites for new or expanding tank farms fired complaints at the city’s planning commission, which readily tossed the heated hassle to the city council. A majority poised to pass a moratorium on construction…
President Obama Speaks in Selma on the 50th Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March
Streamed live on Mar 7, 2015 from Selma, Alabama. President Obama spoke at the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches. Live coverage of this event has concluded, but you can watch the video here. Full Text It is a rare honor in this life to follow one…
Ambassador Carlos Alzugaray Speaks on US-Cuban Relations at South Alabama
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — The United States and Cuba finally have a chance to normalize relations and benefit both countries from the exchange of cultures thanks to the recent announcement by President Barack Obama that the long and tragic trade embargo should be lifted, according to Cuban Ambassador Carlos Alzugaray. He spoke…
Controversy Continues Over President’s Visit to Selma on Fiftieth Anniversary of Selma-to-Montgomery March
By Glynn Wilson – MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The controversy between the White House, Georgia Congressman John Lewis, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and African-American Alabama political leaders continues and has not been resolved, according to information obtained by the New American Journal on Saturday. The SCLC held a press conference in Montgomery on Friday reiterating…
Same Sex Marriage and Same History in Alabama
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – The threat of gay marriage in Alabama has roused governor George Wallace to rise from the dead and stand again in the schoolhouse door. When Roy Moore, chief justice of the state supreme court, flung himself this week between a federal judge in Mobile and the local bureau…
Alabama Political Future Damaged by Labor vs. Environment Split
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — A few years ago, Princeton graduate Charles Scribner with the Black Warrior Riverkeeper in Birmingham saw my coverage of the BlueGreen Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference in Washington, D.C. and sent me an e-mail asking an important question: Do you think it would be…
Mobile Congressman ‘Denounces’ President Obama for Policy on Cuba that Would Benefit Mobile
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. – The new Congressman for Mobile and Baldwin County is making waves in Washington on Thursday with a statement he made on the House floor attacking President Barack Obama for restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba and recommending that Congress lift the entire trade embargo. Rep. Bradley Byrne issued a…
Africatown Residents Oppose Industrial Rezoning for Steel Warehouse
Planning Commission Denies Rezoning By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — More than 140 residents of Africatown turned out at a town hall public meeting Tuesday night to oppose an industrial rezoning that would open the way for a steel storage warehouse right across the street from a proposed tar sands crude oil tank city…
My Home Town Birmingham: Can’t Support a Football Team
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – OAK MOUNTAIN, Ala. – My home town. That line from an old Andy Griffith episode keeps going through my mind this morning sitting in the campsite listening to the woodpeckers work. Passing through my hometown of Birmingham on the way to Mobile this week, I heard a…
Attorney General Candidate Advocates Lottery to Fund Education in Alabama
By Wayne Ruple – HEFLIN, Ala. — Standing only 26 miles from the Alabama-Georgia state line, a candidate for Attorney General told a crowd in Heflin recently, “Right now Alabamians are funding the education of Georgia’s children, funding the education of Tennessee’s children, funding the education of Florida’s children. Now in my opinion it’s only…
Mercedes Found Guilty of Violating Labor Law
By Glynn Wilson – Mercedes was found guilty this week of violating labor law against employees by an administrative law judge ruling for the National Labor Relations board. Judge Keltner W. Locke ruled that Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance near Tuscaloosa committed three violations in dealing with employees who were working to try to unionize…
Alabama Public Service Commissioner Who Questioned Utility Rates Unseated in Republican Primary
Alabama Public Service Commissioner Terry Dunn, who made waves in the state by having the gall to try to do his job by calling for hearings on utility rates, was routed by challenger Chris “Chip” Beeker Jr. in the July 15 Republican primary runoff election. Beeker took 59 percent of the vote, 119,041 votes, over…
States Miss Economic Opportunities by Failing to Expand Medicaid
By Glynn Wilson – MARION, Va. — The Council of Economic Advisers released a report on Wednesday detailing the negative effects on local economies and public health in states where Republican administrations failed to cooperate with the federal government and expand Medicaid. The report, entitled Missed Opportunities: The Consequences of State Decisions Not to Expand…
Proposed Windmill ‘Farm’ In East Alabama Dies for Lack of Local Support
By Wayne Ruple – HEFLIN, Ala. — A proposed windmill “farm” on Turkey Heaven Mountain died recently due to lack of support from Cleburne County commissioners in the face of public opposition. The County Commission met June 16 and considered four resolutions which would have effectively killed the project. They punted on supporting the proposed…
Republican Gerald Dial Narrowly Wins Alabama’s District 13 Senate Seat
To Face Democrat and Independent in East Alabama Race Come November – By Wayne Ruple – HEFLIN, Ala. — In what was considered by some to be the lowest voter turn-out in 16 years for a primary in Alabama, a relatively unknown private investigator living in Heflin on the state’s eastern border came within 416…
Energy Extremes From Florence Rally to Mobile Forum
A Menace to Us and CreationBy David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – Opposites appear at opposite ends of Alabama on June 5. At the upper extreme a rally in Florence is calling for tar sands mining to stop before it begins. Geologists have long known that gummy crude oil is locked into sandstone strata underlying…
