AL Political Reporter: “Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday announced that three Alabama metropolitan areas have the lowest unemployment rates in the country for March 2023.  In a metro area with a population of one million or more, the Birmingham – Hoover metro area was ranked the lowest in the nation at 1.8 percent. Two other…

The 19th News: “A coalition of abortion rights advocates in Florida is set to push a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion protections into the state’s constitution, with the launch of a public campaign to get the issue on the Florida 2024 ballot expected next week.  The coalition has already filed necessary paperwork with the…

CNN: “North Carolina’s Republican-controlled state Senate on Thursday passed legislation that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has vowed to veto the bill, but the GOP supermajority in the legislature can override him. The measure sped through the legislature this week, passing both chambers on party-line votes less than 48…

ProPublica: “In 2008, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas decided to send his teenage grandnephew to Hidden Lake Academy, a private boarding school in the foothills of northern Georgia. The boy, Mark Martin, was far from home. For the previous decade, he had lived with the justice and his wife in the suburbs of Washington, D.C….

NBC News: “More than 300 children, including two 10-year-olds, were found working at McDonald’s restaurants across Kentucky and several other states in violation of federal labor laws, the Labor Department said Tuesday. In one case, investigators found two 10-year-olds were working unpaid and until as late as 2 a.m. at one McDonald’s restaurant in Louisville operated…

The Daily Beast: “When Herschel Walker emailed a representative for billionaire industrialist and longtime family friend Dennis Washington in March 2022, he seemed to be engaging in normal behavior for a political candidate: He was asking for money. But unbeknownst to Washington and the billionaire’s staff, Walker’s request was far more out of the ordinary. It was something campaign…

WaPo: “Officials in Alabama discriminated against Black residents in a rural county by denying them access to adequate sanitation systems, imposing burdensome fines and liens, and ignoring the serious health risks plaguing the community, according to a landmark environmental justice agreement announced Thursday by the Biden administration. “Today starts a new chapter for Black residents of Lowndes…

PBS: “President Joe Biden on Monday thanked three Tennessee lawmakers for “standing up” after they faced expulsion for participating in gun control protests at their statehouse. “You’re standing up for our kids, you’re standing up for our communities,” Biden told Rep. Justin Pearson, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Gloria Johnson during an Oval Office meeting….

GMA: “Lizzo is making her stance clear on Tennessee’s recent legislation that bans drag shows from taking place in public or in front of children. The “Special” singer addressed the matter during her tour stop at Knoxville’s Thompson-Boling Arena on Friday, bringing out a group of drag queens onstage with her for a festive dance moment that…

Political Wire: “Washington Post: “One by one, many of the initial 20 arrests announced by the Office of Election Crimes and Security have stumbled in court. Six cases have been dismissed. Five other defendants accepted plea deals that resulted in no jail time. Only one case has gone to trial, resulting in a split verdict….