MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBMA) — Gov. Kay Ivey has signed a package of bills into law aimed at expanding rural health care access in Alabama, increasing the availability of emergency medical services and encouraging healthier food choices for people who use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

“In December, I announced Alabama’s participation in a new Trump Administration program funded by the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ passed by Congress to expand rural healthcare delivery,” Ivey said. “Not wasting a moment, I worked with legislative leaders this session to remove legal barriers to ensure healthcare providers are able to work together to improve healthcare delivery in our rural areas. We have also freed first responders to deliver more life-saving services during ambulance calls, and we have joined other states in streamlining approval of out-of-state physician assistants to practice in Alabama. We are promoting healthier diets for Alabama SNAP beneficiaries by restricting the purchase of sugary foods that contribute to obesity and diabetes. These efforts along with several other pieces of legislation lay a solid foundation as we partner with the Trump Administration in improving rural healthcare delivery to better meet the needs of the public.”

Among the measures Ivey highlighted is the Alabama Rural Health Antitrust Immunity Act (HB605), which provides limited antitrust protections intended to allow collaboration among health care providers to maximize efficiency and sustain and expand services in rural areas. The law allows activities that include shared clinical, administrative and support services; coordinated staffing arrangements; joint quality improvement initiatives; and the purchase and use of shared facilities and equipment.

Another bill, the Alabama Physician Assistant Licensure Compact (HB156), streamlines state license approval for out-of-state physician assistants to practice in Alabama. Under the legislation, Alabama becomes the 24th state to approve the compact, joining Tennessee and Arkansas in the South.

Several new laws focus on emergency medical services. Treat in Place (SB269) allows ambulance operators to be paid for medical services performed on-site. Under current practice, Emergency Medical Services providers are not paid unless they transport a patient to the hospital, even if the patient does not require full emergency department or inpatient care. Removing the patient-transport mandate for reimbursement is expected to increase the availability of EMS care and reduce patient overcrowding in hospitals.

The Expansion of EMS Tuition Reimbursement Program (HB116) adds the Alabama Department of Public Health’s six regional Emergency Medical Services offices to the locations that can offer eligible instruction. Graduates would be required to complete a two-year service commitment to qualify for tuition reimbursement.

Accepting Military Training for EMS Licensure (HB182) requires the Alabama Department of Public Health to accept an applicant’s education, training and experience gained during U.S. military service as credit toward meeting state EMS license requirements.

Two bills address out-of-pocket costs for certain cancer screenings. Under HB300, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, no health benefit plan sold in Alabama will be able to impose a copayment or similar expense on an insured person for a supplemental breast examination or a diagnostic breast examination. Under SB19, beginning Oct. 1, 2027, no health benefit plan sold in Alabama will be able to impose a copayment, deductible, or similar expense on an insured person for prostate screening for men older than 50, or men at “high risk” who are older than 40.

Ivey also signed a measure tied to SNAP benefits. Ensuring Healthy Choices for SNAP Benefits (SB57) has Alabama joining 22 other states in requesting a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prohibit SNAP benefits from being used to purchase high-sugar candies and sodas.

Another new law expands restrictions on nicotine use in public places. Indoor Vaping Restrictions for Public Places (SB9) extends the current ban on smoking cigarettes, pipes and cigars in a public space or in public meetings to include the use of a vaping device, electric cigarette or any other “electronic nicotine delivery system,” whether the e-liquid contains nicotine, THC or another substance.

In addition to the legislation, Ivey and the Alabama Legislature made appropriations for the Rural Health Transformation Program. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services this year awarded $203.4 million to Alabama for projects the state proposed to improve health care for rural residents.

Alabama baseball committed six errors through the first five innings on Tuesday night in Birmingham, the program’s most in a game since 2008, but the bats were hot, waking up from a disappointing outing on Sunday to power the Crimson Tide to a 12-6 win over UAB.

Justin Lebron had not homered in 14 games, dating back to March 22 against Florida. He changed that on the fourth pitch of the game, slamming a deep shot to left field to give Alabama a 1-0 lead. Lebron, who has had some very notable struggles this season, has now quietly put together a seven-game hit streak, and still leads the team with 12 home runs.

The Blazers responded the next inning with one of their two earned runs of the day, as a pair of groundouts brought designated hitter Andrew Hunt, who hit a leadoff single followed by a stolen base, home to tie the game. Alabama was then put down 1-2-3 in the top of the third.

The bottom of that inning featured the 14th error of the season from Lebron, who’s previous career-high in a season was 11. The junior fielded a grounder at short as the runner on second rounded third, and missed catcher John Lemm on a throw to the plate that would have beaten him easily.

The teams continued to go back and forth in the fourth. Jason Torres laid down a nice sacrifice bunt to bring Neal home again, and then freshman Andrew Purdy, starting over Luke Vaughn at first base, hit his first career home run, a two-run blast that brought home fellow freshman Eric Hines.

The bottom of the inning featured two errors from Lemm, who has played clean baseball for the majority of the season. The first, an overthrown ball to second, had no impact, but the second, a catcher’s interference, led to two unearned UAB runs. Lebron tied the game the next frame with a sac fly, but Alabama’s defensive struggles were far from over.

Cleanup batter JP Head drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth, and then ended up on second after Evan Steckmesser sailed a ball into left field on a rundown. A wild pitch would score him, and UAB came out of the fifth with a 6-5 lead. Alabama had already committed six errors.

