Category: Uncategorized
Animal Shelters in the Gulf South Are Overflowing With Animals
When Alie Dennis laid her eyes on Copper at the Metro Animal Shelter in Tuscaloosa, it was love at first sight. Dennis, a University of Alabama student, came to the shelter in hopes of adopting a dog before her final year of school. After playing with the 3-month-old German shepherd Labrador mix for about an hour, she knew he was the one — asking for a 24-hour hold on the dog to talk the adoption over with her family.
But for Metro Animal Shelter, even 24 hours can be a long time if people are willing to take home a new pet. Last year, shelters in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were running out of so-called “pandemic puppies.” Now, they are overflowing with dogs, cats, and even hamsters. Read more.
You Know Delta, but Have You Met Mu and the Rest of the Relatives?
Viruses mutate.
Researchers say there always will be new variant strains of the COVID-19 virus, although all the strains won’t be as deadly as delta.
The delta strain has made COVID more deadly for the unvaccinated. It is responsible for 90% of the 40 million COVID cases in the U.S and the deaths of 648,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It spreads much faster and may cause more severe cases than other variants, according to the CDC.
The delta strain is not alone. There are many variants being studied by researchers and scientists.
Last Friday, the World Health Organization added the mu strain to its list of COVID variants of interest. It joins eta, iota, kappa and lambda on the list. Read more.
Early Numbers in Hand, Reapportionment Committee Starts Public Hearings Wednesday
Armed with new information about which districts gained and lost residents, the committee redrawing the Alabama House and Senate, Congressional and board of education maps will begin public hearings Wednesday.
The hearings will be held at community colleges and can be attended in person and observed online. A complete schedule and links can be found here.
Months-long delays in the 2020 gathering of census data has meant lags in getting states their new population numbers, delaying the reapportionment process that happens every 10 years.
Read more.
Committee for Recompiling State Constitution Holds Public Hearing, Work to Continue
MONTGOMERY — The committee charged with making Alabama’s monster constitution more user friendly and less racist is taking written public comments.
Only one speaker attended the public hearing Tuesday at the State House for the committee on recompilation of the constitution, but a two-week period for written comments to be sent to the committee was also approved.
Committee Chair Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, said during Tuesday’s meeting that she knows some members of the public could not come because of concerns over COVID-19.
People wishing to submit a comment have until Sept. 7. Those can be sent by email to Othni Lathram, director of the Legislative Services Agency, at olathram@lsa.state.al.us.
Read more.
General Fund, Education Fund Revenues Up; Budget Leaders Cautiously Watch Delta Variant
The state’s General Fund and Education Trust Fund receipts have grown by double-digits over last year, encouraging state leaders as they cautiously watch the continuing pandemic and brace for potential big expenses in 2022.
“We are recovering quite well from the pandemic, and revenues are ahead of expectations for the fiscal year,” said Kirk Fulford, deputy director of the Legislative Services Agency’s Fiscal Division. “Obviously, it is too early to predict what 2022 will look like yet as much of that will depend on further issues with the latest strain of COVID and how that impacts businesses, healthcare, etc.”
From Oct. 1 through July, tax receipts in the ETF were up 11%, $683.5 million, from the same point in fiscal 2020. The 2021 year-to-date collection was $6.8 billion.
Read more.
Trussville’s Danny Garrett to Head House Budget Committee
Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, is the new Alabama House education budget committee chairman.
Garrett replaces former Rep. Bill Poole, who this month became the state’s finance director.
Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, made the announcement Tuesday. Garrett was first elected to the House in 2014. This term he’s been vice-chairman of the budget committee under Poole.
Read more.
Alabama Health Officials Say COVID-19 Vaccine Safe for Pregnant Women
Among the various reasons for vaccine hesitancy, one of the most prominent and personal is a concern about the COVID-19 vaccine’s potential effect on pregnant women or those who might soon want to become pregnant.
Alabama doctors and health officials took those concerns head-on Thursday, seeking to reassure women that the vaccines are safe and effective.
During the Medical Association of the State of Alabama’s weekly live Facebook event, state health leaders said all of the latest medical data and research shows the COVID-19 vaccine does not have any adverse effects on maternal health or fertility in women.
Dr. Mimi Munn, a maternal-fetal physician professor and chair of the obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Alabama, said the nation’s top OBGYN doctors and associations recommend pregnant women get vaccinated.
Read more.
New Law Eases Restrictions on Cottage Food Makers
Melissa Humble and her husband moved back to Alabama in March 2020, just before much of the state shut down.
Looking for a way to earn income and stay home to protect her immunocompromised spouse from COVID-19, Humble began baking and selling French macarons and other treats.
HumbleBee Bakes is now a regular at farmers markets around Headland in Henry County, and Humble locally sources the fruit, jellies and eggs that go into her products. But the state’s laws regulating the cottage food industry were limiting. It capped gross sales at $20,000 a year and didn’t allow for Internet sales.
Starting Monday, those restrictions will be eased under Senate Bill 160, approved in the spring. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, sponsored the law change. “It takes the ridiculous shackles off of people who want to start home businesses,” Orr said. “This could be the first step, the incubation of new small businesses in the home.”
Read more.
Bill Would Offer More Protections for Pregnant Workers in Alabama
MONTGOMERY — A pre-filled bill in the Alabama Legislature seeks to offer more protections for pregnant workers by outlining accommodations that employers would be required to take supporting their health. House Bill 1 from Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, would require employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” related to pregnancy, childbirth or other related medical conditions. Read more.
Second Bill Targeting Critical Race Theory Filed for ’22 Legislative Session
MONTGOMERY — A second bill targeting how theories on race and bias are taught has been pre-filed in the Alabama House, this one applying to education institutions and the training state employees and contractors receive. Read more.
