By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Feuding members of the Alabama Senate have taken a break from their rules fight to celebrate a German company's decision to locate a giant steel mill near Mobile.
The session-long fight in the Senate has blocked passage of most legislation and forced senators to return for a rare Friday session.
As soon as senators came into session, Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom Junior said they would take a break to attend a news conference. At the news conference state officials were reacting to the decision by ThyssenKrupp AG to build a plant about 25 miles north of Mobile. The plant is expected to employ about two thousand 700 workers.
Folsom called Friday a "glorious day" for Alabama and told lawmakers the session would resume after the news conference.
One of the few breaks in the feud over rules came last week when senators called a brief truce to pass a bill increasing the incentives being offered to the German company.
Alabama and Louisiana were finalists for the site of the plant.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)