As a teacher, coach, administrator, and now as executive director of the AHSAA, I have come to believe that every high school contest asks the adults in attendance a simple question: Are we helping young people learn the right lessons, or are we allowing the pressure to win to teach the wrong ones?
Governor Kay Ivey’s term of office is soon coming to an end. And while her legacy will be that she was the longest continuously serving governor in state history, she can rightly point to the success of economic development while she led the state.
Jamie “Red” Etheredge turned 94 years old on June 15. He has been one of the most outstanding and kindhearted leaders our state has seen this century.
Across Selma, uncollected garbage is becoming more than an inconvenience.
I’ve heard the same thing, over and over, for as many years as I’ve lived here. At some point during a discussion about K-12 education in Alabama, someone will say something complimentary about a school’s performance, and someone else will fe…
So if your commute just got a little longer in the past couple of weeks don’t be surprised, as buses and carpools are back on the road to carry students back for another year of school.
We marked the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act last week. But there’s little left to celebrate.
When Dee McDonald renewed her family’s benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) last fall, she had no reason to think the process would leave her choosing between paying the rent and feeding the three grandsons she is raising.
The Black Belt News Network is working on a story examining what teens do after school in rural Alabama and whether communities have enough activities, sports, jobs, mentoring programs and safe places to keep young people engaged. We want to hear from parents, grandparents, educators, teens,…
Conservatives play the music in Alabama politics. They set the tempo, call out the steps and judge the dancers.
Garbage collection is not the most glamorous responsibility of local government, but it is one of the most essential.
Across Alabama's 7th Congressional District, communities are increasingly being asked to consider proposals for large-scale data centers, from Birmingham and Bessemer to Fairfield and Lowndes County. While residents of all these communities are raising important questions about what these pr…
In 1948, Life magazine published ‘Country Doctor,’ a masterful photo essay by W. Eugene Smith that documented the work of Dr. Ernest Ceriani, the lone physician for the 2,000 residents of Kremmling, Colo.
Let me begin by saying that I like Charles Bennett. He conducted a respectable campaign, worked his district and earned substantial support from Ward 1 voters. His willingness to serve should be acknowledged.
There was a time when communities across the Black Belt measured economic success by the sound of factory whistles.
The Perry County Commission District 1 Democratic primary has become one of the most closely watched local races in Alabama.
If Americans want to understand where democracy is headed next, they should continue watching Selma.
Recently, I had the honor of joining leaders, historians, preservationists, and members of the Jackson family in Dearborn, Michigan, for the dedication of the Jackson House at The Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, when the Civil War was still raging. But it was nearly two and a half years later, on June 19, 1865, before the Union Army arrived in Galveston, TX, to emancipate…
I believe in the Alabama death penalty. I have voted to uphold death sentences. I am not writing this piece to argue that Alabama should abolish capital punishment. I am writing it because Alabama is about to execute a man whose own jury vote…
There is a reason maps have always mattered in the American South.
In 1965, the Black church stood at the center of the Civil Rights Movement, the Voting Rights Movement, and the fight for social justice across the American South.Historic institutions such as Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church and First Baptist Chur…
The 2026 election cycle in Alabama will be one for the record books.
This May, Breakthrough Charter School marks its first graduating class—built by educators, chosen by families, and now sending graduates into the world.
