Make It Make Sense, Alabama

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, we sit down with Democratic candidate Clyde Jones, who is running for U.S. Congress in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.Jones brings a background in military service, community leadership, and advocacy. In this conversation, we break down the real issues affecting Alabamians right now. Healthcare costs, workers’ rights, immigration enforcement, and the growing divide in politics.W...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, we take a closer look at a case involving 71-year-old Nolan Keel of Foley, Alabama, who was arrested during an early morning walk in April 2024.

According to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Keel was stopped for walking in the roadway and later arrested for disorderly conduct. Keel disputes that version of events.

Using the incident report, applicable Alabama law, and body camera fo...

Why are Alabama power bills so high? Why does the Alabama Public Service Commission keep avoiding transparency? And what really happened with the legislation that expanded the PSC?

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Jeff Ramsey, Democratic candidate for the Alabama Public Service Commission, union electrician, small business owner, and project manager, for one of the mo...

In this Beyond the Pod episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi take listeners behind the scenes to discuss real-time developments, political conversations, and investigative work happening outside the main episodes.

This episode covers:

• A major update in the Tony Quince case and the pending decision before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals• Allegations of wrongful conviction and multiple wit...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, hosts Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Brent Woodall, Republican candidate for Alabama Public Service Commission Place 2, to discuss the growing controversy surrounding the PSC, Alabama power rates, and proposed legislation that could reshape how commissioners are selected.

The Alabama Public Service Commission regulates utilities that impact nearly every household in...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, hosts Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Matt Gentry, Cullman County Sheriff and candidate for the Alabama Public Service Commission, to discuss rising power bills, utility regulation, and what the PSC actually does.

Gentry shares his background in law enforcement, why he’s running for the Alabama Public Service Commission, and what he believes is driving high electrici...

Human trafficking is often talked about as something that happens somewhere else. Another country. Another state. To someone else’s community.

But the reality is far different.

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, we sit down with Allana Chris and Genna Van Varden of The Little Tree Project, a nonprofit working directly with survivors of human trafficking and alongside law enforcement agencies across the state.

Together, we...

In Beyond the Pod, Neeli and Whitney take you behind the scenes of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, breaking down what doesn’t always make it into the final cut and what’s actively unfolding in real time.

This episode covers:

• The developing allegations tied to Daphne High School and the response from parents and media
• A major new tip in the Brittany Wood case and how it was handled with law enforcement
• What it actually lo...

Alabama’s prison system is under national scrutiny, and some say it’s becoming the incarceration capital of the world.

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, we sit down with gubernatorial candidate Dr. Will Boyd to break down the biggest issues facing Alabamians today, including prison reform, parole failures, education funding, and the ongoing debate over an Alabama lottery.

From firsthand discussions about wrongful convic...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with retired Rear Admiral and former Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis for a candid conversation about veteran mental health, government accountability, and the controversy surrounding his removal from office.

Davis reflects on his military and public service career, the challenges he says Alabama veterans conti...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense Alabama, Whitney Scapecchi and Neeli Faulkner speak with Beth Robley about her years-long fight to obtain custody of her niece through Alabama’s child welfare system. Beth alleges Alabama DHR denied family placement, overlooked serious concerns, applied standards inconsistently, and blocked meaningful intervention as the case moved toward adoption. This conversation examines custody disputes, r...

What happens after the uniform comes off, and why are so many veterans left to navigate that transition alone?

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Marine veteran Patrick Jump, co-founder and president of Warrior Legacy Ranch in Baldwin County, Alabama. Patrick shares how his military service in Iraq and Afghanistan, his transition into civilian life, and the lasting impa...

Pastor Dean Odle joins Make It Make Sense, Alabama for a wide ranging conversation that connects the dots between ballot access, party power, and the issues Odle says the state keeps trying to shove to the side.

Odle, a minister from Opelika and former statewide Republican candidate, walks through the challenge that knocked him off the 2026 ballot. He explains what he was told by party leadership, how the process played out behind t...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Whitney Scapecchi and Neeli Faulkner sit down with special education and civil rights attorney James Gallini of The Gallini Group to unpack two bills moving through the Alabama Legislature: HB7, which has already passed the House, and its Senate companion, SB31.

Both bills expand the legal definition of what qualifies as a “terrorist threat,” increase penalties, and require school prin...

In this Candidate Conversations episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, hosts Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Chad “Chig” Martin, a Democratic candidate for governor.

Chig shares his path from a blue-collar upbringing in Enterprise to building Thunder Industrial Supply, then launching Alabama’s first hemp dispensary, Honeysuckle Hemp Company. He lays out what he calls a citizens-driven movement, powered by small-d...

In this Candidate Conversations episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Austin Sidwell, an America First Republican candidate running for Congress in Alabama’s First Congressional District.

Sidwell is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and served as a Major in the United States Air Force, where he trained as an HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue pilot and deployed in support of Operation...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with JaMel Jermaine Brown. He is a Montgomery based pastor, community activist, and Democratic candidate for Alabama governor in 2026. Brown is also the pastor of House of Chosen. He founded the JaMel J. Brown Foundation and hosts The JaMel Brown Show.

Brown describes himself as a conservative Democrat, or what he also calls an independent ...

In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Jeremy and Heather Clark, the husband and wife team behind C.4 Cattle Company and Vets to Cowboys in Grand Bay, Alabama.

What started as a way to feed their special needs son clean, tolerable food grew into a working cattle operation. It also grew into a nonprofit mission. Vets to Cowboys focuses on bridging a real gap in Alabama agric...

In this Candidate Conversations episode of Make It Make Sense, Alabama, Neeli Faulkner and Whitney Scapecchi sit down with Jodie Minor, a Carrollton native, retired U.S. Army officer, and candidate for Alabama State Senate District 21.

Jodie shares the personal losses that shaped him, including the murder of his father when he was a child, and how those experiences pushed him toward public service. He walks through his career path f...