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Alabama

Education / State

Montgomery’s struggles will be Alabama’s future if public education funding isn’t addressed

The report cards for Alabama’s public schools dropped this week, and once again, we’re all failing. Oh, don’t get me wrong, Alabama’s public schools are doing a fine job educating the overwhelming majority of students who enter their doors each day. There are fantastic teachers in those schools, great administrators and some of the finest … Continued
January 2, 2019

A new quadrennium: Alabama potpourri and trivia

As we begin this New Year of 2019, Alabama begins a new quadrennium in state government. All of our Constitutional state officeholders begin their new four-year terms this month. Governor Kay Ivey will be sworn in for a four-year term on January 14. Also, being sworn in on Inauguration Day will be Will Ainsworth as … Continued
January 2, 2019

2018: Year in review

2018 was a landmark year in many ways for Alabama and the United States. From defense funding to town halls, agriculture to Red Snapper, there was much to celebrate this year and much to anticipate in the next. Join me as we take a look back at the past year. I kicked things off in … Continued
January 1, 2019

Nine stories to keep an eye on in 2019

9. Who will challenge Sen. Doug Jones in 2020? It may have been only a year ago that Doug Jones won in a historic victory that sent a Democrat from Alabama to the U.S. Senate for the first time in a quarter century, but he’s up for re-election in 2020. With that election just around the corner, … Continued
December 31, 2018

We don’t matter, because we don’t want to

I generally don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I have a few times, but not too often. The last New Year’s resolution I made was in 2012, about this time of the year, just before the world became 2013. I had just seen Les Miserables, the big-budget movie musical, and I loved it. I’ve seen the … Continued
December 28, 2018

Petition calls for state investigation into Alabama 9-year-old’s suicide

Thousands of people have signed onto an online petition calling for Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office to investigate the death of an Alabama 9-year-old who killed herself earlier this month after what her parents described as racially motivated bullying. The Care2 petition, which has been signed by more than 24,000, calls for Marshall’s office to … Continued
December 19, 2018

The problem with a supermajority

There is a downside to supermajority control in government. Inevitably, no matter how many times you force through your agenda and ignore the cries from the other side of the aisle, the supermajority will eventually be unable to accomplish necessary, hard things. Because the necessary, hard things that need to be accomplished will be things … Continued
December 18, 2018

Inside the Statehouse: very few white Democrats left in Legislature

The Republican tidal wave that swept Alabama’s statewide officeholders to landslide victories filtered down to legislative races. Even though our legislature really didn’t need to become any more conservative or Republican, it did anyway. We had a super majority Republican State House and Senate. We now have a super, super GOP majority. Republicans picked up … Continued
December 18, 2018

What the next mayor needs

The coming mayoral race in Montgomery matters whether you live in city limits, or whether it is simply important to you or your business that Alabama’s capital thrives.  The conversation on the ground is that the outcome could be the next historic milestone for the city that launched civil rights. Former U.S. Magistrate Judge Vanzetta … Continued
December 17, 2018