Alabama News

Legendary former CBS News anchor Dan Rather expressed disappointment Wednesday at Paramount Global’s decision to pay $16 million to the Trump administration and settle its lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” report.

“It’s a sad day for journalism,” Rather told Variety. “It’s a sad day for ’60 Minutes’ and CBS News. I hope people will read the details of this and understand what it was. It was distortion by the President and a kneeling down and saying, ‘yes, sir,’ by billionaire corporate owners.”

Most legal scholars agreed the suit — in which Trump accused “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris — was frivolous and wouldn’t hold up under the First Amendment.

“What really gets me about this is that Paramount didn’t have to settle,” Rather said.

“You settle a lawsuit when you’ve done something wrong. ’60 Minutes’ did nothing wrong. It followed accepted journalistic practices. Lawyers almost unanimously said the case wouldn’t stand up in court.”

Rather expressed a full backing of his former colleagues at CBS News and “60 Minutes”:

“My support for them is total, absolute,” he said. “I do really think they fought a good fight on this, and they’ll continue to fight. The people on ’60 Minutes’ and at CBS News didn’t just take it lying down. They did their best to stop it.”

Nonetheless, he said he wasn’t shocked by Paramount Global’s settlement. The decision to strike a deal was widely seen as a critical step to receiving approval from the Trump-controlled FCC for Skydance’s $8 billion acquisition of the media conglom.

“I was disappointed, but I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “Big billionaire business people make decisions about money. We could always hope that they will make an exception when it comes to freedom of the press, but it wasn’t to be.

“Trump knew if he put the pressure on and threatened and just held that they would fold, because there’s too much money on the table,” he added.

“Trump is now forcing a whole news organization to pay millions of dollars for doing something protected by the Constitution — which is, of course, free and independent reporting. Now, you take today’s sell-out. And that’s what it was: It was a sell-out to extortion by the President. Who can now say where all this ends?”

Rather then pointed to the larger issue of what this means for the United States as a democracy.

“It has to do with not just journalism, but more importantly, with the country as a whole,” he said. “What kind of country we’re going to have, what kind of country we’re going to be. If major news organizations continue to kneel before power and stop trying to hold the powerful accountable, then we all lose.

“And then big time law firms have been settling right and left, kneeling the same way,” he said. “Big universities doing the same. Trump is extorting what he wants out of them. Now he’s extorting what he wants out of news organizations. So when I say, ‘Where does this go?’ What are the effects on journalism as a whole?”

Asked what advice he might give the folks at CBS News and “60 Minutes,” Rather humbly said it’s not his place — but that they already know “in their hearts, in their very being, the best things to do. I will say that, I do expect them to fully double down now on whatever great reporting they’re allowed to do.”

In his more than 60 years as a journalist, Rather said he’s never seen the profession face the kind of challenges it’s now up against. “Journalism has had its trials and tribulations before, and it takes courage to just soldier on,” he said.

“Keep trying, keep fighting. It takes guts to do that. And I know the people at CBS News, and particularly those at ’60 Minutes,’ they’ll do their dead level best under these circumstances. But the question is what this development and the message it sends to us. And that’s what I’m trying to concentrate on.”

© 2025 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

There is now a 60 percent chance that a tropical depression forms near the United States this Independence Day weekend, but those along the Gulf Coast can breathe easier for now.

The National Hurricane Center has shifted where forecasters think the disturbance will form from the Gulf to the southwestern Atlantic, off the Southeast coast.

The hurricane center on Thursday also raised the probability of a tropical depression forming there to 60 percent, an increase from 40 percent on Wednesday.

Forecasters think an area of low pressure will develop along a stalled out frontal boundary near Florida or the southeast Atlantic coast by Saturday.

A tropical or subtropical depression could form in that vicinity over the weekend or early next week.

The system is expected to drift to the north or northeast.

It could spread heavy rain near the Southeast Atlantic coast, and also the the Florida peninsula.

