Jim Zeigler picks up endorsement of Alabama Republican Assembly for Secretary of State
The group that calls itself “the Republican wing of the Republican party” has endorsed Jim Zeigler for Secretary of State in this Tuesday’s Republican runoff. The Alabama Republican Assembly, a 25-year-old statewide organization, says “Zeigler has been a watchdog for taxpayers.” He faces off against State Rep. Wes Allen on Tuesday. Zeigler led the May primary with 43% to Allen’s 39%. State ALRA President Don Wallace stated, “Jim Zeigler has been a watchdog for the Alabama taxpayers his entire career. He has stood for honest government, and the Alabama Republican Assembly believes he will stand strong for honest and transparent elections.” “Jim Zeigler has been a conservative leader in our state, and the Alabama Republican Assembly recognizes his commitment to good government with our endorsement to be the next Secretary of State,” Wallace continued. The winner of Tuesday’s Republican nomination faces Democrat Pamela Lafitte and Libertarian nominee Matt Shelby in the November general election. On Thursday, Zeigler stated, “Over the next eight years, the job of Secretary of State will be vital. We face national attempts to manipulate honest election procedures. Alabama needs a proven fighter against government overreach to be our fighting Secretary of State.”
Alabama Department of Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling to retire
Gov. Kay Ivey announced that Alabama Department of Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling will retire at the end of the month after nearly 14 years in the position. Ridling is Alabama’s longest-serving insurance commissioner and is also the longest-serving appointed commissioner in the country. Ivey has named Alabama Department of Insurance Deputy Commissioner Mark Fowler as acting commissioner. Fowler’s appointment is effective July 1, 2022. “As Alabama’s longest-serving insurance commissioner, Jim has kept stability in the agency, all while bringing fresh ideas to ensure our state was offering our people the best, whether that be in times of natural disaster or simply in our day-to-day lives,” stated Ivey. “I am truly grateful Jim dedicated so many years to the state of Alabama and wish him the best in his well-deserved retirement.” Ridling kept Alabama actively involved in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), even serving as chairman of the Southeast Zone for 10 years. During his tenure, Ridling has led the Alabama Department of Insurance to be reaccredited by the NAIC three times, most recently in April 2022. “Jim has also been a consistent and tireless advocate for home fortification and statewide resiliency in times of disaster,” added Governor Ivey. Ridling established the Strengthen Alabama Homes (SAH) program to provide grants of up to $10,000 to Alabama residents for home fortification. By the end of this year, the program should reach 5,000 homes fortified, making Alabama the number one state in the nation for the most residential homes fortified to IBHS standards. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety named Ridling the recipient of its inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Resilience award just last month in recognition of his long-time efforts and achievements in establishing Alabama as the nation’s leader in resilient construction. Ridling also created the Insurance Fraud Bureau within the Alabama Department of Insurance dedicated to investigating allegations of criminal insurance fraud and a cyber-security center to protect Alabamians from cybercriminals. He also effectively recruited more than a dozen new property insurance companies to serve Alabama’s coastal communities. “I am deeply blessed to have had the wonderful experience of serving the people of Alabama as Commissioner of Insurance. I am especially appreciative of Governor Kay Ivey for her leadership and all she has done for the people of our great state,” said Commissioner Ridling. “Serving in her administration has been an honor and a pleasure. I also appreciate, so much, the work of the dedicated and professional state employees who staff the Department of Insurance. They are amazing! We have done some great things together, and I know we will all be able to look back on these years with pride.”
Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock announces plan to resign
An Alabama city’s leader has announced his resignation. Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock is stepping down after six years, effective June 30, news outlets reported. He said in a statement he made the decision after “many prayers and discussions with his wife,” news outlets reported. “I am proud of the work we have accomplished during my administration that moved Tallassee forward with much needed infrastructure improvements, a new high school, public safety improvements, and procurement of millions in grant dollars,” Hammock said. Hammock thanked his constituents who supported him through the years. “I have full confidence in the Tallassee City Council with their succession plan and moving Tallassee forward into the future,” he added. Hammock’s tenure has not been without controversy. In January, he was arrested in Orange Beach on domestic violence charges. And, there has also been political infighting between his administration and the city council. Hammock was seeking the Republican nomination for Place 1 on the Alabama Public Service Commission but lost to Jeremy Oden. Mayor Pro Tem Bill Godwin said the City Council is putting together a transition plan for implementation after Hammock leaves. “The purpose of this plan will be to continue moving our city in a positive direction and providing essential and needed services, thereby, enhancing the quality of life for all who live in and near our great city,” Godwin said. Hammock said he plans to move into the private sector, working in economic, community, and business development. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Despite push, states slow to make Juneteenth a paid holiday
Recognition of Juneteenth, the effective end of slavery in the U.S., gained traction after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. But after an initial burst of action, the movement to have it recognized as an official holiday in the states has largely stalled. Although almost every state recognizes Juneteenth in some fashion, many have been slow to do more than issue a proclamation or resolution, even as some continue to commemorate the Confederacy. Lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and other states failed to advance proposals this year that would have closed state offices and given most of their public employees paid time off for the June 19 holiday. That trend infuriates Black leaders and community organizers who view making Juneteenth a paid holiday the bare minimum state officials can do to help honor an often overlooked and ignored piece of American history. “Juneteenth marks the date of major significance in American history. It represents the ways in which freedom for Black people have been delayed,” said Democratic Rep. Anthony Nolan, who is Black, while arguing in favor of making Juneteenth a paid holiday in Connecticut on the House floor. “And if we delay this, it’s a smack in the face to Black folks.” Juneteenth commemorates when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War and about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Southern states. Last year, Congress and President Joe Biden moved swiftly to make Juneteenth a national holiday. It was the first time the federal government had designated a new national holiday since approving Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. Yet the move didn’t result in an automatic adoption from most states. In Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey issued another proclamation marking Juneteenth a state holiday earlier this week after state lawmakers refused to take action on a bill during their legislative session even after she voiced strong support for making it a permanent holiday back in 2021. The state closes down for Confederate Memorial Days in April. Similarly, Wyoming’s Republican Gov. Mark Gordon issued a statement last June saying he would work with lawmakers to make it a state holiday, but no legislation was filed during the 2022 session. In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee quietly tucked enough funding — roughly $700,000 — to make Juneteenth a state-paid holiday in his initial spending plan for the upcoming year. Despite the bill gaining traction in the state Senate, GOP legislative leaders maintained there wasn’t enough support for the idea even as Tennessee law currently designates special observances for Robert E. Lee Day, Confederate Decoration Day, and Nathan Bedford Forrest Day. “I asked many people in my district over the last few days, well over 100 people, if they knew what Juneteenth was, and only two of them knew,” said Republican Sen. Joey Hensley, who is white and voted against the proposal. “I just think we’re putting the cart before the horse making a holiday that people don’t know about.” In South Carolina, instead of working to approve Juneteenth as a holiday, Senate lawmakers unanimously advanced a bill that would allow state employees to choose any day they want to take off instead of the Confederate Memorial Day, currently enshrined as a paid holiday in state law. However, the House sent the bill to a committee, where it died without a hearing when the Legislature adjourned for the session. At the same time, many of these Republican-led areas have advanced bills limiting what can be taught about systematic racism in classrooms while also spiking proposals aimed at expanding voting rights and police reform. This year, nearly 20 states are expected to close state offices and give most of their public employees time off. At least six states officially adopted the holiday over the past few months, including Connecticut, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington. A bill introduced in California passed the Assembly and moved to the Senate this month, and individual cities such as Los Angeles have already signed proclamations making Juneteenth official. “Becoming a state holiday will not merely give employees a day off; it will also give residents a day to think about the future that we want, while remembering the inequities of the past,” said Democratic Del. Andrea Harrison, who sponsored the Juneteenth legislation in Maryland this year. “It will help us to reflect how far we’ve come as a nation, how much more we need to do as humankind.” Attempts to give Juneteenth the same deference as Memorial Day or