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☆ Some transgender and nonbinary people may want to change their voices. Gender-affirming vocal coaches are there to help
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-06 | by ( Alexandra Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

This is where gender-affirming vocal coaches come in. “At the same time, I was taking a voice disorders class, and there was just a single bullet point on there about gender-affirming voice work,” they told CNN. “But that was enough for me to look out on my own and seek further education.”There are different approaches to gender-affirming vocal work. “Transgender vocal training, as it’s sometimes called, sprung up from a marriage of speech pathologists, singing teachers, theater specialists and their techniques. Freya, who is a lesbian, says gender-affirming work is a skill she can offer to her wider LGBTQ community.

Persons: Kevin Dorman, Dorman, “, ”, it’s, ” Dorman, Kim Chandler, Alexis Vandom, ” Vandom, Vandom, ” Bryce Chambers, Chambers, Anna Freya, Freya, It’s, ” Freya, “ There’s, There’s, —, ‘ Organizations: CNN, Alabama Statehouse Locations: Greensboro , North Carolina, Alabama, Seattle

☆ Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama vote against unionizing in blow to big UAW push
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Out of the valid votes counted, 56% of workers voted “no,” while 44% voted “yes” for unionization, according to Mercedes-Benz. Under relatively new UAW president Shawn Fain, the UAW had shifted its strategy for a membership push in non-unionized factories, many of which are located in the American South. David Johnston, right, a worker at Mercedes, thanks UAW President Shawn Fain following a press conference in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on May 17, 2024, after workers at two Alabama Mercedes-Benz factories voted overwhelmingly against joining the United Auto Workers union. Alabama is not Michigan, and we are not the Sweet Home to the UAW,” Ivey said in the statement. People react as the result of a vote comes in favour of the hourly factory workers at Volkswagen's assembly plant to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, at a watch party in Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S., April 19, 2024.

Persons: Shawn Fain, Fain, ”, ” “, ” Fain, David Johnston, Kim Chandler, “, Kay Ivey, Vance, ” Ivey, Mercedes, Tesla, Seth, Wheaton, Mercedes plant’s, It’s, Mercedes Benz, ” Wheaton, “ It’s, Chris Isidore, Nathaniel Meyersohn Organizations: New, New York CNN, United Auto Workers, Mercedes, Benz, The National Labor Relations Board, UAW, Alabama, Big Three, Volkswagen, International, Team, Workers, Alabama Gov, Benz US International, Member, ” CNN, US, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo, Seth Herald, Reuters, Chattanooga, Volkswagen didn’t, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations ’, CNN, P Global Market Intelligence Locations: New York, Benz, Alabama, United States, Chattanooga , Tennessee, American, Tuscaloosa , Alabama, MBUSI, Alabama , Georgia , Mississippi, South Carolina , Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, U.S, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations ’ Buffalo

☆ Alabama executes a man with nitrogen gas, the first time the new method has been used
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Kim Chandler | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

It marked the first time that a new execution method has been used in the United States since lethal injection, now the most commonly used method, was introduced in 1982. After a chance to make a final statement, the warden, from another room, would activate the nitrogen gas. And experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council cautioned they believe the execution method could violate the prohibition on torture. Three states — Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma — have authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, but no state had attempted to use the untested method until now. Smith's attorneys had raised concerns that he could choke to death on his own vomit as the nitrogen gas flows.

Persons: —, Kenneth Eugene Smith, Smith, gurney, I'm, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Jeff Hood, Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Hood, he's, Elizabeth Sennett, Sennett, Charles Sennett Jr, Mama, Charles Sennett, John Forrest Parker Organizations: Alabama, Service, —, U.S, Supreme, Justice, Prosecutors, WAAY, Catholic, Human Locations: Ala, — Alabama, Alabama, United States, Vatican, Rome, Mississippi, Oklahoma

That sort of approach resonated in conservative strongholds like Alabama long before Trump. Alabama Democrats, especially, cite deep historical roots involving racism, class and urban-rural divides when explaining Wallace, Trump and the decades between them. Moderate to progressive “national Democrats” were concentrated in north Alabama, Baxley explained, while reactionary “states-rights Dixiecrats” cohered in south Alabama. Wallace won four Deep South states as an independent in 1968. Wallace won his fourth term as governor in 1982 after disavowing segregation and winning over enough Black voters.

