A federal court decision late Monday will allow Alabama to proceed with its economic damages jury trial against BP and other responsible parties in connection with the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled against BP’s motion to strike Alabama’s demand for a jury trial seeking compensatory damages from the 2010 Gulf oil spill. This follows a March 16, 2015, order by Judge Barbier setting the Alabama compensatory damages trial to commence in the spring of 2016.
Attorney General Luther Strange says the state is the first plaintiff to secure a compensatory damages tril against BP as it was the first affected Gulf State.
He also says the ruling is a significant development for our state as we seek to reclaim lost revenues from the worst man-made environmental disaster in U.S. history.
It’s decision time for voters in Baldwin County. An election is being held today on a plan to increase property taxes with the money going to the local school system.
Residents are being asked to say yes or no on two main ballot items. One would renew current education property taxes of seven mills and the second item would add an extra eight mills on top of that.
Terry Burkle is Executive Director of the Baldwin County Education coalition. She says Baldwin is growing so fast that students have to use one hundred portable classrooms to fit everyone in…
“And if we are not successful in getting the additional property tax, then we would be looking at five years down the road, three hundred and fifty portables, and eight or nine years, four hundred and fifty portables.”
One mill of property taxes means a dollar for every thousand dollars of assessed property value. A local tea party group supports renewing the old tax, but opposes the extra taxes…
Supporters of the UAB football team are waiting for a report on the controversial decision to kill the program.
A task force is reviewing the original report that led UAB President Ray Watts to cancel the Blazer’s football program.
The panel commissioned the California based consulting group OSKR, which specializes in court cases involving sports and entertainment. Their opinion is due sometime this week.
OSKR partner Andy Schwartz already wrote an article that was openly critical of the original report that helped disband the Blazers football team. For example, Schwartz questioned the expense of football scholarships which were listed at fifty two thousand dollars each.
He contends that cost to UAB is typically in the twenty to thirty thousand dollar range. Critics of the decision also claim the choice to end the program was political and not financial.