Alabama marine police are investigating the jet ski accident that killed a 17-year-old girl Monday afternoon.
According to Limestone County Coroner Mike West, a 911 call came in at 1:43 p.m. for the girl who was run over by a jet ski on the Elk River near Bream Bluff Road in Athens.
She was pulled out of the water and responders attempted to resuscitate her at the scene, West said.
She was transported to Athens Limestone hospital by Athens EMS but did not respond to the resuscitative measures and was pronounced dead at the ER at 2:48 p.m., he continued.
Marine police continue to investigate.
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Sen. Ted Cruz toured one of Greece’s historic sites a day after the Guadalupe River flooded its banks and killed dozens of people in Texas.
While the Texas senator’s spokesperson said Cruz returned home “as fast as humanly possible,” flight data contradicts the claim, according to a Daily Beast report published Monday night.
Cruz landed in Athens on Thursday.
On Friday, more than 24 hours after the river flooded in Texas, the senator, his family and their bodyguard were seen at the Parthenon.
“As he walked past us, I simply said, ‘20 kids dead in Texas and you take a vacation?’” the unnamed observer told the Daily Beast.
“He sort of grunted and walked on,” the witness continued. “His wife shot me a dirty look. Then they continued on with their tour guide.”
Cruz’s communications team claimed the senator got back to Texas “as fast as humanly possible.”
But the Daily Beast reported there were multiple flights from Athens to San Antonio, Texas, on Friday and Saturday.
“While it is not known how many seats were available on each flight, possible options included flights leaving Athens on Saturday morning and landing in San Antonio that evening via Chicago, Atlanta, or Washington, D.C.,” the website reported.
That’s without including chartered flights and other private options available to Cruz.
Flash floods in Texas killed more than 100 people over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and left others still missing, including girls attending a summer camp.
The devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, has drawn a massive search effort as officials face questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions, the Associated Press reported.
In Kerr County, home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said Monday afternoon. Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths as of Monday afternoon to at least 104.
Ten girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Gonna spare you the listicle-intro jazz. Below are the 30 essential Huntsville restaurants right now, in my opinion. No chains, just brick-and-mortars located in Huntsville, listed in no particular order. They aren’t the only great local spots, just a start.
Niyah’s Southern Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/[email protected])Matt Wake
Niyah’s Southern Grill
Soul food with clever twists.
We like: fried chicken (crispy, succulent), half chicken (smokey without smog), queso mac and cheese (Southern side gone Tex-Mex), gumbo greens (kicked-up collards)
Chicken wings from Bo’s Best Wings, with “Bo’s special sauce” and seasoned fries. (Matt Wake/[email protected])Matt Wake
Bo’s Best Wings
If it’s good enough for football legend Deion Sanders, it’s good enough for us, too.
We like: Chicken wings with either “Bo’s Special Sauce” (crushable sweet-hot concoction) or lemon pepper (a favorite among regulars), fried green tomatoes (served with remoulade), “peachade” (tastes like summer through a straw)
Tacos at Cocina Cinco de Mayo. (Matt Wake/[email protected])Matt Wake
Cocina Cinco De Mayo
Salt-of-the-earth taqueria open late night.
We like: Pastor taco (aromatic sliced pork shoulder punctuated with pineapple), enchiladas de mole (shredded chicken smothered in gravy-ish sauce), nachos (choice of protein over house-made chips)
Huntsville’s most musical pizzas (whole pies and slices) made by Trevar Akins, bassist with popular local Beastie Boys cover band the Beastie Goys.
We like: Red Rocket (red sauce, pepperoni, Conecuh sausage, pepperoni, jalapenos, house cheese blend and siracha), Mean Green (pesto, house cheese blend, artichoke hearts, feta, fresh basil, jalapeno, pecorino romano)
A plate from the lunch buffet at The Curry Modern Indian in Huntsville. (Matt Wake/[email protected])Matt Wake
The Curry Modern Indian
An Indian buffet done right: Mainstream stars, like tandoori chicken, tiki masala and naan, supported by a rotating cast of vibrant less American-famous dishes, like aloo jeera, cheera thoran and chana masala.
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Tuesday is opening day for another Chick-fil-A in Phenix City.
The new restaurant, at 1132 Highway 280 Bypass, is open for dine-in, drive-thru, mobile orders, carryout, curbside and third-party delivery.
