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

The state Senate killed a bill Thursday that supporters said would help address a coastal insurance crisis in Alabama by expanding the beach pool, but did revive and pass a ban on commercial gill nets.

The Senate’s actions leave both issues in the hands of the House of Representatives.

The insurance bill that died Thursday was one of two Senate bills dealing with the topic sponsored by Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile. The Senate on Wednesday approved the other bill, which would allow so-called captive insurers to sell homeowners policies.

Coastal insurance bill killed in senate

Progress For Insurance Reform

With all of the publicity dealing with the removal of the state sales tax on food amendment, I am amazed that so few people realize that a huge tax increase is included. Maybe the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN THE HISTORY OF OUR STATE. Removing taxpayers ability to deduct federal income taxes from their state taxes cannot be labeled as anything but double taxation.

Contrary to some statistics floating around, an overwhelming majority of taxpayers will be paying more money in taxes. These are the people who pay the most for the government services that help our poorest citizens. Now they are asked to pay more.

Fortunately, the votes required to pass this constitutional amendment are lacking.

Busy Week in the State Senate

A disappointment for people in Mobile County and Baldwin County hoping to get insurance reform bills passed in the Alabama Legislature.
Mobile Republican Senator Ben Brooks began a filibuster hoping to convince the Democratic leadership to hear the bills, but he was cut short.

Back in February, Senator Brooks bills were approved by a Senate Committee.

Since then, the bill has not gone anywhere. Supporters of a video gambling bill have been using stalling tactics to delay other Alabama Senate bills.

Senators Go Round And Round Over Insurance Reform

A member of the Alabama House was taken to a Montgomery hospital after he became ill on the House floor.

Rep. Harry Shiver of Bay Minette complained of nausea while sitting at his desk on the House floor Thursday afternoon. He was taken by ambulance to Baptist East Hospital where he was treated and released Thursday afternoon.

Rep. Randy Davis of Fairhope said Shiver injured his ankle Tuesday night while playing in a House-Senate softball game. He said Shiver apparently had a reaction to a pain medication.

Davis and Shiver are both Republicans from Baldwin County.

Shiver taken to hospital after becoming ill on House floor

Alabama’s unemployment rate declined to 3.7 percent in February.
That compares to 4.0 percent in January. The state Department of Industrial Relations said Friday the state’s rate was below the national jobless rate of 4.8 percent.

Unemployment Down In Alabama

The state could lose millions of dollars in revenue and possibly drive gas producers away from Alabama if a proposed tax change goes through the Legislature, an energy expert told a House committee Thursday afternoon.

The Legislative Fiscal Office said the new way of calculating the annual severance tax could cost Mobile County $860,000 and Baldwin County $300,000

Last September, Revenue Department Chief Administrative Law Judge Bill Thompson ruled in Exxon-Mobil’s favor. If that case is upheld, ExxonMobil and other companies seeking refunds could get $83 million. Nearly $10 million of that could come from the coffers of Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Governor’s tax plan questioned

If this leads to a tax increase on businesses, where do you think that money comes from? Businesses don’t pay taxes. They simply pass that expense on to their customers.

Homeowners have said it’s wrong all along. Now, Alabama’s insurance commissioner is saying it’s not just wrong, it’s illegal. Commissioner Walter Bell issued an order to insurance companies, saying they can not drop a homeowner’s policy simply because the homeowner doesn’t have an auto or life policy with them.

In the order to insurance companies, Bell said insurers must stop the illegal practice immediately and reinstate customers whose policies were dropped. “By this action we are taking, we are telling every insurer that has non-renewed a policy using this method to rescind the non-renewal and offer the consumer coverage again,” said Bell.

Big Win For Homeowners

Is this government interference with the open market or consumer protection?

As Alabama’s new revenue commissioner digressed into the dismal 1971 circumstances that he believes shaped his destiny, his emotions stifled his words.

“I can’t. Let’s move on,” said Tim Russell, pausing for a moment during an interview on Friday.

Russell, 59, former mayor of Foley, will step into the full-time role of state revenue commissioner Monday. On Feb. 22, Gov. Bob Riley announced that Russell would replace Tom Surtees, who left in September to direct the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

Former Foley mayor begins job as state revenue commissioner

The menace that imperils the very existence of the state consists of corrupt school teachers and junior college personnel. Of course what this is all really about is something different. It’s all about the Republican Party’s campaign to take control of the Alabama state legislature, in which 11 Democrats hold significant positions in junior colleges and a still greater number hold a minor relationship.

