Suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore will appear before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary this afternoon.
Moore is facing judicial ethics violations that could result in his removal from the head of the Alabama Supreme Court. The charges stem from an order Moore gave the state's probate judges back in January encouraging them not to issue same-sex marriage licenses. That was in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide.
Richard Cohen is the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He says there's lots of ways to fight a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
"You can argue against it and say it should be overruled. You can try and put in a constitutional amendment. You can do all kinds of things. But what you can't do is defy the law of the land, and that's what Justice Moore has done. He thinks he's a law unto himself. He is the Ayatollah of Alabama."
Moore was removed from office in 2003 for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building. He was re-elected as Chief Justice in 2012.
Health officials in Dothan are screening for tuberculosis today. The health department encourages those who have visited any downtown Dothan nightclubs to get tested for tuberculosis.
Pam Barrett is the Director for the Division of Tuberculosis Control for the state. She says they are looking for active cases and anyone who could be carrying the germ.
“This is to test for latent TB infection, which, what that means is that you have the germ that causes TB in your body. We have started using the blood test on pretty much anybody that we can that’s over the age of two.”
Treatment is planned for those found with the bacteria in their system. Earlier this year, there was a tuberculosis outbreak in Perry County, but the two outbreaks do not appear to be related.
The animal shelter in Tuscaloosa says it’s had to temporarily stop taking in dogs and cats because its kennels are too full.
The Tuscaloosa News reports the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter is being inundated with animals, largely because of strays being brought in by animal control officers. The shelter is required to hold those animals for seven days.
Director Jennifer Earp says the shelter is designed to hold about 250 animals. She says it's currently housing more than 300.
While the shelter is required to take dogs and cats from animal control officers, Earp says it has suspended taking animals from the general public to limit the number that have to be euthanized in order to deal with overcrowding at the facility.
Earp says the good news is the shelter’s adoption rates are on the rise.