STATE HEADLINES:

GOVERNOR POLL: Alabama is more than a year away from the next Gubernatorial race, and a new poll shows the top potential candidates for Governor could all make a strong showing in a head-to-head match-up. The poll by the University of South Alabama and the Mobile Register surveyed 450 people last week. It mentioned Governor Bob Riley, and former state Chief Justice Roy Moore, on the Republican ticket, and Lt. Governor Lucy Baxley and former Governor Don Siegelman, as Democratic candidates. In head-to-head matchups, Baxley led Riley by just four percentage points, Riley overtook Siegelman by nine points, and Moore beat out Riley by ten points. PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE: Jeff Sessions is hailing legislation just passed in Alabama to combat prescription drug abuse. Legislators approved a Bill to set up a computerized monitoring system to catch those "shopping doctors" to get pills. Officials hope to have the system on line by the first of next year. The state`s health officer says the money for the program will come from a ten-dollar surcharge to doctors, dentists, and veterinarians when they apply for a license to prescribe controlled substances.