These are some of the stories read during today's Tennessee Valley news updates (6:33am, 7:33am, 8:33am, 3:04pm, 4:04pm, 5:04pm, 6:04pm) ...
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - A historic breakthrough at Hudson Alpha Institute is helping us understand new things about how human genes work. Researchers are celebrating The Encode Project, which is a follow-up to an effort that completed a mapping of our DNA in 2001. WAFF TV reports that researchers have now released new data that uses the DNA map to find out what those genes do. The new initiative could create new advancement in health care and medicine.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A lawsuit is moving ahead that will challenge Alabama's segregation of inmates with HIV. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson rejected an request by the state prison system to dismiss the suit. The trial is scheduled to begin September 17th in Montgomery. The suit comes from the ACLU's National Prison Project. A spokesperson says they hope to end Alabama’s practice of segregating HIV-positive inmates. The only other state that uses the same practice is South Carolina.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -The states of Alabama and Louisiana are suing the federal government over offshore oil royalties. Around $7.5 million is in dispute for Alabama. Last year, the U.S. Department of the Interior notified Alabama accounting errors caused the state to be overpaid royalties of $7.52 million since 1986, and requested a repayment. Alabama says the accounting difference are related to changes made outside of the government’s normal procedures. Complaints from both states are pending in federal court in Washington, D.C.
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A north Alabama man has been sentenced to death in the first test of a state law that makes it a capital crime to harm an unborn child. In June, a jury in June convicted Jesse Phillips of killing his wife, Erica Droze, and her unborn child at a car wash back in 2009 during an argument. Yesterday, he was sentenced to death under "Brody's Law". All death sentences are automatically appealed.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Huntsville Times) - Redstone Arsenal officials broke ground yesterday on a new, five-floor, 225,000-square-foot wing of the Von Braun Complex. The Huntsville Times reports that when the expansion opens in 2014, Von Braun IV will provide offices for about 850 Missile Defense Agency employees who now work elsewhere on the arsenal or in Huntsville. Turner Universal Construction of Huntsville Vice President John Gromos says work will begin immediately and he expects a "great impact to the local economy."
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - Much talk is being made of America’s auto industry, with few mentions of Alabama’s car makers, which continue to expand. Governor Robert Bentley was in Tuscaloosa today to announce a new auto supplier that will create 100 jobs. Expansion will be located on Brookwood Parkway and will supply products to the Mercedes-Benz assembly plant in Vance.