Skip to main content

Posts

Gas prices spike across US amid Iran war

An Iranian flag is planted in the rubble of a police station, damaged in airstrikes on March 3, 2026, in Tehran. The United States and Israel have continued the joint attack on Iran that began on Feb. 28. Iran retaliated by firing waves of missiles and drones at Israel, and targeting U.S. allies in the region. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Americans are paying more for gas Monday as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran chokes off a significant route for roughly one-fifth of the world’s petroleum products. Global prices for Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed over $100 a barrel. Prices were just above $70 a barrel in the days before the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise Feb. 28 attack on Iran, killing the regime’s top leader and other powerful government figures. The spike, which peaked at $119.50 per barrel early Monday, caused ricochets throughout markets, with major stock indexes falling worldwide. Oil prices have not reached costs above $100 p...
Read more
Recent posts

Temporarily banning data centers draws more interest from state, local officials

An Amazon Web Services data center is shown situated near single-family homes. Some local and state officials across the country want to halt development of the facilities. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) As communities’ concerns grow over rising electricity prices and the environmental effects of data centers, some local and state officials want to halt development of the facilities. Lawmakers in at least 11 states — Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin — have introduced legislation this session that would temporarily ban data centers, according to Good Jobs First , a watchdog group that focuses on economic development incentives.  While some of the measures would establish an indefinite moratorium, others would ban new data centers for several years. The Vermont measure , for example, would ban new data center projects through July 2030. The New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma a...
Read more

There’s a mundane reason for Alabama’s high power bills. Our leaders don’t want to hear it.

Senate President Pro Tempore Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, adjusts his glasses at a lectern in the Alabama Senate on May 6, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Gudger claimed after a bill ending PSC elections was withdrawn that financier George Soros had helped elect Democrats to Georgia's Public Service Commission. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) There’s a saying astronomers use when we get reports hinting at that ever-elusive first contact or close encounter. It’s never aliens . In other words, don’t get ahead of the evidence. You say there could be life in the Venusian clouds or  massive constructions around a faraway star? Amazing, if true. But don’t dismiss that “if.” Mundane explanations are common; exciting ones are rare. And in both those cases , the less-dramatic answers prevailed. The scope of the universe is long, and it tends toward banality. Alabama politics are often  metaphysical , but rarely cosmic, even if we tend to crater on  ...
Read more

Voting rights, Supreme Court lead concerns amid Bloody Sunday commemoration

The Rev. Al Sharpton poses for a photo with a group after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge with marchers on the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, walks across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with marchers on the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. (Estela Munoz for Alabama Reflector) SELMA — Brown Chapel A.M.E Church reopened Sunday after a five-year closure due to renovations.  But for many speakers commemorating the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday, many of the issues of civil rights and voting access remained as timely — and dire — as they were in 2020, and even 1965.  “The problem isn’t Trump, the problem is us,” Rev. Al Sharpton said in a speech in the church on Sunday. “If we could beat Bull Connor, if we can beat George Wallace, if we can beat Lester Maddox, then why are we acting like we don’t have the blood of the soldiers and the warriors?” GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE T he ceremony was...
Read more

Kalshi and Polymarket are skirting laws on sports betting, states say

In this online ad, prediction market platform Kalshi advertises its sports betting products in California and Texas, both states that have not legalized sports gambling. States are increasingly targeting platforms like Kalshi, arguing they circumvent the protections and taxes of regulated gambling markets. (Image courtesy of Dustin Goucher/ Event Horizon newsletter) Online prediction markets allow users to put money on the outcome of almost anything — this weekend’s NBA game between the Warriors and the Thunder, the next supreme leader of Iran, whether the government will confirm the existence of aliens. But those markets have no state oversight and operate even in states that ban gambling. The platforms are raising bipartisan alarms, especially related to sports gambling. As states have legalized sports betting in recent years, they’ve required legal sportsbooks to jump through multiple hoops — from age verification procedures to protections for gambling addiction to tax collec...
Read more

Scott Stadthagen elected Alabama Republican Party chair

Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, standing on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 17, 2026, in Montgomery, Alabama. Stadthagen was elected Alabama Republican Party chair on Saturday. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) Rep. Scott Stadthagen of Hartselle won election as Alabama Republican Party chair Saturday, defeating former secretary of state John Merrill and acting chair Joan Reynolds. A message seeking comment from Stadthagen was left Saturday afternoon. The position became vacant after former Alabama Republican Party Chair John Wahl announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor following an endorsement from President Donald Trump. Stadthagen stepped down as majority leader last month to run for the position. The committee is made up of 475 voting members from across the state. Stadthagen was elected to the Alabama House in 2018. In 2022, he sponsored a bill that prevented students from using any bathroom other than the one of the gender assigned ...
Read more

Federal funding for people in poverty heading to anti-abortion centers instead

More than half of the money sent to crisis pregnancy centers in Missouri comes from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which is meant to provide aid to families who are struggling financially. In 2026, the centers will receive $10.3 million in TANF funds — a significant increase from the $4.3 million budgeted the year before. (Photo by Amanda Watford/Stateline) The bulk of the money Missouri gives to its crisis pregnancy centers comes from federal funds meant to assist families experiencing poverty with basic necessities and child care, Republican Rep. Jason Smith said on the U.S. House floor in January. As many as $3 of every $4 for pregnancy centers in Missouri was from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in 2024, and in the 2026 fiscal year, it will be $2 out of $3. The amount of TANF funding has steadily increased since 2022, from $4.3 million then to $10.3 million in fiscal year 2026.  At least eight states have g...
Read more