Latest Alabama state government News
Supreme Court to decide whether Alabama can postpone drawing new congressional districts
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to soon rule on Alabama's request to let it keep new GOP-drawn congressional lines in place as it fights a three-judge panel’s plan to create a second majority-Black district, or something close to it, in the Deep South state. ...
Editorial Roundup: Mississippi
Columbus Dispatch. September 14, 2023. Editorial: Scholarship program is one answer in recruiting, retaining rural doctors During Tuesday’s Columbus Rotary Club meeting, Wahnee Sherman, executive director of the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarshi p program,...
A Supreme Court redistricting ruling gave hope to Black voters. They're still waiting for new maps
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s decision siding with Black voters in an Alabama redistricting case gave Democrats and voting rights activists a surprising opportunity before the 2024 elections. New congressional maps would have to include more districts in Alabama and...
Thousands of 3rd graders could be held back under Alabama's reading law, school chief warns
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s school chief said Thursday that 10,000 or more third graders could be at risk of being held back this summer under new reading benchmarks to move to fourth grade. The high-stakes requirement takes effect this school year. State lawmakers delayed...
Jackson says we must own hardest chapters of US history during 1963 church bombing remembrance
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Standing at the pulpit of the Birmingham, Alabama, church where four little girls were killed by a Ku Klux Klan bomb in 1963, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the nation must remember and own the uncomfortable moments of its past in order to move forward. ...
Alabama asks US Supreme Court again to intervene in redistricting case
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let it keep Republican-drawn congressional lines in place as the state continues to fight a court order to create a second district where Black voters constitute a majority or close to it. Despite losing at...
Outrage intensifies over New Mexico governor's temporary gun ban as sheriff vows not to enforce it
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal lawsuits, cries for impeachment and outside protests. Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would welcome a fight after announcing an emergency order to suspend the right to carry firearms in most public places around...
Judges reject Alabama’s congressional lines, will draw new districts to increase Black voting power
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Federal judges said Tuesday that they will draft new congressional lines for Alabama after lawmakers refused to create a second district where Black voters at least came close to comprising a majority, as suggested by the court. In blocking the newly drawn...
Alabama drops sales tax on groceries to 3%
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama families are paying slightly less at the grocery store after a 1% reduction in the state sales tax on food took effect this month. State lawmakers in June approved legislation to gradually remove half of the 4% state sales tax on food, capping...
Alabama lawmaker's assistant charged in scheme to misuse grant money
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An assistant to a longtime Alabama lawmaker has been charged with misusing state grant money intended for community projects in Jefferson County, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday. Varrie Johnson Kindall, an assistant to state Rep. John Rogers, was...
