Federal court challenge looms over Alabama solar panel fees
A federal regulatory group will not take action against the Alabama Public Service Commission over fees allowed on home solar panels, but the group’s chairman expressed concern that the state might be violating a federal law designed to encourage alternative energy sources. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a request from environmental groups to take enforcement action against the Alabama regulators that approved Alabama Power’s fees on home solar panels and other home power generation. However, two members of the five-member panel, Commission Chairman Richard Glick and Commissioner Allison Clements, issued a separate statement Wednesday to express concern that Alabama regulators may be violating federal policies designed to encourage the development of cogeneration and small power production facilities and to reduce the demand for fossil fuels. Their statement expresses a concern “that the Alabama Public Service Commission may be violating the Commission’s (Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act or PURPA) regulations, undermining the statute’s purpose of encouraging qualifying facilities.” Alabama environmental groups said Thursday that they are prepared to pursue action in court. Homeowners and environmental groups have been trying to challenge Alabama Power’s fees on home solar panels and other independent energy production, arguing that the fees purposely discourage the use of solar in the sun-rich state. “We are now prepared to take the next step of seeking relief from a federal district court so that Alabama Power customers can finally reap the benefits of solar to the same degree as customers in other solar-rich states,” said Keith Johnston, director of Southern Environmental Law Center’s Alabama office. Michael Hansen, executive director of the environmental group GASP, said Alabama’s unjust, discriminatory treatment of solar customers is stifling solar growth across the state and undermining PURPA’s basic aim of encouraging the development of solar. The Alabama Public Service Commission upheld the fees, which Alabama Power says are needed to maintain the infrastructure that provides backup power to customers when solar panels don’t provide enough energy. Alabama Power charges a $5.41-per-kilowatt fee, based on the capacity of the home system, on people who use solar panels, or other means, to generate part of their own electricity. That amounts to a $27 monthly fee on a typical 5-kilowatt system. The average solar panel setup for a home costs about $10,000, according to the Environmental Law Center. The fees add another $9,000 or so over the 30-year-lifespan of a system, dramatically increasing a homeowner’s cost and reducing any financial benefit they see from solar. Alabama Power did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, but a spokeswoman said earlier this year that the fees are needed to maintain the power grid. “Customers with on-site generation who want backup service from the grid should pay the cost for that service. If not, other customers unfairly pay the costs for those individuals and businesses,” Alabama Power spokeswoman Alyson Tucker said in April. Experts for environmental groups said the charge is unjust and eliminates much of the savings that customers expect to realize for their investments in installing solar panels. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Regulators uphold Alabama Power’s fees on solar, OK increase
The Alabama Public Service Commission voted to dismiss a challenge by environmental groups who argued the fees were excessive and against the public interest.
Environmentalists challenge Alabama Power’s solar fees
An environmental group claims Alabama Power Co. is wrongly charging fees that increase costs for customers who install solar panels. The Southern Environmental Law Center and others filed a complaint Thursday with the Alabama Public Service Commission challenging surcharges the utility imposes on homes, businesses and schools. The group says Alabama Power’s fees for customers with solar arrays amount to about $300 annually, cutting into savings they’d otherwise receive from using solar. It says the fees add about $9,000 in cost over the lifetime of an average solar system. Critics say the charges are depressing Alabama’s solar-power industry, which trails much of the nation. The petition asks the commission to bar Alabama Power from collecting the additional charge. Alabama Power says it was reviewing the complaint and declined further comment Friday. The utility-regulating Public Service Commission let the charges take effect about five years ago. Most people with rooftop solar arrays also purchase power from utilities, and the fee is charged in addition to customers’ normal bill for electricity. The Southern Environmental Law Center and a Birmingham-based law firm, Ragsdale LLC, filed the complaint on behalf of two people and Gasp Inc., which advocates energy production that reduces air pollution. Gasp executive director Michael Hansen, in a statement, said neighboring states are experiencing business and job growth linked to the solar energy industry that largely is bypassing Alabama because of the utility’s policies. “If solar customers were treated fairly, Alabama would have the opportunity to reap these same benefits,” he said. Alabama Power is a subsidiary of the Atlanta-based Southern Co. Utility regulators in neighboring Georgia rejected a similar solar surcharge proposed there by Georgia Power Co., also a Southern Co. subsidiary, in 2013. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Roy Moore, Luther Strange move to runoff for Ala. U.S. Senate race
Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and sitting Sen. Luther Strange will face off in a runoff election to decide the Republican nominee for the rest of Jeff Sessions’ Senate term. Republicans voting Tuesday did not give a single candidate more than 50 percent of the vote, resulting in the top two vote-getters moving on to a runoff election Sept. 26. Republican voters gave Moore an 8-point lead over Strange, 40 to 32 percent, with 66 of 67 counties reporting. Huntsville Republican Congressman Mo Brooks came in third at 20 percent, with state Sen. Trip Pittman of Baldwin County getting seven percent and Alabama Christian Coalition president Randy Brinson with less than one percent. Unofficial results put turnout at about 15 percent, with 500,390 votes cast of 3,281,781 total registered voters. More than 376,000 Republicans cast ballots. Other Republican candidates receiving less than one percent include Dr. James Beretta, Joseph Breault, Mary Maxwell and Bryan Peeples. The contentious primary featured bitter accusations between Strange and Brooks, which cast no small doubt on whether the sitting incumbent — who enjoyed endorsements from both President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — could come in either first or second. What did not help was that Strange was appointed in February by then-Gov. Robert Bentley, who later resigned in disgrace after a sex scandal. Strange also struggled with his association with McConnell, whose popularity plummeted among Republicans. Brooks constantly hammered McConnell, calling the Majority Leader the Senate’s “Swamp King.” McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund had run waves of negative ads during the primary — many supporting Strange, but much more against Brooks, calling him a “career politician” and blasting his nonsupport of Trump in 2016. Late in the race, Strange finally received Trump’s endorsement (on Twitter), even though Strange also did not publicly endorse the New York real estate mogul during last year’s presidential primaries. As for Democrats, former federal prosecutor Doug Jones looks to be winning the primary outright with more than 61 percent of the votes cast. Jones, received a late-primary endorsement from former Vice President Joe Biden. While he led polling throughout the primary season, Kennedy’s name recognition — despite being unrelated to the famous Kennedy clan — helped earn him only 21 percent of Democratic primary voters. Other Democrats in the race were pastor Will Boyd, a former Greenville, Illinois City Councilman (who received six percent); Talladega County Constable Vann Caldwell, businessman Jason Fisher (two percent); activist Michael Hansen (who also received seven percent) and Charles Nana. Given Alabama’s strong Republican lean (the state elected Trump by nearly 28 points over Hillary Clinton), whoever wins the runoff — either Moore or Strange — will most likely represent the state in the U.S. Senate. The general election is Dec. 12.
Dr. Eric Ostermeier: Will Luther Strange lose Alabama’s GOP U.S. Senate nomination?
Only five out of 60 Republican appointed senators seeking to keep their seat over the last 100+ years lost their party’s nomination in the next election. With 10 Republican candidates appearing on Tuesday’s ballot – including the incumbent, a U.S. Representative, and a very well-known ex-state supreme court justice – a primary runoff for the GOP U.S. Senate special election in Alabama is all but assured with no candidate expected to capture a majority of the vote. Senator Luther Strange is hoping Donald Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement will ensure he is one of the top two candidates headed to the runoff, besting four-term Congressman Mo Brooks with former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore expected to emerge with a plurality. Should Strange fail to make or lose the subsequent September 26th primary runoff, he will become just the second appointed senator since the 1970s to come up short in such a bid. Overall, slightly less than two-thirds of appointed senators have run to keep their seat the next time it came up on the ballot in the direct election era – 126 of 196 appointees (64.3 percent). Prior to Strange, the vast majority of appointees who sought their party’s nomination were successful – 101 of 125 (80.8 percent), including 84.4 percent over the last half-century (27 of 32). [Note: A few of these 125 appointed senators did not run in the special election for the seat to which they were appointed, but ran instead in the election held simultaneously for the state’s other Senate seat]. Since 1980, appointees nearly have an unblemished mark with 21 of 22 U.S. Senators receiving their party’s nomination, including each of the last 12 aspiring to keep their seat since 1999. The only lawmaker who failed in such an attempt since 1980 was Kansas Republican Sheila Frahm in 1996. Frahm was appointed to the seat in June 1996 after Bob Dole resigned to focus on his presidential bid. Freshman U.S. Representative Sam Brownback defeated Frahm in the primary three months later by 13.1 points in a three-candidate field. Since 1967, just five such incumbents failed to win their party’s primary election. In addition to Frahm, the other four are: Democrat David Gambrell (Georgia, 1972): lost in a runoff to state Representative Sam Nunn Democrat Howard Metzenbaum (Ohio, 1974): lost to famed astronaut John Glenn by 8.7 points Democrat Paul Hatfield (Montana, 1978): lost to