STATE HEADLINES
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
ELECTION LAW REFORM:
It`s less than a month until the Alabama Legislature goes into session, and it looks like they will have a full plate.
It appears lawmakers may be ready to reform Alabama`s election laws this year, some of which are now 130 years old.
A 21-member advisory committee has been taking a second look at those laws..they`re expected to present a report sometime this week suggesting possible revisions.
The effort was prompted by the "Help America Vote Act" passed by Congress after the 2000 Presidential Election.
That law requires states to come up with uniform sets of voting laws.
SCRUSHY TRIAL:
A major trial with a Dothan connection got underway in Birmingham yesterday. Jury selection began in one of the largest corporate fraud cases in history.
It is the first phase in the trial of former Healthsouth C.E.O. Richard Scrushy. He faces 58 counts of alleged fraud. Scrushy`s lead attorney is Jim Parkman from Dothan.
Scruschy is accused of cooking up a scheme to inflate company profits by 2.6 billion dollars in order to keep it`s stock price high.
At least four former financial managers at Healthsouth may be called to tesify for the prosecution.
Jury selection is expected to take almost two weeks.
