The 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais gutted decades-long legal protections for minority representation in congressional and legislative districts, creating a partisan and racial gerrymandering drive across the South.
More than two decades ago, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision prohibiting the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. The case, Atkins v. Virginia, was no sidebar in the world of capital punishment. Large numbers of those who commit capital crimes suffer from an intellectual disability. Not only that, even after Atkins, researchers found that "the vast majority of executed offenders possess significant functional deficits that rival-and perhaps outpace-those associated with intellectual impairment."
In a surprising decision, the map she chose wasn't one drafted by a court-appointed special master and his expert cartographer, but rather one that had been submitted by an anonymous member of the public, known only by their initials, DD. The decision stunned DD an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Alabama named Daniel DiDonato who learned his map had been selected as he was preparing to leave for his 9.30am introduction to political science class.
According to a Realtor.com® analysis of median Social Security benefits by state and the Elder Economic Security Standard Index,, the average retiree in Alabama ends up with an annual surplus of $576, or about $48 a month, after paying for essential living costs. While it may not seem like a lot, the extra funds are more than homeowners have in most of the country, and can be put to good use in future-proofing a home.
"We've had several situations where we've had job sites raided, for lack of a better term... and it is a cause of concern," he said. "It's definitely affected the labor market in general," he added, with ripple effects beyond undocumented workers."There's a lot of folks that are here legally, that have relatives that may not be, and it's put everybody more in a defensive position," Davis said.
Over the last four years, LGBTQ+ people-especially transgender people-have been attacked from every angle: bans on healthcare, restrictions on bathrooms, even attempts to restrict driver's license gender markers. But one of the earliest and most revealing features of this backlash was the push to strip books about queer and trans lives from classrooms and libraries. At first, these bans cloaked themselves in neutrality, prohibiting vague "gender and sexuality" discussions-rules that always seemed to allow depictions of straight marriage while quietly targeting anything queer.
Alabama was the first state to perform an execution with nitrogen hypoxia, in which nitrogen gas is administered through a mask to cause unconsciousness and death. It has now executed five people using the method. Louisiana has also used nitrogen hypoxia once, with a second prisoner who was set to be executed in March dying of natural causes three weeks before the scheduled execution date.
"This program is bringing about life-changing improvements for Alabamians, particularly those who live in remote areas," ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said in a press release about the Alabama middle-mile grants.
The Trump administration's push to fast-track coal mine expansion in Alabama will potentially increase transparency and efficiency in permitting but raises questions about coal's export focus.
"This is how you cancel an agreement aimed at rebuilding the sewage infrastructure in an impoverished county in Alabama. You declare that agreement was cancelled because it was an 'illegal' DEI arrangement because it was aimed at helping Black people, and that's all you need to say."
