Want faster internet or want coverage somewhere without it? State asking residents to help determine where to focus resources
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) is requesting information about broadband internet access and speed from Alabama residents and businesses. Alabamians are encouraged to take a speed survey to help the state more precisely locate gaps in broadband service areas. The information gathered will be used for more specific mapping of service gaps and planning efforts to help fill those gaps. A video explaining the survey is available on the ADECA YouTube channel. ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell stated, “The COVID-19 pandemic shined a spotlight on the importance of having access to high-speed internet across the Alabama. Taking this speed survey will help us gather the data we need to map and plan our efforts to help close those service gaps.” ADECA administers the Broadband Alabama program, which includes the Broadband Accessibility Fund created by the Alabama Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. Since 2018, the fund has assisted broadband providers with extending high-speed internet service for households, businesses, and community anchors in areas of the state lacking minimum threshold service. According to ADECA, many Alabama homes and businesses receive less than the current federal definition of broadband service, which is 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed and three Mbps upload speed. The information gathered from the speed survey will help pinpoint the specific areas that lack this coverage. The information given in the survey will be used solely for the state’s planning efforts. Kay Ivey posted on Twitter, “Listen up, Alabama, @ADECA is hosting a broadband speed survey at https://t.co/HuXUaw7vMA to help our state more precisely locate gaps in service areas. This info will be used in planning efforts to help fill those gaps. The survey is short & can really help AL.” “Broadband is a huge economic driver for recruiting industry and jobs,” Boswell stated. “This survey is quick and easy and helps show us precisely where the service gaps are, so we encourage all Alabama residents and businesses to take it and help us continue Gov. Kay Ivey’s efforts to grow Alabama’s economy.”
Richard Shelby secures more than $4.3 million for 5 Alabama airports
Sen. Richard Shelby announced today that five local airports in Alabama will benefit from more than $4.3 million in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grants. The funding was awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for various airport improvements to support infrastructure construction, safety advances, and land acquisition. “I am proud Alabama is receiving $4.3 million in federal funding to enhance the development of our airport infrastructure,” stated Senator Shelby. “These five grants are important investments in the safety, efficiency, and expansion of large and small airports around our state. Further, local communities will be directly impacted by these advancements, which will help improve the quality of life for residents, increase tourism, and drive development.” Shelby stated on Twitter, “I am proud that the @USDOT is granting $4.3M in FAA funding to enhance the development of our airport infrastructure. These grants are important investments in the safety, efficiency, and expansion of large and small airports around our state.” @FAANews The 5 grants were awarded to local airports in Alabama, amounting to $4,300,365 for the following airport projects: Mobile Downtown Airport, Mobile, Alabama – $1,330,515 to construct, extend, and improve safety areas Montgomery Regional Airport-Dannelly Field, Montgomery, Alabama – $1,171,544 to rehabilitate an apron Bill Pugh Field Airport, Russellville, Alabama – $1,066,541 to rehabilitate a runway and runway lighting Monroe County Aeroplex Airport, Monroeville, Alabama – $385,146 to acquire land for development Bessemer Airport, Bessemer, Alabama – $346,619 to rehabilitate a taxiway and taxiway lighting
Rebuild Alabama Act awards $2.08 million for road and bridge projects
Governor Kay Ivey announced Monday that $2.08 million in state funding is being awarded to cities and counties for various road and bridge projects. The funding is made available through the Annual Grant Program from the Alabama Department of Transportation, a program created under the Rebuild Alabama Act. Passed in 2019, the Rebuild Alabama Act requires ALDOT to establish an annual program setting aside $10 million off the top of the state’s share of new gas tax revenue for local projects. “Improving Alabama’s infrastructure remains a top priority of the Ivey Administration, and thanks to Rebuild Alabama, we are continually able to put these funds to good use. More and more communities and cities across our state are seeing new road and bridge projects in their areas, and I look forward to that continuing,” Governor Ivey stated. “When we invest in our roads and bridges, we are investing in our people and our future.” There were nine projects selected, with project applicants contributing a total of $4.2 million in local matching funds. Matching funds are not required to be eligible. This is the third round of projects awarded under the Annual Grant Program this year. In the first two rounds earlier this year, $8 million in state funds was awarded for 34 projects, with this final round bringing the total for FY 2021 to $10.04 million in state funds for 43 local projects. In 2020, $10.14 million was awarded for local projects. All projects are required to move forward within one year of the awarding of funds. Ivey stated on Twitter, “I’m pleased to join the Alabama Department of Transportation in announcing that $2.08 million in state funding is being awarded to cities & counties for various road & bridge projects as part of #RebuildAL.”
