Presented by The Boeing Company.

1. White House fights back.

 

2. Update: Shaw will run for reelection.

• Yesterday we reported the breaking news that State Sen. Cam Ward will be running for a spot on the Alabama Supreme Court.
• That Place 1 seat is currently held by Associate Justice Greg Shaw, and amid the breaking news yesterday, it was unclear whether Shaw planned to run for reelection.
• Well, he does.
• Shaw campaign spokesman Josh Cooper confirmed that the justice is running for reelection and that their campaign will trust voters to “thoroughly evaluate the candidates and select the most qualified to serve on the state’s highest court.”
• That sets up another intriguing primary.
• While most of the state’s attention is on the U.S. Senate race and the two competitive races for U.S. House, we now have a competitive primary for the Alabama Supreme Court.
• Story now updated with Shaw’s statement HERE.

 

 

 

 

A message from The Boeing Company.

 

• Air Force Global Strike Command launched an unarmed Boeing-built Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

• Boeing has provided support for four tests this year – and every Minuteman launch test since 1961 – to ensure the missile system operates reliably and safely.

• Boeing has unique expertise across the ICBM weapon system, particularly the missile guidance system. Boeing has led multiple ICBM modernization efforts to ensure the system’s capabilities as threats evolve over time.

• An industry team that makes the most of this Boeing expertise would spur on-time development of the next generation ICBM.

 

 

 

3. Byrne boasts big grassroots network.

• U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, who is running for U.S. Senate, announced Monday the launch of his grassroots leadership team of more than “200 key community leaders” from Alabama’s 67 counties.
• Byrne is the first Senate candidate in Alabama to create such a team. Members of the grassroots leadership team serve as coordinators in their communities that help with various tasks to support Byrne. The group includes 21 state lawmakers.
• “We are going to win this primary and defeat Doug Jones thanks to this team of homegrown supporters,” Byrne said.
• Byrne was the first to announce his candidacy in February and faces former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, current Secretary of State John Merrill and current state Rep. Arnold Mooney.
• They are all vying for a chance to take back the seat from Jones, a Democrat, who kicked off his own reelection campaign last month.
• Read the full story, including the full list of Byrne’s campaign team, from Caroline Beck HERE.
• Speaking of Jones, the incumbent senator raked in a whopping $2 million in the 3rd quarter and has a healthy $5 million cash on hand. Fundraising reports aren’t due for another week, but it is doubtful that any of the Republicans running will match Jones’ strong 3rd quarter number.

 

4. Bryan Taylor to leave Ivey admin, making way for wife’s run for Congress.

• Bryan Taylor, general counsel for Gov. Kay Ivey, is stepping away from his post as the governor’s top legal adviser to make way for his wife, Jessica Taylor to pursue a run for Congress.
• Bryan Taylor submitted a letter of resignation, effective October 15, and Ivey’s Communications Director Leah Garner confirmed the departure to Alabama Daily News Monday.
• In his resignation letter, Bryan Taylor thanked Ivey for her “trust and confidence” and praised her for steadying “the ship of state.”
• “Although I love serving as your General Counsel, I have concluded that resigning now is the right thing to do for you and your administration in light of my wife Jessica’s interest in running for Congress,” he wrote.
• Inside Alabama Politics first reported in September that Jessica Taylor was considering a run for Congress in Alabama’s 2nd District, where five term incumbent Rep. Martha Roby recently announced she is not seeking reelection.
• Jessica Taylor has not made an official announcement or formed a congressional campaign committee, but this is the surest sign yet that she is actually running.
• Full story HERE.

 

5. News Briefs.

• BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) — Officials are investigating the recent death of an inmate who was killed after rushing at officers who then used “physical measures” to subdue him, the Alabama prison system said Monday.
• The state released limited information about the death of 35-year-old Steven Davis and did not disclose what measures officers used Friday at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer. The prison system said it will provide more information after the investigation is complete.
• The Alabama Department of Corrections said in a news release that it is investigating.
• The prison system said two officers reported Davis rushed out of his cell with a home-made weapon in each hand and tried to strike an officer. The prison system said Davis refused to comply with verbal commands and “the use of standard methods to disarm.”
• “At that time, correctional officers applied physical measures to diffuse the threat in order to remove the weapons from the scene and secure the inmate,” the prison system wrote in a statement.
• A prison system spokeswoman did not immediately return an email seeking additional information.
• Davis was taken to the infirmary and airlifted to a hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital on Saturday.
• Davis was from Graysville. He was serving a 20-year sentence out of Jefferson County for murder.

• WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says it won’t review the case of an Alabama death row inmate who argued his sentence is unconstitutional because a judge imposed it over the will of a jury.
• The high court said Monday it won’t hear Mario Dion Woodward’s case. Woodward was convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Keith Houts during a 2006 traffic stop. A jury voted 8-4 to sentence him to life in prison, but a judge overrode the jury and imposed the death penalty.
• In 2017, Alabama passed a law ending the practice of judicial overrides going forward. Woodward argued Alabama’s abandonment of the practice was an acknowledgment that his sentence is unconstitutional.
• Woodward can continue to pursue legal arguments against his sentence in lower courts.

• WETUMPKA, Ala. (AP) — Law enforcement officials say a 3-year-old girl died after apparently drowning in a neighbor’s pond.
• Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin tells news outlets that the body of 3-year-old Jalyssa Ingram was found in a pond.
• Franklin said foul play is not suspected, but an autopsy will be conducted.
• The sheriff said the girl was in the front yard with an aunt and wandered off when the adult briefly looked away. Investigators initially believed the girl may have been abducted.
• An investigator and bloodhounds tracked the girl’s scent to the bank of a pond about 175 yards away from the house.

• PELL CITY, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Alabama say they’ve arrested a woman whose mobile home was filled with feces, dead carcasses and 50 malnourished animals.
• News outlets report 51-year-old Donna Mullins was arrested Friday and charged with obstruction of governmental operations. Police say more charges are expected.
• Pell City Police Chief Paul Irwin says officers responded to an animal cruelty call at the Shady Dale Mobile Home Park, where they found 47 cats and three dogs living inside Mullins’ trailer.
• Irwin says the home was the worst living situation he’s ever seen. He says the home was toxic, didn’t have running water and smelled, forcing officers to wear masks.
• Irwin says the animals were taken to the Pell City Animal Shelter.

 

 

Headlines.

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