Here is the seven-day precipitation outlook from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center, which shows higher amounts are indeed expected in Florida:

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla., which monitors the weather across southeast Alabama, said on Thursday that chances are low for any impacts from the system in its coverage area.

A system has to have a defined surface circulation and winds of at least 40 mph to be considered a tropical storm and get a name. The next name on the 2025 Atlantic storm list is Chantal.

So far in 2025 there have been two, weak, short-lived tropical storms, one in the central Atlantic that didn’t affect land (Andrea), and the other in the southern Gulf, which moved onshore in eastern Mexico as a tropical depression (Barry).

Still, NOAA forecasters are expecting activity to pick up before the season ends on Nov. 30, and are forecasting a high probability of 13-19 named storms.

“Oh, man, you’ve ruined a lot of lives in the state.” That’s some of the tough words a Huntsville small business owner had to say to the lawmakers who passed the smokable hemp ban.

Jason Pauls has been running the Green Lady Dispensary with his family since 2019. He said he’s expecting to lose 80% of his income with the new hemp ban.

“We’ll never bring that income back up to that level without those products again,” Pauls said. “What we’re going to do to move forward is to continue to provide the community with the wellness they deserve.”

HB445 bans smokable hemp, like flowers, buds and pre-rolled cigarettes, some of the biggest sellers for many specialty shops. It also prohibits several products with synthetically produced THC from hemp, like gummies, drinks and more.

It is now a Class C felony, punishable up to 10 years in prison, to sell or possess any of these products.

Pauls said he opened his store in 2019 with mainly CBD products, because he wanted to help people. His average clientele is people over 55 years old struggling with chronic pain, mental health illnesses and cancer diagnoses.

“We have terminal cancer patients that can’t take prescription medications because they upset their stomach, they have no appetite,” Pauls said. “These products here at the Green Lady have let them overcome that.”

The Bowers family has a similar experience running three CBD American Shaman stores in in north Alabama.

“It is every day normal Alabamians, who you couldn’t pick out from the crowd that they would partake in this kind of stuff,” owner Julianna Bowers said. “They are the ones who have been on medications for decades, and they’re finding some serious side effects with these medications, or that it’s not helping them anymore, and so that they are trying something more natural, something that is safe for their liver or kidneys, and that they can just feel better and live happier and get better sleep.”

They were helping older people treat their pain when the ban went into effect on July 1.

The store had its largest day of sales on June 30. They sold over $20,000 of products compared to an average day of $5,000. Bowers had a TikTok go viral when the ban went into effect.

On July 1, they had their lowest day for sales with $400 in revenue. They expect to lose 40% – 60% of their income. While neither business plans to lay anyone off, advocacy group Alabama Wellness Collective believes this law could lead to approximately 2,000 layoffs or 87% of the state’s retail hemp industry.

READ MORE: Alabama hemp store moving out of state because of new THC law: ‘We thought we’d be OK .. we weren’t’

Pauls said the day the law went into effect was particularly difficult. He had to tell a long-time customer that they were no longer carrying a particular product. It was helping a veteran treat decades-long PTSD and insomnia.

“My first phone call yesterday was a 78-year-old veteran who can’t take pharmaceuticals, who has finally found something that gives him the relief he’s been looking for for 50 years,” Pauls said. “He was in tears. ‘What am I going to do now? What am I going to do now?’ And that’s heartbreaking.”

Not only are many products off the shelves, Pauls and Bowers are both worried about the price increase of what will be left.

While smokeable hemp is outright prohibited, some other forms of federally legal synthetic hemp, like Delta-8, -9 and -10, are allowed. However, Bower says the law is vague and hard to understand.

“We’ve had an attorney look over the law for us, and he says that there are a lot of contradictory places in the law where we can still sell Delta-9 THC, but it’s still unclear,” Bowers said. “It also mentions that intoxicating compounds cannot be sold. He even told us, ‘I can’t even tell you how to move forward, because it doesn’t clearly state.’ The ABC board has still not given us any guidance at all. So I took everything off the shelves that we deemed as not compliant.”