It employs about 100.
Anyone visiting the restaurant today dressed in cow attire can redeem one free entrée or kid’s meal inside the restaurant or at the drive-thru.
Todd Morgan, a 23-year owner-operator in the company, runs the location, his second in the community.
“Phenix City has been my home for over 20 years, and I’m deeply thankful for the support of this incredible community,” Morgan said. “It’s a joy to keep mentoring future leaders and we look forward to welcoming new guests with the genuine care and signature hospitality that defines who we are.”
Morgan also owns and operates Chick-fil-A Phenix City North, which has been a part of the community since 2005.
His younger siblings, Kyle and Katie, are local owner-operators of Chick-fil-A restaurants in Colorado.
Chick-fil-A has more than 3,000 restaurants, with more than 60 in Alabama.
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The 2025 WNBA season nears the All-Star Game break in just over a week, but there’s still plenty of games to be played until then. Teams are looking to make a strong push before the short break. On Wednesday, the Golden State Valkyries will head to Indiana to take on the Fever.
The Fever have been an interesting team this season. They recently won the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup. However, superstar Caitlin Clark has missed numerous games with multiple injuries. Without her on the floor, they’ve failed to close out a few games.
The Valkyries are 7-3 over their last 10 games and have been rolling. They were able to take down the Fever 88-77 two weeks ago in a gritty effort.
Fans looking to tune into the Valkyries vs Fever game can do so on Fubo, who’s offering a free trial to new subscribers.
Here’s everything you need to know before the Valkyries and Fever tipoff:
When: Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Time: 12 p.m. E.T.
Fans looking to tune into the Valkyries vs Fever game can do so on Fubo, who’s offering a free trial to new subscribers.
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The first time I saw Frank Morse doing his thing, he was grilling for a few friends on the side of the road before a Dauphin Island Mardi Gras parade. And by “a few,” I mean 30 or 40.
His industrial-grade mobile smoker was made from a length of pipe that a friend had scavenged from a derrick barge serving the offshore petroleum industry. It was loaded with several kinds of sausage, bacon-wrapped chicken breasts and pork loin, ribs, beef tenderloin and more.
It turned out that the former commercial captain was no amateur: He was the proprietor of Capt. Frank’s Smoke Shack in Bayou La Batre. I was too early to sample the mouth-watering meat cornucopia slow-cooking before the Krew de la Dauphine rolled out, so I made a mental note to visit the Smoke Shack at first opportunity.
“Capt. Frank” Morse tends his massive trailer grill in a lot on Bienville Boulevard ahead of the 2025 Krewe de la Dauphine parade.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
Capt. Frank’s Smoke Shack turned out to be just about everything a barbecue lover hopes for when seeking out a new place. Let’s tick off the boxes.
Box one: Is it a destination? Yes. You can’t exactly say that that the Smoke Shack is off the beaten path, because it’s right on Ala. 188, a connector that, among other traffic, carries vacationers from I-10 in Grand Bay down to Dauphin Island. But it’s also within easy walking distance of Bayou La Batre’s working waterfront. That means that no matter which way you come, you’re going to see things that give you a sense of place unlike anywhere else in Alabama. Shrimp boats at the dock. Glimpses of the Mississippi Sound.
While in the parking lot, I saw a young man walking past with a couple of takeout containers in hand, looking like he was on the way home after a shift at a local processor. He sported shoulder-length-plus hair worthy of a rock star, a heavy dark work jacket and pants that suggested he’d spent time in a freezer, and white shrimp boots. That’s just not a look you’re going to see anywhere else.
Box two: Is it small? As in, tiny? Yes indeed. Capt. Frank’s is a weather-worn wooden building barely the size of a shotgun house, always a good sign when it comes to barbecue. Inside, accommodations are tight. On your side of the counter, there are two small tables, augmented by two picnic tables on the porch. There’s not a lot of room behind the counter, either, so you can see a lot of the magic happening. He may be the captain, but if you order a baked potato, he’s probably going to be the one who slices it open and loads it up for you.
From left: Capt. Frank Morse, his wife Ann, and employee Josette Clarke. Morse opened Capt. Frank’s Smoke Shack in Bayou La Batre in November 2005.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
Box three: Is it a family affair? Again, yes. You’ll find Ann Morse taking orders, sharing updates on local happenings and keeping her husband company.