Kay Ivey joins 25 governors requesting border meeting with Joe Biden
Gov. Kay Ivey joined 25 Republican governors requesting to meet with President Joe Biden to find solutions to the current border crisis. In a letter released today, the governors said they want “to bring an end to the national security crisis created by eight months of unenforced borders. The months-long surge in illegal crossings has instigated an international humanitarian crisis.” In June, a bipartisan group of Arizona legislators called on President Biden to respond to the growing issues at the border. This came in response to the Biden administration formally ending a Trump-era immigration policy that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. In May, Governor Ivey joined 19 fellow governors to call on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to reverse their border policies. The Yuma Sector Border Patrol has experienced a more than 900 percent increase in apprehensions compared to last year. The Tucson Sector Border Patrol has experienced a more than 200 percent increase in apprehensions. The letter follows the release of U.S. Customs and Border Protection data that shows border authorities detained more than 200,000 migrants in August for a second consecutive month. The letter states, “Border apprehensions are up almost 500% compared to last year, totaling more than 1.3 million — more people than the populations of nine U.S. states. Approximately 9,700 illegal apprehensions have prior criminal convictions. Cartels and traffickers are making $14 million a day moving people illegally across the border. More fentanyl has been seized this fiscal year than the last three years combined — almost 10,500 pounds of fentanyl when only 2 milligrams prove fatal. This is enough to kill seven times the U.S. population.” The governors concluded the letter stating they are “seeking an open and constructive dialogue regarding border enforcementon behalf of U.S. citizens in our states and all those hoping to become U.S. citizens. We must end the current crisis and return to border operations that respect the laws of our land and the lives of all people, including those in our states looking to the federal government to enforce and protect our nation’s borders.” Ivey stated on Twitter, “There’s a crisis at the southern border, plain & simple. My fellow govs & I’ve sent state resources, yet we’ve seen no action from @POTUS & @VP. National security is critical. 8 months of unenforced borders places us all at risk. It’s past time we address this crisis.” Originally tweeted by Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) on September 20, 2021. Additional governors who signed the letter include Greg Abbott, Doug Ducey, Mike Dunleavy, Asa Hutchinson, Ron DeSantis, Brian Kemp, Brad Little, Eric Holcomb, Kim Reynolds, Larry Hogan, Charlie Baker, Tate Reeves, Mike Parson, Greg Gianforte, Pete Ricketts, Chris Sununu, Doug Burgum, Mike DeWine, Kevin Stitt, Henry McMaster, Kristi Noem, Bill Lee, Spencer Cox, Jim Justice, and Mark Gordon.
U.S. officials defend expulsion of Haitians from Texas town
More than 6,000 Haitians and other migrants have been removed from an encampment at a Texas border town, U.S. officials said Monday as they defended a strong response that included immediately expelling migrants to their impoverished Caribbean country and using horse patrols to stop them from entering the town. Calling it a “challenging and heartbreaking situation,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a stark warning: “If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned. Your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family’s life.” Mayorkas and Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said they would look into agents on horseback using what appeared to be whips and their horses to push back migrants at the river between Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, and Del Rio, Texas, where thousands of migrants remain camped around a bridge. Both officials said they saw nothing apparently wrong based on the widely seen photos and video. Mayorkas said agents use long reins, not whips, to control their horses. Ortiz, the former chief of the Del Rio sector, said it can be confusing to distinguish between migrants and smugglers as people move back and forth near the river. The chief said he would investigate to make sure there was no “unacceptable” actions by the agents. Mayorkas said 600 Homeland Security employees, including from the Coast Guard, have been brought to Del Rio, a city of about 35,000 people roughly 145 miles (230 kilometers) west of San Antonio. He said he has asked the Defense Department for help in what may be one of the swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants and refugees from the United States in decades. He also said the U.S. would increase the pace and capacity of flights to Haiti and other countries in the hemisphere. The number of migrants at the bridge peaked at 14,872 on Saturday, said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a labor union that represents agents. Migrants in the camp are not in custody until they are put on buses, and “as long as they do not try to further their entrance into the United States, they’re free to go back and forth to Mexico,” Judd said Monday. Word of expulsion flights spread rapidly through the camp on Sunday, but few have turned back to Mexico, he said. “We’re achieving our goals; we’re getting there and getting to a point where we can manage