Pat Duggins

Could Alabama be looking for a new U.S. Senator? President Elect Donald Trump acknowledged Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions during his victory speech in New York City. There’s already speculation Sessions could be the Defense Secretary in the new administration or even a member of the U.S. Supreme Court. Terry Lathan chairs the Alabama Republican party. She says there are a number of things Senator Sessions is qualified to do…

The American people have a good idea of what Donald Trump is like on the campaign trail. But, what he’ll do as Commander-In-Chief appears less certain. Mr. Trump’s campaign drew large support from groups who feel economically disadvantaged by globalization. Speculation on a Trump administration includes Dr. Allen Linken. He’s an assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama. Linken says one of Mr. Trump’s first actions will likely be regarding the media.

Alabama Quarterback Jalen Hurts broke loose for a twenty one yard touchdown run to break a scoreless tie early in the fourth quarter against LSU. Number one ranked Alabama's defense thoroughly stifled Leonard Fournette and the Tigers in a 10-0 victory in Baton Rogue. Freshman Hurts established himself as one of the most dynamic, explosive players in college football, was the game's leading rusher with one hundred and fourteen yards on twenty 20 carries.

The GulfQuest Maritime Museum is closing to the public on Monday. The attraction is being shuttered a little over a year after celebrating its opening in Mobile. The Mayor's Office says the city has reached a deal to take on the museum's financial woes after attendance figures were far lower than expected. Going forward, GulfQuest will only open on a limited basis, specifically for private and special events like field trips, including those already scheduled. The general public will not be able to purchase a ticket to the museum after Sunday.

No  more "A's," or "F's," for Alabama schools, at least for now. The Alabama Board of Education is postponing plans to assign schools letter grades. Board members tabled a vote on rules pertaining to the proposed new report cards. The vote came after several board members raised skepticism over the plans and suggested additional conversations with lawmakers and new education Superintendent Michael Sentance.  Alabama lawmakers in 2012 approved legislation requiring the development of the A-F report cards. The first report cards were scheduled for December.

Two hundred and seventy-eight new lawyers will join the Alabama Bar Association tomorrow morning. The new attorneys will be sworn in at the Bar’s fall admission ceremony. The Young Lawyer’s Section of the Bar will host the event. The ceremony will be a ceremonial session of the State Supreme Court. Acting Chief Justice Lyn Stewart will administer the oath to the new members. Justin Aday is the Director of Admissions for the Alabama State Bar. He says the ceremony is more sentimental than official.

Moody's Investor Services has raised its outlook on Mobile from negative to stable. It's a move that Mayor Sandy Stimpson says will help ongoing efforts to put the city on a more solid financial footing. Mobile remains at an Aa2 credit rating, but Stimpson says the change in outlook will have real benefits. The Mayor says the city is getting ready to go back into the market to refinance some existing debt and the timing of the Moody report was perfect.

Wildfires are burning across Alabama as drought conditions worsen. Forecasters say there isn't enough rain in the forecast to lessen the threat anytime soon. The Alabama Forestry Commission reported that about 70 blazes burned around 730 acres of land on Sunday alone. The situation is worse in north Alabama, where drought conditions are most severe. The state issued a fire danger warning for 46 of Alabama's 67 counties last week, and officials said it will continue until rain returns to the state.

Election ballots in Alabama will be reprinted after the most recent version left out wording of a constitutional amendment. The Montgomery Advertiser reports the Secretary of State's office will reprint close to three million ballots from Alabama's election ballots in November. The original ballot left off language that prevented the legislature from using any money for the upkeep of the park system for other purposes.

The Alabama Supreme Court is upholding the state’s controversial death penalty sentencing structure. This policy was the subject of parts one and three of Alabama Public Radio’s on-going series on justice reform and prison reform. At issue, is a statute that allows Alabama judges to overrule a jury’s recommendation of life in prison in favor of the death penalty. Alabama is the State that does this after Florida’s policy was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, and Delaware declared its own statute to be unconstitutional.

Alabama’s Court of the Judiciary is still weighing evidence on the fate of suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore. The panel has ten days to make a decision on a request to remove Moore from office. The Judicial Inquiry Commission wants Moore off the bench. The board says Moore urged the state’s county probate judges to defy federal court rulings on gay marriage. Moore calls the charge "ridiculous." He was removed from office in 2003 for disobeying a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building.

Ninety years after its last use, Alabama’s first capitol building is now open for visitors. The Alabama Historical Commission and The University of Alabama are hosting an “Artifact Day” at Old Cahawba tomorrow. The event will allow the public to work alongside professional researchers to learn more about the site of Alabama’s first state house. Site Director Linda Derry says when the capitol building was uncovered, Alabamians deserved a chance to learn from it.

Movie fans are about to get to see Hollywood’s take on the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The film centers on the rig explosion on the Deep Water Horizon platform. Family members of the eleven workers who were killed in the incident hope the movie will remind people about the human toll of the disaster. Critics believe the environmental damage from spill unjustly overshadowed the workers' deaths. Go to apr.org and you can click on our award winning series oil and water on the long term impact.

