Indicted House Speaker Mike Hubbard has given a litany of complaints about his case in a recently unsealed document.
Hubbard says the state’s ethics law is unconstitutionally vague, did not apply to him as Republican party chairman and that he had a free speech right to lobby for his clients.
Late last week, a judge unsealed Hubbard's motion to dismiss his ethics case on the grounds that the ethics law is unconstitutional.
Hubbard faces 23 ethics charges accusing him of using his offices as speaker and former position as Alabama Republican Party chairman to benefit his businesses. Prosecutors have also accused Hubbard of lobbying Gov. Robert Bentley's administration to benefit for his clients. Defense lawyers wrote that Hubbard has a free speech right to lobby.
Hubbard voted to strengthen the state’s ethics law in 2010. Defense lawyer Mark White says prosecutors are stretching the bounds of that law.
Students at the University of Alabama are being encouraged to join a campaign against sexual assault today.
The student government association is working with campus leadership and the Women’s Gender Resource Center to bring the It’s On Us program to Tuscaloosa. The effort tries to get students to look out for each other and prevent sexual assault.
SGA spokeswoman Catherine Faust says students are going to drink alcohol during their college years. The campaign works to avoid the hazards of it.
“We’re not trying to hide that. We aren't trying to say that isn't a part of it, and put a giant shield in front of that. We’re trying to sit here and make people aware that we know this is a present issue. And there are things that we can do, and you need to be aware, even in those situations, that you are impaired…”
Students will be encouraged to sign a pledge form today on campus. They’ll also be asked to swipe their student identification cards, so the campaign can send them email updates.
The Alabama Crimson Tide is preparing for Ole Miss after an extremely close series of SEC games over the weekend.
Arkansas lost to Toledo 16-12 and Tennessee lost to Oklahoma in double overtime. Auburn won after going into overtime against Jacksonville State.
Alabama beat Middle Tennessee 37-10, but head coach Nick Saban says the team didn’t play with the same intensity that it did against Wisconsin.
“If you don’t have the right intensity, and the right focus, you’re going to get exposed. These teams that you play are all good enough to expose you if you don’t have the right focus and intensity on what you’re doing to go out there and execute and do the job and finish.”
Saban says he wanted the team to improve over last week’s performance against the Badgers. But he’s not sure the players did.
The European aircraft company Airbus is set to open its first American manufacturing plant in Alabama.
State and federal leaders will be in Mobile this morning as the company dedicates its new airplane factory, located in the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley.
The $600 million complex is expected to employ as many as 1,000 people once production begins later this year.
The factory will produce A319, A320 and A321 single-aisle jetliners.
Airbus began construction of the Mobile facility in 2013. The first large aircraft parts were delivered to the plant in June with a parade through downtown to the company's facility at the Aeroplex.