the population here,” said Ortiz, who blamed the surge on smugglers who spread misinformation. “We are already seeing a quickly diminished (population) and will continue to see that over the coming days.” Mexico also said it would expel Haitian migrants and began busing them from Ciudad Acuña Sunday evening, according to Luis Angel Urraza, president of the local chamber of commerce. He said he saw the first two buses leave from in front of his restaurant with about 90 people aboard. “There isn’t room for them in the city anymore; we can’t help them anymore,” he said. Mexico’s immigration agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But a federal official told The Associated Press on Sunday that the plan was to take the migrants to Monterrey, in northern Mexico, and Tapachula, in the south, with flights to Haiti from those cities to begin in coming days. The rapid expulsions were made possible by a pandemic-related authority adopted by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 that allows for migrants to be immediately removed from the country without an opportunity to seek asylum. President Joe Biden exempted unaccompanied children from the order but let the rest stand. Any Haitians not expelled are subject to immigration laws, which include rights to seek asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection. Families are quickly released in the U.S. because the government cannot generally hold children. More than 320 migrants arrived in Port-au-Prince on three flights Sunday, and Haiti said six flights were expected Tuesday. The U.S. plans to begin seven expulsion flights daily on Wednesday, four to Port-au-Prince and three to Cap-Haitien, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Flights will continue to depart from San Antonio, but authorities may add El Paso, the official said. The only obvious parallel for such an expulsion without an opportunity to seek asylum was in 1992 when the Coast Guard intercepted Haitian refugees at sea, said Yael Schacher, senior U.S. advocate at Refugees International, whose doctoral studies focused on the history of U.S. asylum law. Similarly, large numbers of Mexicans have been sent home during peak years of immigration but over land and not so suddenly. Central Americans have also crossed the border in comparable numbers without being subject to mass expulsion, although Mexico has agreed to accept them from the U.S. under pandemic-related authority in effect since March 2020. Mexico does not accept expelled Haitians or people of other nationalities outside of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. In Mexico, local authorities of border municipalities have asked for help from state and federal authorities. Claudio Bres, the mayor in Piedras Negras, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Ciudad Acuña, told local media that the official agreement is to turn back all the buses with migrants to prevent them from reaching the border. He said that last weekend around 70 buses passed through his town. Haitians have been migrating to the U.S. in large numbers from South America for several years, many having left their Caribbean nation after a devastating 2010 earthquake. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus, and car to the U.S. border, including through the infamous Darien Gap, a Panamanian jungle. Some of the migrants at the Del Rio camp said the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse make them afraid to return to a country that seems more unstable than when they left. “In Haiti, there is no security,” said Fabricio Jean, a 38-year-old
Alabama virus hospitalizations dip below 2,000, deaths rise
The number of COVID-19 patients in Alabama hospitals has fallen below 2,000, but medical officials cautioned Monday that hospitals and intensive care units remain full of largely unvaccinated patients and that deaths contributed to the decline. After weeks of a near-vertical upward trajectory in hospitalizations — as the highly contagious delta variant spread through unvaccinated populations — the number of people in state hospitals dipped Monday to 1,947 — the lowest it has been since early August. The number is down from 2,890 on Sept. 1 and 3,087 on Jan. 12. But it remains way above the early summer lull in the pandemic when there were fewer than 300 people hospitalized. The dip is potentially a positive sign, medical officials said, but they cautioned that large numbers of people remain in the hospital and that deaths contributed to the decline. “It is a good sign, but 25 consecutive days with more than 40 deaths clearly contributes to the decline,” Dr. Don Williamson, the former state health officer who now heads the Alabama Hospital Association, said. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Alabama has risen over the past two weeks from 27.57 deaths per day on Sept. 4 to 76.29 deaths per day on Sept. 18. Williamson said he is concerned about the impact of a potential decrease in the availability of monoclonal antibody treatments as federal officials ration the valuable resource. State Health Officer Scott Harris said Friday, that it’s possible the delta variant had peaked in the state but cautioned that it is too soon to tell. He too said part of the reason the hospital numbers have declined is because of the number of patients that have died. “We are also continuing to have double-digit numbers of deaths which accounts for some of the decline,” Harris said. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
