Alabama top stories in brief

• In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Gov. Kay Ivey sent a search and rescue task force to Florida. She also recently deployed members of the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Alabama Department of Public Health to assist in Florida and North Carolina. ALDOT is sending a crew of 18 members to assist their Florida counterpart with clearing affected roadways. The ADPH is sending a 9-person support crew of health professionals to support mass care shelters in North Carolina. Additionally, members of the Alabama National Guard have been deployed to assist with the response in North Carolina. 

• A three-judge panel affirmed a lower court’s decision to place an injunction on part of a new Alabama law that limited what help could be provided for absentee ballots. The law makes it a Class C felony for a person to receive payment or a gift for “distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining or delivering” and a Class B felony to pay or provide a gift to a “third party to distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain or deliver.” The injunction prevents the law from applying to voters who are illiterate, blind or disabled. The injunction was placed because the judge ruled that applying the law to those voters would place an undue burden upon them. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office argued that the injunction made voters less protected. Plaintiffs in the case, which include the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, argued that the law would criminalize non-profits who utilize paid staff members or provide gas money to volunteers that provide aid. 

• On Oct. 10, the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Board requested that ADVA Commissioner Kent Davis withdraw his resignation. The request comes a month after Davis agreed to resign at the end of the year. Gov. Kay Ivey had requested Davis’s resignation after accusing him of mishandling American Rescue Plan Act funds and the filing of an ethics complaint against the head of the Alabama Department of Public Health that was dismissed by the ethics committee. Initially, Davis had refused to resign, but after a private meeting with Ivey, he agreed to resign at the end of the year. Davis was present during the ADVA meeting and when asked to comment, he stayed firm with his previous decision to resign at the end of the year. 

• Heather Lasha Craig and Bailey Clark Ganey, two former corrections officers at Walker County Jail in Jasper, have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the death of a former inmate. The inmate, Tony Mitchell, was arrested on Jan. 12 after family members called local authorities to check on Mitchell, who appeared to be struggling with his mental health. Mitchell shot at the officers and was arrested and placed in a booking cell for two weeks that lacked bedding, heat and access to a toilet. Mitchell was described as “almost always naked, wet, cold, and covered in feces while lying on the cement floor without a mat or blanket” in court documents. Despite observing Mitchell’s condition, neither Ganey or Craig assisted. Mitchell later died in the hospital after suffering from hypothermia and sepsis. Craig cited the fear of being labeled as a snitch while Ganey cited intervention as a possible threat to his employment. Both Ganey and Craig will be arraigned in October. 

• In October of 2019, Steven Davis, a former inmate at the William. E Donaldson Correctional Facility, was beaten to death by officers. His mother, Sondra Ray, filed a lawsuit in 2020 claiming wrongful death. The Alabama Department of Corrections recently settled the lawsuit, issuing $250,000 to Ray. Prior to the settlement, $393,000 was paid to several attorneys by the state to defend the officers included in the lawsuit. Officers involved in Davis’ death stated that the kicks and blows Davis received were for self defense and that Davis was threatening officers with weapons, but inmates observed excessive, deadly force being used on Davis after he dropped his weapons and fell to the floor. Two of the four officers involved in the death are still current employees at ADOC. 

Our articles you might have missed

• “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” In last month’s edition of The Breathing Room, Hannah Irvin echoes Mary Oliver’s famous poem, “The Summer Day,” as she invites readers to consider what to do with their own wild and precious lives.

• Beneath our feet, an entire world exists for those willing to explore it. In his latest edition of The Longleaf Hiker, Xander Swain travels to Lost Creek Cave and relates his time spent there, explains why he loves caving and discusses the importance of protecting the cave ecosystem. 

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