U.S. Representative Max Baucus by 45.9 points Democrat Maryon Pittman Allen (Alabama, 1978): lost in a runoff to Alabama State Senator Donald Stewart Of the 24 appointed Senators who failed to win their party’s nomination since 1913, more than 40 percent have come from the Southern region: 10 from the South, five each from the Midwest and West, and four from the Northeast. If Strange fails to emerge as the GOP nominee on Tuesday or in September’s runoff, he will become just the sixth Republican U.S. Senator to come up short in the direct election era out of 61 candidacies: Joseph Grundy (Pennsylvania, 1930): lost to U.S. Labor Secretary James Davis Frank Partridge (Vermont, 1931): lost to former St. Albans Mayor Warren Austin by 10.2 points Robert Upton (New Hampshire, 1954): lost to U.S. Representative Norris Cotton by 8.2 points Maurice Murphy (New Hampshire, 1962): lost to U.S. Representative Perkins Bass by 6.9 points Sheila Frahm (Kansas, 1996): lost to U.S. Representative Sam Brownback by 13.1 points Overall, there have been far fewer appointed U.S. Senators in recent decades, due in part to fewer members of the chamber dying in office to create an automatic vacancy in the first instance. During the first half-century of the direct election era, a total of 124 senators died in office including three or more members 23 times: in 1916, 1917, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1954, and 1962. Since 1964, only 53 senators passed away while in office with at least three dying in a calendar year just once (Democrats Lee Metcalf of Montana, Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, and James Allen of Alabama in 1978). The 50+ month gap since the last death in the U.S. Senate (New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg in June 2013) is the fourth longest stretch without such a vacancy in 200 years. ___ Dr. Eric Ostermeier is the author of Smart Politics from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Center for the Study of Politics and Governance (CSPG).
Embattled Mo Brooks hit with new ethics complaint
Rep. Mo Brooks can now stop telling Alabama voters he “never” received an ethics complaint. On Monday, an Alabama man filed a federal grievance against the congressman and Senate candidate accusing him of improperly using congressional resources both in a campaign ad and on social media. NTKnetwork.com reports insurance agent Joe Fuller filed the complaint against Brooks, locked in a heated race for the second-place spot in the primary Tuesday for Alabama’s Senate seat. In a recent campaign ad — “To the president” — Brooks chides President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for supporting his Republican opponent, sitting Sen. Luther Strange. Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC linked to McConnell, has solidly backed Strange with millions of dollars in advertising. Brooks, Strange and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore have been battling for the top spots in the 9-person primary to decide who could serve the rest of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Senate term. A Cygnal/L2 poll released Thursday suggests the race will go to a runoff Sept. 26 between two top vote-getters, since it is unlikely one will take a majority of the vote. In the survey of likely Republican voters, Moore leads the field with 31 percent compared to Strange‘s 23 percent. Brooks, the only other candidate with a chance of making a runoff, follows with 18 percent. Last week, Trump formally endorsed Strange on Twitter, which led to a quick condemnation from Brooks, who had been pushing himself as a pro-Trump candidate. Both in the ad and on Twitter, Brooks asked Trump to reconsider his endorsement. “McConnell and Strange are weak, but together, we can be strong,” Brooks said in the spot, before asking: “Mr. President, isn’t it time we tell McConnell and Strange: ‘You’re fired?’” It was a nod to Trump’s famous catchphrase used in “The Apprentice.” As Fuller’s complaint noted, the ad shows Brooks wearing his congressional pin — an apparent violation of House ethics rules. As the House Ethics Manual states: “Official resources of the House must, as a general rule, be used for the performance of official business of the House, and hence those resources may not be used for campaign or political purposes.” Fuller’s complaint also alleges that Brooks violated 18 U.S. Code § 713, prohibiting a Member of Congress photo from being used on a social media campaign page. Brooks official photo is on his Facebook page. According to 18 U.S. Code § 713: “Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likenesses of the great seal of the United States … or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress … for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.” Brooks continues to insist he has never received a single ethics complaint — an interesting claim considering several questionable ethical lapses as Madison County district attorney in the 1990s. Nevertheless, in a campaign appearance Monday with the Republican Women of Birmingham, Brooks had a slightly different take. The video was streamed on Facebook Live and is also available on Brooks Senate campaign page. At about nine-and-a-half minutes, the video shows Brooks telling the audience that due to “limited resources,” his wife, Martha, handles complaints, ethical concerns, and federal elections Commission issues for his office. Brooks’ comment raises a question: Why would he need someone to handle ethics accusations — especially his own wife — if Brooks never gets any complaints in the first place?