“This has been about as bad as you could defend a game through five innings, but at the end of the day, we’re down one,” head coach Rob Vaughn said of his message to the team. “So go find an excuse to win anyway.”

The Crimson Tide loaded the bases in the sixth, as Hines ripped a leadoff double followed by walks from Torres and Purdy. Up to the plate came Caleb Barnett, the freshman making his first career start, just minutes away from his hometown of Mountain Brook. Barnett, who recorded his first hit on Saturday, cleared the bases with a double to left-center field that marked a turning point for Alabama.

Sam Mitchell had come into the game in the bottom of the fifth to record the final out and settled things on the mound for Alabama. Coming off a rough outing on Saturday, he allowed just one runner over 2.1 scoreless innings.

Neal, who went 4-for-5 on the day, extended Alabama’s lead with an RBI single in the seventh, and Purdy capped off his career day with a three-RBI double in the ninth. The story of the game was the freshmen, as Purdy, Hines and Barnett all turned in key performances.

“You’ve got a real picture of the future of Alabama baseball with that group of guys there,” Vaughn said. “The beauty is, they are playing at a level where they force your hands, and the future comes a lot sooner than maybe was planned on.”

All three, and four if counting outfielder Chase Kroberger, have seen significantly increased roles over the past two weeks, and will likely be up for some big at-bats as Alabama heads to Austin to face Texas this weekend.

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In October, millions of people took part in “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump. In one Alabama town, police arrested a woman in a lewd costume and threatened her with jail time—a clear violation of her First Amendment rights.

Unfortunately, the case is still ongoing, and this week, it’s set for trial.

“Officers were dispatched following complaints regarding traffic hazards in the area,” the Fairhope Police Department posted on Facebook at the time. “Upon arrival, an officer observed an individual in a phallic costume near the Baldwin Square Shopping Center.”

Translation: He found a woman in an inflatable penis costume, holding a sign that said “No Dick-Tator.”

“The officer approached the woman and requested that she remove the costume, which is deemed obscene in a public setting; however, she refused to comply,” the statement continued. It added that officers arrested the woman in question, identified as Jeana Renea Gamble, “an ASL interpreter who bought the penis suit at a nearby Spirit Halloween store,” Liliana Segura wrote at The Intercept. She was 61 years old at the time.

Body camera footage from the responding officer—identified in an incident report as Cpl. Andrew Babb—provides additional context. “I’m not gonna sit here and argue with you,” Babb says as he approaches Gamble. “If my kids had to come by and see this, how would you explain it to them?”

Babb’s tone is immediately confrontational, as he repeatedly demands to know “how you would explain to my children what you’re supposed to be.” When Gamble asks if “your children don’t understand what a pun is,” Babb calls for backup over his radio.

Gamble asks if she’s being detained, and when he doesn’t answer the question, she turns to walk away. Babb then grabs her costume, throws her to the ground, and flips her over while he and other officers handcuff her.

Bystanders criticize his actions, to which Babb retorts, “I told her to take it off.” In fact, he didn’t, at least not according to the footage; it’s possible he told her to remove the costume while first walking up, before he activated the audio on his recording, but otherwise, the entire interaction—from initial approach to throwing Gamble to the ground—took less than 60 seconds.

He also tells the crowd, “This is a family town”—whatever that means.

Babb took a phone call on the way to the jail, as shown on the bodycam footage. He explains he arrested someone “dressed like a friggin’ weiner,” and he says he told her, “being dressed like that is not going to be tolerated….You’re setting an example that doesn’t need to be set.”

Officers booked Gamble on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest—quite a stretch, given the video evidence.

In February, prosecutors added even more charges for disturbing the peace and giving a false name to law enforcement. When officers asked Gamble for her name, she replied, “Aunt Tifa”—an apparent pun on antifa, the shorthand used by antifascist protesters.

After being delayed twice before, Gamble’s trial is set to begin on April 15.

It’s hard not to see this as an abuse of power. Specifically, Babb took offense at Gamble’s costume, and his stated reasoning makes it clear he feels entitled to punish people for offending him or his children. But it’s not against the law to force somebody, even a police officer, to have uncomfortable conversations with his kids.

As Segura noted at The Intercept, the costume Gamble wore that so incensed Babb is sold at Halloween stores. Should he have the right to shut down Spirit Halloween, or arrest its employees, because his children might see it?

Babb would not be the first to let his tender sensibilities override his charge to enforce the law.

In 2019, an officer in Lake City, Florida, arrested Dillon Shane Webb for a sticker on his truck that declared, in bold letters, “I eat ass.” The officer said the sticker violated Florida’s obscenity law, which UCLA School of Law professor Eugene Volokh concluded at the time was “unconstitutionally overbroad and thus invalid on its face.” Indeed, just days later, prosecutors dropped the charges, concluding Webb had a valid First Amendment defense.

Unfortunately, prosecutors in Alabama have not reached the same conclusion. Hopefully, a jury will similarly conclude that Gamble did nothing wrong, but either way, it won’t undo the damage that has already been done, in which officers roughed up a senior citizen because they found her costume objectionable.

“It’s a travesty of justice that this case is even going to trial,” Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), tells Reason. “It rests on nothing more than a citizen criticizing the president using a costume anyone could buy at a Spirit Halloween store. The arresting officer didn’t hide the fact that he handcuffed Gamble because he was offended by her costume. But giving offense is not a crime. Gamble’s political expression lies squarely within the First Amendment’s protection. Fairhope officials should be correcting this constitutional violation, not doubling down on it.”