Alabama top stories in brief
- A motion made by the Alabama Department of Health to dismiss a lawsuit against the department over birth center regulations was denied by Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Greg Griffin. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama on behalf of the owners of three birthing centers after regulations for birthing centers in Alabama were changed.
- Federal prosecutors announced on Sept. 27 that Alabama Democratic Rep. John Rogers has been indicted. Rogers is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice after being accused of using state grant money as a bribe to someone to provide false information to a federal investigation. Rogers is the second representative to be arrested related to the investigation. Former Rep. Fred Plump has pled guilty to conspiracy and obstruction after taking approximately $200,000 of the $400,000 in grant money. After pleading guilty, Plump resigned from the Alabama House of Representatives.
- A final price of $1.082 billion has been set for Alabama’s new men’s prison in Elmore County. When legislators originally approved the construction of men’s prisons in Elmore and Escambia, they approved a total price of $1.3 billion for both prison sites combined. Congress has blamed rising inflation for the increase in price.
Congressional maps meet the approval of plaintiffs, but not Republicans or Democrats
A court-ordered special master has presented three proposals for Alabama’s new congressional map. While the plaintiffs of the lawsuit, which led to a new map being required, have stated their support for two of the options, both Republican and Democrat lawmakers have voiced dissatisfaction, though for very different reasons.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a three judge panel’s ruling that Alabama’s current congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act. The court’s ruling sided with plaintiffs who argued that Alabama’s maps restricted the voting opportunities of Black voters. This claim was based on the fact that 27% of residents in Alabama identify as Black, but only one out of seven congressional districts have a Black majority.
The three judge panel ordered Alabama to redraw its maps to include at least two majority Black districts. The map that the Alabama legislature submitted to the courts did not create a second majority Black district. The map submitted would have lowered the Black voting age population of district seven, Alabama’s only district with a majority Black voting age population, to 50.65% and raised district two to 39.93%.
The three judge panel ruled that this did not meet their requirements, and ordered a special master to create new maps for Alabama. The state appealed to the Supreme Court, asking for a stay in the lower court’s ruling, but the Supreme Court denied the request.
Alabama’s Secretary of State Wes Allen, along with Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile and Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, filed objections to the map proposals on Thursday. Their criticisms said that the proposed maps split up communities of interest and racially gerrymandered voters.
The Alabama Democratic Conference announced last week that it intended to file an objection over all three maps submitted by the special master. Joe Reed, the chairman for the ADC, told the Alabama Daily News that he didn’t believe the new map proposals gave voters a fair chance to elect candidates of their choice.
All of the newly proposed maps would leave district seven with its Black majority intact. In the first proposal, district two would have a Black population of 50/1%. It would have 48.5% for the second proposal and 48.7% for the third proposal.
The plaintiffs who challenged Alabama’s maps have voiced their support for proposals one or three, and urged the courts to adopt either of those options.
Our articles you might have missed
- Last week’s Roundup covered the departure of Help at Home, a large At Home Care group that employs hundred of people statewide. The group cited Alabama’s lack of expansion for Medicaid as its primary reason.
- In “Take care of yourself first,” the most recent edition of The Breathing Room, Editor Hannah Irvin discusses how caring for ourselves makes us more capable of caring for the people and things that we love.
Events this week
- Alabama Invitational: An exhibition featuring work created by current and former Alabama artists in the mediums of sculpture, glass, photography, painting and textiles produced by artists originally from or currently based in Alabama. View more details on our event calendar.
- If you’re interested in having your event advertised on our calendar, you can submit events here.
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