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

Alabama House Speaker Faces Ethics Charges

Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard is facing nearly two dozen felony ethics charges.  Acting Attorney General Van Davis said a grand jury in Lee County indicted Hubbard on 23 charges accusing him of misusing his office as speaker and his previous office chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.  Hubbard was processed Monday afternoon at the Lee County Jail.  Hubbard has called the charges "a political witch hunt."  The 52-year-old Republican's arrest comes weeks before the November 4th general election in which Hubbard has been widely favored for re-election.  Hubbard's lawyer, Mark White, said the speaker is confident and ready to go to battle against the charges.  

Scarbrough Murder

Lowndes County Sheriff's investigators have arrested a Georgia man and charged him in connection with his wife's murder.  The victim's body was found last Thursday night on Interstate 65 near mile marker 156.  59-year-old James Scarbrough is accused in the stabbing death of 61-year-old Esther Scarbrough.  Lowndes County authorities said the victim and husband were involved in an argument that turned violent.  A Lowndes County District judge Monday ordered James Scarbrough held on a $250,000 bond.  

Small Business

A commission set up by the governor to assist small business development is set for its first meeting.  The Alabama Small Business Commission will meet today in Montgomery, and Governor Robert Bentley will address the group.  Bentley announced in September that he was creating a commission to recommend ways to help small businesses get started and expand.  Alabama has about 400,000 small businesses.  

Air Bags Recalled

The federal government is telling drivers to take this recall seriously.  It involves air bags in which the inflators can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed in crashes.  Safety advocates say at least four people have died from the problem, and that more than 20 million vehicles in the U.S. are equipped with the faulty bags.  More than 4.7 million of the vehicles have been recalled, many of them in areas, including Alabama, where high humidity is believed to contribute to the problem.