Author: Mary Sell (Mary Sell)

The May 24 GOP primary ballot has three candidates vying to be the state’s next auditor, a job that will likely include defending the very existence of the office to lawmakers looking to eliminate it to save money.

Families impacted by the ongoing baby formula shortage can talk to their pediatricians about switching to available brands, but Alabama doctors warn against diluting formula or making at-home versions.

By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News U.S. Senate candidate Mike Durant’s campaign on Thursday tried to distance itself from the anti-Trump Lincoln Project only to end the day with the “total and complete endorsement” of its co-founder.  Durant, a Republican from Huntsville, has for weeks pushed back against attacks that a co-founder of the Lincoln...

Women make up about half of Alabama’s workforce, but are three times as likely as men to have minimum wage jobs and on average earn 67 cents for every $1 men are paid, according to a new report.

The Florida-based think tank Foundation of Government Accountability recently praised Alabama’s weathering of the pandemic as it related to unemployment compensation and attributed it to the state’s 2019 law that shortened the number of weeks people can receive the benefits. The foundation advocates more states adopt the unemployment “indexing” — tying the weeks the benefit is available to the state’s unemployment rate. 

According to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the 21 state parks total about 48,000 acres of land and water. In 2021, the parks had a total of 6.2 million visitors and an economic impact of $375 million for the state, according to the department. 

Some of McMillan’s accomplishments include working to create the Fair Ballot Commission, the State Teacher of the Year program, creating the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Tourism organization and helping to push for the Lodge at Gulf State Park, according to his delegation office.

Increased state funding totaling $173.7 million in the upcoming fiscal year will add 96 classrooms in 35 counties this fall. Additional classrooms will be funded based on the evaluation of high-needs areas prior to the start of the school year, Gov. Kay Ivey’s office said.

In early 2020, in response to COVID-19, the federal government increased states’ Medicaid funding, but said people already enrolled or enrolled during the pandemic couldn’t be removed.

Last fall, Inside Alabama Politics reported that the self-funder was prepared to spend $10 million of her own money running for office, which at that time was the U.S. Senate. She's now standing at $9.6 million with 28 days to go until the primary election.

labama Chief Justice Tom Parker last month told Alabama Daily News that even if the Judicial Resources Allocation Commission, created through legislation five years ago, was able to reallocate all judgeships that need to be reallocated, there would still be a need for additional new judgeships in Alabama. Earlier this year, Parker told lawmakers there is a need for 12 additional circuit judgeships and eight additional district judgeships.

The Alabama State Board of Education in 2021 required graduating high school students to complete the FAFSA. At the time, policymakers said Alabama students were leaving more than $60 million per year in free aid on the table.

By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News In 2018, 3,291 first-time teachers entered Alabama’s public K-12 classrooms. By the end of 2020, 1,721 of them had left those schools. More than 50% of new educators leave their first classrooms within three years, according to a new interim report on teacher retention by the Alabama Commission on...