Alabama
With Alabama IVF patient in attendance, Biden to highlight reproductive care in State of the Union
Latorya Beasley, 37, has long had the first week of March marked on her calendar. But it wasn’t to attend the State of the Union as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.
After months of medication cycles, she was gearing up for an embryo transfer on March 4. But the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision on Feb. 16, which determined that frozen embryos were children and threw clinics there into intense legal uncertainty, upended the course of her treatment.
So, on Thursday night, she will instead find herself watching the president address the nation from the U.S. Capitol, using his speech to highlight the stories of women who’ve lost access to reproductive healthcare in the nearly two years since Roe s. Wade was overruled and criticizing Republicans for supporting abortion restrictions.
It will be a prominent theme, said an official who reviewed the president’s speech, and Biden will specifically mention IVF access in the fallout from the Alabama court decision.
Tory Beasley, left, tells her story of her appointments being cancelled as Claire Gray listens during a panel discussion with families directly affected by the Alabama Supreme Court decision hosted by Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, on Feb. 27, 2024, in Birmingham, Ala.
Butch Dill/AP
Beasley, a Birmingham resident, has been doing fertility treatments on and off since 2019. In 2022, she successfully had a daughter through IVF, and last fall, Beasley and her husband decided to try for one more child.
They were nearly at the final stage of the process when the court ruling came down.
“I got a phone call and I don’t even know what she said,” Beasley said, describing the phone call from her provider, Alabama Fertility Treatments, advising her that her appointment was indefinitely delayed because they were pausing services, fearful of wrongful death lawsuits that could arise from handling embryos.
“Of course I was heartbroken. And then a few minutes later, the FedEx man rang the doorbell delivering [IVF] medicine. It was just like a gut punch,” Beasley said.
President Joe Biden speaks as Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, right, listen during a State of the Union address at the Capitol, Feb. 7, 2023.
Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
For the next two weeks, Beasley shared her story with lawmakers in her state Legislature and at the federal level, including a roundtable with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who traveled to Birmingham for a listening tour with IVF patients.
She made trips to Montgomery, the state capital, to rally with hundreds of other women pressuring lawmakers for legislation.
As legislation began to move through the State House, each political development carried medical implications for Beasley.
“It’s just one of those things that kind of is like, how does someone else get to dictate what I want for my family?” she said in an interview. “How does someone have so much control?”
Beasley and the other women and families who advocated at the State House were ultimately successful as of late Wednesday night, when state lawmakers passed a bill to give IVF clinics, patients and manufacturers “civil and criminal immunity” during IVF services, allowing enough legal cover for most of the paused clinics to reopen.
Beasley’s own clinic, Alabama Fertility Specialists, said it resumed the “full scope” of fertility services on Thursday.
“We have kept our lab fully operational so that we’d be positioned to resume care as soon as possible,” Dr. Janet Bouknight, a fertility physician at Alabama Fertility Specialists, said in an interview Wednesday.
But Bouknight, lawmakers and other patients involved in the legislative process all acknowledged that there will be more work ahead to protect IVF — something Biden is sure to highlight in his speech on Thursday at the U.S. Capital.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra greets LaTorya Beasley during a roundtable discussion with in-vitro fertilization patients and health professionals, on Feb. 27, 2024, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Biden, since the Alabama ruling came down three weeks ago, has criticized Republicans for laying the groundwork for reproductive health care restrictions by overturning the constitutional right to abortion nationwide.
“Make no mistake: this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” Biden said in a statement shortly after the Alabama Supreme Court decision. Alabama has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country.
“My message is: The Vice President and I are fighting for your rights. We’re fighting for the freedom of women, for families, and for doctors who care for these women. And we won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state,” Biden said.
In his State of the Union address, the president is expected to call on Congress to pass a bill that would legalize abortion services nationwide, as he has for nearly two years since Roe vs. Wade was overturned, and call Republicans out for blocking a vote that would’ve implemented national protections for IVF.
Biden will look to capitalize on the confusion and outcry caused by the IVF pause in Alabama, which pushed Republicans both in the state and at the federal level to try and walk a fine line of defending the anti-abortion ruling, but also issuing support for IVF and family building.
While Biden and his administration have repeatedly said they don’t believe they have many presidential avenues to safeguard reproductive healthcare without Congressional support — including shoring up protections for IVF nationwide — Biden is expected to mention their efforts so far in his speech, including a court battle to defend medication abortion and executive actions to protect travel for reproductive care services.
Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday set an execution date for death row inmate Jeremy Williams, who was convicted in the 2021 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City.
Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state’s three-drug lethal injection during a 30-hour window beginning at 12 a.m. August 13 and ending at 6 a.m. August 14. The execution date comes after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a request from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office on June 16, authorizing the state to carry out the sentence.
In a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace, Ivey said the Supreme Court’s June 16 order serves as the official death warrant for Williams.
“By law, I am required to specify the time frame for carrying out the sentence of death,” Ivey said. “Accordingly, I hereby order that Jeremy Lee Williams’s sentence of death be carried out within a time frame beginning on August 13, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. and ending on August 14, 2026, at 6:00 a.m.”
Ivey noted that she retains the authority to commute the sentence before the execution takes place.
Williams, 34, was convicted in April 2024 on four counts of capital murder stemming from Holland’s death. Prosecutors charged him with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a rape, capital murder during first-degree sodomy and capital murder of a child younger than 14.
Authorities said Holland disappeared from her family’s home in Phenix City on December 13, 2021. Her body was discovered two days later inside an abandoned house less than a mile away. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
In addition to the death sentence, Williams received several other prison terms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking and for knowingly producing recordings depicting the sexual abuse of a child. He also received another life sentence for a separate sexual abuse conviction, along with a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit human trafficking and a 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse.
Unlike most death row inmates, Williams sought to speed up the execution process. During a hearing, he told the court that he accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted the sentence carried out.
In 2025, Williams dismissed his attorneys and informed the court that he wished to waive any remaining appeals and proceed with his execution. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson determined that Williams was competent to make that decision and allowed him to forgo further legal challenges.
Under Alabama law, capital convictions automatically receive appellate review. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently affirmed Williams’ conviction and death sentence in March.
After that review concluded, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court in May to authorize an execution date. The court granted the request earlier this week, clearing the way for Ivey to schedule the execution.
If carried out as scheduled, Williams’ execution would occur nearly five years after Holland’s death and a little more than two years after he was sentenced to death.
Williams’ execution would be Alabama’s first by lethal injection since April 2025. The state’s three most recent executions were carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama began using in 2024.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – You don’t find too many camps where you learn how to slap someone. But this summer, you will in Montgomery. It’s one of many kids camps put on by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
“We have our Camp Shakespeare Junior which is our half day for the littles, kindergarten through 3rd grade,” said Cameron Williams, the ASF director of education. “We have Big Kid Shakespeare camp and everyone is learning all about ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.”
They learn about on stage combat, different acting techniques, and also how to be creative and think on their feet.
“I think theater skills are life skills. So, what makes this camp special is we’re doing more than just boosting literacy and doing theater things. We’re doing life skills, learning what it means to be team players, about discipline, and working with people who may have different personalities than you.”
Different kids have different talents. And even if your child isn’t up for a lead role in the next play, this place can leave a lasting impact.
“If you’re looking for a place where your kid can come out of their shell, to learn how to speak in front of a group, and develop some confidence, this is the place to be.”
It’s a place that’s a real treasure in Montgomery, and its mining some young gems, who one day, could be on the big stage themselves. There are still more ASF camps going on this summer for pre-teens and even adults.
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Huntsville-based defense contractor LOGZONE Inc. has agreed to pay $507,144 to resolve allegations that it failed to comply with cybersecurity requirements in contracts with the U.S. Department of the Navy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The settlement resolves claims brought under the False Claims Act alleging that LOGZONE knowingly submitted claims for payment while not meeting certain cybersecurity standards required under two Navy contracts.
Federal officials alleged that between May 2021 and March 2025, LOGZONE did not implement specific cybersecurity controls outlined in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-171. The standards are designed to protect sensitive defense information handled by government contractors.
According to the Justice Department, the deficiencies were identified during an assessment conducted by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). The evaluation resulted in LOGZONE receiving a score of -170 on a scale ranging from -203 to 110, indicating significant gaps in compliance with required security controls.
The government alleged that the missing cybersecurity measures could have increased the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information or the exploitation of company systems.
The settlement does not include a determination of liability. As part of the agreement, LOGZONE will pay $507,144 to resolve the allegations.
Federal officials said the enforcement action reflects ongoing efforts to ensure government contractors comply with cybersecurity obligations tied to federal contracts, particularly those involving sensitive defense information.
The investigation and settlement involved the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, the Department of the Navy, the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
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Additional details regarding corrective actions taken by the company were not immediately available.
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