Tag Archive for Legislature

The Statue of Robert E. Lee Has Finally Been Removed from the U.S. Capitol

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As the story goes, for more than 100 years, the two statues chosen by the Virginia Legislature to represent the state in the Capitol were prominent citizens George Washington, and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. With all the controversy over glorifying Civll War figures, I wondered why Lee was still there. He is no more.

It’s Time to Move the Alabama State Capital to Birmingham

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson – The ghosts of Jefferson Davis and George Wallace must live in the old capitol building in Montgomery. How else to explain why the fundamentalist Christian Republicans who somehow control all three branches of the state government still in the most retrograde state in the Union managed to…

Oh, Alabama: Testing the Courts on Abortion Again

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Guest Column – By Deanna Kell – In case you’ve been living in a news bubble and didn’t hear about it already, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law the most restrictive abortion bill in the country on Wednesday, a near-total ban on all abortions, after the so-called the State of the Human Life Protection…

Resurrect the Slave Ship Clotilda, Save Africatown and Rectify History

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By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – Maybe it once made sense to allow the police to put bad dudes out of business by seizing their stuff. “Civil forfeiture” gave cops an OK to snatch dope dealers’ cash, vehicles and other assets without having to wait for trials and convictions. But these seizures became so…

Republicans Rob Public Education Funding With Alt-Facts

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Republican legislators in Montgomery are monkeying around again and turning more public education funding over to private schools. They claim 5,793 scholarships have been awarded under the Alabama Accountability Act, but numbers from the Department of Revenue show that only 127 people have asked for the tax credit allowed when a child is…

Federal Court Strikes Down Race-Based Alabama Legislative Districts

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By Glynn Wilson – The gerrymandering plan rammed through the state legislature by Alabama Republicans after they took control in 2010 has now been thrown out by a three-judge panel of federal judges in Montgomery as an unconstitutionaly overtly race-based map. A three-judge panel of the Federal District Court in Montgomery unanimously agreed that in…

Vote No on Amendment 2: Stop the Republicans from Privatizing Alabama’s State Parks

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By Glynn Wilson – The poor people of Alabama are being hoodwinked by their government, again. And it seems every conservation and environmental group in the state and a few decent newspapers are being taken in too. The issue is Amendment 2 up for a vote to change the Alabama Constitution, again, on the Nov.…

A Prayer for Alabama Legislature: Bless Us With Disaster, Sweet Jesus

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By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – A prayer for the Alabama legislature as it reconvenes in a special session, following another special session that failed to find funding enough to allow the state’s Medicaid services to function at a level keeping the needy alive. Schemes to finance the services with a lottery, or with…

Alabama Lottery Stopgap Medicaid Plan Dies in Failure for Governor Bentley

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By Glynn Wilson – The fools y’all elected to represent us in Montgomery have gone back home now on a paid vacation for a holiday they don’t even believe in, Labor Day. The fool of a governor y’all elected to represent us in the state capital is making excuses like the bad kid on the…

Alabama House Passes Lottery Bill at Midnight, Senate Must Approve in Conference

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By Glynn Wilson – In a state where gambling is so loved yet feared, it must be torture for lawmakers stuck in Montgomery in the August heat to spend hours late into the night debating what Governor Robert Bentley says he wants, a state lottery to save Medicaid. With all of the big talk about…

Alabama Lottery Plan Surprisingly Survives ‘Train Wreck,’ But No Guarantee of Passage

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By Glynn Wilson – It just goes to show that just about anything can happen in a place where nobody really knows what they’re doing. After just about every news corporation in Alabama had reported in print and on television that Governor Robert Bentley’s plan to bring the legislature back to Montgomery to pass a…

Alabama Governor Bentley’s Lottery Plan to Fund Medicaid Dies in Special Session ‘Train Wreck’

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Glynn Wilson – I hate to say I told you so, especially on such an important matter of life and death for thousands each year. But as I already indicated, embattled Governor Robert Bentley’s proposal to get the Alabama Legislature to pass a bill allowing a vote on a lottery to shore up the general…

Lottery, BP Settlement Bills Clear Alabama Legislative Committees in Special Session

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By Glynn Wilson – Two very different lottery bills won approval in the Alabama Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee on Tuesday, the second day of a special session prompted by a Medicaid funding shortfall, according to Arise policy analyst Carol Gundlach. Both are sponsored by Senator Jim McClendon, a Republican from Springville, and the Senate…

Alabama Governor Bentley Releases Details of Call for Special Session

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s embattled Governor Robert Bentley released details of his call for the Special Session of the State Legislature on Monday, although the chance of a successful conclusion is in doubt due to controversy. “This call is designed for the Alabama Legislature to address adequate support of essential state services including children, the…

What’s at Stake in the August Special Session?

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By Hank Sanders – MONTGOMERY, Ala. — What will this looming special legislative session bring? Will it bring fiscal solutions for Medicaid? Will it bring solutions for the hemorrhaging General Fund? Will it bring expansion of Medicaid? Will it bring long lurking gambling efforts to a head? Will it bring better or worse public education?…

Governor Bentley Calls Special Session For Lottery Vote

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By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — While the greatest political show on earth was going on live from Philedelphia on the Internet and most television news channels, with one of the greatest orators to ever occupy the Oval Office addressing the Democratic National Convention and calling on the election of Hillary Clinton to be…

Everything’s Connected: Alabama Medicaid and You

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Back bone connected to the shoulder bone, 
Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone, 
Neck bone connected to the head bone
, And that’s the way it goes — Dem Bones – By Pippa Abston, MD – You probably recognize that verse — you may have sung this more recent secular version or the original by…

Open Letter to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley – Please Fully Fund Medicaid

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Watch this short video with an exchange between watchdog reporter Glynn Wilson and state Senator Trip Pittman – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MONTGOMERY, Ala. — This is an open letter to Alabama’s Republican Governor Robert Bentley asking him to please fully fund Medicaid. Dear Governor Bentley: I know times are tough.…

HUGE Medicaid Crisis Looms in Alabama

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Critics Say More People Are Going to Die Needlessly Due to Legislative Inaction – Watch this shocking video to see what legislators are saying about the inevitability of many people dying due to the budget shortfall. – By Glynn Wilson – MONTGOMERY, Ala. — More sick babies, old folks and poor people are just going…

Concerned Citizens to Converge on Montgomery for Medicaid Hearing

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By Glynn Wilson – A number of people from across Alabama have indicated they will converge on Montgomery Wednesday, April 20, when a joint committee of the House and Senate will hold a hearing on the problems of funding Medicaid in the state. After Governor Robert Bentley refused for the past three years to accept…