SUMMARY: On Saturday, hundreds gathered in Huntsville’s Big Spring Park as part of over 1,000 nationwide protests opposing the Trump administration. Demonstrators voiced concerns about perceived threats to federal jobs, benefits, and agencies like the Army, NASA, and Social Security. Many called out what they viewed as executive overreach and authoritarian policies, aiming to show solidarity and demand accountability. Some longtime Republicans expressed disappointment with their party’s current direction. Protest organizers emphasized the need to raise their voices against power-driven governance. In response, the White House reiterated President Trump’s commitment to protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible Americans.

The protest was among over a thousand that took place nationwide Saturday.

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by Ralph Chapoco, Alabama Reflector
April 5, 2025

More than 500 people descended on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Saturday to protest the actions and policies of President Donald.

The “Hands Off” protest Saturday in Montgomery was one of six others planned in the state and more than 500 throughout the country in opposition to the administration’s wide-ranging attacks on federal agencies and departments, attempts to deport immigrants and efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, particularly for transgender Americans.

“Freedom is at stake, our constitution and our rights, the right to just exist,” said Annie Pearl Avery, a civil rights activist, in an interview following the event. “And we have a criminal and a crooked man in the White House. And his intention is to turn us back 150 years.”

Attendees sitting and standing on the steps of the Capitol held signs disparaging Trump and billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, which has thrown thousands of federal employees out of work. Others hoisted “Hands Off posters that pertained to Social Security, education and the economy in keeping with the theme of the event.

“Today, we are standing because we have issues of every kind,” said civil rights advocate Wanda Battle to the crowd. “Look around this place, we have every set of issues that can be imagined. Today, we are telling the Trump administration–hands off.”

Since taking office in January, Trump has issued several executive orders to dramatically reshape the operations of the federal agencies and alter public policy. Speakers focused on the administration’s attempted deportations of immigrants. Trump is attempting to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants from Venezuela to a prison in El Salvador, claiming they were a threat to public safety because they belonged to a gang.

“The story is that these were undocumented Venezuelan men who were part of a criminal gang,” said Lynn Hopkins, a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery, in a speech to the crowd. “It didn’t take long to find out, and it surprised none of us, that they were not all gang members, they were not all undocumented, they were not all Venezuelan and, for God’s sake, they were not even all men.”

The crowd also criticized Trump’s efforts to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. In early March, the agency announced that it was reducing its workforce by about 1,300, going from 4,100 to almost 2,200 employees.

“We have a lot of rural communities who are impacted,” said Mary Gannon, who attended the protest in Montgomery while visiting from New Hampshire. “We have a lot of kids who are living in poverty, a lot of kids who are dealing with food insecurity. For me, right now, defunding the Department of Education is really a concern, but it is all connected.”

Trump and Musk also drew the ire of the crowd with their attempts to downsize the federal labor force in what they claim are attempts to streamline government. They expressed concerns about funding reductions to meet their basic needs, from Medicaid to Social Security.

Attendees also criticized attacks on marginalized populations.

“I have transgender kids and adults in my church who are terrified right now, who feel they are being made scapegoats, and are worried about getting the health care they need, and are looking to move because they find their government attacking them day after day with new ways to make them a target,” said Shane Isner, a senior minister at First Christian Church in Montgomery.

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

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by Lee Hedgepeth, Inside Climate News, Alabama Reflector
April 5, 2025

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

In an August meeting of the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power company, board member Michelle Moore reminded her colleagues of what’s written above the door of its headquarters.

“‘For the people’ … is written over TVA’s front door,” she said. “And in that spirit, I just encourage TVA to find right ways to share any proposed future rate adjustment proposals broadly, so that everyone has the opportunity to get informed, get engaged and bring their perspectives forward.”

In that meeting, Moore dissented on a vote over the company’s budget, which she said unwisely delegated decision-making authority on capital projects, including fossil fuel investments, away from the board.

Less than a year later, President Donald Trump fired Moore without publicly providing a reason, a decision revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“L. Michelle Moore’s appointment as a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors ended March 27, 2025, at the direction of the President of the United States,” the filing states.

Moore has consistently been viewed by environmentalists as the most reasonable member of TVA’s board, often dissenting from decisions that doubled down on fossil fuels. She serves as the CEO of Groundswell, a clean energy nonprofit “that builds community power by eliminating energy burdens and increasing economic opportunity with community solar, resilience centers, residential energy efficiency, and pioneering research.”

Trump’s apparent decision to fire Moore comes just a week after Tennessee’s U.S. Senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, argued for a shakeup of TVA leadership in an op-ed.

“The current TVA board focused on the diversity of its executives ahead of job creation for hungry workers in the region it is supposed to serve,” the op-ed said. “It has fallen victim to paralysis by analysis…”

Moore was nominated to serve on the TVA board by President Joe Biden in 2021.

In a statement, Stephen A. Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, criticized the firing.

“We’re disappointed to see President Trump’s hyper-partisan action of removing a sitting TVA board member for no reason. This action further weakens TVA’s leadership and sets into motion actions that could have significant financial impact on TVA ratepayers across the region,” he said. “As shared in SACE’s statement about the TN senators who are asking TVA to ignore a proper financial review and analysis of unproven technologies, SACE believes that it’s inappropriate for the President or the senators to try to micromanage TVA’s decisions on energy choices across the region.”

The White House has not yet responded to a request for comment on the firing.

Gaby Sarri-Tobar, senior energy justice campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, called Moore’s firing “ludicrous.”

“Trump’s firing of TVA board member Michelle Moore is ludicrous and leaves our country’s largest federal utility in a precarious position,” she said. “Ten million people rely on TVA to keep the lights on, utility bills low, and for good-paying jobs. Trump’s reckless and politically targeted move will cripple the utility’s chances to secure a safe, resilient and affordable energy future for families and workers in the Valley.”

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

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