By Tana Shealey, Reporting
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wvas/local-wvas-798742.mp3
December 2,2008 – Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, Montgomery businessman William Blount, and lobbyist Al LaPierre are all out on bond today after being arrested Monday on federal charges. Prosecutors allege Langford, while serving as President of the Jefferson County Commission, accepted 230,000 dollars in a series of bribes from Blount. Allegedly, some of the money was funneled thought LaPierre. Attorneys for the accused maintain their innocence.
Activist Angela Davis visited Alabama State University last evening. Davis, co-founder of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression,spoke on a number of topics; among them, she expressed her concern that a vast number of African Americans are behind prison bars. Davis was invited to Montgomery by the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African American Culture at ASU as part of the Ralph D. Abernathy Lecture Series.
Alabama's Governor Bob Riley joins 39 other state leaders planning to meet with President-elect Barack Obama today. Riley says he and fellow governors will discuss Medicaid changes that could cut the federal reimbursements that Alabama hospitals receive for treating the poor.
Family members of Public Service Commission President Lucy Baxley expect Baxley will be released from a Montgomery hospital by the end of the month. The 70 year old Baxley suffered a hairline fracture to her pelvis from a fall over the Thanksgiving Day holiday.