The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump
December 31, 2025 – MONTGOMERY – 2025 is about to fade into memory. 2025 had a lot of familiar faces making news. The Alabama Gazette reminisces on the biggest stories it covered during the year.
Number one has to be the return of Donald J. Trump to the presidency. Whether you love him, hate him, or are indifferent few Presidents are in the news as much as Trump is. His return to power, complete with over a hundred executive orders and a pro-MAGA cabinet has changed federal policy in ways affecting not just Americans; but people across the globe in ways that historians will be debating for decades to come.
Few deaths of a public figure ever hurt us as much as the death of Charlie Kirk. Kirk represented what is best in us as Americans. To see him senselessly gunned down at such an early age by one of our own in America's heartland was truly shocking and left a wound in our nation's sould that won't easily heal.
Alabama got Space Command. President Joseph R. Biden hated Alabama and Alabama hated Joe Biden. That was never more apparent than when the President, purely for political reasons, overrode not one but two nonpartisan Pentagon studies of where to locate Space Command to take the command from Alabama and give it to Colorado. The entire Alabama Congressional delegation fought for four years to reverse this injustice. That and the election of Trump finally led to Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal being named the permanent home of Space Command.
At the start of the year it seemed like half the gas stations in Alabama were selling smokable hemp products and beverages infused with Delta 8 or Delta 9. Weed had effectively been legalized albeit through a backdoor path in a federal farm bill and some creative chemistry involving distilling cannabinoids out of non-psychoactive hemp compounds. Then the Alabama Legislature passed HB445 severely limiting what products licensed retailers can sell. It appeared that the hemp business was going to move across the state line, and then Congress stepped in to ban psychoactive hemp products altogether nationwide. Industry insiders say that the alcohol industry was losing market share to cannabis infused beverages; but there was no denying that rogue hemp manufacturers were selling unregulated products without proper testing or consistency. Far too many Americans had health scares from hemp products and the Legislature reacted, then Congress followed.
Child sex slavery in Bibb County. No story disgusted more Alabamians than the story about the children being pimped out (in some cases by their parents) in a storm shelter turned dungeon. The 11 individuals indicted (thus far) in this criminal conspiracy are facing life imprisonment if convicted of everything they have been charged with. The case has drawn statewide and even national attention to the sexploitation of children and the sadistic (satanic?) individuals that apparently live among us. Multiple legislators are backing a bill to make raping small children a death penalty offense as a result of this stomach churning case from the rural heartland of Alabama.
Senator Tommy Tuberville's announcement that he is running for governor. No politician in memory in Alabama is more popular than Senator Tuberville. The former Auburn coach is an outspoken Trump supporter and one of the most conservative Senators in modern history. His announcement that he was running for Governor meant that a dozen Republicans likely were running for Governor now aren't. At this point he only has one GOP opponent – Ken McFeeters. Former Senator Doug Jones is running in a crowded Democratic primary field; while Tuberville's intent not to run for another term in the Senate means that that race is wide open with a half a dozen contenders.
The CHOOSE Act was funded for the first time at the start of the 2025/2026 school year. More parents applied for CHOOSE Act dollars than anybody though possible the first year. So much so that the Legislature had to appropriate an additional $60 million to accommodate the demand. It is hoped that increased privatization of education in Alabama will improve educational outcomes in the state while giving parents more power over their children's education and fostering competition in the education community. For far too long, Alabama has suffered from some of the worst public schools in the entire country. The Legislature hopes that school choice, combing with reforms in the Literacy Act, Numeracy Act, and more in the public schools will finally turn the situation around after decades of poor performance.
New leadership in Montgomery. The three most powerful people in Alabama government are the governor, the speaker of the House, and the pro tempore of the Alabama Senate. At the end of 2024, Senate Pro Tem. Greg Reed (R-Jasper) left the Senate to take a position for Gov. Kay Ivey as the head of the new Alabama Workforce Department. 2025 was the first session where Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) took the lead role in the Senate. The 2025 Legislative session was heavy on law enforcement and backing the police. Gudger also made the decision to kill gaming legislation before it could bog down the process like it did so spectacularly in 2024.
The longest government shutdown in history. Senate Democrats – terrified of looking weak to liberal Democrat primary voters derailed legislative progress by staging a filibuster of a routine government funding bill. The effect was Congress getting nothing done for six weeks until finally commonsense Democrats broke away from their leadership to pass a class continuing resolution to keep the government funded. Over a million federal workers did not get paid during that time period and it led to hundreds of cancelled flights due to air traffic controllers and TSA workers not having gas money to keep coming to work. The threat to business and holiday travelers clearly raised the stakes for lawmakers.
The courts upheld Alabama's ban on sex changes for minors. The courts eventually found that states can ban dangerous experimental sex change procedures on children. So-called "gender affirming care" transitions were being pushed by the LGBTQ+ movement and their allies in the Biden administration who claimed it was necessary to prevent suicides. Research from Europe showed that there was no long-term benefits from transitioning children and President Trump has issued an executive order to ban the procedure that many see as cruel and abusive.
The Auburn Tigers final four run. Auburn University basketball reached new heights in 2025, going to the NCAA Final Four. Auburn was no Cinderella on a magical run – in fact they were the number one team in the country for much of the year. Head Coach Bruce Pearl became the winningest coach in Auburn history during the year. Coach Pearl retired to become an analyst for TNT before the start of the 2026 season. His son – Stephen – has taken over as Auburn's head basketball coach.
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