As this year comes to a close, the team at Yellowhammer News takes a look at the stories that led the news cycle in Alabama.
Going ‘Green’
Alabama officially went green this year. Not green energy, although the Yellowhammer State has recorded a record number of green energy jobs this year. This green is medical marijuana. Many of the state’s largest cities have adopted ordinances, while licenses and dispensaries are in the final certification process. Alabamians will be able to purchase the medical aid sometime in 2023.
Constitutional Carry
Alabama lawmakers decided to eliminate the requirement to obtain a permit to carry a concealed pistol this year. Despite outcries from many sheriffs departments, starting next week, anyone 21 years of age or older and legally permitted to carry a concealed firearm can do so without having to have a state-issued permit.
Drama on the Plains
As expected in Alabama, sports headlines dominated the news cycle. Unfortunately for Auburn, most of the publicity centered around the saga of their coaching carousel. After second-year head coach Brian Harsin got the Tigers off to a rocky start he was fired before the season’s end. This set up a rebound under interim coach Cadillac Williams. Auburn eventually appointed Hugh Freeze as the new coach on The Plains.
2022 Election Cycle
The 2022 election cycle was somewhat uneventful with several office holders returning to their seats for another four years. Governor Kay Ivey, Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth and Attorney General Steve Marshall all won convincingly at the ballot box, and there were very few changes in the makeup of the state’s legislature. Perhaps the biggest story in Alabama politics was the emergence of Katie Britt, whose victory as the first female elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama has set the stage for an impactful career replacing the long-serving Senator Richard Shelby.
Memorandum
Some of Alabama’s most talented individuals left us this year. Country music icon Jeff Cook, a founding member of the super-group Alabama, died at the age of 73 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Dance icon, DJ and producer Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss died in early December. The 40-year-old Montgomery native was best known as sidekick and co-executive producer of the hit program The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Just this week, the state lost a beloved actor and native son of Anniston. Dr. Bob Penny died at the age of 87. Best know for roles in Forrest Gump and Sweet Home Alabama, Penny was also a longtime professor of poetry and prose at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
From all of us at Yellowhammer News, we wish you a very Happy New Year.
