State troopers investigated more traffic fatalities during the recent Christmas and New Year's holiday period than they did a year ago. Alabama Public Radio’s Pat Duggins explains…
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency reports troopers responded to nineteen traffic deaths between the official holiday period of December nineteenth to January second. That’s up from the seventeen traffic deaths during the same time last year. The traffic deaths included fifteen drivers, two passengers and two pedestrians. The department says only seven of the individuals killed in vehicles were using seat belts at the time. One of the victims was a two month-old child who wasn’t secured in a car seat. The department says preliminary investigations indicate alcohol was a factor in at least three of the deaths. The accidents occurred in Barbour, Bullock, Coosa, Cullman, Houston, Limestone, Marengo, Randolph, Talladega and Walker counties among others…
Alabama is asking a federal judge to let the state proceed with its first execution in more than a year. Lawyers with the state attorney general's office filed an emergency motion Thursday arguing that a judge erred when he ruled that an appellate court's 2012 stay of execution remained in place for inmate Tommy Arthur.
State lawyers argued that order was a temporary stay that only related to Arthur's previously scheduled 2012 execution date. The Alabama Supreme Court set a Feb. 19 execution for Arthur in what will be the state's first lethal injection using a new drug combination.
Residents of the city of Selma are getting to go to the movies for free today. The civil rights historical drama titled Selma premiers nationwide today and producers are inviting city residents to see it on the house. The film portrays Dr. Martin Luther King Junior and organizers of the 1965 voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge that resulted in the attack known as bloody Sunday. Ashley Mason is tourism director for Selma and Dallas County. She says Selma the movie has put Selma the town squarely on the national radar.
“Our name is getting out there, which is huge for a rural community. People are going to be googling Selma. They’re going to be getting more information. We’ve already gotten plenty of calls about the movie and about people coming to Selma to visit, so it’s already helping our tourism industry.”
The movie is also generating controversy among supporters of President Lyndon Johnson. Some are complaining that LBJ is inaccurately portrayed as an obstructionist of the voting rights movement.