WVAS Local

As required by the new Alabama Accountability Act the State Department of Education released a list of so-called "failing schools" Tuesday.  Parents with students in those schools can move their children to a non-failing public school or private academy and receive tax credits worth about $3,500 dollars annually.  State Schools Superintendent Dr.

State education officials today released a list of 78 public schools that are failing under the Alabama Accountability Act.  The new law will allow parents with students in those schools to receive tax credits if they want to transfer their children to private academies or public schools that aren't considered failing.  State Schools Superintendent Dr.

Realtors in Montgomery are upset with the Kiplinger website for reporting that the city of Montgomery experienced the largest drop in homes prices in cities with populations of 250,000 or more.  The article by the business magazine states home prices in the capital city declined 14.5 percent for the year ending March 31st.  Mugs Mullins, president of the Montgomery Association of Realtors, said Kiplinger's is not true.  Mullins said he plans to contact the magazine. 

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling

Acting Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Dr. Don Williamson introduced a proposed map of how the state will be divided in its new managed-care system.  The map is composed of five regions, including north, west, central/east, central/southeast and southwest.  Dr.  Williamson says many variations of the map were discussed.  The Commissioner says this map could still be tweaked some more.  A public comment period will last until the first of August.  Formulating a regional map is just the first step in Alabama's move from a fee-for-service method for Medicaid to a fixed payment approach. 

State Troopers are investing three traffic fatalities on roadways in Elmore and Lowndes counties.  Troopers said preliminary investigations indicated that alcohol was a factor in all the crashes.  Troopers said 51-year-old Tonya Webster died in a single-vehicle crash on Little Steel Bridge Road in Elmore County.  The accident happened Sunday just before 6 a.m. 

38-year-old Kenyatta Coleman of Hayneville was killed in a single car crash on Lowndes County Road 2.  The crash occurred around 2 a.m. Sunday.