White House

Donald Trump says he’s coming to Tuscaloosa, again. The President announced on his social media site that he’ll be delivering the commencement address at the University of Alabama in early May, as well as at West Point.

Budget cuts in Washington are raising concerns for beach safety along the Alabama Gulf coast. The Associated Press is reported staff vacancies as bad as twenty percent at some National Weather Service offices. These are the people who provide forecasts, including beach safety information for both Alabama beach goers and lifeguards.

School material could look very different if two bills before the Alabama legislature become law. One measure would mandate the displaying of the Ten Commandments in an expansion of Christian texts in public schools, while deleting references to drag shows and the displaying of pride flags. Another bill would require schools to change their maps and materials to say “Gulf of America.”

The Trump administration has granted nearly seventy coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene. The list includes the Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves seven southern states including Alabama.

Alabama did better than some states and worse than others when it comes to identity theft. The financial website Wallethub looked at data from the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission on issues like identity fraud complaints and state policies on data dumping and stopping spyware. Alabama was ranked midway at number twenty six nationally.

Huntsville defense contractor Teledyne Brown is on a list of twelve U.S. companies under an export ban from China. The communist nation is cutting off customers who are considered “dual use.” In other words, China components that could be used for either civilian or military purposes.

The Trump administration’s new Secretary of Education is settling into her new job. Linda McMahon says part of her agenda is winding down this cabinet level agency as Donald Trump vows to dismantle it. That has educators and the general public watching to see what happens next to program like Title IX that guarantees equal treatment for women in sports and education. One person who might be impacted is easy to spot, with her sombrero, handlebar moustache, and bib overalls…

Alabama exports to China may almost double in price soon. The communist nation is vowing to impose an eighty four percent tax on U.S. imports in retaliation to Donald Trump’s fifty percent tariff. The U.S. China Business Council says Alabama exported four billion dollars in products to China last year.

A crackdown on foreign students is alarming colleges, who say the Trump administration is using new tactics and vague justifications to push some students out of the country. College officials worry the new approach will keep foreigners from wanting to study in the U.S. This Tuesday marks two weeks since the arrest of an University of Alabama doctoral candidate.

Both the University of Alabama and federal immigration officials confirm that an Iranian UA doctoral student is in ICE custody, but few details are being made available. Alabama Public Radio was contacted by classmates of the student, identified in published reports as Alireza Doroudi, was detained by ICE agents this week. The student's F-1 student had reportedly been revoked. However, the reasons behind Doroudi’s arrest remain unclear. It’s just the latest student to be detained by the Trump administration.