Box four: Is the décor, shall we say, organic? Absolutely. It’s just as it should be: Family photos, old newspaper clippings, nautical knick-knacks and an impressive collection of awards won over the years at the Blessing of the Fleet Gumbo Cook-Off: First place, second place, people’s choice. He earned his most recent No. 1 in May, so you know he’s not just resting on his laurels.
Box five: But how’s the food? Another yes.
We didn’t come here for gumbo, so what to order first? Well, there’s something on the menu called the Bayou Pig sandwich ($8.50), so the choice is pretty much made for you. I mean, knowing there’s something called a Bayou Pig, how can you not order that? It’s a deluxe take on the common pulled pork sandwich: a big heap of pulled pork topped with house-made sauce and slaw, and an unusual garnish of olives. It is a mess, in the best possible way.
The Bayou Pig at Capt. Frank’s Smoke Shack is a big, loaded, sloppy take on the common pulled pork sandwich.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
The full menu includes pulled pork, chicken quarters, half-chickens, ribs and brisket. You can get plates ($10.99 for pulled pork, up to $16.33 for the jumbo rib plate), sandwiches ($5.75-$8.50) or loaded potatoes ($11.90). Sides include potato salad, slaw and chips. Root beer aficionados will be glad to hear that the soda case includes not just Barq’s but cane-sugar IBC in glass bottles.
On another visit, I tried the brisket plate. Spoiler alert: It’s fabulous. Although no barbecue wizard is going to share all his secrets, Morse said his approach to brisket has evolved over the years, and he pays special attention to the second stage of the process, where the meat is wrapped and cooked at higher (but still not very high) temperatures. That and the final resting stage are essential to getting a tender, juicy brisket, he said.
Ann Morse said that evolution reflects her husband’s general approach to barbecue. He’s not stuck in his ways, she said: He’s always on the lookout for tips and tricks that he can incorporate into what he does.
“He has a lot of practice,” she said. “He has learned new tricks all along the way. He always says that some of the best tips come from the least likely of people.” (Another example: Somewhere along the line, he decided to try keeping his whole chickens breast-down as he smoked them. Somehow the bird seems to hold more moisture that way, he said.)
The brisket plate at Capt. Frank’s Smoke Shack: No frills, but plenty of ambiance.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
His willingness to try something new says a lot, considering that he’ll soon mark his 20th anniversary in the business.
Morse said his career as an offshore captain took a one-two punch in 2005: Hurricane Katrina shut down the work he was doing in Mississippi that August. After that, he worked Cameron, La., but Hurricane Rita wiped that out in September 2005. “So that put me out of the boat business,” he said.
He opened the Smoke Shack that November. Business was slow that Thanksgiving, he said, but since then smoked turkeys have become a seasonal staple.
He appreciates the balance he gets. He’s well known to locals, but 188 brings a steady stream of first-timers.
“There’s a lot of people passing through,” he said. “You can tell tourists when they come. A lot of people from Texas. A lot more Texas plates around.”
Whether you’re a traveler or a local, if you see an Alabama barbecue joint with Texas plates in the parking lot, that’s a good sign.
Capt. Frank’s Smoke Shack is at 13876 S. Wintzell Ave. in Bayou La Batre. It’s open for lunch Monday-Friday. For updates, visit www.facebook.com/capt.franksinc.
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From the outside, it appears to be another one of over 1,500 farms in Cullman County, with a couple of facilities and a structure that will eventually serve as a greenhouse. The front office looks — and smells — like any other office space, with their current hemp-derived products on display and a couple of private offices behind a conference table.
But when Joey Robertson, CEO and president of Wagon Trail Med-Serv and a managing partner at Wagon Trail Hemp Farms, opens a door behind the front office, an herbal and skunky smell blows out, strong enough to leave one’s senses feeling overwhelmed.
That’s where Robertson produces hemp-derived products like gummies, which he has been doing since 2019.
“It’s been essentially the exact fall-in-line with what we’re going to be doing on medical, minus some infrastructure improvements and a bigger fence, so we’re already ready to roll,” Robertson said during a tour of his facility last month.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission awarded Robertson an integrated facility license in 2023, meaning he can grow, process and sell products under one license. But Alabama’s medical cannabis program, approved by the Legislature in 2021, remains stalled, meaning Robertson has multimillion-dollar machinery sitting idly.
