Alabama brouhaha

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 8, 2007

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Simmering tensions in the state Senate boiled over Thursday when a Republican lawmaker punched a Democratic colleague in the head. Republican Sen. Charles Bishop said Democratic Sen. Lowell Barron called him a "son of a b----." "I responded to his comment with my right hand, " Bishop said. He said he regretted the punch because "that's not the way grown men solve their problems" but added that he would not immediately apologize. Barron refused to comment. It was the final day of a session in which GOP senators had chafed under rules of the Democratic majority.