Good morning!

I want to thank our two impressive intern reporters – Heather Gann and Maddison Booth – for their hard work and great reporting this semester. You’ll continue to see their bylines, Maddison as she reports for ADN this summer before going to law school and Heather as she takes a job at AL.com. Thank you, ladies, and good luck on finals this week!

Here’s your Daily News for Monday, May 2.

 

1. Authorities: escaped inmate, officer still missing

• An escaped inmate considered “a serious threat” is still at large after he was last seen with a correctional officer leaving a north Alabama jail Friday.
• Casey Cole White, 38, had been jailed on a capital murder charge in the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence.
• The inmate and assistant director of corrections Vicky White, 56, left the Lauderdale County Detention Center on Friday morning to go to a nearby courthouse. Investigators said the two are not related.
• Vicky White has been with the department 16 years. Authorities said she was armed when she left the jail with the inmate and headed to the courthouse for what she said was a mental health evaluation for Casey White. She was alone with the inmate, which the sheriff said violated department policy.
• “Our policy is for any inmate with those kinds of charges to have two sworn deputies escort them. And that did not happen,” Sheriff Rick Singleton said.
• Singleton also said there was no mental health evaluation for the inmate scheduled at the courthouse.
• Singleton said his department was “aggressively investigating” the incident and would be looking into previous interaction between the two to “see if something else was going on.” Singleton told news outlets that Vicky White had turned in her retirement papers the day before she went missing.
• Read more HERE.

 

2. Amendment would mean $80M for state parks improvements

• There will be one statewide constitutional amendment on May 24 primary ballots, a proposal to borrow $80 million to make improvements and upgrades at many state parks.
• Alabama voters approved a $110 million bond issue in 1998 to help improve state parks and historical sites. That issue was recently paid off, allowing the state to enter into a new one, officials have said. According to a fiscal note on the bill, the bond issue will cost the General Fund about $6 million per year for 20 years.
• “(Our state parks) are certainly a jewel for the state of Alabama,” said House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter. He sponsored the 2021 legislation putting the proposed borrowing in front of Alabama voters for their approval.
•  “This would enable us to revitalize our parks,” he said. He also said that revamping state parks would bring in more visitors and help Alabama’s economy.
• Read more from Maddison Booth HERE.

 

 

 

3. Red Bay woman charged after dogs kill public health worker

• An Alabama sheriff says a public health worker was killed by dogs after she went to a home to follow up on a report about dogs attacking and injuring another person days earlier.
• Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said the dogs’ owner, Brandy Dowdy, 39, has been charged with manslaughter and with violating Alabama’s dangerous dog law.
• Oliver said deputies on Friday saw several dogs attacking people south of Red Bay, and that led to one person suffering minor injuries and to some dogs being euthanized.
• Read more HERE.

 

4. Researchers returning for assessment of last US slave ship

• Researchers are returning to the Alabama coast near Mobile to assess the sunken remains of the last slave ship to bring captive Africans to the United States more than 160 years ago.
• The Alabama Historical Commission says a team will begin a 10-day evaluation of the remnants of the Clotilda on Monday. Experts have described the wreck as the most complete slave ship ever discovered.
• The agency has hired Resolve Marine, a salvage and services company, for work involving the Clotilda. The ship was scuttled in the muddy Mobile River after illegally dropping off 110 West Africans on the Alabama coast in 1860, decades after Congress outlawed the international slave trade.
• The company plans to moor a 100-foot-long (30.5-meter-long) barge at the site with equipment to support divers and store artifacts that are removed from the water for analysis and documentation.
• “It is a tremendous duty to ensure the Clotilda is evaluated and preserved,” Aaron Jozsef, the project manager for Resolve Marine, said in a statement.
• Read more HERE.

 

5. WATCH: Capitol Journal Week in Review

• In case you missed it, we had a topical show on the latest Capitol Journal Week in Review on Alabama Public Television.
• State Sen. Rodger Smitherman reviewed the highs and lows of the Regular Session and previewed the expected special session later this year.
• State Sen. Chris Elliot discussed the work of the Joint Interim Committee on Transportation, which met last week, the Rebuild Alabama infrastructure program, and the latest with the Interstate 10 Mobile Bay bridge project.
• And Dr. Julia Booth, newly-elected president of the Medical Association of Alabama, talked about the very involved session MASA had on issues like scope of practice and telemedicine.
• Watch online HERE.
• Remember you can alway listen to Capitol Journal via the podcast. Catch it on Apple Podcasts HERE and Google Podcasts HERE.