“We’ve been able to carry or offset most of our losses, though, with hemp,” he said. “So it’s made it to where hemp was hard to thrive, I guess you would say, because we’re turning so much back into keeping that (medical cannabis) license opportunity open.”.
After over two years of legal wrangling over the licensing process — and over four years after the Alabama Legislature first approved the medical cannabis program — state officials and cannabis producers like Robertson think they’re moving closer to making cannabis available for patients throughout the state, thanks in part to recent state appellate court rulings.
“I think the commission and the staff are more encouraged than we have been any time in the past to date,” said Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) Director John McMillan, saying he is “kind of coming around to being very hopeful” that medical cannabis could be available to Alabamians by the end of 2025, though he stressed that is a best case scenario.
But there are still many obstacles ahead, including ongoing legal battles and strong opinions regarding the program’s structure and fairness.
Marty Schelper, founder and president of the Alabama Cannabis Coalition and Alabama Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition, said she was skeptical about the entire program, saying potential patients may turn to a potentially cheaper black market even when the program has been rolled out.
Schelper, who called the medical cannabis framework a “legal medical cannabis cartel,” said she believes that the current system is designed to control and regulate the industry by limiting competition, allowing license holders to “set their price on whatever your product is, because you have none of the competition.”
“They created the Alabama medical cannabis cartel, and they’re not allowed free markets, and that’s why they can’t implement medical cannabis in the state of Alabama,” Schelper said.
But others are sounding optimistic. Ray French, CEO for Specialty Medical Products of Alabama, a company that won a license in each of the attempted rounds, said that integrated operators who can grow, process and sell the final product, like his own business, will be able to start operating within “a few weeks, once the commission completes their process,” as they are already operational and possess the necessary equipment and certifications.
A stalled program
The Alabama medical cannabis law, enacted in 2021, allows registered physicians to recommend cannabis for specific qualifying conditions. The approved product forms are restricted to tablets, tinctures, patches, oils, and gummies (only peach flavor), with raw plant material and smokable forms remaining prohibited.
When the program is fully operational, there will be up to 37 dispensaries across the state. After the licensees have operated dispensaries for at least a year, the commission may allow licensees to open additional dispensaries.
Robertson said they plan to operate dispensaries in Cullman, Decatur, Florence, Athens and Montgomery, though he said that dispensary locations are subject to change. He said that some cities have a higher concentration of planned dispensaries compared to more rural parts of the state.
A lab technician at Wagon Trail Farm carefully measures raw hemp ingredients for production and oversees the preparation process to ensure precision and compliance. (Photo by Andi Rice for The Alabama Reflector)Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector
“So working with the commission, if they allow for us change and really cover more of the state, which I feel like they will, people get more coverage in medicine,” Robertson said.
But the licensing process, which began in 2023, has been contentious. The commission’s first round of license awards in June of that year was withdrawn amid controversy over the scoring of applications. A second round of awards later that year was put on hold because of allegations that the AMCC violated the Open Meetings Act. The commission awarded licenses at the end of 2023, but those have been caught up in litigation.
The AMCC has already issued licenses in several categories, but integrated facility and dispensary licenses, which are required before doctors can be certified and allowed to recommend products to patients, have been on hold due to the ongoing litigation.
But the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in May overturned a permanent injunction imposed by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge James Anderson in April that blocked the last round of licensing because it was awarded under emergency rules.
The month prior, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals overturned a temporary restraining order that prevented the commission from issuing licenses due to allegedly not complying with the Administrative Procedure Act, saying that Anderson lacked jurisdiction when it issued a stay in favor of Alabama Always, a company seeking a medical cannabis license, and dismissed the case.
A more recent lawsuit was brought by five parents who want the court to order the AMCC to establish a patient registry for medical cannabis patients. A scheduled hearing on the case was postponed late last month; as of Thursday morning, it had not been rescheduled.
All that remains for the commission to do before finalizing awards, said McMillan, is to conduct investigative hearings, which can be called by any applicant in the license category.
“We have notified the applicants that are eligible to participate as they want to, and then we’ve turned it over to the administrative law judge,” McMillan said, “We’re totally out of it, no communication, no nothing. It’s between him and the applicants now.”
But McMillan was vague about a timeline for the hearings, saying that several factors could influence it.
“It’ll depend on how many of the applicants want to participate in the hearing, and then how long it takes the administrative law judge to do the preparatory work for having the hearings and then to actually have the hearing,” McMillan said.
