By Brian Lyman | Editor
“I always thought faculty were part of that (Auburn) family. It's just the faculty that don't have a representative body anymore. Why is that? Are we not part of the Auburn family?” - Tracy Witte, professor of psychology, Auburn University.
A WIC child participant takes a WIC-approved product off the shelf in a grocery store in Seattle in September 2024. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
ELECTIONS 2026
By Ralph Chapoco
For years, repealing Alabama’s grocery tax remained an elusive dream of a few activists. But the issue has now become bipartisan, with Republican gubernatorial nominee Tommy Tuberville last week calling for its elimination in a campaign ad. Tuberville joins Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones and both candidates for lieutenant governor in calling for fully eliminating the state portion of the unpopular levy.
Auburn University associate professor Heidi Hausse, right, speaks with protesters outside the Auburn University Hotel as the university’s Board of Trustees meets on Sept. 11, 2026 in Auburn, Alabama.(Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector)
EDUCATION
By Anna Barrett
More than 100 Auburn University faculty and community members gathered outside the university’s Board of Trustees’ meeting Friday to protest the school’s recent dissolution of the faculty senate and its replacement with a body partly appointed by the school president. Protestors said the move felt like faculty were being excluded from the school’s family and said a climate of fear had taken hold of the school in the last year.
Doug Jones speaking at a veteran’s town hall in Anniston, Alabama, on Sept. 9, 2026. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
COMMENTARY
By Brian Lyman
The last six weeks have given us an unusual sight in Alabama politics: A Democratic gubernatorial nominee managing to stay on the offensive and frame the campaign on his terms. In my column this week, I write that Doug Jones has stuck to his message and benefited from the clumsiness of Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville’s operation. But the GOP’s institutional advantages, especially with straight-ticket voting, will be hard to overcome.
ICYMI
Divorce becomes next battleground as states debate family values | Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline
How the US House could overturn the midterm election results | Jennifer Shutt, DC Bureau
Schools, libraries sound alarm over potential changes to federal internet program | Robbie Sequeira, Stateline
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