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Clanton’sconnection to‘Wimpy Kid’

New life for Ensley Works? Debating the

health care debate

VIEWPOINTS | Section F

MONEY | Section C

LIFESTYLE | Section E

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Aaron Johnson

Stacksof PACfilingsdon’ttell all

Tuxedo Terrace, other constructiondesigned to breathe life into community Obama

ralliesfor healthcare bill

Campaign donorscan stay unknown

The Hope VI Tuxedo Terracedevelopment, a $45million investment,replaced the ’50s-era Tuxedo Court.

Cotton’s department store in downtownEnsley has been a longtime retailer, butseveral nearby storefronts are vacant.

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Tea party membersprotest as votes culledBy ALAN FRAM andRICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Vic-tory within reach, Presi-dent Barack Obama ex-horted House Democratson Saturday to stay true totheir party’s legacy andmake history by bringinghealth insurance to mil-lions of struggling familiesnow left out. Leadersexuded confidence asthey defused thorny prob-lems in the countdown toa landmark vote today.

Obama evoked Abra-ham Lincoln’s moralcompass and extolledDemocratic achievementssuch as Social Securityand Medicare — oncecontroversial, now an es-sential part of the socialfabric — on a day markedby a frenetic hunt forvotes inside the Capitoland angry tea party dem-onstrations at the door.Some protesters hurledracial insults at blackmembers of Congress.

“Is this the single mostimportant step that wehave taken on health caresince Medicare?” Obamaa s k e d r a n k - a n d - f i l e

See HEALTH Page 9A

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NEWS STAFF/BEVERLY TAYLOR

Maxine Beverly, 76, moved into her Avenue J home in 1971. She once grew flowers in heryard, but now posts “No Trespassing” and “No Loitering” signs to keep away drug dealers.

New housingto seed Ensley

By JEREMY GRAYNews staff writer

From the frontporch of her Ave-nue J home, Max-ine Beverly haswitnessed Ensley’s

decline.Several months ago, to

ward off drug dealers, sheposted a “No Loitering” signon the A-frame house she

bought in 1971. Burglar barscover the windows.

Beverly, who is 76, re-members when Ensley wasbustling. Residents tookpride in their homes and inthe community just off In-terstate 20/59 at 20th Street.

In 1970, Ensley was a vi-brant working-class neigh-borhood that was home tomore than 18,700 people.

U.S. Steel’s sprawling EnsleyWorks pumped out 1.77 mil-lion tons of steel a year. Atits peak in the 1950s, thecompany employed 21,000

See ENSLEY Page 4A

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Still, Alabamaa teetotalerby national

standards