She knows that there can be a maximum of 40 mg of Delta-9 THC per package, but each edible has to be wrapped in its own package.

For example, a container with four 10-mg gummies would normally be loose in the container, but Alabama law requires that each edible must be wrapped in plastic.

“Who is going to manufacture these compliant edibles?” Bowers asked. “From what we understand (…) each individual edible has to be wrapped within the package, which costs more money, costs people extra time, results in more materials wasted, and more waste in the landfill. And so per price per gummy goes up for the consumer as well. These are edibles that people depend on on a daily basis. So when they went from paying $1 or $2 per edible to now having to potentially pay $3.45 per edible.”

Plus, these businesses are required to register their products with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board. A 10% tax will be levied on retail sales.

These owners are worried about customers buying these products out of state, where the laws are more lenient.

“They’re taking a billion-dollar-a-year industry tax revenue and throwing it out the window when they could be using this money to help, for example, the children in schools,” Pauls said. “It can be used in so many different ways.”

He desperately tried to reach out to lawmakers to reconsider.

“I have begged senators and congressmen in this state to come and spend a day in our store,” Pauls said. “I beg them, before you make any decisions, come spend a day in our store. Look at our demographic, look at the people who come in here and talk to these customers, and see why they’re using these products. And I never even got a phone call or an email back.”

The ABC Board regulations take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

When customers call Bettina Morgan a “banana pudding queen,” she tends to beam with pride — and maybe blush a little — but is not likely to object.

This Alabama woman might not sell the largest quantity of banana pudding in the state, but when it comes to quality, Morgan rules supreme.

She’s the founder of Pudding Amore Gourmet Banana Pudding, a small business that creates and sells homemade desserts with loving care.

Morgan, 57, has perfected a recipe that’s been in her family for more than 100 years, inspiring raves from folks who knew her grandmother, Maude Dukes Elliot of Birmingham.

“I put my little twist to it, a little bit different from hers, but it’s just about the same,” Morgan says. “Everybody loved her banana pudding. Even with mine, they just say it is amazing. Mine is very Southern, very authentic. I don’t have a pudding mix, and I don’t use whipped cream. I do a real custard in a double boiler, just like my grandmother did. And even with my meringue, I do meringue with sugar and egg whites. That is it.”

Morgan, who lives in Hoover, started Pudding Amore in 2017, after leaving her longtime job as a police and fire 911 operator. Family responsibilities compelled her to resign — Morgan was taking care of her infant grandson after her daughter died — and the hours of her shift weren’t suitable for raising a young child.

“The job was very stressful, but I loved it,” Morgan says in an interview with AL.com. “I love helping people. I love people. That’s just my personality.”

Launching a dessert company required a huge leap of faith, Morgan says, but she was encouraged by friends, family members and former co-workers — all of whom had tried her banana pudding and found it extremely crave-worthy.

“People would ask for it all the time,” Morgan says. “When I came out of law enforcement, I was trying to find a job that was conducive for raising my grandson. You know, I need the right hours, I need the right money, etc. That was hard to find at that time. One of my family members suggested, ‘Why don’t you sell the banana pudding?’

“That was just so far-fetched. I would have never thought that I would be selling banana pudding or any type of dessert,” Morgan says. “But I would bring it to family gatherings or my job in the past, and they loved it. Neighbors, they love it. So that made me think, ‘OK, this may work.’ I prayed about it and I said, ‘I’m gonna go for it.’”

Now, about eight years later, Morgan is glad she did. So are her customers, who often tell Morgan that Pudding Amore reminds them of treats their mother or grandma used to make.

