Ex-jail official, inmate she helped escape caught
Escaped inmate Casey White and former jail official Vicky White were taken into custody Monday in Indiana, according to an Alabama sheriff. Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said the two fugitives were caught near Evansville, Indiana, after a car chase with U.S. Marshals. Singleton said at a news conference that marshals were pursuing a pickup driven by Casey White when the truck wrecked and he surrendered. Vicky White was taken to a hospital. “Casey White and Vicky White are in custody,” Singleton said. “This has ended a very long and stressful and challenging week and a half. It ended the way that we knew it would. They are in custody.” The vehicle was found today in Evansville, Indiana, after U.S. Marshals received a tip Sunday that the 2006 Ford F-150 pickup was found at a car wash in the town, the Marshals Service said. Surveillance photos showed a man who closely resembles Casey White exiting the vehicle at the car wash, officials said. Investigators believe the pickup truck was stolen in Tennessee and then driven about 175 miles to Evansville, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. The Marshals Service said a warrant was issued on May 2 for Vicky Sue White charging her with permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree. Federal and local law enforcement officials have also learned Casey White threatened to kill his former girlfriend and his sister in 2015 and said, “that he wanted police to kill him,” the Marshals Service said. Investigators said they have been in contact with them about the threats and are taking measures to ensure their safety. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Today is last day to register to vote for Alabama Primary Election
Secretary of State John Merrill issued a press release to remind Alabamians that today is the last day to register to vote for the May 24th Primary Election. Alabamians can register to vote online at alabamavotes.gov or through the mobile app “Vote for Alabama.” All online registrations must be submitted today by 11:59 PM to be eligible for the May 24th Primary Election. Eligible Alabamians have until the close of business today to return their physical registration applications to their local Board of Registrars’ Office. To register to vote in Alabama, you must be a U.S. citizen and an Alabama resident who is 18 years or older on or by Election Day, and the prospective voter cannot be convicted of a disqualifying felony or declared mentally incompetent. For questions or concerns, please contact the Secretary of State’s Elections Division at (334) 242-7210 or your county Board of Registrars’ Office.
Joe Biden starts program to provide discounted internet service
The Biden administration announced on Monday that 20 internet companies have agreed to provide discounted service to people with low incomes, a program that could effectively make tens of millions of households eligible for free service through an already existing federal subsidy. The $1 trillion infrastructure package passed by Congress last year included $14.2 billion in funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides $30 monthly subsidies ($75 in tribal areas) on internet service for millions of lower-income households. With the new commitment from the internet providers, some 48 million households will be eligible for $30 monthly plans for 100 megabits per second, or higher speed, service — making internet service fully paid for with the government subsidy if they sign up with one of the providers participating in the program. Joe Biden, during his White House run and the push for the infrastructure bill, made expanding high-speed internet access in rural and low-income areas a priority. He has repeatedly spoken out about low-income families that struggled finding reliable Wi-Fi, so their children could take part in remote schooling and complete homework assignments early in the coronavirus pandemic. “If we didn’t know it before, we know now: High-speed internet is essential,” the Democratic president said during a White House event last month honoring the National Teacher of the Year. The 20 internet companies that have agreed to lower their rates for eligible consumers provide service in areas where 80% of the U.S. population, including 50% of the rural population, live, according to the White House. Participating companies that offer service on tribal lands are providing $75 rates in those areas, the equivalent of the federal government subsidy in those areas. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday were set to meet with telecom executives, members of Congress, and others to spotlight the effort to improve access to high-speed internet for low-income households. The providers are Allo Communications, AltaFiber (and Hawaiian Telecom), Altice USA (Optimum and Suddenlink), Astound, AT&T, Breezeline, Comcast, Comporium, Frontier, IdeaTek, Cox Communications, Jackson Energy Authority, MediaCom, MLGC, Spectrum (Charter Communications), Starry, Verizon (Fios only), Vermont Telephone Co., Vexus Fiber and Wow! Internet, Cable, and TV. American households are eligible for subsidies through the Affordable Connectivity Program if their income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, or if a member of their family participates in one of several programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA) and Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama law awarding honorary degree to civil rights lawyer Fred Gray
