Supporters of the efforts to defeat the disease multiple sclerosis begin their three-mile walk around the campus of Spring Hill College during the Walk MS fundraising event Saturday, March 20, 2010, in Mobile, Ala. Approximately 350 walkers, including 150 employees of Gulf Distributing Co. in Mobile, participated in the walk. Funds raised go to the Alabama-Mississippi Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, according to Andrew Bell, director of development with the agency. Monday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 50s. Lows in the low to upper 40s. Rain chance: 20 percent.
(For a complete forecast, see Sunday's Press-Register. For other Alabama weather news, visit al.com/weather.)
John Tyson Jr., left. head of the Governor's Task Force on Illegal Gambling, and Alabama Attorney General Troy King MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Alabama Supreme Court has lifted a requirement that Alabama's attorney general decide by Monday whether he would take over the governor's efforts to shut down electronic bingo casinos.
The Supreme Court acted late Friday, shortly after a circuit judge in Macon County scaled back an order that had prevented the Governor's Task Force on Illegal Gambling from operating in 66 of Alabama's 67 counties. The judge's revised order allows the task force to operate in every county except Macon, where Alabama's largest electronic bingo casino is open.
"We are absolutely back in business again," task force Commander John Tyson said Saturday.
A judge hearing litigation over the closed electronic bingo casino in Lowndes County had ruled March 8 that Attorney General Troy King had legal authority over the Governor's Task Force on Illegal Gambling if he wanted to exercise it. Circuit Judge Robert Vance said King had criticized the governor's efforts, but had stayed on the sidelines. He gave King until Monday to take a position on the task forces' efforts.
At the request of the governor and task force, the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously issued an order late Friday putting Monday's deadline on hold.
The court gave attorneys for the task force and White Hall Entertainment Center until April 2 to file legal arguments and then the justices will issue a ruling that could define the balance of power between the attorney general and governor on law enforcement matters.
White Hall attorney Bobby Segall said the attorney general should intervene and tell the Supreme Court where he stands because the authority of the attorney general's office is about to be decided. "This is a last chance opportunity for the attorney general to take a position," Segall said.
King, a Republican who is seeking re-election, said Saturday he was reviewing the matter.
Riley, a Republican who leaves office in January, recently held two private meetings with King to discuss what position he might take in court, but neither would comment on their talks.
The governor created his Task Force on Illegal Gambling a year ago to crack down on electronic bingo machines that he calls "illegal slots." The unit has closed several gambling halls and caused others to shut down out of fear of being raided. But Victoryland in Macon County and Greenetrack in Greene County are open, as are three Indian casinos that are not regulated by the state.
In court, Tyson has argued that the governor has legal authority to enforce Alabama's gambling laws when state and county prosecutors aren't. His opponents have argued the governor and his task force are usurping the power of the state attorney general and county district attorneys.
A circuit judge hearing litigation over the task force's attempt to raid Victoryland had issued an order March 5 that said the task force could only operate in Mobile County, where Tyson is the district attorney.
During a hearing Friday, Macon County Circuit Judge Tom Young scaled back his order to apply only to Macon County. On Monday, he plans to complete the hearing and decide whether to keep the order in effect for Macon County or lift it.
If the order remains in effect, Tyson said he will ask the Supreme Court to remove it.
Meanwhile, the Legislature returns Tuesday from its spring break, and some legislators are planning another attempt to pass a constitutional amendment that would tax, regulate and expand electronic bingo. They are planning to come with a smaller, simpler version of their original 43-page bill, which couldn't muster enough votes in the Senate.
The Legislature has one-third of its 2010 session remaining.
Police in Dothan are looking for information that could help them make an arrest in the shooting of a woman who was killed during a robbery at her business. Police have told The Dothan Eagle that at least one gunman on Wednesday shot Grace Bridges, 69, at Dedert's Furniture and Antiques. Read the newspaper's report.
In other news reports from around the state:
View full sizePictured is a bag of "spice," or "legal weed," that was purchased at an area convenience store.MOBILE, AL -- "Spice" will be on the agenda when drug intelligence officer Joe Bettner speaks this month with the Baldwin County school board.
Friends Adam Jones and Rett Jones, students at Columbus State Georgia in LaGrange, Ga., throw a baseball at the Gulf Shores, Ala., public beach on Friday, March 12, 2010, the official start of Spring Break 2010.
