35 days left to apply for an absentee ballot by mail for Nov. 8 election
The absentee voting period for the November 8 General Election began on September 14, 2022. Ahead General Election, Secretary of State John Merrill would like to remind Alabama voters that there are 35 days left for the Absentee Election Managers to receive an application for an absentee ballot by mail. Voters will have an additional two days to apply for an absentee ballot by hand. Absentee ballot applications can be downloaded online or requested by visiting or calling the local Absentee Election Manager’s office. Voters may also contact the Secretary of State’s Elections Division at (334) 242-7210 to request an absentee ballot application. Important absentee voting deadlines are listed below: November 1, 2022: The last day that absentee ballot applications returned by mail can be received by the Absentee Election Manager. November 3, 2022: The last day that absentee ballot applications returned by hand can be received by the Absentee Election Manager. November 7, 2022: The last day an absentee ballot returned by hand can be received by the Absentee Election Manager. November 8, 2022: Absentee ballots returned by mail must be received by the Absentee Election Manager no later than noon today. Voters who are eligible to vote pursuant to the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) will have until November 8, 2022, to postmark an absentee ballot.
Libertarian candidate for Lieutenant Governor Ruth Page Nelson campaigns in Huntsville
On Sunday, the Libertarian Party of Alabama nominee for Lieutenant Governor Ruth Page Nelson addressed a diverse group of voters at an election forum event at Huntsville’s Studio 53. “I am Ruth Page Nelson the Libertarian candidate for Lieutenant Governor,” Nelson said. “I am your choice for change.” Nelson is challenging Republican incumbent Will Ainsworth in the general election. “Now you have a choice to make a difference,” Nelson told the crowd that had just seen Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Dr. James “Jimmy” Blake debate write-in candidate for governor Dean Odle. “We have a state that builds itself on mass incarceration. We will change that,” Nelson said. Nelson grew up in Florida but is a resident of the Dothan area. She is a community activist and an electrician. She is certified by the U.S. Department of Energy to teach solar system installation installers. She has a degree in microbiology. “The integrity of the vote has been a major issue in this election,” Nelson said. “The integrity of the vote determines whether you vote or not.” Nelson is for replacing the state’s ESS vote counting machines with a hand counted paper ballots. “We need to go to the paper ballot,” Nelson said. Nelson previously ran as a Republican for U.S. Senate. “Your vote determines the future of your children and grandchildren,” Nelson continued. Nelson said that the office of Lieutenant Governor is important because, “The Lt Governor is the President of the Senate.” This is the first time that the Alabama Libertarians have had ballot access since 2002. Libertarians need for at least one of their statewide candidates to get at least twenty percent of the vote in order to keep ballot access without going through the ballot access petition process – a process that cost over $240,000 during this election cycle. No Libertarian candidate, including Nelson and Blake, knew for sure that they would be on the ballot until May 24, thus the Libertarian nominees have been late getting ramped up in this election cycle. “I am trying to win enough votes to see that Ruth Page Nelson gets 20% of the vote so we can keep ballot access,” Blake said. “We have 65 candidates who are on the ballot. Fifty of those people are running only against a Republican or a Democrat.” In those 50 races the Republican or Democratic nominee faces only a Libertarian. The Lieutenant Governor’s race is one of those 50 races where one of the two major parties chose not to challenge the other. The general election will be November 8. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Former Sheriff William Ray Norris pleads guilty to lying on a loan application
Former Clarke County Sheriff William Ray Norris has pleaded guilty to one count of lying on a loan application. Norris reported to two banks that he needed the money to buy food for prisoners and other jail expenses when in reality, he was using the money for his own personal use, including to pay off his gambling debts. Norris had previously been indicted on five counts in January of this year in the state of Alabama court system. Norris was indicted by a Clarke County grand jury for unlawful use of campaign contributions, violating the Fair Campaign Practices Act, use of office for personal gain, violating the Statement of Economic Interest disclosure requirements, and income tax evasion. That case was tossed out of court in March by retired Judge Braxton Kittrell, who ruled that Norris had a previous plea agreement with the Alabama Attorney General’s office to resign and thus was precluded from being prosecuted again for his conduct while he was sheriff. Norris resigned from his office in May 2021 after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s Special Prosecutions Division filed articles of impeachment in the Alabama Supreme Court, charging him with moral turpitude and using his office for personal gains. Those first state charges were subsequently dropped as part of that 2021 plea agreement in which Norris agreed to resign. This, however, is a separate federal case. Federal authorities indicted Norris in the Southern District