Maggie Martin

The quality of health care for female veterans will be the highlight at a town hall meeting in Tuscaloosa tonight. The American Legion is hosting the event. It’s the country’s largest organization of war-time veterans. Officials say women now make up about 15 percent of the country’s service members. About 340,000 women veterans are currently enrolled in the VA health-care system, and officials say they expect that number to keep growing. Roscoe Butler is a field representative with the American Legion.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham collected several interviews with African-Americans in the area and is sharing 10 of them tonight during an open house at UAB’s Digital Media Commons. UAB students collaborated with the StoryCorps Griot Initiative for the project. “Griot” is a West-African word meaning “storyteller.” Rosie O’Beirne is director of digital media and learning at UAB. She says the process began two years ago.

The Governor's Mansion in Montgomery is getting ready for the first of three evenings of public tours during the Christmas season.

First Lady Dianne Bentley says the mansion will be open from 5-7 p.m. Monday and during the same hours Dec. 10 and 17. Decorators from across the state volunteered to decorate the mansion and the neighboring Hill House for the holidays. The first lady said she wants to share that with the public.

Wild Drag Racing is the most popular "camp" event at a gay rodeo. Men dress up in drag and have to get on a steer and go across a white line in under 1 minute. Not as easy as it sounds, as you can see from the video above.
The man with the red feather in his hat is John Beck, the "Grandfather" of the Gay Rodeo. He invented Wild Drag Racing. Competitors say it's one of the most dangerous events in a gay rodeo.

Gov. Robert Bentley has announced no decision yet on whether he wants Alabama to create a health insurance exchange or leave it to the federal government.

Friday is the deadline for states to notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about what they intend to do. Exchanges are mandated by the Affordable Care Act for each state, but they can be state run or federally run.

November 6th is now just one day away. For Alabamians, it means they’ll cast their votes not only for who they want as president, but who they want to serve as their U.S. Congressional representative. In District 7, which includes Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Dallas, and Wilcox counties, Democratic incumbent Terri Sewell is running against Republican Don Chamberlain. Sewell was first elected to the U.S. House in 2010. She is the first black woman elected to Congress from Alabama.

"Hi!" shouts Becky Collier, a 4-H program coordinator in West Alabama.

The kids in the audience unenthusiastically shout "hi" back.

“That was pathetic," says Collier.  "We’re going to try that again! HELLO!"

“HELLO!”

“That is how not to greet people when you’re birding, okay?" says Collier. She’s holding a presentation on birds of prey, or raptors, for a large group of kids this morning. The raptor demonstration is part of the launch of the West Alabama Birding Trail in Pickens County.