Author: Mary Sell (Mary Sell)

Lawmakers next week will focus on prison construction and funding legislation and two criminal justice reform bills, according to the special session proclamation released by Gov. Kay Ivey.

A draft of the bill given to lawmakers this month allows the state to borrow $785 million in bonds for the two sites with an estimated annual debt service of about $50 million per year. Legislative leaders also think they can use about $400 million in federal COVID-19 relief money, allowing them to start turning dirt sooner. About $150 million in General Fund allocations are expected to be put toward the projects, too.

The prison plan's first phase includes two new 4,000-bed prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties and allows the state to borrow up to $785 million for their construction.

The State House wasn’t closed to the public for the spring 2021 regular session, but because of social distancing requirements, there weren’t many places for the public to gather or linger.

The proposed plan to build new prisons in Alabama would also allow the purchase of the empty, privately owned prison in Perry County to hold parole violators who are crowding some county jails around the state. 

Alabama’s unemployment rate continued to tick downward in August to 3.1%, down from 3.2% in July and 7.1% in August 2020.

About 40% of Alabama resident students are undecided about where they may go post-graduation. And 48% of the “maybes” are getting STEM-related degrees. Alabama leaders want very much to keep those students here as they’re critical to the economy’s growth. 

Two Alabama construction companies could be in the best position to get state contracts to build two men’s prisons under a proposal lawmakers are now weighing.

For the first time in 15 years, tax receipts in the state’s Education Trust Fund are hitting double-digit growth, prompting the Senate’s budget chairman to say it’s time the Legislature considers some possible tax cuts.

Alabama lawmakers are expected to meet in their respective caucuses in Montgomery today to discuss a new draft of a bill to build new prisons using a combination of borrowed and federal funds.

About $15.5 million in pandemic Emergency Rental Assistance has gotten to 2,308 Alabamians as of last week, according to the Alabama Housing Finance Authority, the entity charged with distributing up to $263 million in federal funding.

A moment of silence for the more than 12,000 Alabamians who have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is planned for noon today. The remembrance is organized by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alabama Hospital Association.

By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News The number of students graduating from Alabama high schools and entering state universities and colleges dipped by 5% in 2020 to 41%. While that decrease can in part be blamed on COVID-19-caused disruptions, it’s also part of a larger decline that education officials say is a sign of a...

During the first public hearing on reapportionment Wednesday, Alabamians asked the lawmakers redrawing voting districts not to split up communities of interests and keep counties whole in the new maps being created.

By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News Armed with new information about which districts gained and lost residents, the committee redrawing the Alabama House and Senate, Congressional and board of education maps will begin public hearings Wednesday. The hearings will be held at community colleges and can be attended in person and observed online. A complete...