Author: Associated Press

The Biden administration is turning to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help managing and caring for record numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children who are streaming into the United States by illegally crossing the border with Mexico.

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala (AP) — Alabama is expanding eligibility later this month for COVID-19 vaccinations to more frontline workers, residents with certain chronic health conditions, and people 55 and older, state officials announced Friday. “We have been concerned that many people at high risk and others engaged in close-contact work have...

By BILL BARROW Associated Press BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) — The South has never been hospitable to organized labor. But that may be changing, with an important test in Alabama, where thousands of workers at an Amazon campus are deciding whether to form a union. Labor organizers and advocates see the David-and-Goliath fight as a potential...

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers this week proposed new lottery bills, seeking to resurrect the issue after the defeat of a sweeping gambling proposal that would have also authorized multiple casinos in the state. Republicans senators introduced two new lottery bills, looking to end Alabama’s status as one of...

A decades-old ban on yoga in Alabama public schools could be coming to an end.
The Alabama House of Representatives voted 73-25 to approve a bill that will authorize school systems to decide if they want yoga to be allowed in K-12 schools. The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 712,000, the lowest total since early November, evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs amid a decline in confirmed coronavirus cases and signs of an improving economy.

By ZEKE MILLER and JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus, President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the possibility of beginning to “mark our independence from this...

The lawsuit filed by the Attorney General Steve Marshall, Congressman Robert Aderholt and two other citizens in federal court in Alabama asks a three-judge court to force the Census Bureau to turn over redistricting data by the end of March instead of the end-of-September deadline the bureau currently is aiming for. It also asks the court to stop the statistical agency from using a new method for protecting participants' privacy, which the state argues produces faulty numbers.

The House gave final congressional approval to the sweeping package by a near party line 220-211 vote precisely seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill. Republicans in both chambers opposed the legislation unanimously, characterizing it as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the crises are easing.

The sweeping pandemic relief package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature aims to help the U.S. defeat the virus and nurse the economy back to health. Here are highlights of the legislation.

The number of migrant children and families seeking to cross the U.S. southwest border has surged to levels not seen since before the pandemic, a challenge for President Joe Biden as he works to undo the restrictive immigration policies of his predecessor.

The House is expected to give final congressional approval Wednesday to the package, which aims to fulfill Democrats' campaign promises to beat the coronavirus pandemic and revive the enfeebled economy. House and Senate Republicans have unanimously opposed the package as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the dual crises are easing.

With Alabama trailing most of the nation in COVID-19 vaccinations, National Guard troops will begin work later this month administering doses in at least 24 rural counties, the state said Tuesday.

The Alabama Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted down a proposal to start a lottery and allow up to 10 casinos, ending an effort to get the issue of gambling before voters for the first time since 1999.

By KIM CHANDLER, Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Senate will debate a gambling bill soon, the bill’s sponsor said Monday, signaling the first major test of the proposal to begin a lottery and allow as many as eight casinos statewide. Republican Sen. Del Marsh of Anniston said Monday that he expects his...