News coverage roundup ahead of Alabama GOP Senate primary
A brief roundup of news coverage ahead of Tuesday’s Alabama U.S. Senate primary: POLITICO – “The GOP rebel threatening to snag Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat” Roy Moore lacks the war chest of two chief rivals in his bid to become the next senator from Alabama. He didn’t land the coveted endorsement of President Donald Trump and doesn’t enjoy the advantages of incumbency. Yet the controversial former state Supreme Court justice is coasting over his Republican challengers in Tuesday’s closely watched GOP Senate primary. Moore is set to easily secure a place in a September runoff, as the establishment-backed Sen. Luther Strange and Rep. Mo Brooks scrape for the second spot. Should Moore become the GOP nominee and the next senator from Alabama, his bombastic personality and antipathy toward Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are sure to make more trouble for the GOP leader, who’s taking constant flak from Trump as it is. McConnell and his allies are spending millions to elect Strange, and in response, Moore has made McConnell the symbol of everything he opposes in Washington. “I resent people from Washington, raising money in Washington, and sending negative ads to Alabama and trying to control the vote of the people,” Moore said in an interview after a GOP executive committee meeting here. “If the Washington crowd wants somebody, the people of Alabama generally don’t.” New York Times – “Despite Donald Trump’s support, Alabama Senator struggles to a primary finish” Sen. Strange wields an endorsement from the president of the United States, is the beneficiary of a multimillion-dollar campaign from allies of Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and has the backing of influential conservative interest groups like the National Rifle Association. But Strange is wheezing into Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary here. He is grasping to secure a second-place finish and a slot in a September runoff with Roy Moore, the twice-deposed former State Supreme Court justice and evangelical-voter favorite who is expected to be the top vote-getter but may fall short of the majority needed to win outright. And while Republicans have not lost a Senate race in Alabama since 1992, national Democrats have started to quietly consider competing for the seat if their preferred candidate, Doug Jones, wins the nomination and Moore is the Republican standard-bearer. Luther Strange of the Great State of Alabama has my endorsement. He is strong on Border & Wall, the military, tax cuts & law enforcement. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2017 New York Daily News – “In Alabama’s Senate race, contenders fight over who is Trump’s biggest fan” At first glance, U.S. Representative Brooks seems exactly the kind of candidate President Donald Trump would love to see win Tuesday’s Republican primary election for Alabama’s open U.S. Senate seat. The 63-year-old Republican is a Freedom Caucus member and an immigration hardliner who calls opponent Strange “Lying Luther,” echoing Trump’s penchant for bestowing insulting nicknames on his political foes. “Trump would like to drain the swamp; Brooks would like to blow it up,” said Larry Powell, a professor of communication at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “But their goals are the same.” Yet it was Strange, not Brooks, who earned a coveted prize last week in a race that could measure Trump’s influence in a state he carried easily in last year’s election, despite recent indications that his support among Republicans may be softening. The Associated Press – “Alabama’s U.S. Senate race all about Donald Trump love, swamp hate” In the Alabama race for Attorney General Sessions’ former Senate seat, the Republican slugfest primary is about love of all things Trump — with contenders competing to woo Trump voters — and disdain of the so-called swamp of Washington D.C. While Strange is boosted by Trump’s endorsement, he could also be dragged down by accusations of his ties to establishment Republicans. Strange is backed by a super political action committee tied to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The PAC has pumped millions into an advertising blitz on behalf of Strange as it seeks to beat back GOP insurgents. Ever since a series of messy primaries led to losing general election Senate races in 2010 and 2012, Republicans led by McConnell of Kentucky have worked aggressively to defeat challengers deemed as fringe. But that backing has become a major rallying cry for Strange’s challengers. Brooks has labeled him as the candidates of the “swamp critters.” Washington Post – “Donald Trump’s feuding base faces showdown in Alabama Senate race” For Republicans, the Alabama