MONTGOMERY — A majority of voters are undecided on the Republican race for Supreme Court justice between incumbent Justice Greg Shaw and challenger Sen. Cam Ward, a new Alabama Daily News poll shows. Read more.
MONTGOMERY — An Alabama lawmaker says public schools should extend their summer breaks through Labor Day to help workforce development. Rep. Steve Hurst, R-Munford, said he’ll sponsor legislation to require that school summer breaks run at least from Memorial Day to Labor Day. If Hurst’s proposal were in effect this year, students would have a 15-week break. He said the current summer breaks don’t give older students enough time to get summer jobs and work experience. While some business leaders support the move, other school leaders oppose it, saying it takes local control away from school systems and could cause hardship for students and families. Read more.
MONTGOMERY — With less than three weeks to go until the primary election on March 3, a new Alabama Daily News poll shows a tight race among Republican contenders for the U.S. Senate. According to the survey of likely Republican voters, if the election were held today, 31% would vote for former U.S. Attorney General
MONTGOMERY — President Donald Trump holds significant leads over each major Democratic candidate for president in Alabama, a new Alabama Daily News-WBRC-WAFF poll shows. Though that result is unsurprising in the reliably red state, Trump’s support varied when tested head-to-head against the different candidates. Trump fared the best against Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. If the
Walt Gibbons, director the public works department, said the goal for starting a pilot program is April 1, and it is set to last for six months. Read more.
Jefferson County has prepared a new space at the courthouse for persons to cast absentee ballots for the March 3 presidential primaries. Read more.
Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales came across Linn Park today to speak to the Birmingham City Council, pleading for help for what she said are rising instances of crime in the East Precinct. Read more.
MONTGOMERY — A state lawmaker wants to increase penalties for cities that violate the state’s law protecting Confederate monuments, but others are concerned about creating financial burdens for smaller cities and the lack of an appeal process. Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, said he introduced the bill in order to preserve the state's history. "How can you tell the complete story by taking away, by whitewashing, by doing away with something that really you can learn something from it," Allen said. Allen’s Senate Bill 127 would increase penalties for violating the 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act from a total of $25,000 to $10,000 a day. Read more.
UPDATED — Birmingham City Councilman Darrell O’Quinn completed a 2-year journey Tuesday with the passage of an ordinance that sets the stage for companies that provide rental scooters and bikes or other personal transportation vehicles to operate in the city. After discussion and then a delay on the vote until the end of the meeting, the ordinance passed unanimously. “As chairman of the transportation committee, one of the first committee meetings I had actually was inviting in mobility providers to tell us how they operate,” O’Quinn said. “We have been watching this industry unfold and evolve across the country, observing some of the missteps that were made, trying to make sure we don’t encounter the same pitfalls here.” Read more.
MONTGOMERY – A Southern Poverty Law Center report released Monday claims voter suppression is “alive and well” in Alabama and calls for several reform measures. But state officials pushed back on the criticism, saying Alabama has made great gains in registering and turning out voters. Caren Short, a senior staff attorney with SPLC, told Alabama Daily News that Alabama ranks low among Southern states in protecting voting rights. “We make voting pretty hard and we don’t have a lot of easy reforms that could make voting simple for people,” Short said. Read more.
