Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
March is Women's History Month!

2015 Legislative Session First Day

The Alabama Legislature met Tuesday for its first day of the 2015 regular session.  Both chambers wrapped up in less than two hours after dozens of bills received their first reading.  Governor Robert Bentley will deliver his State of the State address Tuesday evening when it is expected he will make the case for his tax and revenue package.  Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed of Jasper says Senate Republicans are prepared to listen.  Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross of Montgomery says his party may be in the minority, but it's important that their voice be heard.  Charter schools and prison reform will be two key issues before lawmakers this session.

Crash Victims Identified

Montgomery Police have identified three members of a North Carolina family who died in a ten-vehicle pile-up on Interstate 65 Monday morning.  Killed in the crash were 49-year-old Christine Edwards; her husband, 50-year-old Dedrick Edwards and their son, 10-year-old Dedrick Jr., all of Swansboro, North Carolina.  Police said seven other people were injured, all were treated for non-life threatening injuries.  The chain-reaction crash involved three tractor-trailers and seven passenger vehicles and occurred in heavy fog near the Hyundai Boulevard exit ramp.  MPS said the circumstances surrounding the pile-up crash continues.  

Renaming Bridge

When the nation's first black president steps onto the Edmund Pettus Bridge this weekend to honor the marchers beaten there 50 years ago, he'll be standing on a structure that's at once synonymous with the civil rights struggle and a tribute to a reputed Ku Klux Klan leader.  Now a student group wants to rename the bridge that will serve as backdrop when President Barack Obama visits Selma on Saturday.  An online petition launched by the Selma-based Students UNITE says the well-known landmark should not continue honoring Confederate Gen. Edmund Winston Pettus.