Public safety

Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) has declared that Hoyt Hutchinson is a “patriot” and should be given a patriotism medal for his knife attack on the baby Trump balloon in Tuscaloosa. Protesters were flying the Trump baby balloon in a Tuscaloosa park to protest a visit to the city by President Donald J. Trump (R). Hutchinson … Continued

Monday, a federal judge sentenced a Springville couple involved in a St. Clair County pill mill scheme. The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brad Byerley, and IRS-Criminal Investigations Atlanta Field Office Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Holloman. United States District Judge R. David … Continued

Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded $225,000 in grant funding to provide training for law enforcement agencies across the state. A $125,000 grant will be used by Jacksonville State University’s Center for Applied Forensics to provide forensics training and evidence collection kits for police officers and sheriff’s deputies from small- to medium-sized departments. Auburn University at … Continued

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn received a “National Outstanding Service” award, the department announced Thursday, the same day a nationally-syndicated radio program broadcast live from Birmingham about the state’s broken prison system.  Dunn has been selected for the 2019 Michael Francke Career Achievement Award by the Correctional Leaders Association (CLA). Kevin Kemph, executive … Continued

Thursday, Alabamians for Fair Justice released a statement critical of Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn’s tenure in charge of the state’s prisons. “Under Commissioner Dunn’s leadership, Alabama’s prison system is in a constitutional crisis,” the activist group claimed. “There have been at least 20 verified deaths due to homicide, suicide or overdose in … Continued

Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded $204,100 to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to continue its fight against illegal drugs in Alabama. ALEA will use the funds for its part as manager of seven regional drug task forces in Alabama. Gov. Ivey awarded a total of $1.4 million to those agencies in October to continue local, … Continued

Tuesday, a car weaved off of Kelly Creek road in Moody and hit a utility pole near the Valero gas station near Interstate 20. A Moody police officer went to the scene of what he thought was a traffic accident and found Nicholas Sloan Harmon, age 20, in the seat dead from a gunshot wound. … Continued

Dena Dickerson is worried that Alabama officials won’t make the hard decisions needed to fix the state’s broken prison system, and that the people who can help inform those decisions aren’t being listened to.  People like herself.  In 2002 at the age of 23 Dickerson was sentenced to serve 114 years in Alabama prisons, convicted … Continued

If an Alabama-headquartered white supremacist group’s visit to the Emmett Till memorial sign in Mississippi on Saturday was meant to divide people through racial hatred, it’s having the opposite effect, said the director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center.  “We’ve seen an outpouring of support from across the country, from people of all stripes, who … Continued