BY SEBASTIAN KITCHEN @Montgomery Advertizer

The Alabama Senate will en ter its third week of debate Tuesday on a bill that would bring at least $15 million more in funding for roads and bridges to Autauga, Elmore and Montgomery counties over the next 10 years.

The Legislature is consider ing a bill that would spend $100 million a year over 10 years to build and improve roads and bridges. The money would be taken from the Alabama Trust Fund, which receives royalties from oil and gas production.

Democratic lawmakers who are pushing the bill said it would send money to all 67 counties in the state, creating jobs and improving roads.

Republicans have concerns about raiding the trust fund and believe the money would become discretionary with pow erful lawmakers directing it to pet projects in their district.

“I have been here too long not to know how the system works. People get left out,” said Sen. Larry Dixon, R-Montgom ery.

The Senate sponsor, Demo cratic Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffe, said counties and the Ala bama Department of Transpor tation will determine how to spend the money.

He said legislators could ear mark every dollar of the budget if they chose to, but have not done so during his 27 years in the Senate.

Several Republicans argued that the legislation says funds would be allocated through the General Fund, which provides the appropriations for public safety, Medicaid and state pris ons, or another appropriations bill. They are concerned the law makers will earmark projects as they craft the budget, giving an advantage to those in leadership and in the majority.

The legislation directs 75 per cent of the money to the Depart ment of Transportation for state highways, roads, bridges and other transportation purposes. At least $5 million each year would go to each of the state’s seven congressional districts.

The remaining 25 percent would be distributed among cit ies and counties for new con struction, repair and mainte nance. Of that amount, 45 percent would be allocated equally among the 67 counties in the state. The remaining 55 per cent would be allocated to the 67 counties based on population.

BY JILL NOLIN  @ Montgomery Advertizer

Montgomery officials believe it makes sense for passenger trains to return here, and the federal government is investing $200,000 to help them find out.

The White House announced Thursday that $200,000 of federal stimulus money will go toward conducting a feasibility study to see if passenger trains should operate between Montgomery, Birmingham, Mobile and other Alabama cities.

“Based on the amount of riders and the population that each area will have over time, we think it will actually be feasible to put the service back in place,” said Robert Smith, Montgomery senior transportation planner.

“This is the next generation of transportation right here — rail,” Smith added.

The $200,000 will require a 50 percent match from the players in Alabama, but a funding arrangement has not been made yet. The other $200,000 could be split three ways among Montgomery, Mobile and Birmingham, or it could be spilt six ways among those larger cities and three smaller cities along the route.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs was the winning applicant in the grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grant was a small part of the $8 billion in grants that were awarded across the county to develop the nation’s first nationwide program of high-speed inter-city passenger rail service.

The federal stimulus grants will go toward everything from a feasibility study to planning actual implementation of the service. A feasibility study would examine whether ridership would be strong enough to support the line.

If the feasibility study affirms that a passenger rail service would work along the proposed route, which would go from Mobile to Birmingham, officials would be more likely to get a provider, such as Amtrak, to sign on. Amtrak already has shown an interest in bringing back what was known as the Gulf Breeze line.

The revived line would link Montgomery to a 21,100-mile web of Amtrak rails that run to more than 500 destinations in 46 states. Riders could start in Montgomery and make it to New York in less than 24 hours.

The line also would mean more riders coming to Montgomery, as well as all the other stops along the route.

By George Altman @ AL.com

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Cruise ship casinos docking in Mobile Bay are “not a problem” under state law, according to Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr., who was appointed Monday to lead the governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling. 

In a telephone interview, Tyson also brushed aside charges from an opponent in the district attorney’s race that Tyson’s new post could hinder his work in Mobile, but he would not directly answer questions about his election plans.

By Bob Johnson, The Associated Press, Montgomery Advertiser

Gov. Bob Riley tried Tuesday to keep alive a bid to put ethical standards for teachers in Alabama’s administrative code, but legislators siding with the state teachers’ union are being urged to rebuff him.

