Lee Hedgepeth

Writer, Reporter, & Storyteller

United States

Lee Hedgepeth is a writer, reporter, and storyteller based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Lee grew up in Grand Bay, Alabama, a small town in south Mobile County. Lee holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of South Alabama, as well as master’s degrees in journalism and political development from the University of Alabama and Tulane University, respectively.

An journalist with a decade of experience, Lee has worked for outlets including Alabama Political Reporter, Lagniappe Weekly, and the Anniston Star, covering events ranging from impeachments to executions. His work has been cited by outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and US News and World Report.

Most recently, Lee worked as a digital investigative reporter at CBS 42 in Birmigham.

When snow fell on the Magic City in the first days of 2022, Rentle Lee Wilson was left out in the cold. The City of Birmingham said that Boutwell Auditorium had been “unavailable” as a warming center, and that reality had left individuals facing homelessness – folks like Wilson – without a place to keep warm.

In the days and weeks that followed that snowfall, Lee Hedgepeth worked to tell the story of Wilson and those like him, documenting the experiences of individuals often left out of Alabama’s story.

In his role as an investigative digital reporter for CBS 42 in Birmingham, Lee developed meaningful connections across Alabama that have allowed him the opportunity to highlight the stories of people like Erica Connell, the mother of Keleen Connell, a 27-year-old shot and killed by Birmingham police. Lee has sat down to talk with folks like Hattie Collins, who waited for hours to see Vice President Kamala Harris speak in Selma. And Lee has interviewed leaders like La’Quaylin Parhm-Mack, who went from a ward of the state to become the first Black woman to serve as Assistant Chief of the Birmingham Police Department.

Portfolio

News

Lagniappe Mobile
04/12/2017
Dethroned: Governor resigns amid personal, political failures

While former Gov. Robert Bentley's resignation ended what was nearly the first impeachment of a top politician in Alabama history, the cloud of the Republican's misdeeds will likely loom large in Montgomery for some time to come. Last Friday, the House Judiciary Committee's special counsel, Jack Sharman, released a 131-page report that is the result ...

Lagniappe Mobile
02/01/2017
Alabama's most significant infrastructure project omitted from Trump priorities

Mobile's Interstate 10 bridge came close to falling down, and it hasn't even been built yet. A draft of top infrastructure projects being vetted by the Trump Administration doesn't include the long-desired, much-needed I-10 Mobile River bridge, and it's not entirely clear who's to blame for the mishap.

Alabama Political Reporter
05/22/2014
Storming the courthouse: The road to Lee County

By Lee HedgepethAlabama Political Reporter This article, "The Road to Lee County," focuses on events involving current Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, including his tactics as Alabama GOP Chairman in the "Storming of the Statehouse" in 2010, his actions in office as Speaker, the lead up to current grand jury empanelment, and his current role in Read More

Lagniappe Mobile
02/09/2017
Luther Strange appointed to Sessions' Senate seat

Bentley appoints Luther Strange U.S. senator By: Lee Hedgepeth Gov. Robert Bentley has announced his appointment of state Attorney General Luther Strange as Alabama's next U.S. senator. Strange, a Republican, will replace Jeff Sessions, who has just been confirmed as U.S. Attorney General. Strange had already announced his intention to run for the seat in ...

Lagniappe Mobile
02/22/2017
As AG confirms investigation, impeachment efforts persist - Lagniappe Mobile

Newly appointed Alabama Attorney General Steven Marshall confirmed just after Valentine's Day that Gov. Robert Bentley is the subject of a criminal investigation. Marshall recused himself from the case, but in the process has reinvigorated efforts by some state lawmakers to impeach the embattled chief executive. Marshall, whom Bentley appointed to replace now-U.S.

Alabama Political Reporter
01/20/2014
AL earned over $4,000 last year from marijuana tax

Since the late 1980s, when states across the US began cracking down on drug use by any means necessary, Alabama has had the legal power to assess a very unusual tax. Namely, a tax on marijuana and other controlled substances that - yes - are illegal.

Lagniappe Mobile
01/25/2017
Court determines state's legislative redistricting unconstitutional

Alabama lawmakers will have yet another monumental task to accomplish when they meet for their annual session beginning Feb. 7: senators and representatives will have to redraw at least 12 state legislative districts before the next election cycle following a federal court ruling that their creation was unconstitutionally motivated by race.

Lagniappe Mobile
03/29/2017
Seafood bill boils to the surface

Alabama State Rep. Margie Wilcox thinks she may be able to solve what some have termed "crawfishgate," a years-long controversy over a health department crackdown on crawfish boils held by local bars and restaurants every spring in Mobile. Wilcox has said she'll file two versions of a bill when the Legislature begins meeting again in ...

Alabama Political Reporter
12/27/2013
Christmas tidings costly for families of state inmates

This holiday season, families of the over thirty thousand people incarcerated in jails and prisons across Alabama will undoubtedly try their best to reach their loved ones, by phone, if by no other means.