Category: Editorial

EditorialSubmitted Article

HB317 critical to keeping Alabama competitive
By Jess Nicholas In an effort to improve transparency in government, the Alabama Ethics Act unintentionally put the state at a disadvantage relative to its peers – something a new bill, HB317, the Alabama Jobs Enhancement Act, seeks to correct. It is imperative that HB317 passes in order to keep the state of Alabama on an equal playing field with its competing states. Because the language in the original Ethics…
by Submitted Article access_time7 years ago
Inside the Statehouse
By Steve Flowers The Alabama Legislature usually gets very little done during an election year session except passage of the budgets. However, the Legislature may have to address issues pertaining to prison health care. A Federal judge has ruled that our prison mental health care is “horrendously inadequate.” This year the solution will probably be to simply add $30 [million] to 50 million to the prison budget and kick the…
by Submitted Article access_time7 years ago
Politics rears its head after Parkland tragedy
By Larry Lee It’s easy to tell this is an election year in Alabama by the way some politicians are trying to capitalize on another school shooting. Right on cue, Rep. Will Ainsworth of Guntersville, who is running for Lt. Governor, is touting a bill to allow trained, certified teachers to carry weapons on a school campus. Ainsworth claims that educators in his district asked for such legislation. However, 24…
by Submitted Article access_time7 years ago
The ‘other’ duties of a Congressman
By Congressman Bradley Byrne If someone asked you what a Congressman does on a daily basis, I can imagine what would come to your mind: voting on bills, attending committee hearings, holding meetings with others in Washington, and lots of time debating and arguing. Those are in fact major parts of the job, but there is so much more that goes into serving the people of Southwest Alabama. I want…
by Submitted Article access_time7 years ago
Inside the Statehouse
By Steve Flowers The 2018 legislative session will be short and sweet. It is an election year. Historically, during the last year of a quadrennium, the legislature convenes early and passes the budgets, then goes home and campaigns for reelection to another four-year term. Our forefathers, who wrote our 1901 Constitution, must have been thinking the same thing because they designed for the fourth year of the quadrennium legislative session…
by Submitted Article access_time7 years ago