Riley vetoed a resolution passed by the Legislature that kept the ethical stan dards from being part of the code, which would allow teachers to be disciplined for violations.

The issue now returns to the Legisla ture, where Democratic leaders said they will try to override the governor’s veto — but the vote possibly could be close in the House.

In the Senate, where it takes 18 votes to override, the resolution passed 18-10 and the veto is expected to be overturned. But in the House, where 53 votes will be needed to turn back the veto, the resolu tion passed 43-32, with 29 members not taking part; Democratic leaders said they expect to get the 10 additional votes to override.

Even if they do, Republicans will have an issue to campaign on in an election year for lawmakers.

“That’s going to be an interesting vote for Democrats. They must decide if they are going to be for or against teacher ethics,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Mike Hubbard, R- Auburn.

Riley was surrounded Tuesday by teachers and school administrators in his office when he vetoed the resolution.

The Alabama Education Association has opposed the ethics standards, saying they were too vague and subjective.

BY SEBASTIAN KITCHEN @Montgomery Advertizer

Republican Gov. Bob Riley has appointed a sitting Democratic district attorney to head his highly-publicized Task Force on Illegal Gambling.

Riley appointed Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. to succeed David Barber, who resigned the position after the disclosure that he won $2,300 at a legal Indian casino in Mississippi.

Tyson said he planned to get to work immediately.

“The Task Force on Illegal Gambling is about the rule of law…,” Tyson said. “The law could not be clearer. Slot machines are illegal and calling it electronic bingo does not change that.”

The law, he said, allows traditional bingo in those counties with constitutional amendments.

In 2006, Tyson tried to unseat Attorney General Troy King, who Riley appointed to that position.

When asked about King, Tyson said they work together and said as Riley nodded that “Frankly his loose interpretation of the law is what got this whole thing started.”

In an e-mail to the Montgomery Advertiser, King responded “It is not surprising, but it is disappointing, to see rhetoric, politics, and agendas, yet again get in the way of the law.

“If Mr. Tyson, as he claims, is having a hard time understanding my interpretation of the law, before he saddles up with heavily armed state troopers, putting them and the public at risk, he should spend some time reading the 17 different constitutional amendments that legalize bingo in 16 counties in Alabama. That is the law as approved by the voters of this state, and that is not difficult to understand.”

Riley said he believes Tyson is ideally suited for the job and has a history of prosecuting people regardless of income, influence or political connections.

He said Tyson has integrity, tenacity and courage, and is committed to enforcing the law.

“I know John Tyson. … If it’s illegal, it’s illegal for everyone,” Riley said.

The governor said some people described Tyson as a bulldog.

“That’s what we need,” he said.

When asked if he was concerned about VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor saying he had a private investigator follow Barber, Tyson said McGregor needs to be concerned about whether he is intimidating law enforcement from doing their job.

Tyson said it appears to “border on obstruction, and we’re going to look into it immediately.”

McGregor said that he does not intimidate anybody.

“I don’t know about Tyson. … I know I don’t operate that way,” he said. “I can have people monitored and I will have people monitored if I see fit to do so.

“I hope Tyson does a good job. As far as I know, John Tyson is an honorable man and a good DA.”

McGregor said the man he had monitored, Barber, “turned out he really needed to be monitored.” He added that Barber was telling people he opposed gambling while he was gambling in Philadelphia, Miss.

“He tells people he is opposed to gambling, yet he goes over there and gambles and opposes people over here having the same rights they have (in Mississippi),” McGregor said.

Tyson said he and his wife accumulated about $20 and gambled it away in about 15 minutes in Mississippi about 20 years ago. He said that is their only gambling experience.

“That’s it. That’s not how we choose to entertain ourselves,” Tyson said.

His wife Beth, who was in the room, quietly said “we don’t gamble.”