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Economy / Health

Alabama is simply unprepared for the coronavirus crisis

At a House Health Committee meeting on Wednesday, state health officer Dr. Scott Harris said he did not doubt that novel coronavirus would be found here in Alabama if there was more testing. The deadly COVID-19 virus is here, and people are sick and most likely, some will die. Around the state, people are being … Continued
March 12, 2020

Brooks attends depositions in lawsuit over congressional reapportionment

Last Thursday, Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, announced that he was attending depositions of Census employees in the lawsuit that he and the State of Alabama have filed challenging congressional reapportionment based on the number of people who live in the U.S. Brooks and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) contend that it should be based … Continued
January 20, 2020

The irony of Amendment One

Alabama voters will go to the polls next March 3 to decide the fate of amendment one.  At the heart of this amendment is an attempt to deny all citizens the right to vote to elect their state school board members. The irony of this vote is that 55 years and four days earlier, black … Continued
December 25, 2019

To end violence, return to American values

The recent violence in our country – and the passionate debates it has sparked – have led me to reflect on the emotional state of our country and the battle being waged between good and evil. I thought back to comments I gave earlier this year at a naturalization ceremony.  These new citizens were gifted … Continued
August 19, 2019

A forgotten 40 percent

In an age of hyper-partisan politics, a wide swath of the population feels disenfranchised. Because of straight-ticket voting in Alabama, some 40 percent of its citizens feel the government does not represent their interests or even acknowledge they have an opinion on how the state is run. There was a time when candidates for public … Continued
July 30, 2019

American values leave no room for socialism

Last week, I was honored to address a group of newly naturalized citizens of the United States. It was an experience that gave me the opportunity to reflect on a question as old as our nation itself: “What does it mean to be an American?” In the United States, we don’t define citizenship as being … Continued
May 7, 2019

Every citizen in Alabama deserves high-speed broadband

Alabama’s economy is booming with record low unemployment, wages on the rise and new industries continuing to choose our state to expand their businesses. However, we are lagging in providing critical broadband infrastructure to all our citizens. For too long, the expansion of fast, reliable internet service has been concentrated in larger cities while rural … Continued
May 6, 2019

Other states use lotteries to give kids a brighter future. Alabama wants to use lottery to build prisons

We have a vision problem in Alabama. We’ve always had a vision problem in this state. We are perpetually satisfied with how things are, with keeping things how they are, with resisting any change whatsoever. “Nah, we’re good,” should be our state motto. Even when making a change would benefit us, we resist. Even when … Continued
May 1, 2019

Prison issues — front and center

Folks, taking care of prisoners is not a popular political issue. However, every so often Alabama politicians pragmatically have to acquiesce to the mandates of federal judges and grant our transgressing citizens their rights as determined by the courts. Federal Courts have determined that our felons deserve the rights to adequate imprisonment. You just cannot … Continued
May 1, 2019