Embattled Gov. Robert Bentley is maintaining he has done nothing illegal or unethical, a day after Alabama lawmakers revived an impeachment effort against him.
Bentley initially tried to sidestep impeachment questions. He says the past year has been "difficult" and implored people to trust him.
Bentley last month acknowledged making inappropriate remarks to a female political adviser.
Articles of impeachment filed Thursday will trigger an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee. The articles accuse Bentley of willful neglect of duty and corruption in office.
Republican Rep. Ed Henry has led the charge for an impeachment investigation. Henry says he believes Bentley used state resources to "cover up or enhance" an alleged affair.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s ethics trial is set to begin in May. A-P-R’s student reporter Miranda Fulmore has more…
Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker denied a defense request to delay Hubbard’s trial until August.
The trial was delayed last month after the state’s lead prosecutor faced a knee injury and needed time to recover.
The defense lawyer for the case is Bill Baxley. He told the judge that the defense couldn't be ready by May because millions of documents are involved and he has only been on the case since February. Baxley said he couldn't provide an adequate defense, but prosecutor Matt Hart called that an excuse.
Judge Walker has left open the possibility that he might delay the trial because of appeals of pre-trial rulings. However, he says attorneys should be ready for jury selection the week of May 16, and opening arguments would start the following week.
NASCAR will be returning to Alabama this weekend when the Talladega Superspeedway hosts the Geico 500. The race is projected to attract up to one hundred thousand people into the city this week.
Patrick Bryant is the City Manager for the city of Talladega. He says the race is important not to just to his town, but to the surrounding cites as well…
“It’s not just an economic impact to us, but it’s a significant economic impact to the region itself and of course any benefit to the region is great because we feed off of each other. We understand that folks coming into Lincoln or folks coming into Oxford-Anniston is going to be good for Talladega.”
Bryant says one more thing for race fans to see is the Talladega Walk of Fame, which the city of Talladega recently acquired from Texaco.