Robertson said at an interview he feels that is a reasonable prediction. He said his integrated facility, which includes an outdoor greenhouse and indoor growing facility, as well as processing and production facilities, is ready to begin operations as soon as he receives final approval.
Because cannabis plants can take months to grow, he plans to first procure raw plant material from cultivators, whose licenses have been approved and have been growing cannabis since the first half of 2024, to make the first few rounds of products.
“We want to be that option for people to be able to bring their biomass to us. We can convert it to oil products– either purchase it from them to resell or to produce their products for them to sell in the independent dispensaries,” Robertson said.
He said that with cannabis plants having been growing in the state since cultivators received their final licenses, the remaining steps can be completed within a month.
Because he is also a managing partner of Wagon Trail Hemp Farms, where they have been making seed-to-sale hemp-derived products since 2019, he also believes he won’t have much of a learning curve. The facility, he said, can process 1,000 pounds of raw plant material per day, which translates to about 80 kilos of oil daily.
“That’s enough oil for the entire state of Alabama. That’s enough to produce 3.5 million doses in one day’s worth of oil,” Robertson said.
Once they have the oil processed and tested, the production process is quite quick. They can produce 30,000 to 40,000 gummies in one shift.
Ongoing litigation
But lawsuits have continued. Will Somerville, an attorney representing Alabama Always, one of the firms that sued AMCC after not receiving a license, said in an interview in May the hearings should be conducted on a “level playing field,” saying that applicants initially chosen in December 2023 should not receive an unfair advantage.
There is a strong belief that some licenses were awarded to those who did not “raise as much of a stink about the process” as others, Somerville said, a practice he believes to be illegal and discriminatory.
“I think that’s why they rewarded the people who sucked up to them,” Somerville said. “I don’t think there’s any other basis for awarding those licenses.”
French, of Specialty Medical Products of Alabama, called those claims “unbelievable.” He said that his company is well qualified, with extensive experience in the hemp industry in Alabama. He currently also owns Oscity Labs, which produces CBD edibles and tinctures in an integrated facility.
The facilities, he said, have been certified as having Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP), a set of regulations enforced by the FDA to ensure products are consistently manufactured under controlled and healthy conditions.
“We feel like we are not only a qualified applicant in all ways, but we are one of the handful of operators that are actually already CGMP’ed. I mean, that’s a huge lift,” French said.
Alabama Always has also filed a federal lawsuit alleging the AMCC commissioners showed bias and acted against those who challenged the process. Somerville said the lawsuit seeks to determine the extent of the commission’s misconduct and its impact on its clients, with monetary damages potentially on the table, but he doesn’t foresee it stalling the process further.
“We don’t think a lot of these commissioners have the ability to be impartial,” Somerville said, saying the lawsuit is intended to ensure the process moves along according to the law. A hearing has not been set on the lawsuit.
McMillan said that the timeline for making medical cannabis available also depends on how many applicants participate in the investigative hearings process and how long the administrative law judge takes to prepare and conduct them.
French said the appeals court’s decision to overturn the restraining order was “very encouraging news.”
But the delays can be financially straining for applicants as they wait to begin production. French said “keeping employees operational, keeping operations going” has been a challenge, as well as maintaining expensive facilities without being able to sell products.
Robertson predicted that he would come out even in about two years after investing $4 million into the facilities. Because of the delays, he said that it could be four years before he is able to break even.
“Between the legal fees and operational fees, and holding all of the facilities and everything else, it’s been a multimillion-dollar venture at this point. We have $4 million of infrastructure sitting here, and we can’t do anything with it, and then we’ve got all the other operations and legal fees,” Robertson said.
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Nick West, a part-time computer science teacher, spends a lot of time in the carpool line of his Mobile private school, fielding question after question about scholarships and financial aid.
For local parents, he’s a go-to guy for tips about affording a private school education. Between classes, he’s an evangelist for Alabama’s new CHOOSE Act, which, starting this summer, gives eligible families up to $7,000 in tax credits to spend on private education.
As the program kicks off its first year, an estimated $124 million will support families – an effort that West says will help many of the students he teaches.
“I had a lot of families coming to me just this year, saying if we didn’t get them a scholarship, I’m not going to be able to send my son or my daughter here,” he said.
