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Members of the Democratic National Committee say they are concerned about the operations of the Alabama Democratic Party and the elimination of minority caucuses intended to ensure a diversity of voices in party affairs. The comments come amid the possibility that national officials might again intervene in the state party as they did in 2019. The Alabama Democratic Party last month eliminated some of the diversity caucuses created in 2019. A member of the Democratic National Convention’s Rules and Bylaws Committee who worked with Alabama on the 2019 changes said she had a “broken heart”...

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday signed legislation to reduce Alabama’s sales tax on food. The new law will reduce the state’s 4% tax on groceries to 3% on Sept. 1. The tax will drop to 2% on Sept. 1, 2024, but only if tax collections to the Education Trust Fund are projected to rise at least 3.5% to offset the loss. Alabama is one of only three states that tax groceries at the same rate as other purchases. Advocates had long argued that taxing food at such a rate placed an unfair burden on families in the poor Southern state.

A man convicted of the 1999 cold case slaying of two teenage girls has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Circuit Judge William Filmore on Thursday officially handed down the sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole to Coley McCraney. A jury decided the sentence in April and Alabama law requires a judge abide with the jury’s decision in capital cases. A jury in April convicted McCraney of capital murder for the deaths of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley. The two 17-year-olds disappeared after setting off for a party in southeastern Alabama on July 31, 1...

An officer at an Alabama prison has been charged with drug trafficking for bringing methamphetamine and possibly other drugs into the prison for an inmate. The Alabama Department of Corrections said in a news release Tuesday that 28-year-old Charlie Townsend was arrested Saturday and “confessed to bringing in contraband for an inmate” at Kilby Correctional Facility. He resigned after his arrest. Townsend was charged with trafficking methamphetamine, use of position for personal gain and promoting prison contraband. Court records did not show if Townsend had an attorney who could speak on h...

More changes could be coming to voting districts in some states. The 2022 elections marked the first using new districts for Congress and state capitols that were drawn from updated census data. But they could be short-lived in some places. That's because court challenges could force some states to redraw districts again before the 2024 elections. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a ruling that Alabama's congressional districts should be redrawn to enhance Black voting strength. That ruling also could lead to new House districts in Louisiana, and potentially Georgia. Some oth...