By Brian Lyman | Editor
“More than two-and-a-half years ago, the court recognized that birth centers provide essential care to their communities, and that preventing them from operating in accordance with national standards while this case is ongoing would cause immeasurable harm to the birth centers and the pregnant Alabamians who need their care.” - Whitney White, ACLU attorney representing Alabama birth centers
A room is seen at the Alabama Birth Center in Huntsville, Alabama on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (Eric Schultz for Alabama Reflector)
HEALTHCARE
By Anna Barrett
A Montgomery County circuit court judge on Sunday said that temporary licenses issued to Alabama’s birth centers — an option between home birth and hospital birth — remained valid despite an appellate court ruling saying the centers were hospitals under a state law and subject to Alabama Department of Public Health regulation. ADPH sent cease and desist letters to the centers last month, saying the licenses were “null and void.”
An oxygen mask. Alabama attaches a similar-looking mask to a condemned inmate when conducting executions using nitrogen gas. (Getty Images)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
By Ralph Chapoco
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office in a filing Friday urged a federal judge to allow the state to execute Jeffrey Lee by lethal injection. The state argued that an injunction preventing the state from executing Lee by nitrogen gas does not cover any other methods of execution allowed by the state. Lee argues that a 2018 settlement of a previous lawsuit against lethal injection bans the state from using it.
A high school classroom in Florida. The Alabama Public Charter School Commission last week approved a new policy that would allow two or more charter schools to merge. (Getty Images)
EDUCATION
By Andrea Tinker
The Alabama Public Charter School Commission last week approved a new policy that would allow two different charter schools to merge. With education funding largely dependent on school attendance, officials with the commission said the policy would help maintain funding for charter schools seeing low attendance. Schools that pursued mergers would have to tick off a list of requirements, including support from parents and staff.
ICYMI
ICE officers to wear body cameras at traffic stops, White House border czar says | Ariana Figueroa, DC Bureau
The feds no longer protect endangered species habitat. States say they can’t pick up the slack. | Alex Brown, Stateline
Trump administration should preserve Reflecting Pool evidence, judge says | Jennifer Shutt, DC Bureau
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