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A protester holds a sign featuring former Congressman John Lewis as people rally in Daley Plaza as part of the "Good Trouble Lives On" national day of action, in Chicago, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
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Protests and events against President Donald Trump's controversial policies that include mass deportations and cuts to Medicaid and other safety nets for poor people have started Thursday at more than 1,600 locations around the country. The “Good Trouble Lives On” national day of action honors the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. The late activist and Congressman was among the voting rights marchers beaten and tear gassed in 1965 as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma
News & Commentaries From APR
  • On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston got some blowback from a social media post this week. He asks us, "How do you deal with haters?"
  • Alabama Public Radio presents local writers reading their own works! The Alabama Writers Wednesday Night Showcase puts a spotlight on emerging voices in Alabama’s literary world. Episode two features Jodie Cain Smith from Mobile reading Splintered Reeds. It's a thriller that explores the fallout of a national catastrophe, the strength of family and the fight for survival in a world turned upside down.
  • Mark Berte is the Executive Director of the Alabama Coastal Foundation. He talks with Quick-Fire Quips host Baillee Majors about the ACF's mission, the importance of sea turtle conservation, and his favorite coastal animal (hint: it's not a sea turtle). Plus, how Alabama the Beautiful is living up to the name!
  • State Senator Robert Stewart sits down at StoryCorps and talks with family friend Gwen Carrington. They discuss what it was like for her growing up in Selma during the civil rights movement and how they can help better the community.
  • Back in April, the Alabama Manufacturing Madness competition named Boeing’s PAC-3 Patriot missile “seeker system” the winner of the “Coolest Thing Made in Alabama” contest. It’s possible someone in the White House heard about it. Donald Trump says he’s working on a plan to send Patriot Missiles, possibly purchased by NATO countries, to Ukraine to fend off missile attacks from Russia. This could mean extra business for Boeing in Huntsville.
  • This week, Don reviews The Length of Days by Lynn Kostoff.
  • Donald Trump announced 30% tariffs Saturday on the European Union, a move that will have repercussions for companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. The tariffs could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the U.S. The list includes Mercedes-Benz, which has its North American manufacturing plant in Tuscaloosa.
  • When planning a vacation, do you take your pet with you, or let it stay home? Either way requires some planning!
  • Alabama Public Radio was among the news organizations to be recognized during the Society of Professional Journalists “Green Eyeshade Awards,” which observed its seventy fifth anniversary as the nation’s oldest and largest regional competition to judge the best journalism in the southeast. APR received a First Place for “Best Documentary” for its eight month investigation into Alabama’s newly redrawn U.S. House Seat in District two, in the state’s impoverished Black Belt region.
  • The Alabama Public Radio news team is known for its major journalism investigations. We've been doing them for over a decade. Our most recent national award winning effort was an eight month investigation into Alabama's new U.S. House seat in the rural Black Belt region of the state. The new voting map was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court so Alabama would be more fair to black residents. Now, anybody who follows the news might reasonably be thinking— what? The same high court that overturned Roe versus Wade and ended affirmative action in the nation's universities told Alabama that they needed to treat black voters better. Even the plaintiffs in the legal case of Allen versus Milligan told APR news they were gobsmacked they won. The goal after that legal victory was to make sure the new minority congressional district works. The point there was to keep conservative opponents from having the excuse to try to flip the voting map back to the GOP. And that's a moving target that could change at any moment, even as we speak, the job of managing all of these issues now falls to Congressman Shomari Figures. He was elected last November as the first US House member in Alabama's redrawn District two. Shomari figures joins me next on APR Notebook.
  • Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will keep working toward a new trade framework with the United States despite U.S. President Donald Trump saying he'll raise taxes on many imported goods from Canada to 35%. Trump's move deepens a rift between two North American countries that have suffered a debilitating blow to their decades-old alliance. Alabama U.S. House member Terri Sewell was in Tuscaloosa for a small business round table at the Edge Incubator Center. She says tariffs, overall, may hurt Alabama.
  • On this week's Keepin' It Real, Cam and a client discuss employee retention issues, and he shares an idea that may get you through any business turmoil that may lie ahead.
Alabama is known for football and white barbecue sauce. But we’re also making our mark in science, literature and the arts—and we helped put astronauts on the moon! Join APR news director Pat Duggins as he takes up topics like this with interviews on APR Notebook.
Dr. Don Noble, specializing in Southern and American literature, gives his weekly review on the work of Alabama’s finest authors.
