Black Belt

News / State

Shelby announces Uniontown has been awarded $23 million rural development grant

Friday, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded Uniontown a $23,437,500 grant to rehabilitate the city’s entire wastewater collection system. “Water and wastewater systems across the country are aging, overburdened, and in need of replacement,” said Senator Shelby. “Failure to invest in these water projects has devastating … Continued

November 19, 2018

Secretary of State’s Office begins voter fraud investigation in Wilcox and Perry Counties

Turnout in Tuesday’s primary runoff was just 12.7 percent across the state. That percentage, however, varied wildly across the state. Many Democrats did not vote as there were not any statewide Democratic runoffs. Understandably then, the counties with the worst voter participation rates were Democratic dominated Black Belt Counties. Choctaw County was the worst in … Continued

July 20, 2018

Democratic candidate James Fields appeals to environmental voters

Democratic Gubernatorial candidate James Fields released a statement emphasizing his commitment to protecting Alabama’s natural resources. “My plan is to take better care of Alabama’s waterways, make better use and create more opportunities of Recycling. Insure that we have quality Drinking Water, address major Sewage issues, insure better Air Quality giving Alabama citizens, animals and … Continued

May 11, 2018

Rep. Sewell authors op-ed calling for action on wastewater infrastructure

Wednesday, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, D-Selma, has authored an op-ed in The Hill calling for action addressing deteriorating wastewater infrastructure. “Four years ago today Flint, Mich., changed its municipal water source to the Flint River, moving a city of 100,000 residents towards a crisis that would poison children and impact families with long-term, irreversible health conditions,” … Continued

April 26, 2018

Ivey named States’ Co-Chair for Delta Regional Authority

By Brandon Moseley Alabama Political Reporter Monday, May 1, 2017, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey was named States’ Co-Chair for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and is tasked with leading coordination of the DRA’s work on behalf of 10 million Delta residents. The Delta Regional Authority is a Federal/State partnership created by Congress in 2000 tin … Continued

May 2, 2017

Uncertainty Killing Growth, Hurting Our Communities

By Rep. Darrio Melton Over the past 5 years, Alabama has invested millions to bring businesses to our state. We have sent representatives around the world to declare Alabama “open for business” to recruit top-tier corporations into Alabama. But if there’s one thing any investor knows, it’s that uncertainty is bad for business. In the … Continued

April 5, 2016

We Can Do Better Than Old Solutions to Old Problems: Let’s Look at Public Transportation

By Rep. Darrio Melton The 2016 legislative session is right around the corner, and the Republican Supermajority is already divided on the best approach to the budget blunder: increasing taxes or cutting services. Last session, many legislators considered an increase in the gasoline tax as a way to shore up the general fund, knowing the … Continued

January 5, 2016

I have your silver bullet, Governor

By Rep. Darrio Melton In politics and in life, there is seldom a “silver bullet” solution. Panaceas and cure-alls are typically the talk of snake oil salesmen, while public policy is frequently grounded in realms of give-and-take and cost-benefit analyses. Alabama’s budget crisis has been no different. There have been a number of solutions on … Continued

November 3, 2015

Five State Parks to Close on Thursday

By Brandon Moseley Alabama Political Reporter On Thursday, October 15, the Alabama Parks System will close five of its parks. Bladon Springs, Chickasaw, Paul Grist, Roland Cooper and Florala will all close in order to save the troubled parks system money. The closings, which disproportionately affect the Black Belt Counties, have been criticized because the … Continued

October 12, 2015

When Alabama gets a cold, the Black Belt gets pneumonia

By Sen. Hank Sanders When one community gets a cold, another community gets pneumonia. I heard variations of this wise saying many times as I grew up. It was said to illustrate how the exact same thing can adversely impact some much more than others. This is not only true of groups but of geographical … Continued

October 7, 2015