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The Alabama Senate chamber on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Gov, Kay Ivey Tuesday called a special election for the north central Alabama Senate seat of outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday set an election for outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed’s Senate seat just west of Birmingham. The primaries for Reed’s seat will take place on March 11. Runoffs for party nominations, if necessary, will take place on April 8, with a general election on June 24. Candidates for the seat must qualify by Jan. 7. Reed, a Republican from Jasper, announced in November that he would step down to become Ivey’s senior advisor to workforce transformation, focusing on economic development and raising Alabama’s workforce participation rate, which has trailed the nation’s for nearly 50 years. The state’s participation rate in November was 57.6% , according to the Alabama Department of Labor. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said...

The dome of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, as seen on January 24, 2023. A report from the Campaign Legal Center said Alabama was one of nine that had attempted to restrict the power of ethics commissions, citing a bill filed last year. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A new report found a number of efforts to reduce the power of ethics commissions, legislatively or legally, to investigate the conduct of public officials and gauge misconduct. The report from the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) comes after an attempt in the Alabama Legislature earlier this year to reclassify some ethics offenses and limit the ability of the Alabama Ethics Commission to impose penalties, a proposal that drew criticism from both the Ethics Commission and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. “I think there is a little bit more awareness of ethics commissions and the roles they play,” said Delaney Marsco, the CLC’s director of ethics. “There is also a desire to push back against the acco...

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks as former President Donald Trump looks on at a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on April 12, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump, who won November’s presidential election, endorsed Johnson to remain speaker Monday. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — As U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson vies to keep his gavel, President-elect Donald Trump on Monday gave the Louisiana Republican a major boost with his “Complete & Total Endorsement.” Trump’s coveted backing — just days ahead of Friday’s House vote to elect a speaker — came as Johnson sat in the hot seat over a  government shutdown quarrel earlier this month that exacerbated public dissatisfaction from several of his GOP colleagues over his leadership. The spending fight also put a spotlight on his vulnerabilities in securing the votes to win the speakership again. “The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administra...

The flags of the United States and Alabama fly over the Alabama State Capitol on April 11, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Alabama politics are never sedate. That helps when you’re pulling together a year-end list on  the subject. One thing you can say for certain: we didn’t lack for things to write about. Below, my choices for the top 10 Alabama political stories of 2024. 10. An improved public records law Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, speaks during a debate on the floor of the Alabama Senate on May 2, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Make no mistake, Alabama still makes it needlessly difficult to access public records. But a law sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr , R-Decatur, provides something that was missing: a requirement for state agencies to respond to requests within a set timeframe. Before, agencies could ignore requests, and those spurned had little recourse except for a lawsuit. 9. Ivey ...

Former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalyn are shown before the start of Game Three of the NLDS of the 2010 MLB Playoffs between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants on October 10, 2010 at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia. The former president died on Sunday at age 100 after spending over a year in hospice care. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images) This story originally appeared on Georgia Recorder . President Jimmy Carter, the only Georgian to ever occupy the White House and the longest-lived president in American history, died Sunday after spending over a year in hospice care. Carter, who turned 100 on Oct. 1, died at his home in Plains Sunday surrounded by family, according to the Carter Center. “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” Chip Carter, the former president’s son, said in a statement. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world ...

Amanda Zurawski, Josh Zurawski, Kaitlyn Joshua and Hadley Duvall speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 19, 2024. (Andrew Roth for Michigan Advance) Galvanized by a pivotal election almost two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections, patients, doctors, and activists in 2024 fought for renewed and expanded reproductive rights, while others pushed for more restrictions. These are some of the people and organizations that impacted reproductive health law and abortion access this year. Women with wanted pregnancies affected by abortion bans In state legislatures, before Congress, in court, in presidential campaign ads, and on stage at the Democratic National Convention , women all over the country have been reliving some of the worst moments of their lives in an effort to roll back abortion restrictions that have changed reproductive health care in America. The year after Kentucky banned abortion, Hadley Duvall started...

The observation room in the Dr. Maurice Fitz-Gerald Birthing Center at Whitfield Regional Hospital on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 in Demopolis, Ala. In some rural areas, residents have said they prefer expanded maternal health care services to expanded abortion access. (Vasha Hunt for Alabama Reflector) This story was originally published by The 19th and KFF Health News . Sign up for the 19th’s newsletter . BAKER CITY, Oregon — In what has become a routine event in rural America, a hospital maternity ward closed in 2023 in this small Oregon town about an hour from the Idaho border. For Shyanne McCoy, 23, that meant the closest hospital with an obstetrician on staff when she was pregnant was a 45-mile drive away over a mountain pass. When McCoy developed symptoms of preeclampsia in January, she felt she had the best chance of getting the care she needed at a larger hospital in Boise, Idaho, two hours away. She spent the final week of her pregnancy there, too far from home to risk lea...

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham (center) speaks to Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, in the Alabama Senate on May 9, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Coleman-Madison's bill would establish a $5 annual vehicle registration fee to fund Alabama's long-unfunded Public Transportation Trust Fund. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A senator has proposed a bill to impose a $5 annual fee on vehicle registrations to fund public transportation in Alabama. The fee that would be created under SB 11 , sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, would create a revenue source for the Alabama Public Transportation Trust Fund, which remains unfunded since it was created in 2018. “Whether you are trying to get to a job or trying to get your child to a day care so you can go to work, transportation is the key. It’s the missing link,” Coleman-Madison said in a phone interview. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The proposed fee would gene...

The Alabama Statehouse is seen is seen in this 2023 photo. Legislators have turned to fines and fees to keep the state court system solvent, costs that tend to fall hardest on those least able to pay. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) Criminal justice reform advocates discussed  the impact of fines and fees on marginalized Alabamians, as well as possible solutions, at a panel discussion this month. Alabama lawmakers in recent years have enacted dozens of fines and fees, many through local bills, that increase the cost of going through the criminal justice system or in getting a license plate for a motor vehicle. While some fees go to victim restitution, others are levied to pay for basic operations of the court system. Most fall disproportionately on those least able to pay. “What we notice is, as individuals in a vulnerable population, when they have an intersection with justice, that is normally not a day of celebration,” said Richard Williams, a pastor of the Alabama-West F...