Alabama
Proposed 2024 farm bill would cut SNAP benefits by nearly $30 billion
On Thursday, the House Committee on Agriculture met to discuss amendments to the 2024 farm bill. The farm bill is a legislative package passed every five years that covers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, agricultural research, billions in public subsidies for farmers, and other agricultural policy.
During Thursday’s meeting, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Alabama, said he was “pleased to see the fruition of the 2024 farm bill and especially pleased to see a strong farm bill that supports vital farm programs and safety net programs that are necessary to Alabama agriculture.”
“Since the last farm bill we passed, farmers, foresters, ranchers, and producers have fought tooth and nail to stay afloat against this administration and it’s consistently standing against them,” Moore said. “This legislation puts the farm back in farm bill.”
Democratic members of the House Committee on Agriculture were much more critical of the proposed farm bill, pointing to its projected effects on SNAP.
The Republican proposal would prevent the U.S. Department of Agriculture from increasing the price of its Thrifty Food Plan for any reason besides inflation; the Thrifty Food Plan is used to determine the amount of SNAP benefits. A proposed amendment removing this restriction from the farm bill was voted down by the committee along partisan lines.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that this restriction would reduce funding for SNAP by almost $30 billion over the next ten years.
On May 20, the Urban Institute released a report stating that SNAP benefits already “did not cover the cost of a modestly priced meal in at least 98 percent of counties” in 2023. Without the last revision to the Thrifty Food Plan in 2021, according to another report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, SNAP benefits in 2024 would have been only $4.80 per person per day instead of the current rate of $6.20 per person per day.
The CBPP also calculated, using the CBO’s estimates, that the proposed cut to SNAP “initially would be equal to a day’s worth of benefits each month. It would rise to almost two days’ worth by the end of the budget window.”
“You may think that losing one day or two days a month worth of food is not significant, but I do,” said Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, during the meeting.
While Moore has not yet made a public statement regarding the proposed legislation’s effects on SNAP, he voted against the proposed amendment to allow the Department of Agriculture to update the Thrifty Food Plan and has criticized past expansions of the program. In February, Moore said that the Biden administration “play favorites with ERP [Emergency Relief Program], grab every tax dollar they can for SNAP, and pander to radical wealthy environmentalists.”
According to the US Department of Agriculture, in February almost 750,000 people in Alabama benefited from SNAP.
Alabama Arise’s communications director, Chris Sanders, told APR that SNAP “provides an economic boost for farmers, retailers and communities across Alabama and across the country.”
“SNAP cuts would harm children, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities across Alabama, and they would make it harder for working families to keep food on the table,” Sanders said. “Congress should reject efforts to undermine SNAP’s effectiveness and focus instead on ways to build on its successes.”
The farm bill, including the proposed changes to SNAP, passed the House Committee on Agriculture in a 33-21 vote, with 4 Democrats joining the Republican majority. However, during the committee meeting, several representatives pointed out that the farm bill is unlikely to become law as is, due to likely opposition from the Democratic majority in the Senate and the White House.
Alabama
Southern 88-85 Alabama A&M (Mar 5, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — — Terrance Dixon Jr.’s 19 points helped Southern defeat Alabama A&M 88-85 on Thursday.
Dixon shot 7 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for the Jaguars (15-16, 11-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference). Michael Jacobs scored 15 points while going 4 of 11 and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line, and added five rebounds. AJ Barnes shot 3 for 7 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to finish with 14 points, while adding six rebounds.
Koron Davis finished with 23 points for the Bulldogs (17-14, 10-8). James Graham added 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals for Alabama A&M. Kintavious Dozier also had 12 points.
The Jaguars led by 10 points with 59 seconds to go, before the Bulldogs executed a three-point play from Bilal Abdur-Rahim then got a 3-pointer from Dozier in the span of nine seconds, cutting the deficit to four. A free throw battle closed out the result for the Jaguars.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Alabama
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.
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.
Alabama
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.
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.
“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.
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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