Governor Robert Bentley says the only option left for the state for government funding is a lottery. A-P-R’s student reporter Meagan Mowery has more…
Governor Bentley once said state lotteries are outdated but now he is changing his tune.
On Wednesday Bentley announced plans for a special session to focus on bringing a state lottery to Alabama.
Attempts to get a lottery in Alabama have happened before with varying success. A bill made it through committee in the House of Representatives back in February but did not make it past the floor. Opponents of a lottery claim it would take advantage of poor families. A study from North Carolina shows counties with the highest levels of poverty and unemployment also reported the highest lottery ticket sales.
The governor is expected to announce the date of the special session later this week. Alabama is one of the six states without a lottery.
If you’re not eligible to vote in Alabama, then you should be getting some mail soon about it.
Secretary of State of John Merrill says about 1.2 million Alabamians who are e either not registered to vote or in need of updating voter registration information will receive a Mail-In Voter Registration Application.
This effort is working with the Electronic Registration Information Center. They identify eligible citizens who are not yet registered to vote, and member states must contact those citizens, educating them on the most efficient means of registering.
Those in Alabama receiving the application can register to vote or update information by mailing their form back in to their local Board of Registrars, visiting alabamavotes.gov/vote or downloading the Vote for Alabama app.
More than 800 farmers will gather in Mobile this weekend.
They’re in town for the 44th Annual Commodity Producers Conference. The Alabama Farmers Federation is hosting the three day event. Farmers from across the state will participate in seminars ranging from poultry production, drones, geographic information systems mapping, and other new technologies.
Mary Johnson is the Director of News Services for the Federation. She says farmers will learn a lot from the conference…
“This event I love to call it a continuing education for farmers just like emergency responders have continuing education credit or teachers have continuing education credits that's really what this conference is all about.”
Johnson says participants will also be visiting farms in the Mobile area. The conference kicks off today and will wrap up on Sunday.