“It tastes like home,” says Alexander McKelvey, a regular at Morgan’s booth in the North Pavilion of UAB Hospital. She can be found there on Fridays at a mini-farmers’ market near the food court, and has earned an enthusiastic clientele among visitors and staff.

Morgan’s personality — warm, cheerful and supportive — is almost as important as the pudding she sells, whether the location is UAB or Grandview Hospital or other farmers’ markets in metro Birmingham. (For weekly updates, visit the Pudding Amore Facebook page.)

Morgan’s strong faith plays a role, as well, especially when customers need more than just their favorite comfort food.

“Every time that I make banana pudding, I’m praying over that product,” Morgan says. “There are people coming (to my booth) whose loved ones are sick or whatever, and I pray with them. This product is prayed over. It’s anointed. I know that it’s good, the flavor and everything they’re tasting, but there’s more to it than that. I try to treat people like I would want to be treated, and I enjoy talking to them, praying for them, encouraging them.”

Running a small business requires commitment and hard work, as Morgan knows only too well. She used her own money to start the company, and makes the banana pudding by herself, in a rented commercial kitchen.

“It’s not easy,” Morgan says. “A lot of people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. I threw in the towel so many times, and said, ‘Lord, I want to quit, because this is hard.’ But, you know, my customers keep coming. They continue to put a smile on my face. So I’m still doing gourmet banana pudding. I’m constantly brainstorming how I can make this better.”

Ask Morgan to describe what Pudding Amore tastes like, and here’s what she says:

“I would say that it’s creamy sweet, but not too sweet, and absolutely delicious. It will make your tongue dance as soon as you put it in your mouth. So very creamy. The cookies are not too crunchy, but not too soft and just right. Just the best balance of a dessert that you can have.”

Morgan isn’t about to share the precise recipe she uses — it’s not written down, just stored in her head — but says the secret to making great banana pudding is trial and error. (Another pro tip: Nabisco Nilla Wafers are a must.)

“I get that question all the time,” Morgan says. “People say, ‘I can’t get it right.’ And I tell them, ‘You just have to keep trying until you get it. Eventually you’ll get it.’ But you have to mix the custard right. Because if you don’t, it’s going to be lumpy and thick, and that’s not good at all.”

She learned that lesson early on, watching her grandmother prepare the dessert with a confidence born of long experience.

“I remember the old-fashioned double boiler that she would use, with a gas stove, and she would cook that custard up,” Morgan says. “She did nothing by recipe. It was all about memory. We would eat that banana pudding straight out the oven because we like it hot. Most people like it cold, but hot is just amazing.”

Although hot banana pudding is her personal preference, Morgan sells it cold for practical reasons, in 8-ounce containers that are stored in a cooler at her booth. Each container costs $9.99. She also takes orders via her Facebook page, filling requests for larger portions that include full pans of banana pudding meant to feed several people. Prices vary for special orders, topping out at $129.99, she says.

“I get some emails. I get text messages,” Morgan says. “Facebook is where most people contact me. Or word of mouth, somebody’s giving a friend or co-worker my phone number. It’s all through the week. ‘Where are you today?’ And I’m like, ‘Wow, this is amazing.’”

Banana pudding is perishable, so Morgan makes it fresh the night before she offers it to the public. Pudding Amore has a shelf life of six or seven days in the fridge, but many customers tell Morgan that point is moot, because they plan to scarf it down right away. (Jasmine Halsey, a first-timer who discovered Morgan’s booth at UAB Hospital, also said sharing was out of the question.)

The fan base for Pudding Amore is devoted, but Morgan says she’s not stopping there. She hopes to expand her small business in the future, via a food truck or brick-and-mortar location in the Birmingham area. Her long-term goal is to establish a family company, passing down her recipe and methodology for the perfect banana pudding.

“I know that God has placed this business in my lap so I can potentially bless my children, great-grandchildren, etc.,” Morgan says. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I know that the future is looking great.”

Security check-ins will soon be easier and quicker for certain travelers.

