A spokeswoman for Gov. Kay Ivey confirmed Thursday that the governor signed HB479 into law. That will reduce the state’s 4 percent sales tax on groceries by one percentage point. A second 1 percentage point of the sales tax cut could be cut on September 1, 2024. AL.com reports that tax cut will only be implemented if the state’s Education Trust Fund has grown by 3-1/2% over the previous fiscal year.
The Alabama Legislature could be headed toward a July special session to draw a new congressional district map. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked a three-judge federal court to give the Legislature a chance to draw a new congressional district map by July 21. Marshall filed the request with the court Thursday. Lawyers representing Black voters and the organizations who filed lawsuits challenging the map filed a separate motion the same day also asking the court to give the Legislature until July 21 to draw a new map. AL.com reports the court held a status conference with the lawyers Friday morning and agreed with the proposed schedule.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation released its 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Book this week. While the state improved slightly in the report that measures child well-being, it still came in 45th overall. AL.com reports the report compares 16 indicators over four categories – economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. According to the report, 22% of Alabama children live in poverty, higher than the national average.
The Huntsville City Schools Board of Education has selected a new superintendent. Dr. Clarence Sutton, Jr. will replace the retiring Christie Finley, who served as the school systems superintendent since 2018. Finley announced in March that she would retire at the end of the 2022-23 school year. WHNT TV reports members of the school board unanimously approved the hiring of Sutton as superintendent during a regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday night. Sutton started with Huntsville City Schools in January 2020. He has served as Chief of Staff and was named interim superintendent following Finley’s retirement at the end of the school year.
Weather permitting, construction will start next week on a multi-year project to add an overpass and service roads on U.S. 231/U.S. 431 at Mastin Lake Road, extending the North Memorial Parkway expressway to south of Winchester Road. A press release from The Alabama Department of Transportation says the contractor will install temporary barriers along the outer (east) side of the northbound roadway, reducing it to two lanes for northbound traffic from Mastin Lake Road to the Stallworth Road entrance to Alabama A&M University. You can expect delays and should drive with caution in the two-mile work zone.