Entries Tagged 'State News' ↓

With no obvious Republican front-runner in sight for the 2010 governor’s race, speculation is buzzing within GOP circles that U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner of Mobile is mulling a bid for the state’s top job.

“I think there’s a lot of qualified candidates …,” Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine said Monday. “And of course, Jo’s name has been out there for a month or two.”

A half-dozen other Republican officeholders and activists interviewed by the Press-Register this week also said they had heard that Bonner could be eyeing the race. All, however, said they have no direct knowledge of his plans.

possible Jo Bonner run for Alabama governor

New Alabama Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling said Tuesday that Gov. Bob Riley’s administration is mulling plans to subsidize homeowners insurance in Mobile and Baldwin counties, a potentially major shift.

He indicated that among possibilities would be to provide subsidies to help residents cover high deductibles. He also indicated that the state would consider giving tax credits or rebates to Mobile and Baldwin residents whose rates are much higher than statewide averages.

Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, indicated that a third possibility could call for using state money to provide funding to create a captive insurance company that would write policies in coastal areas. Such a company has been under discussion for several years, but finding money for initial reserves has been a hurdle. Advocates have also sought money from cities and counties.

Ridling warned that spending state money to help coastal residents pay for insurance would be resisted by the rest of the state.

Alabama insurance commissioner says state considering subsidies for coastal homeowners insurance

Surely we’re not asking for a handout from the state to pay our insurance, are we? Fair prices and equal treatment is what’s really needed. If a building is structurally sound and meets code requirements insurance should be available. If you can’t afford your insurance, move.

Gov. Bob Riley is appealing a judge’s decision that blocked state plans to build an upscale hotel and conference center at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores.

“We can’t continue to lose millions of convention dollars to our neighboring state of Florida because we don’t have adequate hotel and convention facilities at Gulf State Park,” Riley said in a statement Thursday.

The state’s plain concrete lodge with 144 rooms at the park was destroyed in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan. The state developed plans to replace it with a 350-room, $100 million luxury hotel, conference center and spa that would be run by West Paces Hotel Group, with Auburn University hospitality industry students working at the site.

Governor appeals ruling stopping Gulf Coast hotel

Alabama’s economy will avoid a downturn by expanding about a half percent this year before rebounding to grow by 1.1 percent in 2009, an economist told state job hunters.

Loren Scott, president of Baton Rouge-based Loren C. Scott & Associates Inc., is one of the 32 members of the National Business Economic Issues Council, a group that meets quarterly to discuss issues about the economy. He is a busy public speaker and has appeared on the MSNBC, CNBC and Bloomberg Television networks.

Scott told members of the Economic Development Association of Alabama on Monday that the jury is still out on whether the nation’s economy is in an actual recession or heading into one. He said there is about a 25 percent chance the U.S. economy is meeting all the criteria used to officially define a recession.

Economist says Alabama bucking downturn

Limestone County’s 3.2 percent tied with Baldwin County for the third lowest unemployment rate in May.

Alabama’s unemployment rate jumped sharply in May to 4.7 percent, up from 4 percent in April and 3.5 percent in May 2007. Madison County’s jobless rate of 3.1 percent was the second lowest in the state, trailing only Shelby County’s 2.7 percent.

The U.S. unemployment rate is 5.5 percent and it has been seven years since Alabama’s jobless rate was higher than the national rate.

Baldwin County jobless rate:  3.2%

Swiger wins Baldwin school board race

McKinney wins state school board primary

Faust takes Baldwin revenue commission race

Sessions easily captures GOP U.S. Senate nomination

Figures leads other Dems in U.S. Senate race

Baldwin transportation tax increase headed for defeat

All results WKRG Projects Winners

What do you think about the results?

Is Swiger going to bring change to the Board of Education? Good or bad?

Is Faust’s fairness going to change our property appraisals? Up or down?

Who will pay as we go now?

The state Republican Party has become quite abuzz with the relatively late realization that AEA is apparently putting a lot of resources into GOP primary races in an attempt to unseat two State Board of Education members. Skip Smithwick is challenging Republican incumbent Stephanie Bell in SBOE District 3, and Paul Christopher is challenging Republican incumbent Randy McKinney in SBOE District 1.

You can see fairly transparently in the campaign finance reports the money going from AEA’s PAC (AVOTE) to Smithwick and Christopher with only a PAC-stop or two in between.

