‘Shell game’: When private equity comes to town, hospitals can see cutbacks, closures
Peggy Malone walks the quiet halls of Crozer-Chester Medical Center, the Pennsylvania hospital where she’s worked as a registered nurse …
Faith-based maternity homes ‘create a haven’ in states with strict abortion laws
CHILTON COUNTY, Ala. — At the end of a gravel road that runs through a wooded property in Chilton County, …
Moms For Liberty shakes up local school boards, eyes next election cycle
As Moms for Liberty has worked to elect sympathetic school board candidates, board takeovers have replayed in school districts across …
Birth centers have never been more popular, but struggle to remain viable. How some midwives are changing the system.
Despite their popularity, many birth centers face uncertain futures, even in states with robust community support. Here\’s how centers have …
A Black-owned birth center welcomes first baby as state considers regulations that would shut it down
Her choice of a birth center sits at the center of a growing statewide fight over how and where people …
Midwives, birth advocates in Alabama prepare for a fight as state tries to shut them out of birth centers
In late summer, a small band of midwives gathered beneath Montgomery, Ala.’s towering Mothers of Gynecology monument and a sky …
This midwife is building Alabama’s first freestanding birth center
Deep in the Alabama Black Belt, the tiny town of Gainesville (population: 163) hugs the banks of the Tombigbee River not …
After its rural hospital closed, this community tried a new approach to healthcare
The only hospital in rural Pickens County, Ala., closed its doors for good just two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It was March 2020. …
Young Southerners create their own ‘magical community’ in rural Alabama town
Sarah Cole, 32, is relaxing on the front porch swing with her partner, Robert Fitzpatrick, when her phone buzzes. It’s a text from their friend, Tim …
Looking for Alabama’s elected Republican women
Terri Collins was a North Alabama banker with no political experience when the state GOP leadership came calling. Click here to read the rest of the story at ReckonSouth.com. …
Half of Alabama’s daycares are still closed.
Every two weeks, Melissa Moody draws a little more money from her personal savings and puts it into the day …
24 hours in a COVID-19 unit
6 a.m. Jake Perkins, 24, zips through downtown Birmingham on his bike, heading toward UAB Hospital. He’s a registered nurse, …
How one Alabama woman bridges healthcare gaps in the Black Belt
Keshee Dozier-Smith hurried through the basement door of the aging Uniontown Municipal Building. She ignored the lectern at the front …
Expensive childcare keeps mothers out of higher-paying jobs
As soon as Antoinette Pruitt opened her acceptance letter from Samford University’s Cumberland Law School, she started planning her move …
Fired for having a baby? Alabama is OK with that
Haley Gentle paced the waiting room at the obstetrician’s office and reread the cryptic text message from her boss. Just …
Authorities heard sexual misconduct claims against doctor for more than a decade
Brenda just wanted out of the exam room. Her physician, Dr. Michael Dick, had put his hands on her face, …
Black, poor, and Southern: A deadly demographic for American pregnant women
Myra Powell gripped her phone, her obstetrician’s number half-dialed, as she watched the blood spread across her sundress. It was …
‘One of the worst abusers’: An Alabama case highlights the state’s physical child abuse problem
Serenity Renfroe, not quite 2, spilled her cereal. It scattered across the floor of the little house on Rail Splitter …
Part four-wheeler park, part evangelical church
Thunder rumbled overhead, immediately drowned out by the growl of a four-wheeler crashing through the Alabama backwoods. Kent Hovind roared into …
Sexual misconduct by doctors
Dr. Michael Roy Sharpe’s official record is clean. There’s just one page in his public file at the Alabama State Board of …
A profile on Kay Ivey, Alabama governor
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey wouldn’t speak to me for the AL.com profile (we profiled all 2018 gubernatorial candidates), so I …
Moore accuser Tina Johnson tells her story to AL.com
A Gadsden woman says Roy Moore grabbed her while she was in his law office in the 1990s. Read the …
Gadsden locals discuss Roy Moore’s behavior at mall, restaurants
Shortly after The Washington Post first reported that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore was accused of inappropriate behavior, I spoke …
A boy’s death + the law that left his daycare unlicensed
On Monday morning, Jasmyn Johnson dropped off her 5-year-old son Kamden at the Community Nursery & Preschool Academy in west …
86 kids hospitalized for food poisoning at day care, Alabama could change church loophole
When Angela Foster arrived at the Sunnyside Child Care Center to pick up her kids on June 23, 2015, she …