Host Cam Marston brings fun weekly commentaries on generational and demographic trends to provide new ways to interpret the changing world around us.
Speaking of Pets with host Mindy Norton is a commentary for people who care about pets and want to celebrate that special relationship between humans and animal companions.
Sports Minded podcast with host Brittany Young features interviews with coaches, athletes and sports personnel. Insight, commentary and analysis on professional, collegiate and high school sports can be heard here.
Quick-Fire Quips is centered around people who stand out in Alabama. Host Baillee Majors presents guests with a questionnaire of playful personal questions and questions about the Yellowhammer State.
  • I talked with Alabama's newest member of Congress about the possible future impact on the state from Donald Trump's so called Big, beautiful Bill. Democratic U.S. House member Shomari Figures is the first person elected to Alabama's newly redrawn district two the US Supreme Court ordered the new voting map to better represent African Americans.
  • Federal judges will weigh a request to bring Alabama back under the pre-clearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act after ruling the state intentionally diluted the voting strength of Black residents when drawing congressional lines. The three judge panel will hear arguments on July 29th over whether any future changes to the state’s voting map should be made under federal review. The current fight resulted in a redrawn District two, now held by Democrat Shomari Figures, will be the subject of tonight’s APR Notebook at 7 p.m. on Alabama Public Radio.
  • A former Alabama police officer charged with murder for shooting an armed Black man in the man's front yard during a dispute with a tow-truck driver shouldn't be granted immunity before going to trial, the state's attorney general says. In a court brief filed late Tuesday, Attorney General Steve Marshall said a lower court was correct in ruling that former Decatur police officer Mac Marquette, 25, failed to show "a clear legal right to prosecutorial immunity” when he fatally shit Stephen Perkins on Sept. 29, 2023.
  • Hartford Bakery, Inc. is voluntarily recalling six lots of its “Lewis Bake Shop Artisan Style 1/2 Loaf” as this product may contain undeclared hazelnuts. People with a nut allergy or severe sensitivity to hazelnuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reactions if they consume these products. This brand of bread is sold in Alabama.
  • Alabama Public Radio presents local writers reading their own works! The Alabama Writers Wednesday Night Showcase puts a spotlight on emerging voices in Alabama’s literary world. The first episode features a story about sin, damaged people and redemption found in a kudzu patch at the edge of a small town. Hear John Nielsen read Angels of Fire in the Kudzu Realm.
  • This Monday marks the one hundred and thirteenth birthday of folk singer Woody Guthrie. The composer of classic tunes like “This Land is Your Land” went onto to inspire younger musicians like Bob Dylan. Woody Guthrie also suffered from the neurodegenerative ailment known as Huntington’s Disease. APR student reporter Cooper Towsend attended a unique event that benefits patients with Huntington’s. And, don’t be surprised when Superman and Spider-man get mentioned.
  • Parts of Montgomery are looking a little like the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz today. The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is presenting the musical based on the classic movie starting this week. The R-S-A Tower in downtown Montgomery is being lit green for the occasion.
  • Alabama's utility regulators can continue to hold closed-door meetings to determine price hikes, in an apparent departure from common practices in neighboring states, a circuit court judge ruled. The decision rejected a lawsuit filed by Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of Energy Alabama, a nonprofit that advocates for renewable energy sources.
  • The fourth of July Holiday has come and gone. And, that means Alabama is into the second half of the lucrative summer tourism season. The Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area points to new rental units to judge how much the visitor economy is growing.
  • Lawyers representing the family of a Black teenager shot and killed by police in an Alabama suburb said the state's refusal to release body-camera video during an investigation is fueling mistrust over the shooting.
  • Alabama Governor Kay Ivey appointed a corrections deputy as head of the state parole board, replacing the outgoing chair who led the board during a period of few releases. Ivey appointed Hal Nash, the chief corrections deputy of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, as the new chairman of the three-person Board of Pardons and Paroles. He replaces Leigh Gwathney, whose term expired. Nash's appointment is effective immediately.
  • In this edition of StoryCorps, Nancy Ziccardi tells us about how she discovered that a friend of hers was involved in the murder of a pastor during the civil rights movement.
After the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, hundreds of children from the affected areas dealt with multiple health issues caused by radiation from the nuclear meltdown. A few years later, families from all across Alabama housed many of those same children for a summer to give them access to better healthcare and a reprieve from the radiation.