Richard Shelby praises Patrick Leahy upon his retirement announcement
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy has announced that he won’t seek reelection to a ninth term in Congress, becoming the first Senate Democrat to announce his retirement, AL.com reported. Leahy is the most senior senator in the chamber and serves as president pro tempore. He is also chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “It’s time to put down the gavel,” Leahy said. “It is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work of our great state. It’s time to come home.” Senator Richard Shelby, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, announced his retirement months ago. Leahy’s retirement means two ranking members will leave Congress at the same time, ushering in the first time women will likely lead the panel; it’s expected that Maine’s Susan Collins and Washington state’s Patty Murray will take over the two positions. Shelby praised Leahy and his legacy, stating, “Over the past 47 years, Chairman Leahy has had a remarkable career in the Senate. As chairman of the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Agriculture committees and president pro tempore of the Senate, Pat has served Vermont well and with honor. His devotion to our nation and his state merits praise. I thank Pat for his friendship and wish he and his wife, Marcelle, all the best.”
Kay Ivey names Liz Filmore as chief of staff, first woman to be appointed
Governor Kay Ivey announced that Liz Dowe Filmore will replace Jo Bonner as the governor’s next chief of staff. Filmore, Ivey’s top deputy, will take the positing on December 1, 2021. Bonner served in the Governor’s Office for three years and was tapped to be president of the University of South Alabama last week. Filmore holds two degrees from Troy University, a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a Master’s in Public Administration. She will become the first female chief of staff to any Alabama governor. “Loyalty and integrity are two of the most important qualifications needed to be an effective chief of staff,” Governor Ivey said. “Liz possesses both of these qualities and more. I am proud she has agreed to take on the critical responsibilities that accompany this position.” Political commentator Steve Flowers wrote of Filmore, “She commands the governor’s respect because of her unwavering loyalty and keen political senses.” Bonner, who will remain on Ivey’s staff and transition through the end of the year, said, “I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of really smart, talented young leaders throughout the years, but Liz Filmore is the best of the best. Governor Ivey couldn’t have found a brighter or more dedicated person to lead her team than Liz.”
Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu to manage $1T infrastructure plan
President Joe Biden has chosen as supervisor of his $1 trillion infrastructure plan Mitch Landrieu, who, as New Orleans mayor, pushed the city into recovery after the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Landrieu will be tasked with coordinating across federal agencies to work on roads, ports, bridges, and airports, the White House said Sunday. Biden is expected to sign the infrastructure bill into law on Monday. Landrieu, 61, was formerly the Louisiana lieutenant governor and took over as mayor of New Orleans in 2010, five years after Katrina swamped the city and as the area’s recovery stalled — and as a massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico polluted the state’s coastline. He secured billions in federal funding for roads, schools, parks, and infrastructure and turned New Orleans “into one of America’s great comeback stories,” the White House said in a statement. “I am thankful to the president and honored to be tasked with coordinating the largest infrastructure investment in generations,” Landrieu said in the statement. “Our work will require strong partnerships across the government and with state and local leaders, business and labor to create good-paying jobs and rebuild America for the middle class.” When Landrieu was mayor, he gained national recognition when he removed four Jim Crow-era monuments from the New Orleans landscape, including statues of three Confederate icons. Landrieu launched the E Pluribus Unum Fund in 2018, which aims to break barriers of race and class by cultivating leaders who can build common ground. The infrastructure package is a historic investment by any measure, one that Biden compares in its breadth to the building of the interstate highway system in the last century or the transcontinental railroad the century before. He called it a “blue-collar blueprint to rebuilding America.”
