Alabama top stories in brief

• After over two years of litigation, and two appeals in front of the Supreme Court, the State of Alabama continues to carry litigation on their redistricting case. In October, 2023, a federal court approved a new congressional map that created a majority Black district, and a near-majority Black district. The current congressional map was approved only after the Alabama Legislature drafted two congressional maps that the federal court rejected. Alabama appealed the decision both times, and the Supreme Court maintained the lower court’s decision in each case. The new trial is set to begin on Feb. 3, 2025. 

• The Alabama Department of Senior Services has received several grants to assist in Dementia and Alzheimer’s care. The grants will go towards improving dementia care and access to support for those in need. Additionally, the Alabama Department of Public Health received a $1.7 million grant to build more infrastructure to help deal with the disease, which is on the rise in Alabama, particularly in the Black Belt. The ADPH has said that the resources will not only be used to help those who have dementia, but will also help address the issues that are connected to dementia, hopefully delaying its onset.  

• A second automotive union effort in Alabama — the first took place at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance — has been launched at the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing plant in Montgomery. The union drive comes after 30% of Hyundai workers (HMMA) have signed union cards. Cited concerns include working and safety conditions and pay. Over 4,000 people work at the plant and although the plant has recently approved a wage package increasing hourly wages by 25% by 2028, an Alabama Arise report found that Alabama autoworkers’ wages have declined 11% between 2002 and 2019. The report also found that Alabama autoworkers’ pay lags behind the national average, and that Black and Hispanic workers and women workers were paid significantly less. 

• A new set of bylaws have been approved by the Alabama Democratic Party. The bylaws restore almost all diversity caucuses that were eliminated in a meeting last May. The disability caucus was not among those restored. Other caucuses at the meeting echoed said they felt the meeting went well but expressed sentiments about trying to restore the disability caucus and provide representation. The new bylaws were adopted in response to the Democratic National Committee, who gave the ADP an order to resolve the divisive infighting from the elimination of several caucuses last May. 

• Alabama State Rep. John Rogers was indicted on Feb. 2 by a federal grand jury with several new charges, which include money laundering and wire and mail fraud. The indictment is tied to a kickback scheme for which former State Rep. Fred Plump has already pleaded guilty. The kickback scheme involved a youth baseball league that Plump owned. According to the charges levied against Rogers, he and his assistant received around $200,000 in state funds for their participation in the scheme. Rogers was indicted last year for the scheme as well, and has continued to assert innocence. 

• Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a motion last Monday for the execution of Jamie Mills by lethal injection. Mills was convicted in 2007 for three counts of capital murder in 2004.

Our articles you might have missed

• In her latest edition of The Breathing Room, Hannah Irvin addresses the difficulty that many of us have when it comes to asking others for help. She encourages everyone to reach out to others for support when they are going through difficult times in life. 

• Wesley Miller returned to Sylacauga in his final installment of The Alabama Ramble with The Sunrise News. This time, he dives into the hiking community, explores the local museum and, of course, samples some delicious local food. 

Announcements

• We’ll be providing general updates on the Alabama Legislature every two Roundups. If there are any bills that you’d like to have us explain in detail, let us know and we’ll do our best to cover them. 

• Our travel columnist, Wesley Miller, will be expanding to work on his own platform. His last article with Sunrise was released on Feb. 2. We’ve enjoyed having Wesley as part of our team, and we wish him the best of luck in his new endeavors. You can check out The Alabama Ramble’s Facebook page for updates on his work.

• We are excited to announce a new column called The Longleaf Hiker, which will be published by Xander Swain, our Roundup writer. The column will focus on the outdoors of Alabama and surrounding states. From hiking and kayaking to adventuring deep below in the cave systems under the Appalachian and Smoky Mountains, Xander will be taking our readers through his own personal experiences outdoors. He’ll detail his excursions and write about the unique natural history in the southeast. The column will be published on our site on the first Friday of each month, with Ko-Fi members receiving it a week in advance. The first issue of The Longleaf Hiker will come out on Feb. 23 for Ko-Fi members and March 1 for regular readers and will feature a trip to the Kathy Stiles Freeland Bibb County Glades Preserve. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn for updates!

• We’ve made a quality of life improvement to our newsletters. Readers that wish to make adjustments to which newsletters they receive or to update the email address we send them to can do so by clicking “update your profile” at the bottom of our emails.