July Fourth didn’t begin to gain traction until 2020 when protests sparked a nationwide push to address race after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the deaths of other Black people by police officers. “George Floyd protests against police brutality brought awareness to Juneteenth because there were people of all races learning about its significance for the first time following a public push to self-educate and learn more about Black history, culture and injustices,” said Tremaine Jasper, a resident and business owner in Phoenix who has attended Juneteenth celebrations across Arizona with his family. Some cities in Arizona, including Phoenix, have declared Juneteenth an official holiday, paying city employees and closing municipal buildings. However, lawmakers are not currently considering statewide recognition. “There are so many other important issues that we need to tackle — education, political issues, reparations — before we prioritize making Juneteenth a statewide holiday,” Jasper said, noting that those looking to celebrate know where to go. Jasper, who was born and raised in Arizona, said it is going to be an “uphill battle” to get the state to recognize Juneteenth because there is not a large enough Black population outside of its largest cities to make the push. Arizona was also slow in recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, not doing so until 1992. It was one of the last states to officially recognize the civil rights leader. Republished with the permission of The
Joe Biden tells oil refiners: Produce more gas, fewer profits
President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on U.S. oil refiners to produce more gasoline and diesel, saying their profits have tripled during a time of war between Russia and Ukraine as Americans struggle with record-high prices at the pump. “The crunch that families are facing deserves immediate action,” Biden wrote in a letter to seven oil refiners. “Your companies need to work with my Administration to bring forward concrete, near-term solutions that address the crisis.” Gas prices nationwide are averaging roughly $5 a gallon, an economic burden for many Americans and a political threat for the president’s fellow Democrats going into the midterm elections. Broader inflation began to rise last year as the U.S. economy recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, but it accelerated in recent months as energy and food prices climbed after Russia invaded Ukraine in February and disrupted global commodity markets. The government reported on Friday that consumer prices had jumped 8.6% from a year ago, the worst increase in more than 40 years. The letter notes that gas prices were averaging $4.25 a gallon when oil was last near the current price of $120 a barrel in March. That 75-cent difference in average gas prices in a matter of just a few months reflects both a shortage of refinery capacity and profits that “are currently at their highest levels ever recorded,” the letter states. The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the industry, said in a statement that capacity has been diminished as the Biden administration has sought to move away from fossil fuels as part of its climate change agenda. “While we appreciate the opportunity to open increased dialogue with the White House, the administration’s misguided policy agenda shifting away from domestic oil and natural gas has compounded inflationary pressures and added headwinds to companies’ daily efforts to meet growing energy needs while reducing emissions,” API CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement. Sommers added, “I reinforced in a letter to President Biden and his Cabinet yesterday ten meaningful policy actions to ultimately alleviate pain at the pump and strengthen national security, including approving critical energy infrastructure, increasing access to capital, holding energy lease sales, among other urgent priorities.” The letter is unlikely to start a chain of events that would boost supplies. Refineries have gone through unprecedented, unplanned maintenance globally in the last three months and there is an extreme shortage being felt across the globe, said Claudio Galimberti, senior vice president at Rystad Energy. China’s decision to limit its exports of oil products also contributed to the problem, he said. “U.S. refiners cannot increase capacity beyond current levels,” Galimberti said. “If they could, they would have done it already.” As Biden sees it, refineries are capitalizing on the uncertainties caused by “a time of war.” His message that corporate greed is contributing to higher prices has been controversial among many economists, yet the claim may have some resonance with voters. Some liberal lawmakers have proposed cracking down on corporate profits amid the higher inflation. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, in March proposed a 95% tax on profits in excess of companies’ pre-pandemic averages. The president has harshly criticized what he views as profiteering amid a global crisis that could potentially push Europe and other parts of the world into a recession, saying after a speech Friday that ExxonMobil “made more money than God this year.” ExxonMobil responded by saying it has already informed the administration of its planned investments to increase oil production and refining capacity. “There is no question that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin is principally responsible for the intense financial pain the American people and their families are bearing,” Biden’s letter says. “But amid a war that has raised gasoline prices more than $1.70 per gallon, historically high refinery profit margins are worsening that pain.” The letter says the administration is ready to “use all reasonable and appropriate Federal Government tools and emergency authorities to increase refinery capacity and output in the near term, and to ensure that every region of this country is appropriately supplied.” It notes that Biden has already released oil from the U.S. strategic reserve and increased ethanol blending standards, though neither action put a lasting downward pressure on prices. There’s little the government can do to lower prices, other than release oil from the strategic reserve, and that’s already been done, said Jim Burkhard, vice president at IHS Markit. If Biden had not done that, prices would be even