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Alabama Senate passes bill requiring display of Ten Commandments in public schools

Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, reading a sample poster of the Ten Commandments that would be mandated in common areas of fifth through 12th grade public schools in Alabama. The Senate passed a bill requiring the display of such poster after debate was limited and Democrats were not recognized. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Senate on Tuesday passed a bill requiring school districts to post the Ten Commandments in different locations. SB 99 , sponsored by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, would require schools to display a poster of the religious document in fifth through 12th-grade classes and within common areas, such as cafeterias and school libraries, in every school within the district. “The bill ensures that students see the full contents of American development, including the moral and philosophical influences that shape our legal system. Constitutional foundations are bound by this,” Kelley said. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The bill passed 27-...
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Alabama Senate committee guts bill requiring formal hearings on state electricity rates

Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, stands on the floor of the Alabama Senate on March 31, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. An Alabama Senate committee Tuesday approved changes to a House-passed bill that would make it significantly harder for the state Public Service Commission to hold formal rate case hearings on the reasons for Alabama's high electricity prices. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama Senate committee Tuesday dramatically altered legislation to force public utility companies to be more transparent with how they set their rates. The Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee approved a substitute for HB 475 , sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, merged components of it with a second bill that is making its way through the Legislature. “The Senate had a bill, the House had a bill, both trying to accomplish the same thing,” said Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, who introduced the legislation in the c...
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How Trump’s expansion of federal power threatens states’ authority

(Illustration by Alex Cochran) As the United States of America marks its 250th anniversary this year, the relationship between the states and the federal government is approaching a breaking point. Led by a bellicose president, the executive branch has moved to dominate states, resulting in more than a year of escalating confrontations between the two levels of government. President Donald Trump has worked quickly: In the first year of his second term, he surged thousands of immigration enforcement agents into a resistant Minneapolis and other cities, with fatal results. He seized control of the National Guard in some states against the will of governors. His administration is trying to force states to turn over sensitive data on millions of voters ahead of the midterms. And it is blocking states from receiving, and distributing to their residents, billions of federal dollars for child care, public health, housing and a host of other congressionally approved programs. Politic...
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Alabama clergy take war opposition to state’s U.S. senators

Carolyn Foster, tri-chair of the Poor People's Campaign speaks at a protest of the war in Iran on Monday, March 30, 2026, at the federal courthouse in Montgomery. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector) Clergy from at least a half dozen churches located throughout Alabama gathered at the federal courthouse in Montgomery Monday to protest what they called an “unholy war” that President Donald Trump has waged against Iran. “Here we are, during Holy Week, in the middle of an ‘unholy war’ that is costing billions of dollars per day, when we have people right here in Alabama who are hungry, need food assistance, who need health care, who need better housing, who need a better, living wage, not just here in Alabama but all over the country,” said Rev. Carolyn Foster, tri-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, an organization that advocates for economic justice. The protest is part of 15 that are planned nationwide for the day as part of the “Moral Mondays” rally led by Rev. William Barber...
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Pedestrian deaths saw largest recorded drop in early 2025

A person in Albuquerque, N.M., approaches a recently installed crosswalk with warning lights for safety in 2024. New Mexico's pedestrian fatalities dropped by almost half in early 2025 compared to the same period during the previous year. (Photo by Tim Henderson/Stateline) Pedestrian deaths fell 11% in early 2025 over the previous year, the largest drop since the Governors Highway Safety Association began reporting them 15 years ago, but remain higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.  It could be evidence that recent state action could be having an effect, ranging from new technology to protect pedestrians to legislation making drivers responsible for stopping for people in crosswalks.  “While this recent safety momentum is positive, pedestrian deaths remain above the 2019 level, the last year before a steep rise in dangerous driving behaviors and traffic deaths caused by the pandemic,” the March 25 GHSA report concluded.  Drivers struck and killed 3,024 people...
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This election is a referendum on Alabama politicians. Not Muslims.

(Left) U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, addresses the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 14, 2024; (right) Secretary of State Wes Allen rises to be sworn in on Jan. 16, 2023 at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. Tuberville and Allen have both attacked Muslim Alabamians in their political campaigns. (Tuberville: Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector; Allen: Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) We’re not making the 2026 election another referendum on some Alabamians’ right to exist. Uh-uh. No damn way. We’re not letting our Muslim neighbors become content for Republican politicians. Not stepping stones for Fox News hits. Not fodder for white nationalists. If Tommy Tuberville and Wes Allen want to proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ, or Donald Trump, or if they wish to keep confusing the two, they can do so. But if they want to attack Alabamians for how they worship God, patriotic Americans should draw a line. Tuberville’s despicable attacks  on a sch...
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Alabama Public Service Commission bills still pending as legislative session nears end

Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, speaking to Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth on the floor of the Alabama Senate on March 12, 2026, in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Butler sponsored a bill passed by the House earlier this month that would require the Alabama Public Service Commission to hold formal hearings on electricity rates. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) Alabama lawmakers returning to work this week will decide how to handle two bills aimed at reforming the Public Service Commission (PSC), each of which has passed one legislative chamber and each of which faces significant opposition in the other. HB 475 , sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would require the PSC to hold formal hearings on electricity rates, something that hasn’t happened in over four decades. SB 360 , sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, would create a state secretary of energy with significant power over the PSC and change the make-up of the commission from three members ...
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