Author

Eddie Burkhalter

Eddie Burkhalter is a reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter. You can email him at [email protected] or reach him via Twitter.

News / Environment / State

Alabama taxpayers will pay to defend Trump administration rollback of Endangered Species Act

Alabama taxpayers will pay as much as $30,000 to a Los Angeles law firm to defend President Donald Trump’s substantial weakening of the Endangered Species Act, according to state records. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall led a coalition of 13 states in the Dec. 9 filing in a California district court in defense of the … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 9, 2020

Gov. Kay Ivey “cured” of cancer, doctor says

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is “cured” of cancer, Ivey’s physician said in a statement Wednesday, following treatment for lung cancer that began in October. “Yesterday, my doctors performed a follow-up examination on the site where I received three radiation treatments last September to treat the small, isolated malignancy that was discovered on my lung. Needless … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 9, 2020

Holman prison inmate killed in December, at least 14th prison homicide in 2019.

A Montgomery man serving in Holman prison in December became the last person to be killed inside Alabama prisons after being assaulted by another inmate the day before, the Alabama Department of Corrections said in a statement Tuesday. APR confirmed that Moses Robinson, 38, died on Dec. 31 from injuries he received at the prison … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 8, 2020

Doug Jones introduces bill to help diagnose, save lives of children with rare diseases

U.S. Senator Doug Jones, D-Ala, has introduced legislation to help families get what are often hard-fought diagnoses for children with rare diseases, many of whom die without the proper care. Jones joins the bipartisan bills co-sponsors, Susan Collins, R-Maine, Martha McSally, R-Ariz., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J. in supporting Congress’s version of the Ending the Diagnostic … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 8, 2020

State not hiring nearly enough prison correctional officers to meet court order, according to court filing

In a court filing Friday an attorneys for plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections highlighted how few correctional officers the state has hired since a federal judge ordered at least 2,000 more be sent to work inside the state’s deadly, overcrowded prisons. The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), in a statement … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 7, 2020

ACLU of Alabama report: Parole reductions to worsen prison overcrowded in 2020

A report released Monday predicts that in 2020 Alabama’s deadly, overcrowded prisons, already under threat of a federal takeover, will become even more crowded, largely due to a dramatic reduction in the number of paroles being granted. The report, published by the Campaign for Smart Justice with the ACLU of Alabama, predicts that the state … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 7, 2020

State VA selects Enterprise for new $60 million veterans home

The Alabama Board of Veterans Affairs on Friday approved site selection for a new approximately $60 million veterans home to be located in Enterprise, which is expected to open by 2023. The 108-acre Coffee County location between US 84 and Alabama 167 was identified as having the largest veteran population projections in a study done … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 3, 2020

Continued calls for external observers on “internal task force” on prison violence

External observers should be included on an “internal task force” formed in December to address deadly violence inside Alabama prisons, according to a criminal justice professor, who reinforced an earlier request from a group of prison reform advocates. David Rembert is a research fellow at the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University, an … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 3, 2020

Change in Alabama car insurance law took effect Jan. 1

Alabama drivers who take to the roads without insurance now get a break, thanks to a change in state law that took effect Jan. 1. If a person is caught driving without insurance a second time within three years under the new law they can be fined $400 and asked to provide proof of insurance. … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

January 2, 2020

A look back at APR’s coverage of climate change in 2019

APR began covering climate change during the summer of 2019, and in that time we looked closer at its impacts on Alabama and elsewhere, what’s being done to address them and the problems people have simply discussing climate change. Here’s a closer look at what we’ve learned in the last five months. We started our … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

December 31, 2019