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Jackson Hospital - TPR's In Focus - August 21, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's
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  Dothan campus, identifying and preserving historical documents
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  and photographs for research related to the Wiregrass region.
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  More information at troy.edu/wiregrassarchives.
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  From Troy Public Radio,
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  this is the News Wrap from In Focus,
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. Todd Stacy,
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  host of APT's Capitol Journal, discusses how
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  Montgomery's Jackson Hospital was rescued
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  from closing its doors. And for the wild card,
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  it's not just people taking the bus in Portland.
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  Todd, welcome back to the News Wrap from APT's Capitol
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  Journal. Good to be with you. Catch us up to date with the
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  news about Jackson Hospital. Well, it's good news. Jackson Hospital
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  and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama this week signed an agreement essentially
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  increasing Blue Cross's reimbursement rates for Jackson Hospital.
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  They have been asking for that. It's not as much as Jackson wanted,
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  but it's something Blue Cross felt like they could do. They have an interest in
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  keeping Jackson open. And so what this does is help Jackson
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  emerge from bankruptcy. One big reason why it's a
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  good thing in this situation is it unlocks about $80 million
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  worth of grants from the state, from the county, and from
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  the city. All 3 of those entities put
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  money in the game to say, hey, we will give you this bridge,
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  if you will, to help keep you afloat, but you only get it if
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  you emerge from bankruptcy so that it doesn't just go to
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  the debtors and all that. So this is a really big step
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  for the capital city, the whole river region, but also for the state.
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  I mean, this is a major hospital in the state of Alabama. And so it's
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  good news. But as everybody has acknowledged, including the hospital CEO,
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  it's a good step in the right direction. But there's still a long way to
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  go to make Jackson financially stable long term.
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  I was over there coincidentally for an appointment and the employees'
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  morale was high. Yeah, I think that's been a problem, right? I mean, they've been
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  in the news in a negative way for really years at this
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  point. That is not good for morale, especially considering
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  how critical those jobs are, those nurses, those doctors.
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  And so it's nice for them to get a shot in the arm that,
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  hey, we're gonna be around for a while, and there's a plan in place
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  to make sure that we're preserved long-term. Well, Todd, how about
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  a wild card to lighten up? Yeah, this lightened me up. This is out
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  of Portland, Oregon. These 2 goats were
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  just waiting on the sidewalk somehow. I mean, you know, Portland's a little
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  different than we are here in Alabama. These 2 goats
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  and a transit bus drives by, and these goats just wander
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  up onto this transit bus as if they just
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  needed to get to their job or the next stop. And they just seemed right
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  at home, not freaking out at all about being on the bus. These 2 billy
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  goats just walking around. And the video is so funny because the other
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  passengers on the bus just don't seem to think that's a big deal at all,
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  that these goats are like they have a fair pass or something.
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  Anyway, it's on a UPI. 2 loose goats visit
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  Oregon transit station. I love it. So, Todd, who is
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  on Capitol Journal tonight at 7:30,
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  Sunday at noon, and on YouTube? We're going to
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  be talking with Trish Crane. She's our senior education reporter about some of
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  the progress being made in Alabama schools. Also going to be talking with
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  Michael Allen. He's a national security expert, and we don't do a whole lot on
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  national security, but there's a lot going on in the world. You know, what's going
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  on in Iran, what the deal with China and some of these other geopolitical
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  issues. And also, we're going to be talking with Virgil James.
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  He's promoting the Legends at Legion Field. It's a battle of the
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  bands featuring 9 different bands from HBCUs,
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  not just in Alabama, but across the Southeast. This is a really exciting event.
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  There's a rich history and culture with HBCU bands.
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  So we're going to be talking about all that on Capitol Journal.
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  That's tonight at 7:30 on Alabama Public Television.
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  More reasons to tune in. Thank you, Todd. Thank you.
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  Joining us for the news wrap was Todd Stacy,
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  host of Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal.
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  More information is at the aptv.org
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  website. Thanks for joining us for In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Feel free
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  to get in touch at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.