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Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, listens to a filibuster over a bill to overhaul sex education and make public schools teach “sexual risk avoidance” and abstinence on April 29, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Alander Rocha/ Alabama Reflector) A bill seeking to make Alabama’s public schools teach “sexual risk avoidance” and abstinence likely won’t become law this year. A Democratic filibuster over the General Fund budget Tuesday pushed debate over SB 277 , sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, to the last couple of minutes before midnight, when the legislative day ends. The late debate meant senators could not vote on the measure.  Shelnutt made his unhappiness at the prospect clear. “We’ve only got 10 more minutes. Y’all wasted the whole day. So, let’s just waste the last 10 minutes. I know you want to waste the last 10 minutes,” Shelnutt said at around 11:50 p.m. when Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, asked if he would be willing to delay the bill until next year ...

Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks outside the U.S. Supreme Court building Wednesday after the Court heard oral arguments Wednesday over the constitutionality of a religious charter school seeking to open in Oklahoma. (Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom) This story originally appeared on Oklahoma Voice . WASHINGTON, D.C. — A seemingly divided U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday over the nation’s first religious charter school that aims to open in Oklahoma, putting the constitutionality of a state-funded Catholic education to the test. An Oklahoma state board approved St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to operate as a publicly funded charter school in 2023. The Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked the school from opening in a June ruling, finding the concept of a religious charter school a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against government-established religion. The nation’s highest Court, with its conservative majority, agreed to hear an appeal of the ruling. Ju...

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, speaks to Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on April 1, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. A bill sponsored by England that would have given judges the power to impose percentage bond payments for pretrial release died in a Senate committee on Wednesday. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A bill that would have allowed people to win release from pretrial detention by paying a partial amount of a bond died in an Alabama Senate committee on Wednesday. The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked on HB 42 , sponsored by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, in a tie vote of 5-5. All the Democrats on the committee and committee chair Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, voted for the bill. The remaining Republicans on the committee abstained or voted against the measure. No member offered a reason for their vote except for Sen. Josh Carnley, R-Enterprise, who said he was voting the way he was after sp...

Sen. Jay Hovey, R-Auburn, stands on the floor of the Alabama Senate on April 1, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Hovey, who changed his vote, said Wednesday that he was concerned about the fiscal note, but that he was told it would not significantly impact the state's budget. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” passed in a last-minute scheduled committee meeting that lasted just over three minutes. HB 247 , sponsored by Rep. David Standridge, R-Hayden, previously failed to pass the Senate County and Municipal Committee Tuesday after Sen. Jay Hovey, R-Auburn, voted against the measure, resulting in a 4-4 tie. He said in the meeting he had an issue with the fiscal note when he voted against the bill, and he didn’t know it would end up in a tie. With only Republican senators present at the meeting, the bill passed on a 6-0 vote. “We’re in the middle of the waning days of our session and still have a ...

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, joined by GOP Reps. Lisa McClain of Michigan and Troy Downing of Montana, speaks at a news conference following a meeting of the House Republican Conference on April 29, 2025. House Republicans began the process of approving a massive bill to support President Donald Trump’s priorities on the 100th day of second presidency Tuesday. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Tuesday kicked off their work to build consensus on “one big, beautiful bill,” to fund President Donald Trump’s priorities, including a major funding boost for immigration enforcement and border security.  After returning from a two-week recess, House lawmakers started debating and amending the various sections of the bill with markups in the Armed Services, Education and Workforce, and Homeland Security committees. Congressional Republicans  are using reconciliation — a special procedure that skirts the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster — ...

Alabama House of Representatives, Feb. 25, 2025. Gov. Kay Ivey called a special election to fill the seat for House District 12 on Tuesday. (Stew Milne for the Alabama Reflector) Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday called a special election for House District 12 in Cullman County. The seat became vacant after former Rep. Corey Harbison, R-Cullman, resigned on April 15 after being largely absent from the 2025 Legislative Session. District 12 is solidly Republican. According to election results , Harbison did not face opposition when he was elected in 2014 or in 2018. However, James Fields, a Democrat, ran against Harbison in 2022 where Harbison won 85% of the vote. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The primary election will be on July 15, with primary runoff on Aug. 12, if needed, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The general election will be on Oct. 28.  The deadline for qualifying with major political parties is 5 p.m. on May 13. The deadline for a...

President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office on Feb. 11, 2025. Trump signed two immigration-related orders on Monday in an event closed to press photographers. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday evening signed executive orders targeting so-called sanctuary cities by threatening to revoke federal funding and providing legal services and national security assets to law enforcement. The signings fell on the eve of Trump’s first 100 days of his second term, during which his administration has enacted an immigration crackdown that has led to clashes with the judiciary branch and cities that do not coordinate with federal immigration authorities, often referred to as “sanctuary cities.” “Some State and local officials nevertheless continue to use their authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of Federal immigration laws,” according to the executive order regarding sanctuary cities. “Thi...