The program, lawmakers say, is intended to help students who come from low- to middle-income families and those who may be zoned for struggling public schools. By the end of the school year, West said he’d helped as many as 60 families apply for the credits. About 10 of them recently transferred from local public schools, he said, in search of smaller class sizes and better services for their children with disabilities.
“A parent is not going to let their kid just sit there and fail year after year after year,” West said. “You can’t blame them for wanting to use their tax-funded dollars to send their child to private school, because they have no other option.”
Since its opening in January, the CHOOSE program has garnered intense demand – enough to push lawmakers to nearly double its initial funding.
But as the program kicks off, there are still many unknowns. There’s no clear picture of the quality of schools chosen, or of the ultimate cost to taxpayers and public school systems. And it remains unclear how Alabama, among other states, will sustain funding as a new national school voucher program takes effect.
“Any time you move outside of a public space that has public oversight, it’s kind of a, ‘Trust me, bro,’” said Jameson Brewer, an associate professor at the University of North Georgia who studies school choice programs. “There’s no way to challenge that.”
Autauga Academy in Prattville, Alabama, Thursday, April 11, 2025. The private school is one of about 200 that accept Alabama’s publicly-funded education savings accounts.Will McLelland
AL.com examined more than 200 private schools and dozens of homeschool vendors participating in the program. We discovered a vast range of offerings that differ widely in price, curricula and admissions requirements. Some schools hire experienced teachers and use high-quality curriculum. Others do not follow recommended practices for reading, math or science instruction.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Kay Ivey told AL.com she looks forward to the “continuous growth and success” of the state’s new school choice expansion. But so far, the state has no plans to take stock of the program’s outcomes – or how accessible the offerings are to the students it aims to serve.
“When we first started, we didn’t know who was going to participate, how many students were going to participate, or what the uptake would be,” Sen. Arthur Orr, one of the legislation’s sponsors, told AL.com in a recent interview. “There were just a lot of unknowns.”
“Now, just based on the first few months of history, we have a better idea of the universe of students, schools that are participating. I think in the subsequent years, we’ll be revisiting the question of accountability to make sure that the money’s being spent appropriately, the educational experience is substantive, and that discussion will need to be had at some point.”
Who is using the program?
Nearly three quarters of the program’s 23,429 participants already attend private school or are homeschooled.
That’s typical of most school choice programs, especially when they first start out, research shows.
“Everyone likes free money, so if you offer free money to everybody, then the first people who are going to take it for private school are the ones who already have kids in private school,” Liz Cohen, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said at a recent panel discussion.
Advocates like David Goodwin, who heads the Association of Classical Christian Schools, say Alabama’s program will help a “vast middle” class of families afford private education.
As more people learn about it, there will be more social, economic and racial diversity, supporters argue.
That’s playing out in Arizona right now: Public school participation in the state’s universal choice program more than doubled from 21% to 48% in one year, according to a recent study from FutureEd.
“I think the story of it being something that is taken advantage of by people who could already go to private school is really short selling the tens of thousands of families in Alabama who can and will benefit from this program,” said Elizabeth BeShears, a leading school choice advocate with the American Federation for Children.
S’Heelia Marks gives instruction to Elijah Nicolas Hernandez-Valeriano as he prepares for the SAT at Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham in 2024.AP
Some private schools told AL.com they expect to enroll several new students from local public schools. But some said they don’t have the capacity to serve all eligible families, or students with specific needs.
Kyoung Tae Kim, an associate professor at the University of Alabama, said the credits alone are unlikely to put private schools in reach for all families. Fees for meals, supplies and extracurriculars can also add up, he said, and families should think about a “long-term strategy” for managing expenses.
There’s also a gap in Alabama’s program: Public school families can’t use the money if their school doesn’t charge tuition.
Beth Dotson, who owns Huntington Learning Center franchises in Montgomery and Daphne, said several of her public school clients had hoped that they could use the funds for extra help at her tutoring centers, but were turned away due to their enrollment status.
Many of them can’t afford private school tuition, even with a $7,000 tax credit, she said.
“This is just our state once again taking away from our poorest and most academically challenged students and not giving them anything,” she said.
This year, just over 3,000 public school students plan to use the credits to enroll in private school.
As the program reaches more families, some public school leaders worry it will strain their local systems. Students already are leaving for other schools with flexible schedules and custom curricula – offerings that they, by law, can’t always provide.