Persons: George Wallace, Wallace, Donald Trump, Trump, “ Alabamians, ”, Terry Lathan, ” Trump, Barack Obama, Brent Buchanan, Wayne Flynt, “, Lathan, Ron DeSantis, Reagan, Trump's, ” Wallace, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Baxley, Baxley, Lincoln ”, ” Baxley, Franklin Roosevelt’s, “ Wallace, Johnson, Barry Goldwater, Flynt, Alabama “, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Wallace’s, Jimmy Carter, Carter, Alabama's, Democratic pollster Zac McCrary, Hillary Clinton’s, Joe Biden’s, ” McCrary, Sen, Richard Shelby's, Shelby, Newt Gingrich, Dan Carter, Jeff Sessions, Trump’s, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Tommy Tuberville, Katie Britt, dealmaker, Britt, Buchanan, Republican pollster, Donald Trump’s, Kim Chandler Organizations: ATLANTA, — Republican, University of Alabama, Civil Rights Movement, Republicans, Party of Lincoln, Party of Trump, Trump, America, GOP, Alabama Republicans, Democratic, Alabama Democrats, “ Party, Democrats ”, Politics, National Democrats, Franklin Roosevelt’s New, Civil, Act, Republican, Reconstruction, Klux Klan, Birmingham's, Baptist Church, Washington, Democrat, “, Democrats, U.S, Senate, Sessions, Alabama, Alabama Legislature, Southern Democrats, Capitol, Shelby, Associated Press Locations: Tuscaloosa, Washington, Alabama, lockstep, Florida, Southern, U.S, Texas, New York, Trump, Jan, Montgomery , Alabama

☆ Mike Johnson is the first Republican House speaker from the South since Newt Gingrich, putting the region back in the driver's seat of GOP politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Rep. Mike Johnson's ascent to the House speakership last week took most in the GOP by surprise. He's now the first House speaker from the South since Newt Gingrich held the gavel in the 1990s. "This happened sort of suddenly," the Louisiana Republican said last Wednesday after succeeding Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker and as the new leader of the House GOP conference. Rep. Mike Johnson takes the oath of office to become the next House speaker on October 25, 2023. Challenges to Republican-drawn congressional districts across the South could give Democrats a significant opening to flip the House in 2024.

Persons: Mike Johnson's, He's, Newt Gingrich, —, couldn't, Kevin McCarthy of, Johnson, Bill Clinton, Sen, Mitch McConnell, Joe Biden, Mike Johnson, Alex Brandon Cue McConnell, Steve Scalise, Gingrich —, Drew Angerer, Gingrich, Donald Trump, Kim Chandler, McCarthy Organizations: GOP, Service, Louisiana Republican, Southern Republican, Republican, White House, House Republicans, AP, Democratic, Kentucky Locations: Washington, Louisiana, Kevin McCarthy of California, Georgia, Kentucky, Southern, Ukraine, New York, Chicago, Denver, Johnson's, Kim Chandler In Alabama, Black, Alabama's, Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina , Tennessee

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s decision siding with Black voters in an Alabama redistricting case gave Democrats and voting rights activists a surprising opportunity before the 2024 elections. Khadidah Stone, a plaintiff in the Alabama case, said the continuing opposition was “appalling” but “not surprising.” She noted that Alabama is where then-Gov. A similar dynamic is playing out in Florida, where Republicans are appealing a ruling favorable to Black voters to the Republican-majority state Supreme Court. But the continued pushback from Republican legislatures in control of redistricting means there is great uncertainty about whether –- or how soon -– new maps offering equal representation for Black voters will be drawn. Louisiana state Rep. Sam Jenkins Jr., a Democrat, said he is optimistic now that the matter is in the courts.

Persons: It's, “, ”, George Wallace, Shawn Donahue, ’ ” Donahue, general’s, Shelly Dick, Dick, Stuart Naifeh, Sam Jenkins Jr, Sen, Royce Duplessis, ” Duplessis, Ron DeSantis, Al Lawson, DeSantis, Angie Nixon, Nixon, ___ Gomez Licon, Kim Chandler, Kevin McGill Organizations: WASHINGTON, Black, Alabama Republicans, Republican, University of Alabama, State University of New, Republicans, U.S . House, U.S, Louisiana’s GOP, Circuit, NAACP Legal Defense, Educational Fund, Democrat, Gov, GOP, Florida Supreme, DeSantis, Democratic U.S . Rep, Democratic, Associated Press Locations: Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, State University of New York, Buffalo, Black, U.S, Orleans, Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, Miami, Montgomery , Alabama, New Orleans

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