contest is a snapshot of the party’s churning base at this moment in the Trump presidency. In a deep-red state, the dominant squabbles are not over ideological purity — that GOP test of old — but over loyalty to Trump and over who has the most visceral connection with his core voters. The violence in Charlottesville, sparked by white nationalists, has hovered over the final sprint, and Republican candidates have issued statements of condemnation. As with Trump, some of them did not mention white nationalism or white supremacy by name. “I was hoping for a quiet, lazy summer in our very humid state. That’s not to be the case this year,” Terry Lathan, the chair of the Alabama GOP, said in an interview. Until last week, Republicans had been immersed in a bitterly fought but relatively sleepy referendum on Strange, with the incumbent — who is nicknamed “Big Luther” — arguing that he was a dogged foe of President Barack Obama’s policies as state attorney general and a reliable vote for Trump’s priorities. His opponents accused him of being a polished and well-connected “swamp critter” who was more aligned with McConnell than with Trump, who won 62 percent of the vote in Alabama last year. Then Trump tweeted. George Will – “’Republican Gothic’ in Alabama primary” Southern Gothic is a literary genre and, occasionally, a political style that, like the genre, blends strangeness and irony. Consider the current primary campaign to pick the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama vacated
Alabama Senate race a fight to the finish
Wearing an NRA baseball cap and newly armed with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, Alabama Sen. Luther Strange on Saturday strolled by the sausage vendors and rodeo ticket booths at a rural county fair, rallying voters ahead of Tuesday’s critical Republican primary for Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat. “The day will turn on turnout. That’s why the President’s endorsement is so critical,” Strange said between handshakes. Strange said he thought Trump’s support would make “the difference” in the race. “That’s what I told the President,” Strange said. However, Strange declined to say if he thought he could win without a runoff, citing turnout. Despite both the endorsement of Trump via a Tuesday tweet backing of millions of dollars in advertising by a super political action committee tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Strange has found himself in what could be a tight Republican primary race with firebrand challengers. Those rivals include Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore — who was twice removed from office over stances for the public display of the Ten Commandments and against gay marriage — and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who is backed by tea party voters in the state. The Alabama race for Sessions’ former seat has devolved into a high-dollar GOP civil war. McConnell’s allies have made a heavy investment to keep Strange in the seat, while the challengers hope to ride an anti-Washington backlash to victory. The race will go to a September runoff between the top two finishers if no candidate gets over 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday. The winning Democrat and Republican will face off in December. At the Cleburne County Fair, where country and Christian music blared from loudspeakers, several voters said they were still thinking — and, in some cases, praying — about how to vote. Cleburne Probate Judge Ryan Robertson said he has great respect for Strange, but also appreciated that Moore “took a stand” on gay marriage. Moore was permanently suspended from his chief justice duties in 2016 after telling probate judges that they did not need to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of a state court order. Cleburne is one of eight counties that stopped issuing marriage licenses, so county officials did not have to give them to same-sex couples. “He stuck his neck out,” Robertson said of Moore. Moore and Brooks have both criticized Strange as the establishment candidate, saying Alabama voters won’t get the change they want with a McConnell-backed candidate. “People voted for change and they are not getting it. They are not getting anything out of Washington,” Moore told The Associated Press by telephone. Brooks spent the last two-weeks crisscrossing the state on a bus nicknamed the “Drain the Swamp Express” that also had a “Ditch Mitch” sign secured to it. “This is a very, very important Senate race. We’re going to be a bellwether for the 2018 races,” Brooks said at a midweek stop in Montgomery. Other Republicans in the race include Sen. Trip Pittman, who has run television ads and materials touting his status as the only businessman in the race, and Christian Coalition leader Randy Brinson. The rollicking primary began with Strange’s appointment in February by then-Gov. Robert Bentley, who later resigned in the cloud of a scandal. Challengers have taken swipes at Strange for seeking an appointment from the governor when Strange, as attorney general, was in charge of an investigation. Strange has countered that he did Bentley no favors. The Democratic side of Tuesday’s election has not been the messy political food fight of the GOP race. Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney under the Clinton administration, is perhaps the best-known statewide of the seven Democrats vying for the nomination. He faces Michael Hansen, the head of an environmental organization, and Robert Kennedy, Jr., a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who is unrelated to the famed Massachusetts political dynasty. Adding to the uncertainty, the late summer election is expected to draw low turnout. With no other races on the ballot to help bring voters to the polls, candidates have nervously upped their ground game to get supporters to the polls. Brooks spent Saturday campaigning in south Alabama. Moore will speak at several churches on Sunday. “This state is poised to be the first to make a statement in this battle that’s going on in Washington,” Moore told The Associated Press. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Joe Biden gives thumbs-up to Doug Jones in Alabama U.S. Senate primary
Former Vice President Joe Biden gave thumbs-up to former federal prosecutor Doug Jones in his bid for the Democratic nomination for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat. Al.com reports that Biden is featured in a robocall Thursday urging voters to cast ballots for Jones in Tuesday’s special primary to decide who will finish the term of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Jones’ campaign published the text of Biden’s robocall on Facebook: “Doug has spent his entire life fighting for justice. He was the man after the 1963 church bombings that would not let it rest until he found the killers of those four young girls — and he eventually found justice — prosecuting and jailing those Klansmen nearly 40 years later. He’ll take that same energy and drive and fight for you and your families in the Senate — for a higher minimum wage, for fair, affordable health care, for good schools for all our kids. Doug Jones will make a great U.S. Senator so please make sure you get out and vote on Tuesday — and I’m hoping you’ll vote for my friend, Doug Jones.” With Biden taking sides, both Obama and Trump administrations have weighed in on the Alabama U.S. Senate election. Donald Trump tweeted his support for sitting Sen. Luther Strange this week. Also supporting Jones is Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis and Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham. In a Raycom poll conducted last month, Robert Kennedy Jr. — no relation to the famous Kennedy family — is leading the Democratic race with 49 percent, compared to 28 percent for Jones. Jones and Kennedy are part of an eight-person field that includes Will Boyd, Vann Caldwell, Jason Fisher, Michael Hansen, Brian McGee and Charles Nana. Unless one of the candidates can secure a 50 percent plus one majority of the vote in the Aug. 15 primary, Alabama voters will have to decide between the top two vote-getters in a Sept. 26 runoff. The general election is Dec. 12.
Alabama lawmakers, don’t punish those of us with allergies
Have you had a runny nose in recent months? The reason for that may be fall allergies, which are particularly bad in Alabama. In fact, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Birmingham ranks as the 29th worst place for fall allergies. And this is not a one-time thing. Last year, Birmingham ranked 22nd. To me – and many of my friends who suffer from these allergies – medicines containing the active ingredient pseudoephedrine (PSE) are our best option to feel better. For those without allergies, PSE is found in safe and effective medicine like Sudafed and Claritin-D. The problem is that some in the legislature are thinking about putting forth legislation next year that would make it significantly harder to get these types of medicines. Their reasons are noble – PSE can be used in meth production – but the current dynamics of meth use in our state show that these policies would hurt honest allergy sufferers more than criminals. Since 2011, Alabama has seen almost an 80 percent decrease in meth lab incidents, and according to the DEA, 90 percent of meth in the United States comes from Mexico. This means that what our legislators should be focused on is helping treat meth addiction, not punishing honest citizens. ••• Michael Hansen lives in Irondale, Ala. and serves as the Executive Director of Gasp in Birmingham, Ala.