The Transportation Security Administration announced new screening procedures for active-duty service members, civilian Department of Defense personnel and Gold Star Families.

“TSA reaffirms its commitment to ease travel for the military community through its TSA PreCheck program by providing it free to Gold Star families, discounting it for military spouses and creating expedited lanes for service members,” TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said in a statement. “By expanding access, easing enrollment, and partnering with our TSA PreCheck enrollment providers and industry partners, we strive to honor those who serve and the families who stand beside them.”

The new “Serve with Honor, Travel with Ease” program includes:

• Dedicated security lanes are open at airports near military installations. This will start in 10 locations: San Antonio, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado; El Paso, Texas; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; San Diego, California; and Seattle.
• PreCheck fees are waived for Gold Star Families. Gold Star Families are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters or other loved ones of a person who died in service to their country.
• TSA is offering a $25 discount for PreCheck enrollment for spouses of military and uniformed service members.

What is PreCheck?

PreCheck offers enrollees reduced wait times and expedited service through screenings and checkpoints. Participants can keep shoes, belts and light jackets on and are not required to remove laptops or 3-1-1 liquids from their carry-on bags.

TSA is currently hosting PreCheck mobile enrollment events near major U.S. military installations. Cost varies based on enrollment provider, ranging from $77-$85. Membership is valid for five years.

Uniformed service members and civilian DOD personnel who already qualify will continue to receive complimentary PreCheck access. Children 12 and younger may accompany service members and DOD staff in the TSA lanes; minors 13-17 must be on the same airline reservation with the PreCheck-eligible parent or guardian.

You can see more on enrollment here.

Disabled veterans

TSA said it is also working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer free PreCheck to some disabled veterans. Eligible veterans will include those who have a service-connected disability that includes loss of an extremity, full or partial paralysis or blindness.

A timeline for those changes has not been announced.

Belgium plays against Italy in the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO group stage today. The matchup is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT on FS1. Fans can watch this game for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

Today’s match is the first game for both of these teams at the tournament. With this in mind, both teams are looking to secure three points for their country this morning.

In order to win the group stage game, Belgium will need a great performance from their star player Tessa Wullaert. She leads the team with five goals and two assists in the Nations League, so she will look to continue her offensive success this morning.

Italy has played at a high level in the Nations League, so the team is trying to perform similarly in the tournament this morning.

In order to win today’s game, the Italy squad will need to rely on their star player Cristiana Girelli. She currently leads the team with three goals in the Nations League.

Fans can watch the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO group stage for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

The Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed a lawsuit alleging the Stone Mountain Memorial Association is violating a state law requiring the association to maintain the park as an “appropriate and suitable memorial for the Confederacy.”

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in DeKalb Superior Court, targets a planned “truth-telling” museum at the park.

The planned exhibit ”is completely contrary to the purposes of the Georgia law for the Stone Mountain Memorial Park as designed by the people of Georgia through their representatives,” the lawsuit states.

Stone Mountain contains the world’s largest Confederate monument, a carving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

For years, civil rights groups and historians have criticized the park’s approach to memorializing the Civil War and promoting a “lost cause” version of Confederate history. While largely dismissing calls to remove the bas-relief carving, the state-run association has taken steps in recent years to de-emphasize its glorification of the Confederacy, including removing the carving from its official logo and relocating a prominent display of Confederate flags.

In 2022, the association selected Birmingham-based Warner Museums, a firm whose projects include several civil rights-related exhibits and the Country Music Hall of Fame, to create an exhibit in the park’s Memorial Hall presenting a more balanced view of the war and the history behind the carving.

At the time, Stone Mountain Memorial Association CEO Bill Stephens said the organization would continue to fulfill the mandate to maintain the park as a Confederate monument.

The plaintiffs — Sons of Confederate Veterans members Philip Autrey and John Murlin; Timothy Pilgrim, Georgia Division commander of the organization; and Barbara Smith of Camden County — contend the planned exhibits do not honor the Confederacy but rather “assault its memory” and that some sections have no connection to the Confederacy.