Alabama’s embattled Chief Justice Roy Moore will be back in court today-- as a defendant. Moore is facing judicial ethics charges that could result in his removal from the Alabama Supreme Court. State prosecutors say in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, Moore issued an administrative order telling the state’s probate judges that Alabama’s ban on gay marriage remained in effect. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the ethics complaints against Moore.

A three year old legal challenge over a Tuscaloosa City School Board Race appears to be over. Circuit judge Jim Roberts dismissed Kelly Horwitz’ case over her failed bid for re-election in August 2013. Horwitz claimed her opponent Cason Kirby won the vote with ballots that were cast illegally. The judge ruled there wasn’t enough testimony from the one hundred and fifty nine voters in question to change the results of the race.

Join Alabama Public Radio for "live" coverage of each of the Presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Click below for selections of APR's award-winning coverage of the campaign here in Alabama.

Alabama leads the nation in prescription opioid painkiller use, and politics may be one reason. Manufacturers and their allies have hired an average of eighteen lobbyists in Alabama each year since 2006. A joint investigation by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity found that the organizations spent $880 million and hired an annual average of 1,350 lobbyists in state capitals around the country from 2006 through 2015. The organizations' lobbying in Alabama ranked 33rd in the country when drug makers' lobbying hires are compared to all lobbying activity.

Colonial Pipeline says it will construct a temporary pipeline that will bypass a leaking section of its main gasoline pipeline in Shelby County. The company gave no timetable on when the project will be completed or what path the temporary bypass will take. Colonial admits the leak from its primary line leaked up to three sixty thousand gallons of gasoline near the town of Helena. The Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental officials had no initial comment on the possible impact of the spill on this rural region of Alabama.

Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn says an inmate serving twenty years for robbery will be prosecuted in connection with the stabbing at Holman Prison in Atmore. Authorities say corrections officer Kenneth Bettis died Friday after being stabbed on September first. The attack occurred at Holman prison, which has been the site of multiple outbreaks of sporadic violence. Critics blame acts of violence on Alabama’s prison jail overcrowding problem.

Fuel truck drivers may be working extra hours in the coming days. The governors of Alabama and Georgia have lifted restrictions on the number of hours these drivers can work. Robert Bentley and Nathan Deal hope to prevent gasoline shortages after the shutdown of a leaking pipeline in rural Alabama. Bentley's order remains in place for thirty days unless he cancels it. Governor Deal issued seven day order. Governors can suspend federal regulations during emergencies. Colonial Pipeline has said most of the leaked gasoline is contained in a retention pond near the city of Helena.

An Alabama prison inmate is dead following an attack at the Elmore Correctional Facility. The prison is on lockdown after an inmate was stabbed to death. The Department of Corrections says twenty four year-old Davieon Cotez Williams was stabbed multiple times during fight yesterday afternoon. Prison officials say another inmate is a suspect. Critics of Alabama’s prison system blame overcrowding for violence like this. APR’s MacKenzie Bates will look into these complaints tomorrow as part of APR on-going series on prison reform and justice reform.

Can a member of the Alabama Public Service Commission make money off a solar power deal? That’s the question going back to a state ethics panel. PSC Commissioner Chip Beeker wants to lease land to a solar energy company that in turn would sell electricity back to a power company regulated by the PSC. Beeker is the one asking the ethics board to take up the issue again. The Alabama Ethics Commission deadlocked on the matter this month. The ethics panel listed the opinion on today’s agenda. However, a lawyer representing Beeker says the panel may reconsider.

There will be no public vote on an Alabama lottery. APR’s Pat Duggins reports time is also running out for lawmakers to make up for a miscarriage of justice when they resume a special session next week.

State Senator Paul Bussman submitted a bill on the case of Anthony Ray Hinton. He spent thirty years in prison after being falsely convicted in a double murder in 1985.

Bussman wants to compensate Hinton through Alabama’s Wrongful Incarceration Act. The measure states that prison exonerees can get fifty thousand dollars for each year of wrongful imprisonment.

Alabama voters won’t be casting ballots on a state lottery this November. But, there will be a proposed constitutional amendment to keep an estimated six hundred local laws from being declared null and void. A lawsuit is challenging House procedures which could make lawmakers' “yes” votes to allow voters to decide on a list of local ballot measures unconstitutional. If the legal challenge is successful, these local laws might be ruled invalid even if voters approved them. Senator Cam Ward says the measures possibly at risk include one in Florence allowing Sunday alcohol sales.

APR airs the first part of our ongoing series on prison and justice reform tomorrow. I'll report on how Alabama is the only U.S. state that allows judges to overrule a jury's recommendation of life in prison, and go for the death penalty. Click here for Birmingham attorney Richard Jaffe. He represented Randall Padgett, whose judge overrode the jury. Padgett was later exonerated. Pat D.

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