MONTGOMERY, Al.
The Alabama Medicaid Agency has received a $19 million bonus for its success in enrolling low income children into Medicaid.
Alabama was recognized for its "innovative and user friendly" methods to enroll children in Medicaid in 2011.
Gov. Robert Bentley said this is the third year in a row that Alabama has been recognized for its efforts to identify eligible children and enroll them in Medicaid.
Bentley said the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Public Health have worked with Medicaid in finding and signing up eligible children.
Alabama was one of 23 states to receive the performance bonus from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Medicaid Director R. Bob Mullins Jr. commended the efforts of eligibility workers who he said were instrumental in enrolling qualified children.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Smiths Station man killed in traffic accident
Smiths Station, Al.
A single-vehicle accident claimed the life of a Smiths Station man on Wednesday, according to the Lee County Coroner’s office.
Milton Joe McCoy, 56, died of complications from multiple blunt force injuries he sustained in an accident on Tuesday, said Lee County Coroner Bill Harris.
The accident occurred after the 1997 Honda Accord McCoy was driving left the road, Lee Road 861, and struck a tree at approximately 7:38 p.m. Tuesday, according to an Alabama Department of Public Safety release. McCoy was not wearing a seatbelt and a preliminary investigation of the accident does not indicate that alcohol was a factor, said Sgt. Steve Jarrett, ADPS public information/ education officer.
Family members arriving on the scene transported McCoy to the Columbus Regional Medical Center (Ga.), Harris said. McCoy succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday morning, Harris said.
The accident remains under investigation by State Troopers.
Anniston woman dies of head injury, police investigating
Shaquita Rena Murray from
Facebook profile.
Police are investigating the death of a 29-year-old Anniston woman who passed away Tuesday in a Birmingham hospital.
Shaquita Rena Murray, 29, succumbed to a head injury after spending a week at Trinity Medical Medical Center in Birmingham, Calhoun County Coroner Pat Brown said.
Anniston police said Murray was injured on the morning of Dec. 21. Sgt. Josh Doggrell said police are investigating Murray’s death.
“I think it’s going to end up being a homicide,” Doggrell said.
The sergeant said investigators first learned of Murray’s head wound several hours after she received it, when they received a felony assault call from an unidentified person at a home on Walnut Avenue.
Investigators aren’t releasing the identity of the caller, because the person who made the call “is possibly involved,” Doggrell said.
Police arrived at a residence in the 2500 block of Walnut Avenue on the night of Dec. 21, but, at that point, Murray had already been taken to the hospital.
Doggrell said Murray was first taken to Regional Medical Center and transferred that same day to Trinity in Birmingham. Officers interviewed people at the Walnut Avenue home and have spent the past week interviewing several others.
“We’re trying to determine witnesses from suspects,” Doggrell said, noting that he’d classify most of the people that police had talked to as “persons of interest.”
Investigators expect to know more about whether Murray’s death was indeed a homicide after state medical examiners perform an autopsy.
Brown said Murray’s body was being transported to a state forensics lab in Huntsville today.
If investigators determine that Murray is a homicide victim, the violent death county in Calhoun County this year would rise to 19, just one shy of the record 20 criminal deaths in 2008.
Governor orders energy efficiency
Montgomery, Al.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley announced by Executive Order Wednesday that all state departments and agencies must reduce energy consumption by Fiscal Year 2015, as the state works to implement energy efficient practices and reduce wasteful and inefficient uses of energy.
Under Executive Order 25, all state agencies and departments must designate an Energy Officer to study, investigate and recommend energy saving procedures and practices for their agency. Agencies must reduce energy consumption by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2015, which is expected to save taxpayers an estimated $5.4 million in utility expenses.
“State government is a major consumer of energy,” Bentley said. “My administration is working hard to make government more efficient with taxpayer dollars and conserving energy at state facilities is one way we can help make government more efficient. State agencies can take the lead and foster ideas on ways to conserve energy and become a model on energy efficiency.”
