Contract related to execution won’t be released
The Alabama attorney general’s office says it will not release to the news media a copy of a contract related to death penalty litigation. The attorney general’s office on Tuesday cited security reasons for refusing a records request from The Associated Press for a copy of a $25,000 contract with a Tennessee firm specializing in occupational safety. The state office declined to answer questions about the contract. State Sen. Greg Albritton said the attorney general’s office indicated the contract was related to litigation over nitrogen gas as an execution method. The state has authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method but has not used it. A federal judge last year ruled Alabama must release its lethal injection protocol but can keRepublished with the permission of the Associated Press.ep some information secret, such as employee names. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
AG’s office responds to Sherry Lewis’s request for dismissal of ethics charges
Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) of Directors member Sherry Lewis filed a request to dismiss her ethics violation charges in April, saying the state’s case against her had no real substance as it did not contain specific dates for her infractions. Lewis’s motion also included language saying she was not informed of any specific conduct for which she had disobeyed the law, and failed to inform her, and her codefendants Jerry Jones and Terry Williams, “‘of the nature and cause of the accusation’ against her and subjects her to being ‘twice put in jeopardy’” making the original claim against her unconstitutional. The Alabama Attorney General’s office responded to Lewis’s request this weekend by denying it. They said the evidence against her is sufficient, and her concerns about “double jeopardy” are premature. Lewis, Williams and Jones were indicted for several violations of state ethics laws in December of 2017. The original claim the state made against Lewis said she used her “official position or office to obtain personal gain for herself, a family member, or a business with which she is associated, and such use and gain were not otherwise specifically authorized by law.” She argues in her request for dismissal that the state used language from an Alabama law, not specifics for which she was indicted. But the state’s response to Lewis’s request for dismissal tells a different story, which describes that Lewis unlawfully used her influence on the board to obtain “money, a no-show job for a family member, and free meals and other improper benefits.” The response continues to say Lewis got those things from two people: “Defendant Jerry Jones, a former Vice President of Arcadis U.S. Inc., and Defendant Terry Williams, an Arcadis subcontractor. Jones was the manager of the BWWB account with Arcadis and he ostensibly hired Williams and his company, Global Solutions, LLC, to work on BWWB projects.” Arcadis has made millions of dollars advising and working on technical issues for the BWWB, and Jones, as Arcadis’s account manager for the BWWB contract, earned more than $300,000 per year for his his client-management services. Asking for specifics on her charges, Lewis got them. The state’s response to Lewis continued to say that Jones and Williams provided Lewis’s son, Joseph Lewis, with a no-show job with Williams’s company. Joseph Lewis received more than $25,000 from the company and would regularly deposit money into his mother’s account, often the same day Williams paid him. “Additionally, when Lewis traveled for BWWB business, Jones often paid the bill,” said the state’s response. “On numerous occasions, Jones filed false expense reports and reimbursement requests with Arcadis about meals that Jones bought for Lewis or her family. For her part, Lewis concealed that her sixty-plus votes for Arcadis benefited her financially and that her refusal to consider other engineering firms for public work had a personal motivation. By prioritizing personal financial gain over honest government, the Defendants violated the Alabama Ethics Act,” the report continues. Lewis and her attorney’s refuse to admit to these charges, and is “looking forward to her day in court to confront the prosecutions accusations,” according to WBRC. If found guilty of the charges, Lewis, Jones and Williams all face $30,000 each in fines, and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. You can read the full text of Lewis’s request and the state’s response below: Lewis’s Motion to dismiss: Sherry Lewis Motion to Dismiss by Jenna Anderton on Scribd State’s Response: Alabama Attorney General’s Office Response to Sherry Lewis Motion to Dismiss by Jenna Anderton on Scribd
Alabama creates training program to fight cyber bullying
The Alabama Department of Education and the Alabama Attorney General’s office have joined together to fight cyber bullying and other concerns in the cyber world. While social media and other online resources offer unbelievable learning opportunities for students in today’s society, they come with some very real risks including: cyber bullying, inappropriate connections, and securing personal data. According to a 2016 WalletHub study, Alabama was ranked number eight in the nation for states with the biggest bullying problems, and was the fifth highest ranked state in the nation for percentage of high school students who attempted suicide. Which is one of the many reasons why the Alabama Department of Education and the Attorney General’s office have created a training program to help both teachers and parents fight against the dangers of cyber bullying. “Modern technology, in the right hands, brings the world to our children’s front door and enables them to live and learn limitlessly. However, as parents, educators, and law enforcement, we all have a unique responsibility to keep them safe,” said Ed Richardson, Interim Alabama State Superintendent of Education. “All those involved have a shared vision of keeping our children shielded from the ills of society. This training will assist in that effort.” The training for parents will include: understanding how quickly children can be contacted by non-age appropriate predators online working cell phone applications and formats (SnapChat, Instagam, etc.) and other less known video chatting platforms used to lure students indicators that a student may be a victim, and how to respond in that event laws pertaining to the cyber world, and much more. Investigators will also train school faculty and staff members on how important the school environment is when dealing with online issues and how to develop policies that address the issues before they start. When to contact law enforcement, preserving evidence for law enforcement, and how to make a report for law enforcement will be covered as well. “We have been working together for several months to develop cyber training that helps parents and teachers determine if children are being targeted and