Foreign-made semiconductors are facing scrutiny and tariffs by the Trump administration, which would cause a ripple effect for manufacturing and price of most electronic goods, experts say. (Photo by Narumon Bowonkitwanchai/Getty Images) The price of technology goods and services in the U.S. will likely rise in the next few months, experts say, as the White House continues to shift its strategy on tariffs for imported electronic hardware. After initial reports that Chinese goods would receive as high as a 145% tariff, President Donald Trump  said on April 13 that electronics like smartphones, computers and semiconductors — chips that process, power and transmit information — would be exempt. But Trump  said later that day that imported semiconductors, and the electronics they’re embedded in, will likely be facing their own tariff structure in the coming weeks. In tandem with Trump’s announcement, the U.S. Department of Commerce  announced an official investigation...

White House Border Czar Tom Homan talks with reporters on the driveway outside the White House West Wing on March 17, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — White House border czar Tom Homan on Monday blamed the parents of U.S. citizen children the Trump administration sent to Honduras over the weekend. At a Monday morning press conference, Homan defended the government’s actions to remove three young children from two different families alongside their mothers who were in the country without legal authorization but participated in a program that allows otherwise law-abiding migrants to stay in their communities. “If you enter this country illegally, it’s a crime,” Homan said. “Knowing you’re in this country illegally, you put yourself in that position. You put your family in that position.” The children, all under the age of 10, were placed on deportation flights to Honduras on Friday after their mothers checked in with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcem...

In this photo illustration, the injectable weight-loss medication Wegovy is available at a Chicago pharmacy last year. The Biden administration proposed a rule that would have required state Medicaid programs to cover GLP-1s for obesity treatment, but the Trump administration said it will leave the option up to the states. (Photo illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images) This story originally appeared on Stateline . The Trump administration this month scrapped a Biden-era proposal that would have required state Medicaid programs and allowed federal Medicare to pay for some GLP-1s for obesity treatment. Instead, state Medicaid programs will retain the choice of whether to cover the high-priced medications for their residents. The drugs, which have historically been prescribed to diabetic patients, also help patients lose weight and have grown in popularity among doctors and patients. But they are generally too expensive for most people to afford without insurance. While doctors an...

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. Congress could cut funds for the National Endowment for the Arts, which would directly impact $1 million in arts grants in Alabama. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) Alabama arts programs may face up to $1 million in cuts if the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts funds for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Alabama Council of the Arts said earlier this month it is anticipating cuts at the federal level soon. They said that representatives from DOGE were scheduled to visit NEA offices. “Any cuts to federal funding for state partnerships would directly impact our grant programs, reducing our available funds by up to $1 million annually,” Executive Director Elliot Knight said in a statement Wednesday. According to the Council, the NEA makes up 15% of its budget with the rest coming from the Alabama Legislature through the Education Trust Fund (ETF). The 2026 ETF received ...

The first national flag of the Confederacy is placed on a grave in this undated photo. Monday is Confederate Memorial Day in Alabama, one of three state holidays honoring the white supremacist government. (John Dreyer via Getty Images) There’s an old cemetery a few miles from my home. Over the last week, flags with three bars and seven stars have sprouted over some of the graves. It’s my annual reminder that we still have Confederate Memorial Day, one of three state holidays honoring men who killed American soldiers in defense of white supremacy. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE That’s what the Confederacy was about, and it’s never been a secret. Ulysses S. Grant wrote in his memoirs that the Southern cause was “one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.” He added that he did not question “the sincerity of the great mass of those who were opposed to us.” Neither do I. These men were honest in their racism like a vul...

Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, speaks in the Alabama Senate on May 8, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Stutts is sponsoring a bill to raise the age of consent for medical services from 14 to 16. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House Health Committee Wednesday approved a bill raising the age of consent for medical care from 14 to 16. SB 101 , sponsored by Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, would require parental consent for medical, dental, and mental health services for minors under 16 and prohibit health care providers and governmental entities from denying parents access to a child’s health record. “Since 1972, the age of consent for all medical care in Alabama, from dental health to general health to mental health, has been 14 years of age, and this bill seeks to raise it to 16,” said Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, who is handling the legislation in the House. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE DuBose said that although the bill would hav...

Jon Bahr holds his newborn daughter, Taverie, in March while testing equipment at the new MilkShake Factory franchise in Colorado Springs, Colo., he opened with his wife, Micayla Bahr. Colorado had a 4.5% increase in births last year, the largest in the nation, as births increased nationally for the first time since 2021. (Courtesy of Jon Bahr/MilkShake Factory) This story originally appeared on Stateline . The number of births in some Western states that are adding new housing rose last year, reversing losses the year before in many cases, according to new federal statistics released Wednesday. Increases from 2023 to 2024 were highest in Colorado (4.5%), Idaho (3.8%), Utah (3.6%), Washington state and Nebraska (each 2.6%). Births increased around 2% in West Virginia, South Dakota, North Carolina, Montana, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Almost all those states had decreases in births the previous year, and many have been building housing rapidly since 2023. Idaho, North Carolin...