 

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Authorities: escaped inmate, officer still missing

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Watch: Capitol Journal Week in Review

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – May 24 ballot lets voters approve $80M loan for state parks

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Red Bay woman charged after dogs kill public health worker

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Researchers returning for assessment of last US slave ship

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Durant turns down proposed GOP debate dates

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Marshals: Reward for info on escaped inmate, missing officer

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – State signs $623 million contract for 4,000-inmate prison

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Justice Dept files a challenge to Alabama transgender law

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Hundreds of US urban areas will become rural with new criteria

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Long-time State Rep. Steve McMillan dies

 

AL.COM – Mike Durant declines Senate debate invitation from Alabama Republicans

 

AL.COM – Alabama Shipyard: On the Mobile waterfront, a sleeping giant has awakened

 

AL.COM – Researchers returning to Alabama to examine Clotilda, last known US slave ship

 

AL.COM – Columnist Cameron Smith: Don’t confuse Elon Musk’s Twitter for an actual public square

 

AL.COM – Which Alabama counties have the highest rates of STDs?

 

AL.COM – Confederate group faces shouting protestors at Stone Mountain: ‘We have been fighting this war since 1861′

 

AL.COM – Big Mac’s and Tacky Jacks: Revisiting memorable presidential visits to Alabama

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Montgomery woman faces murder charge in overnight triple shooting

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Boater dies Saturday on Lake Martin

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Whole Foods closing Montgomery store, eligible team members to find positions at other locations

 

Decatur Daily – Work begins on dismantling park for hotel

 

Decatur Daily – 80 new jobs to bring Wayne Farms employment in Decatur to 1,900

 

Decatur Daily – Limestone sheriff’s candidates offer solutions for reducing access to fentanyl

 

Times Daily – World’s door reopens to missionaries

 

Times Daily – Helping ReStore shattered lives

 

Times Daily – Colbert Co. Community Development Committee awards 54 grants

 

Anniston Star – Heflin police tell of harrowing rescue scene on highway

 

Anniston Star – New U.S. courthouse an ‘open, bright, grand space’

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – How Birmingham Police plan for an increase in crime

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Allergy season remaining a problem for sufferers

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Chilton County Sheriff warning residents about scam calls

 

Tuscaloosa News – Thumb’s up for the Mayor’s Cup 5K in Tuscaloosa

 

Tuscaloosa News – Class of 2022: Stillman College holds spring graduation ceremony

 

Tuscaloosa News – Alabama Law Enforcement Agency reports death of Northport man after crash on Lary Lake Road

 

YellowHammer News – Watch: Mike Durant refuses to denounce Lincoln Project outside Republican meeting

 

YellowHammer News – Professional Fire Fighters of Alabama endorse ‘servant leader’ Dale Strong for Congress

 

Gadsden Times – Not your parent’s DARE program: Etowah schools students learn more than ‘Just Say No’

 

Gadsden Times – Reward offered for information on missing Lauderdale County inmate and corrections officer

 

Gadsden Times – After over 500 days in a shelter, former shelter dog Liam adjusts well to new home

 

Dothan Eagle – French Greens, far-left party in deal before June elections

 

Dothan Eagle – Kansas tornado generated 165 mph winds as it destroyed homes

 

Dothan Eagle – EU energy ministers meet to discuss Russian gas, sanctions

 

Opelika-Auburn News – EU energy ministers meet to discuss Russian gas, sanctions

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Armenia detains 125 protesters calling on Pashinyan to quit

 

Opelika-Auburn News – French Greens, far-left party in deal before June elections

 

WSFA Montgomery – Lauderdale County Sheriff releases new photos of Casey White

 

WSFA Montgomery – Safety awareness class held in Auburn to honor Aniah Blanchard

 

WSFA Montgomery – U.S. Marshals Service offering $10,000 for information on missing inmate

 

WAFF Huntsville – Allergy season remaining a problem for sufferers

 

WAFF Huntsville – Justice Dept files a challenge to Alabama transgender law

 

WAFF Huntsville – I-65 bridge inspection resumes May 2

 

WKRG Mobile – Israel lashes out at Russia over Lavrov’s Nazism remarks

 

WKRG Mobile – First civilians leave Mariupol steel plant; hundreds remain

 

WTVY Dothan – U.S. Marshals Service offering $10,000 for information on missing inmate

 

WTVY Dothan – Thunder Beach Spring Rally activities continue

 

WTVY Dothan – Manhunt continues for missing Lauderdale County inmate and officer

 

WASHINGTON POST – Mariupol evacuees face hard journey; Nancy Pelosi meets Polish president Duda

 

WASHINGTON POST – Big majority of Americans back sanctions on Russia, aid to Ukraine, poll finds

 

WASHINGTON POST – Hacking Russia was off-limits. The Ukraine war made it a free-for-all.

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Ukraine Live Updates: Desperate Civilians Gather for Evacuation From Mariupol

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Why the Debate Over Russian Uranium Worries U.S. Tribal Nations

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Democrats’ Mystery: How to Brighten a Presidency and a National Mood

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – U.S. Stock Futures Climb After Worst Month Since 2020

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Apple Abused Dominance in Mobile-Wallets Markets, According to Preliminary EU View

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Consumer-Staples Stocks Take Their Turn in Limelight

 

 

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