how to report it to law enforcement. Our training is focused on protecting our children and our schools,” said Attorney General Steve Marshall. Training will be conducted by seasoned veterans in law enforcement who are skilled in cyber world safety issues. They are: Sterling “Jake” Frith – Frith is a Special Agent in the Investigations Division of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, responsible for Computer Forensics and Cybercrimes. Before coming to the AG’s office, Agent Frith served with the Prattville Police Department and Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office. He began working in the cyber realm 8 years ago, with 18 years in Law Enforcement. Agent Frith is a Certified Ethical Hacker, Certified Hacking Forensic Investigator, Access Data Certified Examiner, Seized Computer Evidence Recovery Specialist and an Open Source Practitioner. He has over 600 hours of training in cyber crimes and cyber forensics to go along with his experience. Agent Frith has an Undergraduate Degree in Criminal Justice and a Graduate degree in Information Security and Assurance. Agent Frith serves as a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cybercrime Task Force. Robert “Bobby” Moore – Moore is a Special Agent in the Investigations Division of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. S.A. Moore has over 10 years of experience as a law enforcement professional, with a majority of his experience as an investigator assigned to handle Cyber and White Collar Crimes with a focus on sexual crimes against children that involved technology. S.A. Moore is also a certified digital forensics examiner, holding the Certified Computer Forensics Examiner, Access Data Certified Examiner, and Certified Fraud Examiner certifications related to digital forensics and fraud investigation. He holds degrees from The University of Southern Mississippi – Undergraduate in Accounting and Finance and Graduate Degrees in Criminal Justice with a focus on Cyber Criminology. He has taught courses in digital forensics and cyber-related crime for Troy University, Auburn University at Montgomery, The University of Mississippi and Loyola University of New Orleans.
Dems force delays in votes on Jeff Sessions, Steve Mnuchin, Tom Price
Democrats forced delays Tuesday in planned Senate committee votes on President Donald Trump‘s picks for Health and Treasury secretaries and attorney general, amid growing Democratic surliness over the administration’s aggressive early moves against refugees and an expected bitter battle over filling the Supreme Court vacancy. Democrats abruptly boycotted a Senate Finance Committee meeting called to vote on Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the Health nominee and Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s Treasury selection, saying both had misled Congress about their financial backgrounds. The Democrats’ action prevented the Finance panel from acting because under committee rules, 13 of its members — including at least one Democrat — must be present for votes. It was unclear when the panel would reschedule to votes. At the Senate Judiciary Committee, a meeting considering Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to be attorney general lasted so long — chiefly because of lengthy Democratic speeches — that Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the panel would meet again Wednesday. The meeting on Sessions’ nomination was coming with Democrats and demonstrators around the country in an uproar over Trump’s executive order temporarily blocking refugees. Even some Republicans were warning it could hinder anti-terrorism efforts. Not everything ground to a halt. The Senate education committee voted 12-11 to send Trump’s pick to head the Education Department, Betsy DeVos, to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee quickly approved former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Energy secretary by 16-7, and Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., to head Interior by 16-6. And the full Senate easily confirmed Elaine Chao to become transportation secretary by a 93-6 vote. Chao was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, and is wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Just before the Finance committee was scheduled to vote on Price and Mnuchin, Democrats called a briefing for reporters and announced their plan to force a delay. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Price and Mnuchin would hold positions “that directly affect peoples’ lives every day. The truth matters.” Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, accused Democrats of “a lack of desire to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.” “They ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots,” he said. In 2013 when Democrats controlled the Senate, Republicans boycotted a committee vote on Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, temporarily stalling it. Democrats cited one report in The Wall Street Journal that Price received a special, discounted offer to buy stock in a biomedical company, which contradicted his testimony to Congress. They said another report in The Columbus Dispatch showed documents revealing that Mnuchin had not been truthful with the Senate in the confirmation process in comments about how his bank OneWest had handled home foreclosures. Republicans have supported both men, and both have strongly defended their actions. Democrats have opposed Price, a seven-term congressional veteran, for his staunch backing of his party’s drive to scuttle Obama’s health care law and to reshape Medicare and Medicaid, which help older and low-income people afford medical care. They’ve also assailed Price for buying stocks of health care firms, accusing him of using insider information and conflicts of interest for backing legislation that could help his investments. Price says his trades were largely managed by brokers and that he’s followed congressional ethics rules. Democrats have criticized Mnuchin for not initially revealing nearly $100 million in assets, and were expected to vote against both nominees. They’ve also accused him of failing to protect homeowners from foreclosures and criticized him for not initially disclosing all his assets. DeVos, a wealthy GOP donor and conservative activist, has long supported charter schools and allowing school choice. That’s prompted opposition from Democrats and teachers’ unions who view her stance as a threat to federal dollars that support public education. Critics have also mocked her for suggesting that guns could be justified in schools to protect students from grizzly bears. Two prominent Republicans on the education committee, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said they remained uncertain if they will vote for her on the Senate floor. Murkowski said DeVos has yet to prove that she deeply cares about America’s struggling schools and its children. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