of Alabama for four counts of applying for loans at two Alabama banks in May. Federal authorities claim that Norris told the banks, Town County National Bank in Camden and Sweet Water State Bank in Sweet Water, that the money was to pay for food and other jail expenses. The money was actually used for personal expenses. The four loans totaled approximately $48,000. Last year, when Norris resigned from his post as Sheriff, Marshall stated, “It is more important than ever that the public be able to trust elected officials, especially when they occupy leadership positions within law enforcement. It was my judgment that Sheriff Norris could no longer be trusted as a public servant or as a law enforcement official, and his resignation should be a welcome relief to the public. Sheriff Norris’ decision to resign from office, however, does not foreclose the possibility that criminal charges will be filed against him.” Norris still faces a sentencing hearing on the federal charge that he has pleaded to. He could potentially face years in federal prison. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Daniel Sutter: Economic freedom and the pandemic
The 2022 Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) report confirms what many economists suspected: COVID-19 took a toll on economic freedom in addition to its other impacts. We have lost a decade of progress on freedom. Economic freedom refers to individuals’ ability “to decide how to use their time and their talents to shape their lives.” Our freedom is grounded in self-ownership, which requires effective control or decision rights. To truly own your life, you must be able to make decisions without permission from parents, siblings, or government bureaucrats. The EFW index quantifies how closely an economy approaches the ideal of free markets. The index measures how government policies affecting buying, selling, and operating businesses. Higher taxes, more government spending, and more regulation shift decisions to government officials, reducing economic freedom. Thirty years ago, Canada’s Fraser Institute started measuring this. The EFW index now includes 42 variables grouped into five categories: size of government, legal system and property rights, the availability of sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation. Scores are calculated on a scale from 0 (least) to 10 (most freedom) for each area, and a country’s score averages the area scores. Each year’s report uses data from two years earlier due to reporting lags. The scores I discuss here are from 2020. U.S. freedom fell from 8.25 in 2019 (5th) to 7.97 (7th). Of the 165 rated countries, Hong Kong ranked first with a score of 8.59 and Venezuela last at 3.32. Our score fell in each of the five areas, with the largest declines in the size of government and regulation. America’s economic freedom is now at its lowest since the 1970s. Economic freedom declined across the globe in 2020. The world average score fell from 7.00 to 6.84. While this may not seem large, the world is back to its 2009 level. America’s rank would have fallen more if countries behind us like Canada and Britain had not also declined. Further declines seem likely. Our current inflation is not yet reflected in our money score, while Federal spending has continued to rise under President Joe Biden. Still, the EFW index does not fully capture the impact of COVID lockdowns because governments had never closed “non-essential” businesses or issued “stay-at-home” orders. There was no need to measure never-tried policies. Economists Vincent Miozzi and Ben Powell of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University propose in a new paper adjusting the EFW for lockdowns. They start with 11 COVID policy measures and drop ones unrelated to economic freedom or already captured by the index (e.g., international travel restrictions). When possible, they calculate national scores based on state or province scores. This yields a COVID freedom score, which they use to adjust the EFW regulation area score. They propose two formulas; I will only discuss their results, weighing pandemic restrictions more heavily. For consistency with the EFW, Miozzi and Powell score COVID freedom on the same 0 to 10 (most freedom) scale. 2020 COVID freedom scores range from 10.0 (Burundi) to 1.54 (Argentina); the United States ranks 71st at 5.36. Less developed nations generally have higher COVID freedom scores while developed countries imposed stricter lockdowns. Some nations’ scores are surprising, though. Taiwan and Japan ranked 3rd and 4th on COVID freedom, so not all developed nations locked down. New Zealand and China ranked 13th and 22nd despite their draconian measures. New Zealand initially relied on strict international travel restrictions, only imposing strict domestic lockdowns in 2021. China’s extremely authoritarian measures were applied regionally during high local transmission; national policies were not terribly strict. Adjusting for COVID restrictions reduces the U.S.’s freedom score to 7.22, which ranks 14th. Hong Kong remains the freest, while Australia falls from 6th to 23rd and Sweden rises from 33rd to 10th. COVID responses had enormous societal consequences beyond the virus’ illnesses and deaths. Education economists predict that school closures’ learning losses will persist for years or possibly decades. We will see if the costs of lost economic freedom persist similarly. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Hurricane Ian to make landfall on the Florida Coast
