A mayor at last
A United States district judge signed off on a settlement this week that’ll put the winner of a mayoral election into the mayor’s office after he was kept out of the office for four years, reports AL.com’s Alaina Bookman.
The lawsuit at hand said the town of Newbern, population 133, has not held regular elections for decades, and mayors and council members have been appointed by those already in power.
It also alleged discrimination since the old guard was white while the elected mayor, Patrick Braxton, was Black.
Braxton will be inaugurated Aug. 3. He’ll run for re-election — in the city’s first real election in decades — next year.
More verbal jousting with Mexico
U.S. lawmakers are again sounding off on Mexico’s seizing of Vulcan Materials property on the Yucatan Peninsula. And Alabama’s senators are taking roles in calling out Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.
It was in May when the group of senators sent a letter to Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs. Now, senators from Alabama Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville and fellow Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee are calling on López Obrador to back off. Last week, the Mexican president announced plans to designate the land and port as a naturally protected area.
The senators said the their letter: “The López Obrador administration is continuing to set a dangerous precedent with these actions, undermining the long-standing bilateral relationship between our two countries and eroding international confidence in Mexico’s adherence to the rule of law. We remain committed to using all appropriate tools at our disposal to deter the Government of Mexico from seizing Vulcan’s lawfully owned and operated property and ensure no entity or individual benefits from its theft.”
The Mexican president, who has claimed Vulcan didn’t have proper permits to extract materials, seized the property in March 2023. He said he’d declare it a protected area if Vulcan didn’t take $360 million for the property, which Vulcan estimates is worth $1 billion.
Vulcan Materials is based in Birmingham.
Buggs’ conviction
Former Alabama and NFL defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs faces at least 60 days of hard labor and is losing his rights to possess guns and own cats and dogs after a misdemeanor animal-cruelty conviction, reports AL.com’s Carol Robinson.
Responding to information they received, Tuscaloosa police officers found pit bulls on Buggs’ back porch and a rottweiler mix locked in a metal cage. They said the dogs were malnourished and that the residence, a rental home, appeared to have been abandoned.
The district judge sentenced Buggs to 365 days of labor but ordered him to serve 60 days with the rest suspended pending his behavior.
Buggs has faced other charges in Tuscaloosa County, including second-degree domestic violence and second-degree burglary in June.
Quoting
“It shouldn’t be Nick Saban Field. It should be Bryant-Saban Stadium.”
By the Numbers
366
That’s how many acres The Freshwater Land Trust said it will preserve near the site of an old coal mine on a peninsula where Mulberry Fork and Locust Fork meet to form the Black Warrior River.
The announcement comes after a court settlement resulted in a 107-acre donation from Drummond Company.
More Alabama News
Born on This Date
In 1914, big-band leader, trumpet player and composer Erskine Hawkins of Birmingham.
In 1959, writer Rick Bragg of Piedmont.
The podcast
Ivana Hrynkiw joins the show to update us on her series on the paroling system in Alabama. She has a story about Roy Moore going to bat for an inmate hit with life after a shoplifting case that happened back when Moore was still chief justice.
You can find “Down in Alabama” wherever you get your podcasts, including these places:
