STAARS

Walt Maddox (D) accused Kay Ivey and members of her Lieutenant Governor’s staff of having used private email accounts. Maddox claimed that according to records currently housed in the state archives, then Lt. Governor Ivey and members of her staff were using private email accounts on a regular basis and, in some cases, using those … Continued

Not that anyone expected him to, but state auditor Jim Zeigler isn’t giving up quietly on his lawsuit claiming the state violated competitive bid laws when purchasing software and support for it State of Alabama Accounting and Resource System, or STAARS. The Alabama Supreme Court tossed the lawsuit last month, but on Thursday Zeigler and … Continued

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Legislation making the Office of Information Technology a stand-alone agency will go into effect on October 1, 2017, but nothing in SB219 as proposed by retiring State Senator Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, will mitigate the failures of the office, or stem the flood of red-ink coming from the agency. … Continued

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter On Friday last, a package was hand-delivered to the State’s Attorney General’s Office containing the results of two investigations into what is labeled a smear campaign against Dr. Craig Pouncey, by those who plotted to deny him the position of State Education Superintendent. Delivered directly to the Special Prosecution … Continued

By Brandon Moseley Alabama Political Reporter MONTGOMERY—Thursday, January 12, 2017, the Alabama Board of Adjustment (BOA), which decides claims against the State of Alabama, elected State Auditor Jim Zeigler (R) as its Chairman. Because the state of Alabama enjoys sovereign immunity, the State can not be sued in court. A citizen or business who has … Continued

By Josh Moon Alabama Political Reporter Over the past year, APR has broken a number of prominent, statewide stories. While many of those have been picked up by other news outlets – some of them lifted nearly verbatim from APR’s website without attribution – a few stories have gone almost unnoticed and with little follow-up … Continued

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Chanting the much-ballyhooed mantra of “streamlining government, transparency and efficiency,” the administration of Governor Robert Bentley and the Republican-controlled State House have green-lighted, perhaps, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on failed software systems. Last Monday, Bentley’s cabinet secretary for the Office of Information Technology (OIT), Dr. Joanne Hale, … Continued

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter The State Department of Finance will miss its 13th Accounting Period Deadline because the $47 million dollar software program known as STAARS has maxed-out its user capacity according to State Comptroller Tom White. “Due to STAARS system capacity and ISD user identification issues, agencies have not been able to … Continued

By Chip Brownlee Alabama Political Reporter MONTGOMERY—After a Federal audit of the State’s Finance Department, which has yet to be made public, Governor Robert Bentley announced, on Friday, that Clinton Carter, the State’s Deputy Finance Director, will step up to serve as the new State Finance Director. After serving for nearly three years as the … Continued