New study ranks Alabama 5th worst state for women
With women’s issues on the forefront of nearly every major news source in America today, and March being Women’s History Month, personal finance site WalletHub released a new study on Monday, detailing the Best and Worst States for Women in 2018. Turns out, Alabama is the 5th worst in the nation when it comes to ranking the most women-friendly states. The state came in 47th place in the nation overall, followed only by Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, and in last place, Louisiana. WalletHub’s study compared all fifty states and the District of Columbia across 23 key indicators including; unemployment rate for women, share of women-owned businesses, High School graduation rate for women, and women’s life expectancy at birth. Woman-friendliness of Alabama (1= best, 25= avg.): 29th: Median earnings for female workers (adjusted for cost of living) 42nd: Unemployment rate for women 46th: Share of women in poverty 26th: Share of women-owned businesses 47th: High school graduation rate for women 41st: Share of women who voted in 2016 presidential election 32nd: Female uninsured rate 50th: Women’s life expectancy at birth 31st: Quality of women’s hospitals 24th: Women’s preventive health care Perhaps one of the reasons for these rankings is the supreme lack of women’s representation in the Alabama Legislature. Although our governor is a female, currently only 15 percent of Alabama legislators are women. “It’s sad that we are 52 percent of the population, but we hold so few state legislative seats,” Birmingham-Democrat Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, told AL.com. Se is one of the four females occupying a seat in Alabama’s 35 member Senate. With a bevy of women running for state office, if there was ever a year for things to change for women in Alabama, it’s 2018 According to Steve Flowers, the 2018 election year might just be the year of the woman in Alabama politics. “Currently, Kay Ivey is the favorite in the governor’s race. Twinkle is the favorite in the Lt. Governor’s race. Alice Martin or Troy King is favored in the Attorney General’s race. If you made me bet right now, I would bet that Alabama would at least have a governor and Lt. Governor that are women,” opined Flowers. Here’s a look at how Alabama compares to the rest of the country: Source: WalletHub
Alice Martin qualifies for Alabama Attorney General race
Wednesday, during a press conference at the Alabama Republican Party Headquarters in Birmingham Ala. Alice Martin announced her qualification for Attorney General in the June 5 Republican primary. Martin is a conservative Republican with a record of fighting public corruption, white collar and violent crimes at the local, state, and federal levels. She was a member of the team that convicted former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, and successfully advocated for SB301, which combats technology based sex crime. She has spent the last five years serving as the Chief Deputy & Deputy Attorney General in Alabama. There, she’s used her position to fight against the Obama Administration’s federal overreach through the EPA and same sex bathroom mandates. She is an active member of the Alabama Federation of Republican Women, the Federalist Society, and a former member of the Alabama Republican Club Executive Committee where she served as Secretary in 2001. Martin earned her Bachelors degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University then worked her way though law school at the University of Mississippi. Martin previously served as a municipal judge, a Circuit Court Judge in Florence, Ala. and a U.S. Attorney. She was named a “Top 10 Prosecutor in the U. S.” by Corporate Fraud Reporter. During her time as a U.S. Attorney, Martin prosecuted over 4,600 federal firearms, narcotic, and child pornography crimes, resolved over 8,200 civil cases and established an anti-terrorism task force. She also joined then-Alabama AG Bill Pryor to found the North Alabama Public Corruption Task Force and together they secured 140 federal corruption convictions. Martin and her husband have three adult daughters, live in Florence Ala. with their 10 dogs and are members of the First United Methodist Church.
Former U.S. attorney Alice Martin to be Luther Strange’s chief of staff
Attorney General Luther Strange has picked a former U.S. attorney to be his new chief of staff. Strange on Tuesday announced that Alice Martin will take over as his chief of staff on May 1. Martin was U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2001 to 2009. She was appointed by then-President George W. Bush. Strange’s current chief of staff, Kevin Turner, is resigning at the end of this month. Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
