By Anna Barrett | Staff Writer

Now, hospice is not a barrier to entry, which is something that I know I struggled with when I was inside of the community.” - Erin Thompson, interim executive director of the Assisted Living Association of Alabama, on one of proposed rule changes for the facilities.

HEALTHCARE

By Anna Barrett

The Alabama Department of Public Health approved new rules for nursing homes and assisted living facilities for public comments. The rules for nursing homes have not been repealed and replaced, as they are now, since 1996, though they have been amended many times over the years. The rules for assisted living facilities were repealed and replaced in 2019.

EDUCATION

By Andrea Tinker

Alabama’s nationally-recognized First Class Pre-K program will have 64 new classrooms this fall, which will expand the program to about 1,100 four-year-olds. Currently, there are 1,521 classrooms that serve about 24,000 four-year-olds. Alabama has consecutively met the National Institute for Early Education Research’s benchmarks for a quality program for the last 20 years.

ECONOMY

By Nada Hassanein

Seventeen Republican attorneys general, including Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, have sued California over a state law that requires plastic packaging producers to move away from single-use plastics, alleging that the law will raise costs for consumers across the country.

ICYMI

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