Jefferson County Treasurer Eyrika Parker Democrat Residence: Birmingham Political experience: Unsuccessful run for Jefferson County circuit clerk, 2018. Professional experience: Employee of Jefferson County Circuit Clerk’s office, 2005; project management, document review for the termination and sale of Trust Department of SouthTrust Bank, 2006; project management, litigation of Oracle vs. Google production of over one
Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals Place 2 Will Smith Party: Republican Age: 56 Residence: Killen Political experience: Lauderdale County commissioner from 2006 to 2008. Appointed Lauderdale County license commissioner by Gov. Robert Bentley. Professional experience: Has been in a private law practice for nearly three decades, licensed in Alabama, Georgia and before the United States
Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals Place 2 J. Elizabeth “Beth” Kellum (I) Party: Republican Residence: Montgomery area Political experience: Elected to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2008. She worked as a congressional intern for Rep. Walter Flowers in Washington, D.C., in 1978. Professional experience: Began work in 1985 as an assistant attorney general in
U.S. SENATE Tommy Tuberville Age: 65 Political/professional experience: Arkansas State University, assistant football coach, 1980-1984; University of Miami, assistant football coach, 1986-1993; Texas A&M University, assistant football coach, 1994; University of Mississippi, head football coach, 1995-1998; Auburn University, head football coach, 1999-2008; Texas Tech University, head football coach, 2010-2012; University of Cincinnati, head football coach,
U.S. SENATE Jeff Sessions Age: 73. Residence: Mobile. Political/professional experience: U.S. attorney for Southern District of Alabama, 1981-1993; Alabama attorney general, 1995-1997; U.S. Senate, 1997- 2017; U.S. attorney general, February 2017 to November 2018. Education: Huntingdon College; University of Alabama School of Law. Main issues: Controlling the nation’s borders, including a zero-tolerance policy on immigration
It’s the Fourth of July and you just ate a red pepper to cool down from the heat. Well, maybe there are better ways to cool down, but without a doubt it’s going to be hot on the Fourth. This year’s holiday will differ from previous years, with less of the usual trappings of parades, fireworks displays, concerts and picnics because of the pandemic, but as usual, you can count on scorching heat. Read more.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday halted plans to provide curbside voting in the July 14 primary runoff and to ease ID requirements to vote by absentee ballot. The state went to the Supreme Court asking that it stay a lower court judge’s ruling that eased some voting practices in an attempt to lessen the potential exposure to the coronavirus, particularly among older people. Read more.
Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville is leading former Sen. Jeff Sessions in fundraising in the final weeks of their Republican runoff campaign for the Senate seat Sessions once held, according to reports they filed this week with the Federal Election Commission. The reports, covering the period of April 1 to June 24, show Tuberville took in $652,390, compared to $439,374 for Sessions. Still, Sessions had a cash balance of $500,331, compared to Tuberville’s $448,204. Both candidates continue to aggressively raise campaign cash in the final days of the race. With lists of contributors Read more.
Imagine giving some money to an investment broker and when you later ask what the broker did with it, you’re told it’s none of your business. I see no difference between that and what agencies of state and local governments in Alabama do whenever they reject or ignore a citizen’s request for government records. This happens too often in Alabama and elsewhere: — In June, the city of Decatur denied an open-records request by multiple news outlets for disciplinary records of a police officer involved in a physical assault of a storeowner. — In May, the environmental advocacy group Gasp and the Environmental Defense Alliance filed a lawsuit against three state of Alabama agencies that have denied access to emails involving state opposition to a federal environmental cleanup of a North Birmingham neighborhood. — Last year, the state Attorney General’s Office (one of the agencies sued by Gasp) rejected a request by an Alabama Media Group reporter to see a contract signed with an industrial safety expert as part of a new plan to allow death-penalty executions by nitrogen gas. — In 2017, WBRC-TV asked to see the $2.6 million contract between the city of Birmingham and a company called ShotSpotter that detects gunshots and pinpoints their location. The station also asked for data compiled by ShotSpotter. Three years later, the city still has not provided the data or even the contract. — You’d think that in a pandemic, when smart behavior depends on having full and accurate information, that there’d be no secrets. But you’d be wrong, as shown by the Alabama Department of Public Health’s refusal of an AMG request to identify individual state-licensed nursing homes that have reported coronavirus cases. In each of these cases, there is a legitimate public interest. And in each of these cases, the reason cited for rejection was an incorrect interpretation of Alabama’s open-records law. Read more.
The numbers of new cases of COVID-19 infections are rising sharply across Alabama — and in Jefferson County in particular. The BirminghamWatch weekly analysis of data reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health shows that the 7-day moving average of new cases reported daily is increasing at an alarming rate. As of Wednesday’s update by ADPH, the average has increased by 44% since the previous week and 64% over eight days. The current 7-day average stood at 974 new daily cases on Wednesday. The longer-term 14-day moving average reached a record high, at 823.43 cases per day. That’s a 20% hike from June 23 but nearly double the 440 average on June 1 and more than four times the reading on May 1, of 194.43. Read more.
