Apr 04, 2024

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A proposed bill made it through committee in the Alabama Senate that would make it easier to send an unvaccinated child to school, reports AL.com's Trisha Powell Crain.

School kids generally have to be up-to-date on vaccines for a number of diseases, including diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, polio, chickenpox and more. If parents object to their children receiving a vaccines on religious grounds, they have to get a written document from their county health department. Under the proposed bill, they'd simply need to provide a written statement from a parent or guardian.

The bill's sponsor is state Sen. Arthur Orr, a Decatur Republican. He said the goal is to get government out of representing people's religious objections.

CDC stats show the number of vaccination exemptions are growing. Dr. David Kimberlin of UAB and Children's Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases has said Alabama is one of 36 states that now have measles vaccination rates that are too low to prevent the spread of the disease.

And, just to be clear, this has nothing to do with COVID or COVID vaccines. Students are not required to have any COVID vaccine.

The bill unanimously passed committee. The next step is consideration on the Senate floor.

Will U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt make a run at the Appropriations Committee chair?

He might, according to a report from Roll Call.

Aderholt is from Haleyville and represents Alabama's Fourth Congressional District.

He's the only member of the committee other than Tom Cole of Oklahoma to show interest in the job. Cole already has a lot of backing in place, but in the wake of that $1.2 trillion package passed in March, Aderholt wants the committee to tap the brakes on picking a leader until it talks through its processes that allowed that much spending.

It looks like a high school in Talladega will close at the end of the current school year, reports AL.com's Trisha Powell Crain. And it's an illustration of how a small school can get caught in a downward spiral under the current state rules.

Talladega County Central High, established in 1926, was down to 143 students in grades 7-12 and earned a "D" on the state's 2023 schools report card. That made it the smallest and poorest-performing school in the district.

That was a particularly bad combination because the current rules of the Alabama Accountability Act would've allowed students to transfer to other schools in the county, making it all but certain that enrollment would've fallen even lower.

Superintendent Suzanne Lacey said the school's scores were hurt by the way the report card numbers are calculated. The school had so few seniors last year they couldn't factor in some school strengths such as graduation rate and college-and-career-ready rate.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin's office has confirmed that hackers are to blame for the city's ongoing computer system troubles, reports AL.com's Joseph D. Bryant.

Communications Director Rick Journey said they're now in the process of restoring the systems.

Officials have said that city workers have continued to be paid and that is hasn't affected the 9-1-1 system.

$600

The estimated underpayment a man made for two comic books from an Opelika store. Police believe the man did it on purpose -- switching out the pricing before paying and leaving -- and are trying to identify him.

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