Autrey said the association should never have approved the exhibit.

“The memorial association should go by what the state law says, which they’re not doing,” he said.

In 2023, the General Assembly allocated $11 million to pay for renovations to the park’s Memorial Hall and the new museum exhibit to “tell the truth” of the park’s history, including its connections to the Ku Klux Klan and resistance to the Civil Rights Movement.

“Warner’s proposed actions are clearly outside of the legislative mandate and legal responsibilities of the State of Georgia acting through the Stone Mountain Memorial Association,” the lawsuit states.

As pitched by Warner, the exhibit would include 10 sections, including one on how collective memory reshaped the cause, outcome and meaning of the Civil War. The pitch states that organizations like the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy “materialized as promoters of Lost Cause ideology” in the 1890s.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans alleged the proposed museum exhibit would be an “attack” on their group and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Another section of the exhibit, titled “Monuments and Mythmaking,” would show how Confederate soldiers were commemorated in the South, while the contributions of African Americans to the Union’s victory were overshadowed and marginalized.

In 2023, Stephens said the research, renovations, and exhibit were expected to take two years to complete. The exhibit is not yet open.

The Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Stone Mountain Memorial Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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©2025 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Confident that passage of President Donald Trump’s signature legislation was all but assured, West Wing aides summoned holdouts in the House Republican caucus Wednesday to deliver a blunt message: Follow the president’s orders and get it done by Friday.

It was a call to action after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., directed his caucus to return to Washington from home districts around the country, braving flight delays due to storms in the capital to be back in time for a vote before the Fourth of July.

But the vote was in doubt, and signs emerged of cracks in a coalition otherwise firmly under Trump’s control.

“The president of the United States didn’t give us an assignment,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican from Wisconsin, told reporters, using an expletive to suggest Trump was treating lawmakers like his minions.

“We’re not a bunch of little b….s around here, okay? I’m a member of Congress. I represent almost 800,000 Wisconsinites. Is that clear?”

Frustration within the Republican Party was coming from two disparate camps of a broad-tent coalition that have their own sets of grievances: fiscal hawks who believe the bill adds too much to the national debt, and lawmakers representing districts that heavily rely on Medicaid.

One GOP lawmaker who attended the White House meeting Wednesday, Rep. David Valadao of California, represents a Central Valley district with one of the highest percentages of Medicaid enrollment in the nation.

The president’s megabill, which he calls the “Big Beautiful Bill,” levies historic cuts to the health care program that could result in up to 12 million Americans losing health coverage, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, gutting $1 trillion in funding and introducing a work requirement for enrollees of 80 hours per month until they turn 65 years old.

The legislation would also restrict state taxes on health care providers, known as the “provider tax,” an essential tool for many states in their efforts to supplement Medicaid funding. Several Republican lawmakers fear that provision could have devastating effects on rural hospitals.

A handful of Republican lawmakers from North Carolina have bristled at the president’s pressure campaign, with Rep. Chuck Edwards telling Punchbowl News that the White House meeting “ didn’t sway my opinion.” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis was one of three Republicans who voted against the bill Tuesday, warning it would devastate his state. It still passed with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance.

The vote was shaping up to be narrow in the House as well, where Johnson can afford to lose only three votes in order to pass the omnibus legislation.

A daylong debate on the House floor allowed for private negotiations to continue, ahead of a crucial procedural vote on rules that would be the last step before a final vote. But it was unclear whether the expressions of frustration and doubt Wednesday amounted to performance art in anticipation of the bill’s inevitable passage, or signaled a genuine threat to the bill.

Earlier Wednesday, after taking meetings at the White House, members of the House Freedom Caucus, a bloc founded to promote fiscal responsibility, also met with Johnson. The speaker emerged with a message of tempered optimism and later said he was hoping to secure a final vote Wednesday night.