Bishop State Community CollegeMOBILE, Ala. -- Bishop State Community College has cleared its last hurdle toward recovery from findings of academic and financial aid fraud.
Bradley ByrneGubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne said Friday that he will vote against an extra sales tax in Baldwin County that would go to public schools. EVERGREEN -- An Alabama Supreme Court ruling issued today affirmed challenger Pete Wolff III
The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld the election of Pete Wolf III, right, as mayor of Evergreen after a seesaw legal contest over an apparent two-vote victory by incumbent Larry Fluker, left, in 2008.as the winner in the racially heated 2008 Evergreen mayor's race.
"I think it's great," Wolff said. "It's been a long time coming."
Wolff said he would try to take office immediately in the Conecuh County town of 3,600 people, and would have a little more than two years of his four-year term left.
The battle over who won the runoff in October 2008 raged for 18 months, with the town's first black mayor, Larry Fluker, fighting a circuit court ruling that he lost by six votes. Wolff, a local businessman, is white.
Attempts to contact Fluker on Friday were unsuccessful.
Court officials said that Fluker has 30 days to request a rehearing. But Friday's ruling was unanimous, which may dim prospects of further argument.
Edward McDermott, a retired Mobile County circuit judge who was specially appointed to hear the case, ruled last year that Wolff won the mayoral election 1,002 to 997 once the tallies were purged of illegal votes.
The mayoral campaign was hard-fought, with allegations of dirty tricks and racism. Each side staunchly denied doing anything wrong.
In runoff balloting, Fluker trailed by two votes. But he led by two when absentee votes were added in, according to the results.
View full sizeBill Case handles artwork by Birmingham, Ala., artist Alisha Case of Art By the Case during the 58th annual Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival, which began Friday, March 19, 2010.
View full sizeCathy Seibel Caledonia looks at turned wood art by artist Hought Wahl of Marietta, Georgia, during the 58th annual Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival on March 19, 2010.A few vendors said that, while the crowd seemed light Friday, many of those people
SSAB mill in Axis, Ala., is pictured in this 2008 file photograph.The numbers on SSAB's steel plant expansion got a little better Friday, as the Mobile County Industrial Development Authority approved property and sales tax breaks for the Axis project.
The Swedish steel firm had announced in February, after a delay of more than a year, that it would go forward with a heat treating line that allows it to strengthen more steel made at the mill.
The expansion, which is supposed to be complete in 2012, was trimmed from an original capacity of 330,000 metric tons to 200,000 metric tons, the firm has said.
SSAB now estimates, in papers submitted to the authority, that the project will cost $287 million and create 137 jobs paying an average of $90,000 a year. The firm plans to hire 120 people by the time the expansion begins operation, and reach 137 jobs by the end of the first year.
The capital investment and number of jobs remains below the original $480 million cost and 180 jobs, but is more than the amounts announced in February. More than 60 percent of the project cost comes from buying machinery and equipment.
The incentive package offered by state and local governments will also fall, from $45 million to $24 million. Neither of those amounts include the state's capital investment tax credit, which will allow SSAB to deduct up to 5 percent of the expansion's cost from its state corporate income tax each year for 20 years. Because SSAB is among Europe's most profitable steelmakers, that break could offer large benefits.
The new plan excludes a $4.5 million dock expansion at Axis that the Alabama State Port Authority had previously promised. The money would have been paid back from shipping fees.
"They're not going to need it at this time," said state docks Director Jimmy Lyons.
The authority and its lawyer, Maury Friedlander, agreed not to collect additional application fees on top of the almost $194,000 paid in November 2008 from the original application for the heat-treating line.
MOBILE, Ala. -- The death of a 6-year-old Mobile County boy last month has been attributed to the H1N1 virus, Mobile County Health Department officials said Friday.
Health care overhaul: The House Rules Committee chamber with the Reconciliation Act of 2010 stacked on the dais on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 19, 2010.WASHINGTON -- If the U.S. House of Representatives approves a landmark health care overhaul this weekend, experts say the result will be a slow-motion wave of changes that will filter into virtually every cranny of Alabama's and Mississippi's medical systems over the next few years.
A lineup of U.S. air force KC-135 tanker planes seen at the Manas air base in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Feb. 18, 2009. The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. on Friday edged closer to a decision to challenge Boeing Co. for the U.S. Air Force tanker contract, even as a Russian competitor announced it was joining the chase for the $40 billion deal.