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Lottery coming to Alabama? Birmingham and Bible-Minded cities

A Senate committee is debating a proposal to have Alabama join multi-state lottery games like Mega-Millions and Powerball.

The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Trip Pittman of Montrose wants the state join the multi-state games instead of creating its own lottery scheme. The bill is an alternative proposal to other lottery bills that have stalled because of a lack of consensus over the details.

If approved by lawmakers, voters would have the final say on whether lottery ticket sales will be allowed in the state.

Forty-four states have lotteries. Alabama, Mississippi, Utah, Nevada, Hawaii and Alaska do not.

Civil rights foot soldiers in Alabama are being honored at the White House today.

Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell and Georgia Congressman John Lewis presented them with the Congressional Gold Medal for their actions during what became known as “bloody Sunday.” Marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965 were attacked by state troopers and a Sheriff’s posse.

Marcher Benny Lee Tucker spoke with Alabama Public Radio during last year’s fiftieth anniversary observance of “bloody Sunday.” Tucker says his job was to protect Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior…

“Police officers had gotten call that they were going to assassinate Dr. King, and his regular security guard Bernard Lee said ‘Reverend Tucker we want you to stand up and guard him and if you see somebody fixing to shoot him you throw your body over him and you take the bullet.’ And so I said ‘I’ll do it.’”

President Obama signed the order to honor the Selma marchers while he was aboard Air Force One, and on his way to Selma for the fiftieth anniversary ceremony.

A new study says Birmingham lost its ranking as the most Bible Minded city in the U.S.

The American Bible Society issued the report. The Magic City was ranked number one in the nation last year, but lost that top slot to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Still, the annual list of bible minded cities is consistently dominated by Southern “Bible Belt” communities.

Andrew Hood is the Managing Director of Communications for the American Bible Society. He says the study measures Bible minded-ness in two ways…

“Really it comes down to attitudes and actions around the Bible that determine a city’s Bible minded-ness. So a city where a high percentage of people have positive attitudes and engaged actions would be a Bible-minded city.”

Hood says a lot of the areas that rank high on this study have a deeply rooted culture of church engagement, Bible engagement, and engagement with their faith.

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