Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is responding to allegations he had an affair. The Governor has admitted to making “inappropriate remarks” to a female aide two years ago. Bentley spoke to reporters after former law enforcement secretary Spencer Collier held a conference saying Bentley had an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer. Bentley apologized for the inappropriate comments, but says that is as far as it went…
“I am truly sorry and I accept full responsibility. I want everyone to know though, that I have never had a physical affair with Mrs. Mason.”
The Mrs. Mason mentioned by the Governor is Rebekah Caldwell Mason a longtime aide of Bentley’s. The Governor says the comments made on a recording were from two years ago.
The governor divorced last year after Dianne Bentley said their marriage had suffered a breakdown. State lawmakers may have set a special session into motion over the budget. The Alabama House and Senate have passed a spending plan Governor Robert Bentley says he will veto over Medicaid funding. The Senate passed the budget which is eighty five million dollars short of what Bentley says is needed to run the health insurance program. The Governor says if he vetoes the plan, and the legislature overrides that veto, he’ll call lawmakers back into a special session. Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh says he doesn’t want to penalize other programs over Medicaid.
There’s another plan in the works to ban abortion in Alabama. A proposed Alabama constitutional amendment would legally define a fetus as a person from the moment of fertilization. Opponents of the bill say it would classify things like birth control and in-vitro fertilization as homicide. The House Health Committee on Wednesday heard testimony on the legislation. A supporter of the bill says a fetus is "totally separate" from its mother, who "only contributes the egg and the incubator."
If you’re looking to teach the arts in Mobile, there’s an opportunity to help you get started. A new database called Teaching Artist Project is opening up on Thursday. The database is designed so the Mobile Museum of Art, the Mobile Arts Council and Alabama Contemporary Art Center can find local artists for teaching and residency opportunities. This can be anything from artists led classes, tours and workshops. Elizabet* Elliot is with the Mobile Museum of Art. She says the database will help better serve the Mobile are community.
“It’s also a really great opportunity for artist because there was no centralized searchable database tied into the creative community and so what we’ve done is we sort of figured out how to create that as a partnership endeavor.”
Elliott says there’s a free event today at the Mobile Museum of Art that will serve as a kickoff event for artists to sign up for the database.