As of dawn on Tuesday, the latest National Hurricane Center forecast track for Hurricane Ian has nudged further eastward, which will take it into the coast around the Tampa Bay area within the next day. At this time, it appears that Hurricane Ian will be more of a Florida Peninsula event rather than a Florida panhandle event and is not expected to significantly impact Alabama. Ian is now over the western tip of Cuba. Winds have increased to 125 miles per hour, making Ian a category three hurricane. It is expected to strengthen to a category four hurricane once it gets back over the gulf waters. The latest NHC forecast track brings Ian into the coast near or just north of Tampa Bay tomorrow night. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Bonita Beach to the Anclote River, including Tampa Bay. Remember that with a hurricane, the storm surge will affect a much wider range of the coast than will get landfall. A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for Anclote River southward to Flamingo and Tampa Bay. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the lower Florida Keys from Seven Mile Bridge westward to Key West, Flamingo to Bonita Beach, Suwannee River to the Anclote River, Volusia/Brevard County Line south to Jupiter Inlet, and Lake Okeechobee. Ian is expected to only spend a few hours over western Cuba, so it is not expected to weaken in this short period over land. The eye of the storm should be over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico later this morning. While Ian will strengthen to a category four storm, the NHC is currently predicting it to weaken back to a category 3 when it comes ashore on the Florida coast near Tampa Bay. Florida residents are advised to stay out of the water due to life-threatening storm surge and the high likelihood of dangerous rip tides. Residents of the Florida coast from Fort Myers to the Tampa Bay region should listen to the advice given by local officials. Hurricane-force winds are expected in the hurricane warning area in west-central Florida beginning tomorrow morning, with tropical storm conditions expected as late today. Heavy rainfall will increase across the Florida Keys and South Florida during the day today, spreading into central to northern Florida tomorrow and Thursday and the Southeast by Friday and Saturday, likely causing flash, urban, and small stream flooding. Considerable flooding is expected across Central Florida into southern Georgia and coastal South Carolina, with significant, prolonged river flooding expected across central to northern Florida. Southwest Alabama is not expected to be heavily impacted by Hurricane Ian. The surf will be rough along the Central Gulf Coast as far west as Gulf Shores, including a high danger of rip tides. Parts of Alabama could see some rain from the remnants of the storm system this weekend, with a higher likelihood of rain on the eastern half of the state. Be aware that construction materials like plywood, roofing shingles, and lumber could be in short supply in the coming days and weeks, particularly if the damage is severe in Florida, so please postpone building and remodeling projects if possible so that supply chains can focus resources on what is likely to be a lengthy repair and rebuilding process in Florida. Alabama Today will continue to monitor the situation as conditions change. Please keep our friends in Florida in your prayers. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Joe Guzzardi: Pro-Environment platform a mid-term winner
The latest mid-term election polling shows that Republicans and Democrats are dead even. In January, the same polling firm Statista had the GOP ahead by four points. Other polls like 538.com indicate more or less the same outcome. But if voters have learned anything since the 2016 and 2020 elections, it would be to distrust polling firm projections. Results from 2020 polls favored Democrats, with Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) as likely losers. But Collins, 6.5 points behind, or so said the pre-election pollsters, won by 8.6 points. The other five candidates that the prognosticators wrote off as doomed won handily. Pollsters have an explanation to defend their theory that congressional Democrats might still retain the majority, despite record inflation, rising crime rates, a botched Afghanistan withdrawal, student debt forgiveness, billions of dollars squandered in support of what’s become an endless Russia-Ukraine war, and an open border. It is that the GOP has nominated poor candidates in key swing states. Among the races, pollsters are tracking most closely are Blake Masters in Arizona vs. incumbent Mark Kelly, Herschel Walker in Georgia vs. incumbent Raphael Warnock, Adam Laxalt in Nevada vs. incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, and Mehmet Oz vs. John Fetterman in Pennsylvania, where incumbent Republican Pat Toomey is retiring. A state official who has no congressional voting record, Fetterman proudly notes that his wife’s family overstayed their visas, at which time their immigration status converted to unlawfully present, a clue that he favors more immigration. Fetterman’s website says he supports a “humane” immigration system, a vapid remark which confirms that he endorses Biden’s status quo. The GOP challengers, all within striking distance, may be getting short shrift from pollsters. The candidates were persuasive enough to capture primary nominations; they’re not too tongue-tied to debate. More important, going into the general election, the GOP has as much fodder – listed above – and primo debate material as any high-office challengers in history, thanks mostly to President Biden’s slipshod governance, and the incumbents’ whole-hearted endorsement