All state agencies must implement the use of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to measure and report energy efficiency for facilities. The latest energy conservation practices must be used in the design, construction, renovation, operation and maintenance of state facilities and ENERGY STAR labeled equipment must be used when replacing or purchasing new equipment.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley announced by Executive Order Wednesday that all state departments and agencies must reduce energy consumption by Fiscal Year 2015, as the state works to implement energy efficient practices and reduce wasteful and inefficient uses of energy.
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| Governor Robert Bentley |
“State government is a major consumer of energy,” Bentley said. “My administration is working hard to make government more efficient with taxpayer dollars and conserving energy at state facilities is one way we can help make government more efficient. State agencies can take the lead and foster ideas on ways to conserve energy and become a model on energy efficiency.”
All state agencies must implement the use of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to measure and report energy efficiency for facilities. The latest energy conservation practices must be used in the design, construction, renovation, operation and maintenance of state facilities and ENERGY STAR labeled equipment must be used when replacing or purchasing new equipment.
Alabama D.A. working on bill to track copper sales, toughen penalties for theft
Montgomery, Al.
In Alabama, copper thieves have hit homes, churches, construction sites, Baldwin County farms, and last year, Birmingham's Christmas tree, prompting police to keep around-the-clock patrols this month to prevent a repeat.
In a new twist, highway motorists could be their next victims. Thieves are now targeting highway streetlights and authorities are investigating whether the darkness has contributed to some crashes.
Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls said earlier this month that his staff is working on a proposal for a web-based system that would track sales of scrap metals. That measure, to be introduced as a bill in the Legislature in February, would make it a Class C felony to steal or do damage to property to obtain metals to be sold for scrap.
"From $200 worth of copper wire, they're doing $15,000 worth of damage so that has to be addressed," Jefferson County Chief Assistant D.A. Bill Veitch told WBRC.
State Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, in September said he would file a bill in the Legislature to more tightly regulate the sale of copper and other metals. The coalition behind the bill includes government, law enforcement and business leaders, but passing the legislation intact could be a battle. The recycling industry lobby has scuttled a similar effort in the past.
In Alabama, copper thieves have hit homes, churches, construction sites, Baldwin County farms, and last year, Birmingham's Christmas tree, prompting police to keep around-the-clock patrols this month to prevent a repeat.In a new twist, highway motorists could be their next victims. Thieves are now targeting highway streetlights and authorities are investigating whether the darkness has contributed to some crashes.
Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls said earlier this month that his staff is working on a proposal for a web-based system that would track sales of scrap metals. That measure, to be introduced as a bill in the Legislature in February, would make it a Class C felony to steal or do damage to property to obtain metals to be sold for scrap.
"From $200 worth of copper wire, they're doing $15,000 worth of damage so that has to be addressed," Jefferson County Chief Assistant D.A. Bill Veitch told WBRC.
State Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, in September said he would file a bill in the Legislature to more tightly regulate the sale of copper and other metals. The coalition behind the bill includes government, law enforcement and business leaders, but passing the legislation intact could be a battle. The recycling industry lobby has scuttled a similar effort in the past.
Tenth Alabama Regiment cemetery in Virginia uncovered 150 years later
BRISTOW, Va.
About an hour west of Washington, D.C., on a scrubby plot of land overrun by pricker bushes and in the shadow of dense modern townhouse developments, an Alabama cemetery was born.
Civil War preservationists with no personal links to Alabama admit to muttering a "Roll Tide" or two as they walked across the newly cleared land, the final resting place of between 75 and 90 soldiers with the Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment.
Historical documents and archeological study pinpointed the burial grounds, a desperate place in the late summer of 1861, when rampant disease claimed up to five or six Confederate soldiers a day at what was known as Camp Jones.
There are other signs. The area is devoid of stones, except for five large rocks dug deeply into the dirt, each cut on at least one side by a man-made tool. And the area is pockmarked by man-sized depressions, not in rows, but haphazardly, as if soldiers were buried right where they died.