Groundbreaking held for nearly $760M west Alabama highway
Gov. Kay Ivey and other officials held a ceremony Friday to break ground on a project to construct a four-lane highway spanning rural western Alabama from north to south. Expected to cost some $758 million over five years, the West Alabama Corridor project will provide an interstate-type highway that will eventually connect Mobile and Tuscaloosa. A bypass at the Marengo County city of Linden is the first phase of the project. After that project, a southern leg will begin at U.S. 43 in Thomasville and run northward to the bypass. A northern section will begin from Linden to Alabama 69 north of Moundville, located just south of Tuscaloosa. Officials in the Black Belt region have long cited the lack of access to four-lane highways as a factor holding back development in the area. Passed in 2019, the Rebuild Alabama Act has allowed the state to spend more on economic development and road projects, Ivey’s office said. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, a Democrat who opposed Ivey in the 2018 gubernatorial race, attended the groundbreaking and praised Ivey’s leadership on the highway. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Carnival Cruises to resume Alabama operations March 5
Nearly two years after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Carnival Cruise Lines is restarting operations in Mobile. Carnival said Thursday that all 22 of its U.S.-based ships will be back in operation by March 2022, with the Carnival Sensation sailing out of Mobile on March 5, the first Saturday of the month, AL.com reported. “It’s great news,” said David Clark, president & CEO of Visit Mobile. “We are thrilled,” Mayor Sandy Stimpson said in a statement. “Alabamians are ready to cruise again and they want to do it from their home state,” Stimpson added. “That is why we have been working closely with our partners at Carnival to help clear the way for their return.” Stimpson said that cruising brings in $6 million in annual gross revenues to the city from wharfage fees and parking fees alone, and some of that money is used to offset the existing debt on the Alabama Cruise Terminal. During the 2019 fiscal year, $3.1 million of the revenue was used to pay off terminal-related expenses, according to city figures provided to AL.com. The debt on the cruise terminal is not expected to be paid off until 2030. The cruise ship’s return to Mobile had been pushed back twice by Carnival. Initially, the sailings were to begin on Oct. 21. They were then postponed to January. The Carnival Sensation, which previously served Miami, entered service in 1993. It will replace the Carnival Fantasy, which provided excursions from the Alabama Cruise Terminal from 2016-2020 before cruising was halted due to the pandemic. The final voyage of the Carnival Fantasy, which has since been sold for scrap, occurred in mid-March 2020 with around 1,800 passengers on board. The Sensation has a capacity of over 2,052 passengers and was last in Mobile in May so that its crew could get vaccinated. The ship was previously used as one of three ships chartered by FEMA to house victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Last in math: Alabama politicians look for ways to close gap
Alabama students for years have ranked at the bottom in a national math assessment. That has led one lawmaker to propose an overhaul in math instruction that would include more math coaches in schools, summer programs, and interventions. Eventually, fifth-grade students would need to show they were meeting certain math benchmarks to move to the sixth grade under the proposal, he said. Republican Sen. Arthur Orr, who chairs the state education budget committee, is working on the proposal for the legislative session that begins in January. He said it would be a math counterpart to the Alabama Literacy Act, which puts a similar promotion requirement on third-grade reading skills. “When you are 50th in the country you have no choice but to improve,” Orr, R-Decatur, said. He said the persistent lagging scores shows the need for the state to put a heavy emphasis on math. The proposed promotion requirement is likely to be controversial since lawmakers pushed last year to delay the reading promotion test because of the pandemic. Orr emphasized the math promotion requirement for fifth graders wouldn’t kick in until the latter part of this decade and only after students had been in the revamped math program since first grade, he said. Orr said he supports the retention component because students must have basic math skills — adding, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions — to function well in life or to be ready to take on advanced math. “You need to have a comfort level with those fundamentals,” he said. Alabama’s math performance in fourth and eighth grades ranked dead last among states in the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called “The Nation’s Report Card.” Education officials have expressed concern that the pandemic led to learning losses. Test scores from last spring, after the pandemic interrupted classrooms, showed just 24% of fourth-graders and 14% of eighth-graders were considered proficient in math. Students took a new assessment last year called the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program, complicating comparisons with prior years, but officials said the test results were concerning. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey told state Board of Education members this week that she is supportive of developing a math counterpart to the Alabama Literacy Act. “In the weeks and months ahead, I look forward to working with you to place the same sense of urgency on mathematics as we have rightfully placed on reading,” Ivey said Asked if the governor supports a requirement to hold back fifth graders who don’t meet math benchmarks, spokeswoman Gina Maiola said, “improving mathematics education in Alabama will require a comprehensive plan that is informed by all stakeholders. The 2019 Alabama Literacy Act will require third graders to meet reading benchmarks to be promoted to the fourth grade. The promotion requirement is set to take effect this spring. However, Ivey said she will ask lawmakers to delay the promotion requirement for one year. Orr said he is working with subject-matter experts on the proposal. “It’s no secret the state is last in math,” said Mark Dixon, president of the A+ Education Partnership. “We need a statewide commitment to improving math achievement.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