of it. On the key open borders issue, Masters, Walker, and Laxalt have the benefit of launching an offensive against their opponents’ immigration voting records. Their rivals, Kelly, Warnock, and Cortez Masto are, like Fetterman and Biden, all-in on open borders. A review of the incumbents’ immigration votes found that each has consistently voted against reducing amnesty fraud, against curbing illegal immigrants’ rewards, against ending unnecessary employment visas, against stricter border enforcement, and against more rigorous interior enforcement. Stumping on reducing immigration can be problematic since such a focused campaign would trigger untruthful but potentially damaging racist allegations. A winning campaign would include linking immigration to unsustainable population growth, an indisputable fact that the Census Bureau confirms. Census Bureau data predicts that by the mid-21st century, the U.S. population will increase to more than 400 million from its current 333 million, a greater than 20 percent increase. More than half of that growth will be attributable to immigration and births to immigrants. For comparison’s sake, the Center for Immigration Studies’ researchers, based entirely on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements, found that in 2017 there were 35.8 million legal and illegal immigrants living in the U.S. who arrived from 1982 to 2017. Further, these immigrants had 16.9 million U.S.-born children and grandchildren. In total, immigration added 52.7 million people to the U.S. population between 1982 and 2017, accounting for a little over 56 percent of population growth during this 35-year time period. For the nation’s population to increase by more than 65 million people, as the Census Bureau predicts, in less than 30 years, creates a grave danger that will exacerbate existing environmental problems like water shortages and land lost to urban sprawl. Opinions about immigration and its effects often differ. But sentiments about the environmental future Americans want to ensure for their children and grandchildren are consistent. Americans want open spaces and nature’s bounty to remain for future generations to enjoy, a goal that ever-more immigration makes impossible. To win and to prove the pollsters wrong again, the GOP platform must emphasize immigration’s harmful, unwanted consequences of unchecked population growth and the environmental degradation that accompanies it. Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Progressives for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
Terri Sewell announces millions in workforce development funding for Birmingham and Bessemer
Congresswoman Terri Sewell announced millions in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) during press conferences in Birmingham and Bessemer on Monday. The funds will be for job training and educational opportunities for at-risk youth. The Bessemer Housing Authority and Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD) will each receive $1.5 million from the DOL’s YouthBuild program to support the development of apprenticeship and other career pathway models that prepare at-risk youth for jobs in construction and other in-demand industries, especially clean energy. The awards are part of a $90 million investment by the federal government to grow America’s clean energy workforce with education and training for young adults. “This announcement is truly a win-win for our community,” Sewell stated in a press release. “By connecting at-risk youth with job training and education, this funding will provide our most vulnerable young adults with the resources they need to succeed, all while growing our green energy workforce. Once again, I applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for making transformational investments in our community!” Courtney Coleman is the Executive Director of the Bessemer Housing Authority. “We are delighted to be awarded the Department of Labor YouthBuild Grant to help provide the youth of Bessemer, Alabama with additional resources, furthering their education and preparing them to become productive citizens in our community,” said Coleman. “We believe these funds along with our community partners will work together to ‘Build Better Lives’ and ‘Deliver Hope,’ which is the mission here at the Bessemer Housing Authority.” Dr. Anthony Hood is the Chairman of the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District. “This is a monumental win for our agency,” said Chairman Hood. “This award allows us to equip our most promising youth with the tools needed to thrive in an ever-competitive workforce. The demand for skilled trades and apprenticeships has never been stronger, and this grant allows us to place our young people on a direct path to the careers of the future.” “Often, when a child drops out of school, society takes it as a sign that they have given up hope that life can get any better for them. This grant allows us to seek out those youth and give that hope back to them,” said HABD President and CEO Dontrelle Young Foster. “With this award, HABD can prepare residents for quality jobs and promote the attainment of skills necessary for success in this knowledge-based economy. This is a win not only for the clients we serve at HABD but also for the entire City of Birmingham.” Since November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor has awarded 68 grants—ranging from $700,000 to $1.5 million—to organizations in 28 states and Puerto Rico to deliver job training and employment services. The participants will engage in classroom learning that will prepare them for work-based learning