“I feel very positive about the progress, we’ve had lots of great conversations,” Johnson told reporters, “but we can’t make everyone 100% happy. It’s impossible.”

“This is a deliberative body. It’s a legislative process by definition — all of us have to give up on personal preferences,” he said. “I’m never going to ask anyone to compromise core principles, but preferences must be yielded for the greater good. And that’s what I think people are recognizing and coming to grips with.”

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a member of the Freedom Caucus, had been highly critical of the Senate legislation. But he signaled an openness Wednesday afternoon to vote in favor of the bill, an indication that passage could be imminent.

Democrats are out of power across Washington and have no ability to stop the legislation. But many believe it could backfire on Republicans in the midterm elections next year.

“Every single Senate Republican is going to have to answer for these cruel and unpopular cuts this election,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said after the bill passed the Senate. “This is putting their majority at serious risk.”

Trump says the legislation encompasses his entire domestic agenda, extending tax cuts passed during his first term in 2017 and beefing up funding for border security, mass deportations and the Defense Department.

Cuts to Medicaid, as well as to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP, are intended to offset a fraction of the costs. But the CBO still estimates the legislation will add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, and hundreds of billions to the deficit, with other nonprofit budget trackers forecasting even higher figures.

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©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Birmingham’s historic Rainbow Bridge holds plants and pedestrians. Its quiet, clean and boasts a clear view of the city skyline.

What it still can’t hold is cars.

The Rainbow Bridge, one of the city’s oldest, has connected people to the south and north sides of downtown Birmingham for more than 130 years. In January 2022, the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic due to structural concerns and to prevent further damage. REV Birmingham, a revitalization nonprofit, is working with the city of Birmingham to find options for the bridge’s future.

One community member said he is disappointed in the lack of updates.

“This was a major artery into the central city yet it has been closed for multiple years with no update on reopening or planning for permanent closure,” Joseph Culotta wrote in a letter to the editor of the Birmingham News.

“Ridiculous the accountability or lack of accountability from the Birmingham city to citizens. Currently other arteries are ill suited due to the timing of traffic lights. Seems odd no effort was made to accommodate the absence of this well used route. The silence is deafening.”

Officials say they are unsure when the bridge will reopen, but here is what they’ve been doing in the meantime.

The history of the Rainbow Bridge and what’s next

The city built the bridge in 1891 to link the north and south ends of 21st Street, now known as Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard.

And two decades later, the Birmingham City Commission upgraded the bridge to increase traffic. Those efforts were slowed by World War I, but construction began on the bridge in 1918 and cost $200,000, according to REV.

The bridge was formally dedicated to the veterans hosted in Birmingham who fought as part of the “Rainbow Division” during World War I, according to REV.

Because the last structural update to the bridge was in 1918, it was not designed to handle modern traffic and heavy vehicles.

The city of Birmingham closed the structure to vehicles in 2022 after claiming a “continued lack of compliance” with the Rainbow Bridge’s three-ton weight limit had “deteriorated” the more than 100-year-old structure over time, according to a news release at the time.

In 2023, REV installed short-term beautification measures for pedestrians and cyclists including a temporary multi-use path, informational signs, traffic bollards, planters and additional services from CAP safety ambassadors to care for the plants and address litter and graffiti.

So what’s next for the bridge? Officials are not sure.

AL.com reached out to REV but a spokesperson was not available for an interview prior to publishing. AL.com was instead directed to a website that contains the most up-to-date information on the project’s progress.

“To determine the long-term plan for the bridge, REV is working with the city of Birmingham to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for an engineering and feasibility study to identify viable options for the structure’s future. We already know there will be no zero-cost option. There will be opportunities, challenges and costs associated with all possible outcomes of the study,” the website states.

The city of Birmingham reiterated the statement.

