MONTGOMERY, AL (WBRC)- A bill which will give nurse practitioners and midwives the authority to write prescriptions for some controlled substances is a step closer to becoming law in Alabama.

Today a House committee voted for the bill sponsored by Jasper Senator Greg Reed. The bill has already cleared the Senate.

A nurse practitioner is a nurse who is trained to see and treat patients but in Alabama they can't prescribe certain drugs that they can't under current law. Reed wants to change that.

"If you allow folks to be treated especially in rural areas, in clinics staffed by practitioners in their communities, then that means their patients don't have to wait until their health issue is more serious," Reed said.

(RNN) – Fish swim, flowers grow, birds zip around and ants crawl in their tunnels.

Google captured the spirit of Earth Day in an animated doodle that not only cycles through day and night but through the four seasons of the year and the phases of the moon.

The animation takes a few minutes to cycle through. While the sun and moon slowly rise and set, a school of fish swim laps in a pond that makes up the small G in Google's name.

A river flows into and out of the pond through mountains representing the two Os and looping to make the E before the water drips off the edge of the doodle, except in winter when it is frozen. Flowers bloom in the spring to make the larger G.

By Amy Fontinelle | Content provided by Investopedia

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