opportunities, building and rehabilitating affordable housing for low-income or homeless families in their communities. Participants will split their time between workplace training and the classroom, where they will earn a high school diploma or equivalent degree to prepare for postsecondary opportunities. The purpose of the YouthBuild program is to fund organizations to provide a pre-apprenticeship program model that encompasses education, occupational skills training, leadership development, and high-quality post-program placement opportunities for youth. YouthBuild is a community-based alternative education program for youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who left high school prior to graduation that also have other risk factors, including being an adjudicated youth, youth aging out of foster care, youth with disabilities, migrant farmworker youth, youth experiencing housing instability, and other disadvantaged youth populations. The YouthBuild program simultaneously addresses multiple core issues important to youth in low-income communities: affordable housing, leadership development, education, and employment opportunities in in-demand industries and apprenticeship pathways. YouthBuild programs serve as the connection point to vital services for participants. The YouthBuild funding opportunity announcement included criteria that awarded bonus points for applicants that demonstrated their ability to provide training in green construction techniques, training the next generation of workers for resilience and clean energy careers of the future. Rep. Sewell is in her sixth term representing Alabama’s Seventh Congressional District. Redistricting has made CD7 much more diverse than in previous elections. Sewell faces Republican Beatrice Nichols and Libertarian Gavin Goodman in the November 8 general election. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Environmental group sues over coal ash plan on Alabama coast
A coastal environmental group filed suit Monday, trying to block a decision by Alabama Power Co. to leave millions of tons of coal ash along a riverside in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, where opponents say a spill could devastate a huge ecosystem. The company contends however that it is following all applicable laws and standards. Saying, “On April 17, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a final rule for management and disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals (CCRs) from electric utilities. In 2018, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management issued its state CCR rule, which closely tracks the federal rule.” The federal lawsuit by Mobile Baykeeper was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center, which announced plans to sue the electrical utility in July. The group wants to force Alabama Power to give up what it contends is an illegal plan to permanently leave more than 21 million tons (19 metric tonnes) of coal ash in an unlined pit at Plant Barry, located north of Mobile along the Mobile River. Environmentalists argue the ash pond is polluting groundwater and could destroy a verdant, biologically diverse region should it be breached by heavy flooding, a hurricane, or some other disaster. “Plant Barry is the only coal ash lagoon of a major utility left in a low-lying coastal area of the Southeast that is not already cleaned up or on track to be recycled or removed to safe storage, away from waterways,” Barry Brock, director of the law center’s Alabama office, said in a statement. Alabama Power did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit, filed in Mobile. It previously declined comment on the group’s plan to sue though it has issued the following details on its website: Closing Ash Ponds Safely and Permanently The company is treating and removing all water from the pond. Material will be excavated and moved farther away from waterways, creating buffers of up to 750 yards from the Mobile River – a distance in some places longer than seven football fields. The size will be reduced by 267 acres, or about 45 percent. Using advanced engineering, Alabama Power will construct a redundant dike system as part of the plant’s increased, robust flood-protection measures. In addition to the redundant dike system, Alabama Power will construct a subsurface retaining wall around the entire consolidated footprint to provide further groundwater protection. The site benefits from a unique, natural solid clay layer that extends up to 28 feet below the ash pond. The retaining wall will extend below ground and tie into the clay layer to effectively seal the material in place. Additionally, an internal drainage system will be constructed around the perimeter of the consolidated footprint to accelerate the removal of water. The company will install a specially engineered barrier over the material to keep it safely in place. Storm water systems will be added to manage rainwater runoff. Alabama Power will monitor groundwater around the facility for at least 30 years to ensure ongoing protection of water quality. Plant Barry opened in 1965 about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Mobile. With federal regulators imposing tougher rules on storing coal ash, Alabama Power has been working for several years to close the roughly 600-acre (243-hectare) pond in the process detailed above which includes drying it out, moving material to a smaller site nearby, and covering it with a liner. The company contends moving the material farther away from the plant site would pose a hazard in itself. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