higher today, he added. “No government can simply conjure up new supply,” Burkhard said. “One thing that may help would be to have a more constructive relationship with the U.S. oil industry, because it’s been somewhat antagonistic so far.” The president sent the letter to Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Chevron, BP, and Shell. He also has directed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to convene an emergency meeting and consult with the National Petroleum Council, a federal advisory group that is drawn from the energy sector. Biden is asking each company to explain to Granholm any drop in refining capacity since 2020, when the pandemic began. He also wants the companies to provide “any concrete ideas that would address the immediate inventory, price, and refining capacity issues in the coming months — including transportation measures to get refined product to market.” There may be limits on how much more capacity can be added. The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Friday released estimates that “refinery utilization will reach a monthly average level of 96% twice this summer, near the upper limits of what refiners can consistently maintain.” The letter says that roughly 3 million barrels a day of refining capacity around the world have gone offline since the pandemic began. In the U.S., refining capacity fell by more than 800,000 barrels a day in 2020. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
2 U.S. veterans from Alabama reported missing in Ukraine
Two U.S. veterans from Alabama who were in Ukraine assisting in the war against Russia haven’t been heard from in days and are missing, members of the state’s congressional delegation said Wednesday. Relatives of Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Trinity, and Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, have been in contact with both Senate and House offices seeking information about the men’s whereabouts, press aides said. Rep. Robert Aderholt said Huynh had volunteered to go fight with the Ukrainian army against Russia, but relatives haven’t heard from him since June 8, when he was in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, which is near the Russian border. Huynh and Drueke were together, an aide to Aderholt said. “As you can imagine, his loved ones are very concerned about him,” Aderholt said in a statement. “My office has placed inquires with both the United States Department of State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation trying to get any information possible.” Rep. Terri Sewell said Drueke’s mother reached out to her office earlier this week after she lost contact with her son. The U.S. State Department said it was looking into reports that Russian or Russian-backed separatist forces in Ukraine had captured at least two American citizens. If confirmed, they would be the first Americans fighting for Ukraine known to have been captured since the war began on February 24. “We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with Ukrainian authorities,” the department said in a statement emailed to reporters. It declined further comment, citing privacy considerations. John Kirby, a national security spokesman at the White House, said Wednesday that the administration wasn’t able to confirm the reports about missing Americans. “We’ll do the best we can to monitor this and see what we can learn about it,” he said. However, he reiterated his warnings against Americans going to Ukraine. “Ukraine is not the place for Americans to be traveling,” he said. “If you feel passionate about supporting Ukraine, there’s any number of ways to do that that that are safer and just as effective.” A court in Donetsk, under separatist control, sentenced two Britons and a Moroccan man to death last week. The Britons and Moroccan were accused of being mercenaries and seeking the violent overthrow of the separatist government in the Donetsk region. The Russian military has said it considers foreigners fighting with Ukraine to be mercenaries and claims they are not protected as combatants under the Geneva Convention. Huynh’s fiancee, Joy Black, posted publicly on Facebook that his family was in contact with the Drueke family and government officials and that nothing had been confirmed other than that the two were missing. “Please keep Andy and Alex, and all of their loved ones in prayer. We just want them to come home,” she wrote. U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger tweeted that the Americans “have enlisted in the Ukrainian army, and thus are afforded legal combatant protections. As such, we expect members of the Legion to be treated in accordance with the Geneva convention.” It was unclear whether Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, had any further information about the men. He was commenting on a tweet sent earlier Wednesday by Task Force Baguette, a group of former U.S. and French servicemen, saying that two Americans fighting with them were captured a week ago. The group said Ukrainian intelligence confirmed the information. Early in the war, Ukraine created the International Legion for foreign citizens who wanted to help defend against the Russian invasion. Huynh spoke to his local newspaper, the Decatur Daily, shortly before flying to Eastern Europe in April. He explained that he was studying robotics at Calhoun Community College but couldn’t stop thinking about Russia’s invasion. “I know it wasn’t my problem, but there was that gut feeling that I felt I had to do something,” Huynh told the Decatur Daily. “Two weeks after the war began, it kept eating me up inside, and it just felt wrong. I was losing sleep. … All I could think about was the situation in Ukraine.” He said he decided to fly out once he learned that young Ukrainians were being drafted into service. “Right when they turned 18, they were forced to enlist in the military to defend their homeland,” Huynh said. “Honestly, that broke my heart. I would say that is probably the moment where I decided that I have to do something.” According to the newspaper, Huynh enlisted in the Marines when he was 19 and served for four years, though he did not see active combat. He was born and raised in Orange County, California, to Vietnamese immigrants and moved to northern Alabama two years ago to be closer to his fiancee, the newspaper reported. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