That level of detail, however, was unknown until Dec. 3, when a crew of about 40 volunteers, led by a 16-year-old Eagle Scout candidate, descended with chain saws and strong arms and gave sunlight and a defined boundary to the cemetery.
"It's one of the better Eagle Scout projects I've seen," said Rob Orrison, site manager with the Prince William County Department of Public Works Historic Preservation Division. "I was blown away by the number of people that came out."
The Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park is a new, lesser-known addition to an area rich with Civil War historical sites; Manassas National Battlefield Park is about three miles away as the crow flies.
The Bristoe Station park opened in 2007 after a developer, Prince William County officials and the Civil War Preservation Trust reached a compromise. The massive farm property is to be developed for residential and office space, save for a 133-acre passive park marking the Battle of Kettle Run in 1862 and the Battle of Bristoe Station in 1863.
The private owner who sold the land to the developer had farmed for decades around the unmarked cemetery, indicating he knew its historic value. But it was overgrown and inaccessible. So when Dane Smith of nearby Nokesville called up looking for an Eagle Scout project, park officials recommended clearing the cemetery.
Smith's father, Brian, recalls hearing the details about the project.
"When I heard it was an Alabama regiment, I was like, 'Great, I work for an Alabama bank,'" Brian Smith said on his second straight chilly December Saturday at the site. He is the lead Washington lobbyist for Regions Financial Corp.
The volunteers, under Dane Smith's direction, cleared the underbrush, cut down trees, put up a split-rail fence and built a bridge over a creek. Their work was approved by Orrison, who told them which trees to remove and how not to disturb the ground. Tree stumps were left intact. The stone grave markers -- three of which Orrison knew were there plus two others uncovered during the work -- were marked with bright pink tape. The park had earlier used radar to detect the disturbed dirt of the gravesites so they could estimate a cemetery boundary.
Soldiers marching by a nearby road in 1862 wrote of the row of cedar trees leading toward a clearing with wooden grave markers engraved with the names of the dead. Several years later, someone else wrote that the markers were in stone.
"Who knows when they were changed?" Orrison said.
Old pictures indicate that some of the stones were engraved, but they are missing.
Eventually, mulch will be placed on the path to the cemetery, and Orrison wants to raise the money to pay for a memorial plaque at the entrance, listing names of the 40 or so soldiers known to be buried there. He's hoping to have that work done in time for a September dedication ceremony. The gravesites will be mapped and the site open to tourists.
Park officials hope that by registering the cemetery, genealogists and historians will help them fill in the blanks of who else might be buried there, and descendants will visit their ancestors.
"It is a little sad that we won't be able to tell them exactly where they are," Orrison said.
The Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment included companies from Jefferson, Shelby, Calhoun, Talladega, St. Clair, Calhoun, DeKalb and Talladega counties, according to the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
A second overgrown plot across the pasture is believed to be where Mississippi soldiers are buried.
About an hour west of Washington, D.C., on a scrubby plot of land overrun by pricker bushes and in the shadow of dense modern townhouse developments, an Alabama cemetery was born.
Civil War preservationists with no personal links to Alabama admit to muttering a "Roll Tide" or two as they walked across the newly cleared land, the final resting place of between 75 and 90 soldiers with the Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment.
Historical documents and archeological study pinpointed the burial grounds, a desperate place in the late summer of 1861, when rampant disease claimed up to five or six Confederate soldiers a day at what was known as Camp Jones.
There are other signs. The area is devoid of stones, except for five large rocks dug deeply into the dirt, each cut on at least one side by a man-made tool. And the area is pockmarked by man-sized depressions, not in rows, but haphazardly, as if soldiers were buried right where they died.
That level of detail, however, was unknown until Dec. 3, when a crew of about 40 volunteers, led by a 16-year-old Eagle Scout candidate, descended with chain saws and strong arms and gave sunlight and a defined boundary to the cemetery.