“We’re all in the same fight, and you get to use both hands, but I’ve got to fight it with both arms tied behind my back,” Lyman Woodfin, the superintendent of Autauga County Schools, told AL.com. “That’s the rub for me. We’ve lost families to private school. We’ve lost families to a local charter school. We’re seeing some come back, but it’s only going to get worse when the guardrails are off.”
Will tax credits make private school more accessible?
West credits the state’s original school choice program, called the Alabama Accountability Act, for helping his single mom afford to send him and his siblings to Catholic school. After getting his cyber security degree, he returned to Mobile to teach STEM classes at two local private schools, Heart of Mary and Little Flower.
Nick West, a private school teacher in Mobile, Ala., helps many local families apply for $7,000 that they can apply toward private school tuition. West benefited from school choice himself as a child. He is pictured at Little Flower Catholic School on Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Mobile. (Mike Kittrell/AL.com)
Mike Kittrell/Al.com
For much of the spring, West was fielding calls about application issues and even managing email accounts for some families who had hoped to enroll in the program. He encouraged as many parents as he could to apply for the savings accounts, even if they didn’t think they qualified.
Several families have told him they were approved.
“I have their kids in class, and I can see the impact that it has on them,” he said.
Others are still holding out hope that they can participate one day. Many schools offer various discounts, but it can still be challenging to find a seat that meets a student’s educational, geographical and financial needs. AL.com compiled a dataset of private school tuition rates and found a wide range across the state.
Andrea Portis, who has two children at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile, found out in May that the application she filed for her youngest daughter had been denied.
Her husband, a federal worker, isn’t making the salary he used to now that pandemic-era demands have slowed. But the family wasn’t able to reflect the change in their application, which only counts income and tax statements from the prior year.
“When I tell you it has been a struggle, it has been a struggle financially,” Portis said.
Her youngest was able to get some financial assistance from McGill, but it didn’t cover all the costs.
Tuition at the school is also going up, she said; records show the cost to enroll one child went from $12,420 last year to $13,600 for the 2025-26 school year, a jump of 9.5%.
While lots of private schools are keeping tuition the same this fall, AL.com found that some raised prices by thousands of dollars. Tuition increases are normal, but at several schools, this year’s bump was larger than the previous year. Can’t see the chart? View it here.
“I kept thinking that if I get in [the program] it will be a miracle,” Portis said. “But I’m just going to have to figure it out.”
Is private education better?
Advocates say the program will bolster competition between public and private schools. And research backs up that school choice can shock public schools into improving – at least to some degree. But public school leaders say it’s not that simple.
In Autauga County, Woodfin said he’s already losing families to Ivy Classical Academy, a charter school that teaches a classical curriculum. Now, private schools in the area are also using their flexibility as a marketing tool, he said.
Mountain Brook salutes the fans after a championship win at the Briarwood Christian vs. Mountain Brook girls soccer state championship, in Huntsville, Ala., Saturday, May 11, 2024.
(Vasha Hunt | [email protected](Vasha Hunt | [email protected])
But what worries him most, he said, is that there’s no way to tell whether the families who are leaving are making the best academic choice for their kids.
He wants to see private schools that voluntarily accept ESAs held to the same standards as local public schools. He believes they should take the same state tests and submit data to the same state and federal report cards every year.
“Our frustration has nothing to do with the concept of a choice,” he said. “The argument is, do parents really know what they’re choosing? We’re going to bat every day for our teachers and our parents because we have some of the same frustrations, but we don’t have a way to counter that.”
Some vendors and private schools agree with Woodfin’s view that the legislature should focus more on student outcomes. Others, however, say testing is meaningless if it’s not aligned to the lessons that are taught in a classroom.
While West would like the program to expand, he says parents deserve access to good data. His schools use the national IOWA test, which he says can be compared fairly easily to state assessments.
Nick West, a private school teacher in Mobile, Ala., helps many local families apply for $7,000 that they can apply toward private school tuition. West benefited from school choice himself as a child. He works with Samuel Wynn, 5, at Little Flower Catholic School on Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Mobile. (Mike Kittrell/AL.com)
Mike Kittrell/Al.com
He would, however, like to see students’ growth taken into account.
“It’s not that simple,” he said. “Some of these kids who are coming from these schools, parents transfer them because they’ve been failing the last two or three years. So of course when they get in there and they take a standardized test, they’re going to have low test scores.”