Unusual Interest in SBOE Races

Two Republican incumbents on the state school board face challenges in the GOP primary Tuesday from newcomers with a huge advantage in campaign funds, raising speculation they’re undercover Democrats getting help from the Alabama Education Association.

District 1 incumbent Randy McKinney of Gulf Shores is being challenged by Paul Christopher of Mobile.

Campaign finance reports filed this week show Christopher out front with $158,175 to McKinney’s $22,460

McKinney said he’s drawn the ire of AEA by voting against double-dipping by legislators paid by two-year colleges and backing current Chancellor Bradley Byrne.

AEA’s chief lobbyist, Paul Hubbert, said speculation that AEA is challenging the incumbents to shift the board’s makeup is just rumor. But while neither of the challengers reported receiving money from AEA’s political action committee — Alabama Voice of Teachers in Education — both received large amounts from RACE PAC, which listed A-VOTE as one of its contributors.

Party loyalty of some questioned in GOP primary for SBOE

His first legislative session hasn’t been like a chess game, says state Sen. Trip Pittman. It’s closer to three or four going on simultaneously, with legislators at one board and various interest groups crowding around the others.

“We’ve done our best to grasp the rules and the processes and procedures in the Senate,” said the Republican from Montrose, elected last fall to represent most of Baldwin County. “It’s a lot like business in the sense you have to work with a lot of people to work through agreements.”

“Trip has been conscientious across the board on legislation,” Lindsey said. “We don’t vote together all the time, but he usually has a reason to vote the way he does on those issues.

First session was about learning the moves

The Alabama Education Association is using telephone surveys to try to sway voters against state school board member Randy McKinney, McKinney said.

The Orange Beach Republican is running for his second full term against Paul Christopher of Mobile. The two will face each other in the June 3 Republican primary for the seat, which covers Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia counties. The winner will face Democrat Kenyon Berry in the Nov. 4 general election.

McKinney said he thinks AEA, the state’s powerful teacher’s union, wants to boot him from office and is using a “push poll” to influence the race. The tactic uses questions, often in the guise of a public opinion poll, that are phrased to give negative information about a particular candidate.

McKinney: AEA wants him gone

Republican Randy McKinney announced that he is seeking re-election to the State Board of Education, District 1 seat, which includes Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia counties.

He is running against Paul Christopher in the June 3 Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat Kenyon Berry in the Nov. 4 general election.

Board members serve four-year terms and are paid $18,000 annually. The nine-member state school board oversees K-12 education and Alabama’s two-year college system.

McKinney seeks re-election to Alabama school board

The Legislature, at the urging of Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., created a joint commission Thursday to study a private-public partnership to build a freeway along the west side of Alabama from Mobile to Florence.

The proposed highway would be a major boost for Alabama’s impoverished Black Belt and provide an important link for Midwest tourists headed for Gulf beaches, said Folsom.

Legislature creates freeway panel

An insurance reform bill backed by a Mobile senator is on its way to the governor’s desk.

The measure, SB-03, which will allow captive insurance companies to sell homeowners’ insurance, won unanimous approval form the state House of Representatives Thursday afternoon, despite a months-long partisan battle that threatened to kill the bill.

Senator Ben Brooks (R-Mobile) says he wrote the legislation to help Gulf Coast homeowners struggling with what many are calling an insurance crisis.

Captive Insurance Bill Passes

A bill to expand Alabama’s hate crimes law will be up for passage on the Legislature’s final meeting day.

The bill would expand the law to cover crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation. The bill won approval from the Alabama House on Tuesday and from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. That puts the bill in line for consideration by the Senate on May 19, which will be the final meeting day of the 2008 legislative session.

The law sets mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed against people because of their race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity or physical or mental disability.

Bill to expand Alabama’s hate crimes law moves ahead

How is a “hate crime” law fair? Those of a different race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability and/or sexual orientation deserve more protection by having harsher sentences for crimes committed against them?

Message to would-be criminals: go after straight, white males. Otherwise, you’re a hater and will be punished more severely.

All crimes should be punished the same: as severely as possible.

The State Board of Education has
unanimously voted to change the requirements for Alabama’s high
school diploma.

The biggest change automatically enrolls all students for the
state’s Advanced Diploma and gives parents the choice of opting
their children out to get the Basic Diploma.

New Rules For Graduation