“No formal decisions can be made until a complete engineering assessment has been conducted and finalized. A project this size would have a significant cost which cannot be determined until the assessment phase is completed,” Rick Journey, a city of Birmingham spokesperson told AL.com.

This is an opinion column.

I don’t want to see the video.

I don’t want to see the final moments of a promising young man’s life.

I don’t want to see his eyes. I don’t want to see his fear.

I don’t want to hear what Jabari Latrell Peoples may have said before his short life began to slip away near the Homewood Soccer Park on a Monday night in late June.

I don’t want to hear George Floyd again, don’t want to hear, “Mama.”

If Jabari were my son, though, I would want to see the video — desperately.

I wouldn’t be able to sleep, wouldn’t be able to stop crying. Crying out loud.

I wouldn’t be able to stop hurting until I saw the video — until I saw what caused the final moments of my son’s life.

Until I saw his eyes, until I saw his fear.

Until I saw his goodbye.

Show them the video, y’all — Alabama Law Enforcement Agency folks. Show Jabari Peoples’ family the video of how the 18-year-old Aliceville native lost his life.

Now.

Show them what they must see before they can begin to heal.

‘We’re broken,” his father said Wednesday. “We’ll never be healed.”

Jabari’s birthday is today. His parents said he wanted an F-150 truck for his birthday. Instead, they’re planning his homegoing.

Show them what they deserve to see, what they need to see — desperately.

Show it to them. “Ongoing active law enforcement investigation” be damned.

Show it to them as you did almost seven years ago while still investigating the tragic Hoover police shooting of Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. on Thanksgiving night at the Riverchase Galleria. The 21-year-old Hueytown native died on the floor of the mall, bleeding from at least one gunshot wound to the face, after a dispute between at least three men (including Bradford) that began at the FootAction store inside the mall, escalated to gunfire and resulted in Bradford, who had a gun he was permitted to carry, being gunned down by police amid the ensuing chaos.

Just one week later, on Thursday, November 29, Florida-based civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump Jr., along with Rodney Barganier and Frankie Lee of Birmingham, viewed about 30 seconds of the deadly encounter at ALEA’s offices. Members of the family did not attend because it conflicted with final preparations for the public viewing of Bradford’s body.

Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr and Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice Washington attended the video viewing with the attorneys.

“It was a courtesy to the family and the lawyers,” Carr said at the time. “But also, because we believe in total transparency for this process.”

This process is no different. Not if y’all, ALEA, believe in total transparency.

If you don’t, just say so.

Don’t blame potentially impacting the investigation for your decision to withhold the body-cam and police car dash-cam video. After a two-month investigation into the killing of Bradford involving dozens of witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence — cell phone videos taken by shoppers, mall surveillance video, body cam video, text messages and Facebook posts — Attorney General Steve Marshall shared a report stating that the Hoover police officer shooting was justified.

The report identified the shooter as Officer 1.

“After an extensive investigation and review, the Attorney General has determined Officer 1 did not commit a crime under Alabama law when he shot and killed E.J. Bradford,” Marshall’s report said. “The facts of this case demonstrate that Officer 1 reasonably exercised his official powers, duties, or functions when he shot” Bradford, the report continues.

Showing the video to the Bradford family’s representatives and offering to show it to the family, as well, did not impact the investigation.

Neither will the video of what happened on that awful night at Homewood’s soccer field.

 It shows what it shows. It may not tell the whole story, as often happens with video. It may not clearly convey guilt or innocence.

It might even enflame already-fragile emotions. It might hurt. Hurt badly.

But what it shows must be shown to the family and their attorneys.

They deserve to see it. They deserve to see it just as the yet unnamed officer saw it. In real time. In tragic, likely horrifying real time.

Just as I’d deserve to see it. Just as I’d demand to see it. Just as I’d cry out loud to see it if Jabari were my son.

Show it to them. Now.

Let’s be better tomorrow than we are today. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, Instagram @roysj and BlueSky.