Alabama state lawmakers will gather in Montgomery this week. APR’s Pat Duggins reports on orientation week for the state house and senate…
Alabama’s newly elected senators and representatives will hear presentations about the legislative process, state budgets and the role of a legislator. Members will also take a mandatory training course on the requirements of the state ethics law.
Orientation begins today and run through Thursday. Governor Robert Bentley and Chief Justice Roy Moore will address legislators on Thursday. The 2015 regular legislative session begins in March. Arguably the biggest change is in the state senate where the GOP took even more seats in the November election. When four term senator Quinton Ross takes over as minority leader, he’ll have only eight democrats in the upper chamber. That’s down from eleven…
Santa Claus will be getting some help this week on behalf of children in Alabama. Sarrell Dental Center is among the groups collecting new and unwrapped toys and gifts this week for Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham. The toys will be used for The Sugar Plum Shop. That’s Children’s of Alabama’s in-hospital toy store. Sarah Register is the Community Outreach Manager of Sarrell Dental. She says that the Sugar Plum Shop was designed for patients and their families who can’t leave the hospital to go Christmas shopping.
“The Sugar plum shop is an in-hospital toy store where the patients that are at Children’s hospital can go and shop for their families because they can’t get out of the hospital. So it’s just a way for them to shop and get free presents for their family members.”
Sarrell Dental Center will be collecting toys at their Dothan and Enterprise locations through Friday. Toys can be dropped off at the offices this week from 8 am to 5 pm.
The state attorney general's office is asking a judge to give a former state education official and her husband 50-year sentences in an ethics case involving millions of dollars.
The attorney general is seeking the sentence for 51-year-old Deann Stone and 55-year-old Dave Stone of Wetumpka. Deann Stone is the former director of federal programs for the state Department of Education.
A jury convicted her in October of five ethics counts involving using her position to provide more than $10 million in grant money to the company that employed her husband. He was convicted of aiding and abetting her on each count.