The Alabama Technology Network and The Business Council of Alabama  presented four Alabama manufacturing companies with the prestigious Alabama Manufacturer of the Year Awards at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel in Montgomery Wednesday. Keynote speaker was Charles McCrary, president of Alabama Power Company, who described Alabama's manufacturers as "true heroes."

A combination of bad bills and proposed budget cuts stand to cripple a system that serves nearly 300,000 Alabamians and is essenetial to the state's ability to meet increasingly challenging education and workforce training demands, Bradley Byrne, chancellor of the Alabama's two-year college system, told the BCA Governmental Affairs Committee last week.

 Governor Bob Riley used a conference call with volunteer leaders of the Business Council of Alabama and the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama to ask for their help in spreading the word about his plan to give a significant tax incentive to small businesses that provide health care coverage and the employees who take advantage of it.

During the 2007 regular session of the Alabama Legislature, your Business Council of Alabama  actively tracked more than 200 pieces of legislation. Of the nearly 1,500 bills introduced this session, not a single job-killing anti-business bill passed, proving once again that your association is a strong defender of free enterprise, economic development and job growth.