Legislative Week in Review
| Birmingham — For the first time in almost 150 years, Alabama’s Legislature has a Republican majority. Many new faces are dealing with some old problems–ethics, funding for education, and proration of state budgets. On Friday afternoons, we review the week in the Alabama Legislature with Rep. Merika Coleman (D-Midfield) and Rep. Paul DeMarco (R-Homewood).
| 4/22/2011-Constitutional Reform | 4/08/2011-Immigration | 4/01/2011-Proration and Jefferson County’s Woes | 3/11/2011-Changes to the Education Budget | 3/04/2011-State of the State and State Budgets
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban will have a ‘snowball effect’ on residents across the South
Abortion rights advocates say the ban will likely force many to travel farther for abortion care and endure pregnancy and childbirth against their will.
Attitudes among Alabama lawmakers softening on Medicaid expansion
Alabama is one of ten states which has not expanded Medicaid. Republican leaders have pushed back against the idea for years.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
