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In Alabama lieutenant governor’s race, big plans for a weak office

The Alabama State Capitol as seen on Nov. 24, 2025, in Montgomery, Alabama. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) A state-wide position with minimal power has drawn quite a crowd ahead of Tuesday’s primary election. Nine candidates are running for Alabama lieutenant governor. Seven of them are Republicans while two are Democrats. Republican Will Ainsworth, the current lieutenant governor, is term-limited. The lieutenant governor becomes governor should the occupant of that office die, resign or be removed. The office once had powers comparable to that of the Alabama House speaker, with powers to control legislation and assign senators to committees. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE But the office was stripped of its power in 1999 after a lengthy standoff between then-Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, a Republican, and the Democratic-controlled Sen...

Thousands attend protests in Selma and Montgomery for voting rights

Corey Minor Smith of Canton, Ohio holds a “Black Voters Matter” sign while marching over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on May 16, 2026. Faith leaders gathered in Selma Saturday for a prayer event as part of the “All Roads Lead To The South” protests, aimed at mobilizing voters amid Republican efforts to eliminate majority-minority districts. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector) Thousands of people joined demonstrations in Selma and Montgomery on Saturday to protest redistricting by southern Republican state legislatures targeting Black Democratic members of Congress. An afternoon rally in Montgomery that drew over 5,000 people featured politicians, activists and civil rights dignitaries as of the All Roads Lead to the South campaign, aimed at organizing voters to offset the advantages Republicans may gain from redistricting. “Our democracy is on the line,” said Victor Coar, who traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery. “Our rights are on the line. They are trying to take it ...

Shifting attitudes on menopause drive lawmakers to push for new protections

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Lori Urso sponsored the first bill of its kind adding workplace accommodations for menopause- and perimenopause-related conditions to state law in 2025. A generational shift in recent years has led to more legislation in statehouses around the country. (Courtesy of the Rhode Island Senate) When Jacqueline Perez started experiencing symptoms of menopause in her early 50s, the brain fog was so severe, she thought she had early-onset dementia. Perez, who founded a website dedicated to normalizing aging for women, said she gained more than 30 pounds and struggled with depression for months before she found a health provider who tested her hormone levels and recommended hormone replacement therapy for low estrogen. That was nearly a decade ago, and in the years since, Perez said the culture around menopause treatment has changed dramatically. “We still have a long way to go, in my opinion, but I think at least we’re on the path,” she said. Menopause refers t...

Federal court sets May 22 hearing on new Alabama congressional map

The front of Hugo L Black Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama on August 15, 2023. The Northern District scheduled a preliminary injunction for the Milligan case May 22. (Jemma Stephenson/Alabama Reflector) A federal court Friday set a hearing for May 22 on a motion for plaintiffs to block Alabama’s use of a 2023 congressional map the court previously declared racially discriminatory. The court is reconsidering the map after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier lifted a permanent injunction against the map and sent the case, known as Allen v. Milligan, back to the lower court. The justices ordered the court to reconsider its ruling in light of its ruling in Louisiana v. Callais , a ruling last month that weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and made it harder for plaintiffs to challenge maps on the basis of racial discrimination. U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco wrote in her ruling that “appropriate relief, if any, will be issued in time for Alabama’s 2026 election to occur according...

Bernice King, members of Congress expected at Saturday redistricting protests

A group of protestors hold a banner saying "Black Voters Matter" with a quote from Allen v. Milligan, a 2023 case that required Alabama to draw a second congressional district to give Black voters an opportunity to elect their preferred leaders, on May 4, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Protestors plan rallies on Saturday in opposition to the state's efforts to redistrict congressional seats. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Thousands of people are expected to attend two rallies in Selma and Montgomery on Saturday to protest what organizers call a concerted Republican effort to dilute the voting power of Black voters throughout the South. The All Roads Lead to the South National Day of Action is response to attempts by southern state legislatures to reconfigure their electoral maps to increase Republican majorities in Congress and in state assemblies in the region. “Now we are seeing unprecedented assaults on our generation, on those rights that we...

Video: What this Montgomery street tells us about southern democracy

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is seen in downtown Montgomery, Alabama on Nov. 14, 2025. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. pastored the church from 1954 to 1960, and it held several mass meetings during the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Thousands of protestors are expected to attend rallies in Selma and Montgomery on Saturday against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais , which substantially weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The court’s decision set off a frenzy of redistricting throughout the South, targeting Black members of Congress. In Alabama, the Supreme Court on Monday gave the state permission to use a 2023 congressional map it previously ruled racially discriminatory. Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday set special primary elections in four congressional districts under the new lines, which will likely cause Alabama to lose at least one Black member of Congress. As of Friday afternoon, litigation in the...