A civil rights lawyer who once fought to desegregate the University of Alabama is now receiving an honorary degree from the school. Attorney Fred Gray of Tuskegee will be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree during the law school’s graduation ceremony on Sunday afternoon, the university said in a statement. The commencement marks the 50th anniversary since three students became the first Black people to graduate from the law school. Gray, 91, once helped represent Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood in their attempt to desegregate the university, where they enrolled as the first Black students in 1963 after then-Gov. George C. Wallace staged his “stand in the schoolhouse door” against integration. Gray also represented Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black seamstress Rosa Parks, whose arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man prompted the Montgomery bus boycott. Later, he represented Black men who filed suit after the government let their illness go untreated in the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. Currently, Gray is involved in a lawsuit seeking to remove a Confederate monument from a square at the center of mostly black Tuskegee. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama judge refuses dismissal in Confederate chair theft
An Alabama judge has refused to dismiss an indictment against a New Orleans tattoo artist accused in a bizarre theft in which a chair-shaped Confederate monument was taken from a cemetery and held for ransom. Dallas County Circuit Judge Collins Pettaway Jr. refused to dismiss charges of theft and receiving stolen property against Jason Warnick, 33, in a brief decision released Thursday. The judge rejected defense claims that there were problems with the indictment charging Warnick in the disappearance last year of a chair-shaped monument to Confederate President Jefferson Davis from 200-year-old Live Oak Cemetery in Selma. Warnick also claimed there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest him, but the judge refused to dismiss the charge. Warnick was set to go on trial on Monday, but Pettaway delayed the case and scheduled a hearing for June 16. Placed at the cemetery in 1893 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the chair vanished from its base last year in Selma, which was a Confederate arsenal during the Civil War and also is widely known as the site of voting rights demonstrations by Black activists in the 1960s. An email claiming to be from a group called White Lies Matter claimed responsibility and said the chair would be returned only if the United Daughters of the Confederacy agreed to display a banner at its Virginia headquarters bearing a quote from a Black Liberation Army activist. The email also included images of a fake chair with a hole cut in the seat like a toilet and a man dressed in Confederate garb. Authorities who arrested Warnick said the real chair was spotted at his tattoo parlor in New Orleans, where he was charged with receiving stolen property before the case was dismissed. Warnick is innocent and had never been to Selma before he went to the city to surrender on the theft charge, the defense argues. The chair, which the United Daughters of the Confederacy valued at $500,000, was returned to the cemetery and glued to its base. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama outlaws gender-affirming medicines for trans kids
It’s now a crime in Alabama to administer or prescribe gender-affirming puberty blockers and hormones to transgender people under age 19, as a new law took effect Sunday without intervention from the courts. Alabama is the first state to enact such a ban on these treatments for transgender youth. A similar measure in Arkansas to halt the treatments was blocked by a federal judge before it took effect. A federal judge has not yet ruled on a preliminary injunction request to block Alabama from enforcing the law while a court challenge goes forward. “Families are scared. How can you not feel like the floor was pulled out from under you?” Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, a pediatrician who founded a Birmingham medical team that treats children with gender dysphoria, said Sunday. Ladinsky said she remains hopeful that a federal judge will grant an injunction request. The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act makes it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to prescribe or administer gender-affirming medication to young people under 19 to help affirm their new gender identity. It also requires school counselors, teachers, and other school officials to tell parents if a minor discloses that they think they are transgender. U.S. District Judge Liles Burke had cautioned attorneys on Friday that he might not have a decision on a request for a preliminary injunction by the Alabama law’s May 8 effective date. Burke said he and his staff would do “nothing else” but work on the issue. Four families with transgender children and others filed a lawsuit that the U.S. Department of Justice joined challenging the law as discriminatory, an unconstitutional violation of equal protection and free speech rights, and an intrusion into family medical decisions. The plaintiffs asked Burke to issue an order blocking enforcement of the statute while the lawsuit goes forward. Twenty-three medical and mental health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have also urged the judge to enjoin the law. Attorneys for Alabama argued the ban should be allowed to go forward. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
