The Alabama State Board of Education said it plans to request $6.43 billion for K-12 schools from the Education Trust Fund. That’s an increase of about $472 million. The board will vote to approve the proposal and any additional changes at its October meeting. Leaders will turn a request in to the legislature by Nov. 1. AL.com reports it’s unlikely they’ll get the full amount. The legislature capped increases to the 2026 fiscal year budget at 6%, which officials estimate would give K-12 schools about $380 million more to spend.
Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner says the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is having its best year since it opened more than three decades ago. At the quarterly meeting of the Employees’ Retirement System Board, Bronner said it is on track to make $15 million or more in profit. The Board also heard a presentation from the company that manages the RSA’s eight resort hotels in Alabama. They said the hotels maintained a rise in revenue. AL.com notes those numbers are important because they support pension funds for about 400,000 active and retired members of the Employees’ Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System, and the Judicial Retirement Fund.
Officials broke ground this week on the 14,000-square-foot Alabama Center for the Arts in Decatur. Business Alabama reports The Academy for Music and Movement’s first floor will include a large dance area with temporary seating for performances and more. The second floor will have practice and listening rooms, another large dance area and a multi-purpose room. There will also be a mezzanine and a roof-top terrace for small gatherings. The facility is scheduled to open in January 2026.
Huntsville city leaders have approved a new six-level parking deck near Big Spring Park. The deck will be located in CityCentre, behind the AC Hotel. The CityCentre is already under development. WAFF TV reports The project was originally planned as a one-level deck but city leaders approved a revised plan to expand it to six levels. The new deck will bring in over 400 new parking spaces. The project will go out for bid in the spring. Once construction begins, the garage will take around seven to nine months to complete.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents of a recent uptick in jury duty-related telephone scams. The sheriff’s office says the scammers, posing as representatives of law enforcement and the court system, have been claiming that their victims missed jury duty. Authorities said the scammers then tell residents that they will be arrested unless they pay a fine. The sheriff’s office say no legitimate court or law enforcement agency will contact you by phone and demand payment or personal information.
A project to resurface part of SR-20 in Decatur will start Sunday evening, if weather permits. Contractors will mill, patch, and repave more than a mile of the highway from west of 12th Avenue Northwest to the bridge over the CSX railroad. Work will be ongoing between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday nights/Monday mornings through Thursday nights/Friday mornings. A news item from the Alabama Department of Transportation says the project should be complete this fall.
The Blast Music Platform is now accepting artist submissions. Blast is a free music streaming platform created by the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library that showcases the work of various North Alabama artists in a wide range of genres. Anyone interested in joining is asked to submit an application along with one sample track for the curator team to review during the judging. WHNT TV reports that once the artist selection has been made, artists will be invited to upload their EP or album, sign a license to stream — in which the artists retain full ownership of their work — and will be paid an honorarium. The deadline to apply is September 30. For more information, visit the Blast Music website at https://blast.hmcpl.org/submit.