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Alabama birthing units are closing to save money and get funding. Some say babies are at risk

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Alabama birthing units are closing to save money and get funding. Some say babies are at risk


GROVE HILL, Ala. — One of the last remaining birthing units in southern Alabama will close next month to qualify for federal funding that will save the hospital’s emergency services, but doctors warn the move may cost newborns and pregnant women essential access to obstetric care.

Nestled in rural Clarke County, the small, nonprofit Grove Hill Memorial Hospital will discontinue its labor and delivery services in mid-August, the governing board announced earlier this month.

The board said closure was necessary for the hospital to qualify for much needed federal funding that is designated for rural emergency hospitals, defined as facilities with fewer than 50 beds that provide 24/7 emergency care and no inpatient services, including obstetric

But the federal funding comes at a steep cost. The closure marks the fourth labor and delivery unit to close statewide in less than a year, including a facility in a neighboring county that referred many patients to Grove Hill after closing in November.

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In the coming months, a large part of southern Alabama will no longer have close access to hospital obstetric delivery services.

Dr. Max Rogers, the obstetrician-gynecologist who runs the labor and delivery unit at Grove Hill Memorial, sees an average of 300 women a month and delivers 10 to 15 babies. Rogers said the lack of local care could put some mothers and babies at risk.

“I used to say that outcomes are gonna be worse,” Rogers said. “And that’s a nice, polite euphemism for babies are going to die and mothers are going to die in emergency rooms because of a lack of prenatal care and a lack of obstetrical care.”

This would apply to a small but significant fraction of births involving serious complications. Although emergency rooms are equipped to handle the vast majority of normal births, some conditions require rapid transportation to a facility with a doctor qualified to operate on pregnant women, Rogers said.

Anna Retic, 26, has been driving 45 minutes from her home near Pine Hill to Grove Hill for all seven months of her pregnancy because it was the closest facility offering both birthing and prenatal services.

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The Grove Hill Memorial Hospital in Grove Hill Ala., on July 17, 2024. Safiyah Riddle / AP

She considered herself lucky. She works as a bank teller and is able to take time off to make the trip to her monthly appointments, which were scheduled to increase to once every two weeks as her October delivery date gets closer.

Now, the closest option for her to give birth is a hospital almost twice as far away.

“It’s crazy,” Retic said. “If you’re in labor, you have to rush two hours away, you might have that baby in the car. I don’t know. I pray that doesn’t happen to me.”

Alabama’s delivery health outcomes already lag far behind the rest of the country. One study found Alabama had a maternal mortality rate of 64.63 deaths per 100,000 births between 2018 and 2021, nearly double the national rate of 34.09 per 100,000 births. That jumps to 100.07 deaths for Black women in the state.

Rural hospitals have struggled to maintain labor and delivery units for decades. Experts cite declining births, low Medicaid reimbursement and staffing shortages as significant causes of financial decline.

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But some of the strain is more particular to Alabama, which is one of 10 states nationally that has not expanded Medicaid.

Dr. Donald Williamson, president of the Alabama Health Association, said a major challenge for rural hospitals in the region is a significant number of patients that come through the front door are uninsured.

The expansion of Medicaid would improve reimbursements and hospital revenue, Williamson said, and until then he expects more hospitals across the state to make the same difficult decision made at Grove Hill.

Nationwide, 28 hospitals have converted to the rural emergency designation since the program was rolled out in 2023, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research. But Grove Hill will be the first that will have to close a labor and delivery unit to become a rural emergency hospital, according to the National Rural Health Association.

While the program has offered a unique lifeline to rural hospitals on the brink of collapse, experts and legislators have warned it might come at the cost of essential services like inpatient psychiatric or other rehabilitative care.

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U.S. Senators Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, and Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, introduced legislation in May to allow rural emergency hospitals to maintain some inpatient services, including obstetrics.

Ultimately, Rogers in Grove Hill said he supports the conversion to a rural emergency hospital, even if the change means closing the obstetrics department where he has formed close relationships with many patients. He believes it is the hospital’s only financial option and important in maintaining emergency services.

Still, Rogers has significant concerns about the future of the federal program.

“Every single one of us needs to understand that while this REH status may protect a lot of rural hospitals, it’s coming with a price. And that’s what I don’t want everybody to gloss over,” he said.



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Alabama

Top-30 overall recruit Jaxon Richardson commits to Alabama

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Top-30 overall recruit Jaxon Richardson commits to Alabama


Jaxon Richardson, the No. 27 overall recruit in the 2026 class per the Rivals Industry Ranking, has committed to Alabama.

The 6-foot-6 four-star small forward out of Southeastern Prep (FL) ultimately chose the Crimson Tide over USC, Creighton, and Ole Miss. He also received offers from Miami, Cincinnati, Michigan, Florida, Villanova, and others.

Richardson, a McDonald’s All-American, becomes the Crimson Tide’s third commitment of the 2026 cycle. He joins four-star shooting guard Qayden Samuels (No. 28 NATL) and four-star small forward Tarris Bouie (No. 54 NATL).

He’s the son of NBA veteran and two-time NBA Dunk Contest champion Jason Richardson. His older brother, Jase, played for Michigan State last season before being selected 25th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic.