"It's one of the better Eagle Scout projects I've seen," said Rob Orrison, site manager with the Prince William County Department of Public Works Historic Preservation Division. "I was blown away by the number of people that came out."
The Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park is a new, lesser-known addition to an area rich with Civil War historical sites; Manassas National Battlefield Park is about three miles away as the crow flies.
The Bristoe Station park opened in 2007 after a developer, Prince William County officials and the Civil War Preservation Trust reached a compromise. The massive farm property is to be developed for residential and office space, save for a 133-acre passive park marking the Battle of Kettle Run in 1862 and the Battle of Bristoe Station in 1863.
The private owner who sold the land to the developer had farmed for decades around the unmarked cemetery, indicating he knew its historic value. But it was overgrown and inaccessible. So when Dane Smith of nearby Nokesville called up looking for an Eagle Scout project, park officials recommended clearing the cemetery.
 |
| Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park |
"When I heard it was an Alabama regiment, I was like, 'Great, I work for an Alabama bank,'" Brian Smith said on his second straight chilly December Saturday at the site. He is the lead Washington lobbyist for Regions Financial Corp.
The volunteers, under Dane Smith's direction, cleared the underbrush, cut down trees, put up a split-rail fence and built a bridge over a creek. Their work was approved by Orrison, who told them which trees to remove and how not to disturb the ground. Tree stumps were left intact. The stone grave markers -- three of which Orrison knew were there plus two others uncovered during the work -- were marked with bright pink tape. The park had earlier used radar to detect the disturbed dirt of the gravesites so they could estimate a cemetery boundary.
Soldiers marching by a nearby road in 1862 wrote of the row of cedar trees leading toward a clearing with wooden grave markers engraved with the names of the dead. Several years later, someone else wrote that the markers were in stone.
"Who knows when they were changed?" Orrison said.
Old pictures indicate that some of the stones were engraved, but they are missing.
Eventually, mulch will be placed on the path to the cemetery, and Orrison wants to raise the money to pay for a memorial plaque at the entrance, listing names of the 40 or so soldiers known to be buried there. He's hoping to have that work done in time for a September dedication ceremony. The gravesites will be mapped and the site open to tourists.
Park officials hope that by registering the cemetery, genealogists and historians will help them fill in the blanks of who else might be buried there, and descendants will visit their ancestors.
"It is a little sad that we won't be able to tell them exactly where they are," Orrison said.
The Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment included companies from Jefferson, Shelby, Calhoun, Talladega, St. Clair, Calhoun, DeKalb and Talladega counties, according to the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
A second overgrown plot across the pasture is believed to be where Mississippi soldiers are buried.
Woman accused of illegally transporting 112 gallons of beer
Limestone County, Al.
A Decatur woman accused of transporting 112 gallons of beer from Tennessee to Alabama for a party has been charged with transporting prohibited liquor, an official said.
Gloria Crisantes Salazar, 39, of 310 Cardinal Drive S.W., Apt. 12, was arrested Tuesday morning while traveling south on Interstate 65 in Limestone County, said Limestone County Sheriff’s Lt. Brad Curnutt.
Deputy Cody Lewter, who made the traffic stop, noticed Salazar had 15 cases, or 112.5 gallons, of 40-ounce bottles of Bud Light beer in her vehicle, Curnutt said.
According to the report, Salazar was planning to have a party.
A Decatur woman accused of transporting 112 gallons of beer from Tennessee to Alabama for a party has been charged with transporting prohibited liquor, an official said.Gloria Crisantes Salazar, 39, of 310 Cardinal Drive S.W., Apt. 12, was arrested Tuesday morning while traveling south on Interstate 65 in Limestone County, said Limestone County Sheriff’s Lt. Brad Curnutt.
Deputy Cody Lewter, who made the traffic stop, noticed Salazar had 15 cases, or 112.5 gallons, of 40-ounce bottles of Bud Light beer in her vehicle, Curnutt said.
According to the report, Salazar was planning to have a party.
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