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Freedom for Former Gov Siegelman? Confederate flag comes down in Pensacola

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman could go free pending his appeal. U.S. District judge Clay Land says he will decide by the end of the week if Seigelman should be released from prison while appealing his 2006 bribery conviction. Land questioned the prosecution and defense on whether the original U.S. attorney's ties to Republican politics tainted the prosecution of the former Democratic governor. The prosecution says Laura Canary’s participation was minimal. The defense says she championed the case even after recusing herself.

Alabama Education system is still basking in the news that the state's high school graduation rate increased to eighty six percent for the class of 2014. That figure is up from 80 percent the prior year. John Bridgeland is the C-E-O of Civic Enterprises. That’s a group that advocates efforts in decreasing dropout rates. He says Alabama has had many hurdles to clear and the state is seeing improvement among minority groups…

“Since 2006 the most accelerated gains in graduation rates have been among Hispanics and African Americans at 15 percentage and 9 percentage points respectively.”

Bridgeland says the improvements are due in part to the state putting emphasis on the importance of college and targeting specific schools with high dropout rates for improvements. He says community based programs have also played a large role in helping reduce dropout rates. ? ?

The Pensacola area Democratic Women’s Club is praising the Escambia County Commission’s decision over a Confederate battle flag. The board voted last week to remove the flag from all county buildings. Only the stars and stripes and the flag of the state of Florida are being used for now. Club President Dianne Krumel says there was an emotional debate before the county vote. But, she says the board did the right thing…

“There just needs to be a healing time, not only here in Escambia, but across the nation. It is time for us to move forward and put these symbols of hatred and division behind us.”

Supporters of Florida’s confederate past spoke in favor of replacing the battle flag, known as the stars and bars, with the actual flag of the Confederacy, which is different. The Escambia County commission voted against that.

A sixteen year veteran of the Alabama legislature wants to lead the state’s Republican party. Former state representative Mary Sue McClurkin of Indian Springs has announced her candidacy for the chairmanship of the Alabama Republican Party. The current chairman is former state Senator Bill Armistead. He announced last week that he will not seek another two-year term when the party's executive committee meets in Montgomery next February.McClurkin co-chaired the successful Alabama presidential primary campaign for Mike Huckabee in 2008. She’s also a former vice-chair of women's affairs for the state Republican Party.

Pat Duggins is news director for Alabama Public Radio.
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