Your Friday News Digest for West Alabama

The Alabama Legislature paused for a moment of silence Thursday as they remembered Huntsville PD officer and Tuscaloosa native Garret Crumby. He died in the line of duty last week while responding to a call for a woman who had been shot. Huntsville Rep. Rex Reynolds paid tribute. Crumby’s family claims the state court system let him down by allowing a violent offender to remain free on a low bond after shooting two people last year.

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Alabama Senior U-S Senator Tommy Tuberville has told the Senate Agriculture Committee that the pandemic, bad weather and the economy are taking a toll on Alabama farmers. The proposed Farm Bill will have a price tag of over $1.4 trillion, with more than $1.2 trillion of it going to SNAP benefits.
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Mandatory minimum sentencing for possession of the deadly drug fentanyl is now state law. Signed by Gov. Ivey, the legislation would require a three-year sentence for possession of 1 gram and up to eight grams would mean life in prison.
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A multi-agency hiring fair conducted by the City of Tuscaloosa last month attracted 82 interested people. Job offers were extended to 23 of them. You can click on visit their website to find out about more job opportunities with the city.

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During a senate hearing AL Junior U-S Senator Katie Britt noted that Warrior Met Coal has applied to develop 24 million tons of metallurgical coal on federal lands adjacent to its current operations in Tuscaloosa County but has not been able to move forward due to federal bureaucracy. Britt told the committee the hold-up is placing the U-S at a disadvantage against our biggest competitor – China.

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Greene, Perry, Pickens and Walker Counties here in West Alabama are among the counties to receive $5 million in state funding for road and bridge projects from Rebuild Alabama. The matching funds grant will go toward resurfacing projects in Perry, Pickens and Walker counties and replacing the Brush Creek Bridge in Greene County. Work must begin within a year.

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Secret Meals for Hungry Children is a program that helps city and county school counselors and teachers identify food-insecure children in local schools and then provide them with food backpacks every Friday.

The program is getting a major $250,000 boost from District 3 Tuscaloosa County Commissioner Mark Nelson, who allocated the funds from cash the county received through the American Rescue Plan. It will provide a year’s worth of food for the program’s 1,400 participating students.

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U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell has secured $1.1 million for the Tombigbee Healthcare Authority, which operates Whitfield Regional Hospital in Demopolis. The money will go toward providing more resources for education for current and future healthcare professionals across the Black Belt, according to Whitfield Administrator Douglas Brewer. Whitfield Regional is the only hospital that specializes in trauma, stroke and labor and delivery in the Black Belt.

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Robert Kennedy, Jr. has announced he is challenging President Biden for the Democratic Party nomination. So what does that have to do with Alabama news? Kennedy is a self-avowed Crimson Tide fan. RFK, Jr. spent months in Alabama in the mid-70s researching a book he wrote on federal judge Frank Johnson. Some of his time was in Tuscaloosa researching Johnson’s UA student days. He also delivered a speech on campus about environmental issues where he cheered Roll Tide and vowed that he hated Auburn.