LBGT groups in Alabama are holding vigils to remember the victims of the Orlando Nightclub shooting. The University of Alabama group called Spectrum will gather at Gorgas Library on the Tuscaloosa campus tonight at 7:30 p.m. for a candlelight remembrance. The group Druid City Pride is planning a similar event at city hall. There will also be a vigil at 6:30 at the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery. A lone gunman killed at least fifty people during the early Sunday morning rampage at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando…
Alabama’s former house speaker faces a total of 240 years in prison. He’ll be sentenced next month after he was found guilty Friday on 12 felony ethics charges. APR’s MacKenzie Bates was in Opelika when the verdict was handed down…
Mike Hubbard stood in silence as he heard his political career crumble in front a Lee County jury. He was convicted on using his political office as House Speaker and former GOP chairman to make money and solicit financial favors for his businesses. Acting Attorney General W. Van Davis says a conviction like this is a major step of fighting political corruption in the state…
“This is probably the first time in recent history that someone at this level in state government has been prosecuted. For that reason, I think it makes a statement.”
Formal sentencing for Hubbard is set for July 8th. Hubbard’s attorneys say they will appeal the convictions. ?
Residents and companies in the Decatur are pitching in to help following a warning on local drinking water. Local companies as well as volunteer firemen have been passing out water to residents. The West Morgan East Lawrence Water and Sewer Authority advised roughly one hundred thousand people in the area not to drink tap water. Eddie Hicks is the Morgan County Emergency Management Agency Director.
“The donation from corporations and individuals has really made any attempt to pass out water who are really concerned about their health. It’s so neat to have all these different corporations come in to donate and make the little effort we had possible.”
Hicks says more donations are expected to arrive any day. The local water company is expected to add in a filter to help decontaminate the water by early September.
Alabama’s bioscience industry is getting high marks at a conference in San Francisco. A new report ranks Alabama in the top ten in the nation for bioscience research as well as funding from the National Institutes of Health. The report lists Huntsville as eighth in the country for research, testing, and medical laboratories, and eleventh for pharmaceuticals among medium sized markets. Alabama’s bioscience industry employs fourteen thousand people.
