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March is Women's History Month!

WVAS Local News

The Alabama House is scheduled to consider abortion legislation on Tuesday.  The lower chamber is expected to debate a bill by Republican Representative Mary Sue McClurkin of Pelham to strengthen the standards that abortion clinics must meet in Alabama.  The bill would require the clinics to have a physician available during an abortion and would make it a felony for a nurse, nurse practitioner or physician's assistant to dispense abortion-inducing medications. 

Trespassing on School Buses

Two bills are moving through the Alabama legislature having to do with trespassing on school buses.  Republican Senator Cam Ward of Alabaster says his bill would make it a Class A misdemeanor to board a school bus with intent to do bodily harm.  The bill has made it out of committee and Ward predicts it will reach the Senate floor this week.  A companion bill is making its way through the House by Republican Representative Alan Baker of Brewton. 

New GED Test

Adult who've begun working toward their GED are being urged to finish this year, before the test for a high school equivalency diplomas changes and they have to start all over.  The GED Testing Service is introducing a new version of the national test on January 1st, 2014.  Developers say the first major changes since 2002 will align the test with the new Common Core curricula adopted by most states to increase college and career readiness. It also will shift test-taking from pencil and paper to computer. 

Tossed Murder Conviction

A state appeals court has thrown out the conviction and death sentence of a Vietnamese man tried for killing four children in 2008 by throwing them off a coastal bridge.  The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Friday the trial of Lam Luong should have been moved outside of Mobile County because "publicity surrounding the murders completely saturated" the community.  Judges have sent the murder case back to Mobile County Circuit Court.  Prosecutors say Luong killed the four children, whose ages ranged from 3 years to 4 months, by throwing them off the Dauphin Island bridge one-by-one into the Mississippi Sound.