Virginia Martin

State Budgets, Legislative Authority, Gambling Bills in State House This Week

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House is expected to vote this week on the 2022 General Fund budget while the Senate's priorities include gambling legislation and bills that could blur the lines of authority between the legislative and executive branches of state government. After moving fast through the first four weeks of the 2021 session, lawmakers are expected to slow down to a more normal pace as the mid-point approaches. “We’re hopeful by spring break we’re going to move (the budgets) out of the house of origin,” Senate Majority Leader Clay Scofield, R-Guntersville, told reporters on Thursday. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Concealed Carry, Law Enforcement Checks, Jail Issues Taken Up Thursday by Legislature

MONTGOMERY — Here's the latest notable legislative activity from the State House. Concealed Carry Bill Advances Rep. Proncey Robertsons’ House Bill 477, the Alabama Uniform Concealed Carry Permit Act, was approved Thursday in the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. It would standardize across the state the concealed carry permit process, create a “prohibited person database” and allow for a lifetime permit. Read more.

by Caroline Beck and Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Bill to Close ABC Stores Gets Committee Approval

MONTGOMERY — A bill to close the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s about 170 retail stores by 2026 cleared the Senate Tourism Committee on Thursday. Multiple versions of an ABC store phase-out bill have been filed by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, in the past decade. “I truly believe if we were designing state government today, we would not say, let’s get into the retail sale of alcohol and let’s compete against the private sector,” Orr told the committee. There are more than 500 private retailers in the state. Read more.

by Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Mask Mandate Continues, but Other COVID Restrictions Easing, Governor Announces

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey Thursday extended a statewide mandate requiring residents to wear face masks as protection from the coronavirus in public places and businesses until after Easter at 5 p.m. She also eased restrictions on restaurants and bars, hospitals and nursing homes. Ivey declared this would be the last mask mandate for Alabama. “We have to get past Easter before we take the steps that other states have taken,” she said. “But let me make this perfectly clear, we will not continue mask orders after April 9.” Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

UAB and JeffCo to Expand Vaccine Outreach in Underrepresented Communities

As of Wednesday, UAB had administered roughly 80,000 vaccine doses, but Black residents remain disproportionately underrepresented. Read more.

by Miranda Fulmore, WBHM

Public Info Session on the COVID Vaccine Tonight

UAB and the Alabama NAACP are hosting a virtual public information session on the coronavirus vaccine tonight at 6 p.m. The session is open to anyone who wants to join in. Topics to be covered by UAB doctors include vaccine safety, vaccine hesitation and vaccine effectiveness. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Ban on Curbside Voting Passes, Special Session Bill Dies

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Legislature continued its 2021 Regular Session Wednesday, when most of the work was in committee. Here's the latest notable legislative activity from the State House. Paying Voters A bill that would prohibit people from being paid for voting after an election passed a House committee vote on Wednesday. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Monuments Bill Killed; Lawmaker Calls Members Racist

MONTGOMERY — An Alabama legislative committee on Wednesday voted down a proposal that would have given counties and municipalities more flexibility in removing historical monuments, including Confederate statues. Afterward, the Democratic sponsor of the bill accused Republicans who voted against it of being racist. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, sponsored the bill that would have amended the 2017 Monument Preservation Act. It was voted down by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. “Many of those individuals who voted against this bill are members of the Republican Party, they are ‘Trumplicans’, and they have their beliefs because they are in power and they actually exude white supremacy here in the state of Alabama, especially in the House of Representatives so it doesn’t surprise me that they voted against the bill,” Givan told reporters. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Bill to Delay Rules That Would Fail Third Graders Who Don’t Read Well Enough Advances

A bill that would delay by three years a provision to require holding back third graders who don’t read at a sufficient level received unanimous support in the Senate Education Policy Committee on Wednesday. The provision is in the Alabama Literacy Act, which was approved by lawmakers in 2019. It aims to increase reading skills in young students. The act currently requires that, starting at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, third grade students demonstrate specific reading skills before being promoted to fourth grade. Smitherman’s bill delays that retention requirement until the 2024-2025 school year. He said the delay is needed because the COVID-19 pandemic led to remote learning for many students, and they’re not getting the educational support they need. He also said teachers haven’t been able to get the training they need. Read more. More from the Legislature This Week: Bill to Close ABC Stores Gets Committee Approval Concealed Carry, Law Enforcement Checks, Jail Issues Taken Up Thursday by Legislature Ban on Curbside Voting Passes, Special Session Bill Dies Monuments Bill Killed; Lawmaker Calls Members Racist House Passes Business-Friendly State Emergency Bill Read complete legislative coverage.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Almost a Year Into the Pandemic, Alabama’s COVID Death Toll Tops 10,000

On March 25, 2020, the Alabama Department of Public Health announced the first death to be officially attributed to the COVID-19 outbreak. Thelma Jenny McDonald, nicknamed “Chicken,” lived in Stevenson, a small town in the northeast part of the state. She died at age 53. That death came two weeks after March 11, the day many people realized how bad the outbreak had become, as the World Health Organization officially declared a global pandemic. It also was the day the National Basketball Association, the NCAA basketball playoffs and golf’s PGA Tour abruptly shut down after players tested positive for what was still called the Wuhan virus, so dubbed for the Chinese city where it was first detected. Almost a year later, more than 10,000 Alabamians have perished from COVID. The official death toll passed five figures as of Wednesday, with 10,029 fatalities. The path to 10,000 has been one of slow progressions and fearsome streaks. It took more than three months after McDonald’s passing for the death toll to reach 1,000, but a big spike after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays led to a single week in late January when more than 1,000 deaths were reported. Read more.

by Robert Carter