In the end, he believes, the program’s success will depend on buy-in from local families.
“If a parent doesn’t like what they’re seeing they’re not going to apply again,” he said. “They’re either going to put them in another private school and the money is going to move there, or they’re going to pull them out of a private school altogether. And so I think the system will work itself out. The whole purpose of this is to give parents choice.”
Can the state sustain the program?
State officials estimate it will cost about $124 million to serve the first round of participating families in 2025.
The legislature originally budgeted $100 million for the program’s launch, but in the final days of the session, lawmakers set in place plans to spend up to $530 million over three years, according to reporting from Alabama Daily News.
A portion of current funding comes from a reserve account, which Orr said will help alleviate future budget shortfalls. But any allocations made after 2027 will depend on “what the budgets will bear,” he told AL.com.
“That’s going to be a balancing act,” he said. “Because once we make that commitment… we cannot retreat or go backwards and yo-yo families that are putting their children from one school to the other.”
“So for those that may be pounding the table wanting more and more and more on either one of those programs – the public schools for the RAISE Act, or private or home school or whatever for the CHOOSE Act – we have just got to be very, very cautious and deliberate.”
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The Birmingham Water Works will resume repair work on the Lake Purdy Dam.Contributed, Birmingham Water Works
Work to repair and strengthen a leaking dam that provides drinking water to several Birmingham area suburbs will restart after being halted over cost concerns.
Leaders of Birmingham’s regional water board on Monday evening agreed to continue the $28 million first phase to repair Lake Purdy in Shelby County just days after pausing the construction.
“The board recognizes the seriousness of this project,” said board member Phillip Wiedmeyer, a former engineer with Alabama Power. “We are certainly concerned about the safety of the public and we are not going to take any action that is going to jeopardize that.”
Lake Purdy Dam was classified as a high hazard by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers due to the catastrophic impact that a breach would have on nearby communities.
Repair work is intended to protect the major drinking water supply source for suburban Birmingham communities including Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills.
Water works leaders have long discussed the need for repairs at Lake Purdy Dam. Still, some board members told AL.com that there remain concerns over the overall cost of the project, previous assessments of the structure, and how the utility would pay for recommended repairs and improvements.
Current leaders of the new water board question the structure of the federal loan.
Board chairman Tommy Hudson on Monday evening said General Manager Mac Underwood would return with possible options to restructure the loan.
The unanimous vote to resume work came after board members met in a closed-door executive session that lasted about 40 minutes.
“It’s a good possibility that we’ll be discussing the good name and character of one or more individuals,” Wiedmeyer said.
Regardless, members agreed that current work must continue, especially since some site preparation has further weakened the century-old structure during the construction process.
Halting construction and restoring the area to previous conditions would also cost about $10 million, officials have said.
Patrick Flannelly, an engineer with ARCADIS North America, the water work’s independent engineering firm, had urged them to resume work on the dam.
“Failure of this dam results in possible loss of life,” Flannelly told board members during a work session last Wednesday. “This dam is not safe enough.”
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UGG just dropped its cult-favorite Tazz II slipper in a brand new on-trend green shade, Muted Brass, and it just might be UGG’s coolest colorway yet.
There’s a reason why the Tazz II platform is a must-have fashion staple. Not only is it a ridiculously comfortable house slipper, but it’s also socially acceptable to wear while out and about at the grocery store, pumping gas or running errands in general. The Tazz II slipper’s signature platform outsole provides height and leg elongation that people can’t get enough of. And now, the new green slipper means you can create all new looks to elevate your everyday style.
UGG Tazz II Platform Slipper – Muted Brass
The UGG Tazz II Platform Slipper is now available in the color “Muted Brass” a trendy subtle green design.
UGG’s new Brass Green color consists of an earthy, muted tone that somehow goes with everything without feeling basic. Green has been trending all year, especially these more natural, grounded shades. So, those whom want a wearable, stylish twist on the classic UGG shoe can certainly benefit from the new Muted Brass Tazz II Slipper.
“Lightweight platform? UGGbraid detail? Endless wearability? Check, check, check! Our Tazz II keeps the ease and comfort you love about our Tazz. The upper is made with smooth suede lined with plush sheepskin and the sugarcane EVA outsole has an enhanced rocker shape for effortless movement,” UGG states.
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