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More on Richardson

Rivals’ National Recruiting Analyst Jamie Shaw says Richardson is one of the most explosive players in the 2026 class:

Jaxon Richardson is able to combine fluid athleticism with explosive burst in a way no other player in this class can. He uses his athleticism to his advantage on the floor. He fills the outside channels with a purpose in transition, he is aggressive in the passing lanes, and he plays as a vertical floor spacer in the dunker spots and lob plays. Last summer, playing with the Florida Rebels on Nike’s EYBL Circuit, the 6-foot-6 wing averaged 12.8 points on 54.0 percent shooting and 10.5 attempts per game. Last high school season, he averaged 12.9 points on 61.0 percent shooting on 8.9 attempts per game. He is a highly efficient player, as 84.4 percent of his makes last high school season were at the rim.



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Alabama Baseball Ties Stolen Base Record In Win Over Hornets

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Alabama Baseball Ties Stolen Base Record In Win Over Hornets


Alabama baseball cruised to a win over Alabama State on Wednesday night, beating the Hornets 13-4 to complete the season sweep. The Crimson Tide tied a program record with nine stolen bases in one of the stranger contests that will be played this season.

The tone was set for a tumultuous night on the basepaths in the opening minutes of the game. Leadoff batter Bryce Fowler, who exited Tuesday’s game after getting beaned in the head, was walked, and promptly took second base. He advanced to third on a wild pitch in Justin Lebron’s at-bat, paving the way for Lebron to steal second when he was ultimately walked as well.

The successful baserunning instantly paid off, as Brady Neal drove both in with a double to left-center field before John Lemm walked two at-bats later. Both runners stole their respective bases on the same pitch in Jason Torres’ plate appearance, meaning that four of the first five batters of the game stole a base.

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Alabama has been exceptional on the basepaths, sitting at 30-for-30 on the season. Lebron, who swiped two bags on Wednesday, leads the team with 12. The junior had an up-and-down night, hitting his eighth home run of the season, but also committing an error at shortstop for the fourth consecutive game.

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“Get those things out of there now, baby. The dude is unbelievable,” an unconcerned Rob Vaughn said on Tuesday of Lebron’s errors. “We’re going to look up at the end of the year, and that guy is going to have five or six errors, which one he’s got right now, and we’ll be like, ‘Man, that guy is the best of all time to do it.’”

Wednesday’s game was a very prototypical midweek contest with no shortage of quirks and oddities throughout its nearly four-hour runtime. Fifteen Alabama batters were walked, falling just one shy of the program record, and the hit by pitch record was tied as seven batters were plunked.

The game was never competitive from an on-field standpoint. After barely escaping with a 2-1 win in the first matchup with the Hornets two weeks ago, this was a far more accurate representation of what these games typically look like, as Alabama now leads the all-time series 15-0.

Freshman Joe Chiarodo made his first career start, allowing two hits and one walk over two scoreless innings. He was named the winning pitcher. Luke Smyers, Connor Lehman, Anthony Pesci and Tate Robertson were the other pitchers to take the mound. Lehman allowed a three-run blast in the sixth inning, and those were the only runs until the incredibly-named Skywalker Mann drove in a run off Robertson in the ninth.

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Perhaps the most shocking figure from the game was that Alabama had 19 runners left on base. The Crimson Tide left the bases loaded in four different innings. As stated, this was just a bizarre baseball game across the board. With the midweeks out of the way, the Crimson Tide gets to prepare for its final weekend tune-up before SEC play as North Florida heads into Tuscaloosa on Friday.



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New Alabama law to set screen time limits for kids in day care, pre-K and kindergarten

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New Alabama law to set screen time limits for kids in day care, pre-K and kindergarten


The Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act was signed on Wednesday, March 4, by Governor Kay Ivey to introduce limits on children’s screen time access in Alabama.

The Act is one of Ivey’s 2026 legislative priorities.

“Video screen access in classrooms can boost learning skills among our young children, but too much screen exposure can also be detrimental, harming critical social and cognitive development,” Ivey said. “The Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act ensures our youngest students are provided a healthy balance of screen time and traditional learning in order to protect social and emotional development.”

Under the Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act, the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education will be required to work with the Department of Human Resources and the State Department of Education to develop guidelines for screen-based media.

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Guidelines will be implemented in early childhood education programs like day care centers, day care homes, night care facilities, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and group day care homes. The Act was sponsored by Representative Jeana Ross and Senator Donnie Chesteen.

“House Bill 78 establishes clear, research-based expectations for how technology is used in early childhood settings,” said Ross. “The goal is not to eliminate technology, but to ensure its use is developmentally appropriate and never replaces the hands-on learning and human interaction young children need most. By setting thoughtful guardrails and aligning classroom practices with the best available research on early brain development, this legislation supports educators, protects the quality of early learning and reinforces our commitment to giving Alabama’s youngest students the strongest possible start.”

A training program will also be created by the Department of Early Childhood Education to create a baseline for the appropriate use of child screentime for teachers and staff members supervising children.

“The Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act represents another important step in ensuring Alabama’s youngest children grow and learn in environments that prioritize human interaction, exploration and healthy development,” said Chesteen. “Building on the progress made with last year’s FOCUS Act, this legislation continues our commitment to protecting the most formative years of childhood. I am grateful to Governor Kay Ivey and my colleagues in the Legislature for recognizing the importance of this issue and working together to support Alabama families.”

The Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act will become effective on January 1, 2027.

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