High on the list of the many amazing coincidences that link the Republican campaign strategy and the tireless efforts of U.S. Attorney Alice Martin is the role played by Bradley Byrne. Up to a year ago, Byrne was a state senator for district 32, Baldwin County—which is arguably the most Republican district in all of Alabama. He comes from Fairhope, which is a flower-laden artists colony across the bay from Mobile.

No Time for Rest in the War on Teachers

…another great conspiracy theory. What do you think?

Bonner, a Mobile Republican seeking a fourth two-year term representing southwest Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, drew on a familiar group of givers, while Lodmell, a Mobile Democrat in his first race, mainly dug into his own pocket.

In all, Bonner collected more than $78,700 during the three-month reporting period from October through December, drawing on about 130 individuals and political action committees, more than half of whom had already given during this campaign cycle.

Lodmell, who heads a children’s charity, raised almost $59,000 during the reporting period, $50,000 of which he contributed himself. Several family members gave a total of $5,600 more. His expenses amounted to some $18,700, mainly for yard signs and consulting fees. Lodmell also gave $1,000 to the Eastern Shore Democrats. He finished the year with about $53,400 in his account.

Bonner far ahead in fundraising

Should expenses for soliciting a prostitute be included in FEC filings?

Lawsuits claiming that the state Department of Revenue inflates property tax values by excluding foreclosure sales when establishing market values have been filed in Baldwin, Mobile and at least five other counties, according to an attorney in the case and court documents.

“We contend that the Revenue Department at the state level has ordered the local equalization people, in assessing the value of property, to not take into consideration the sale price of properties that were foreclosed on and resold,” said Birmingham attorney Bill Baxley, a former lieutenant governor who represents different plaintiffs in each county.

The lawsuits ask county circuit courts to grant the case class-action status to include all tax-paying landowners in the respective counties. The claim also asks the court to order revenue officials to use the foreclosure sales when establishing market value, to reassess property values and to refund excessive taxes. It further asks the court to stop officials from collecting property taxes under the current method.

In the Baldwin claim the plaintiffs include property owners Lucy Baxley, the former Democratic nominee for governor, and her husband, James L. Smith.

Property tax lawsuits filed across the state

Small business tax credits for health insurance would not only make coverage possible for more workers in Alabama, but stimulate the economy, Gov. Bob Riley said Friday.

During appearances at small businesses around south Alabama to promote the plan, the governor stopped at The Beach Bazaar, a clothing and souvenir store in Gulf Shores. The plan, which would allow small business owners and employees to deduct 200 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums, died in the Legislature last year. Riley said he plans to introduce the measure again when the 2008 session begins in February.

Riley pushes for health insurance deductions to stimulate economy

Dauphin Island will be gone, submerged beneath the rising waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Chilton County peaches? Only a memory as central Alabama becomes too hot to grow them. North Alabama’s hardwood forests of oak, hickory and walnut could retreat out of the state and part of the Black Belt may turn to desert.

Such changes would take many years to play out, if they occur at all, under a forecast by Larry Davenport, a Samford University biologist who will present his findings this week at a climate change conference in the nation’s capital.

State Climatologist John Christy was not familiar with Davenport’s paper, but questioned his reliance on one climate change “model” that envisions a hotter, drier future for the Southeast.

“The truth is that in Alabama the temperatures have slightly declined in the last 115 years and the precipitation has increased slightly,” Christy said Friday.

Climate study sees ’serious’ changes for state

If losing weight was one of your seemingly insurmountable New Year’s resolutions, perhaps it’s time to Scale Back Alabama. That’s the name of a statewide campaign designed for those who could stand to lose a pound or two.

The program encourages Alabamians to get healthier by losing weight and exercising. The second annual good-natured competition officially kicked off Monday with Alabamians in 47 counties taking part. The deadline to enter and weigh in is Friday, Jan. 11.

This year, any team of four people in which each member loses at least 10 pounds will be placed in a drawing for the grand prize of $1,000 per team member. Even if some team members don’t complete the contest, individual members who lose at least 10 pounds will be eligible for one of 20 individual prizes of $250 each.

The official weigh-in sites in Baldwin County are the Baldwin County Health Department, 23280 Gilbert Dr. in Robertsdale; North Baldwin Infirmary Wellness Center, 2115 Hand Ave. in Bay Minette; South Baldwin Regional Medical Center Rehab Services, 1701 N. McKenzie St. in Foley; Thomas Hospital Wellness Center, 212 Hospital Drive Suite A in Fairhope; and Curves of Daphne, 28567 County Road 13 Suite A in Daphne.

Deadline to take part in weight loss program nears

We’re now paying people to lose weight? Is tax money being used for this program?