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Auburn Student Center named for Harold Melton, first Auburn SGA president of color

The year 1987 was a quiet one for elections across America but not at Auburn. That was the year Harold Melton, a student in international studies and Spanish, launched and won a campaign to become the first African American president of the Auburn Student Government Association, winning with more than 65 percent of the vote. … Continued
September 11, 2020

Auburn quietly renames building honoring Mike Hubbard

Quietly and without notice, Auburn University renamed the building on its campus named in honor of convicted felon and former Republican Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard four years after a jury found him guilty of criminal violations of the state’s ethics code. The notification came to APR a day after it published a column … Continued
September 3, 2020

America needs building up, not tearing down

Our brilliant Founders built our democracy upon two different but complimentary pillars.  The first and more obvious pillar is our constitutional system itself, what the writers of the Federalist Papers called the “new science of politics.”  Our representative democracy would not be possible without our revolutionary constitution and the laws that uphold it, separation and … Continued
June 24, 2020

Alabama selected for mentor states on work-based learning programs by National Governors Association

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices this week named Alabama to a select group of states chosen to mentor peer-states on building and scaling high-quality work-based learning programs. Crucial to the 21st century workforce and economy, work-based learning better prepares student-employees for high-wage, high-demand jobs through on-the-job training that simultaneously provides key experience … Continued
January 24, 2020

Building new prisons is not the answer

Alabama should be building better schools, not better prisons. It’s as simple as that. And the truth is if we had done that from the beginning we probably wouldn’t have the overcrowded prisons we have today. It’s a statistical fact that if a child can’t read at a third-grade level by the time they graduate … Continued
December 6, 2019

APR confirms at least two partners behind mystery company bidding prison contract

Five companies have expressed an interest in building new prisons in Alabama, some  appear to have never built a prison, while another may have as of yet unnamed partners.  The five companies are: The GEO Group, Inc., Corvias, LLC, Corrections Consultants, LLC, CoreCivic, Inc. and Alabama Prison Transformation Partners.  Alabama Prison Transformation Partners is a … Continued
August 26, 2019

UAB starts sustainability construction plan with first LEED-certified building

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has taken a step further toward sustainability by earning a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for its newest building, University Hall. The new College of Arts and Sciences building is the first LEED-certified building on the campus. According to the United States Green Building Council, the LEED … Continued
August 23, 2019

Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project: The cost of doing nothing is too high

For the past 25 years, serious efforts have been underway to design and eventually build a new bridge along Interstate 10 that runs through Mobile and Baldwin counties.  Once completed, this bridge would relieve the growing congestion along this busy corridor that runs from Florida to California. Building a bridge over a major shipping channel … Continued
August 9, 2019

The Alabama Charter School Commission does not care

Last year, the Alabama Charter School Commission gave approval to a Washington County charter school known as Woodland Prep. It gave that approval despite the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, which was contracted by the Alabama State Department of Education to review charter school applications, writing in its review of Woodland that the school’s … Continued
June 10, 2019

Ivey proposes smart on crime solutions to state prison problems

Alabama’s aging and dangerous prisons have been a topic of legislative discussion for 30 years with little accomplishment. If Gov. Kay Ivey succeeds in building three new men’s facilities, it will amount to a generational change in how the state addresses inmate detention. By focusing primarily on the initiative’s price tag, many critics and temperate … Continued
February 20, 2019