1. Shock slayings in Limestone County.

 

2. EPA looking at water concerns in Fruithurst.

• For three years now, residents of the tiny Cleburne County town of Fruithurst, Alabama, have been raising concerns about possible contamination of local well water and its impact on the number of cancer diagnoses.
• Now, the Environmental Protection Agency will take soil samples to see whether local fears about contaminated drinking are founded.
• Fruithurst Elementary principal Christy Hiett says there have been 12 cases of leukemia and lymphoma in recent years, and two deaths in the last six months.
• An Auburn University community survey 38 cases of lymphoma and leukemia since 1987 in Fruithurst and Muscadine. Well water was the common denominator in all the cases, Hiett said.
• A possible source for the contaminated well water is a rubber manufacturing plant that closed in 2015.
• Trace amounts of metals were found in the water and soil, along with one semi-volatile organic compound in the soil, bis(2-ethylhexylphthlate), but none “exceeded established parameters” according to an initial investigation by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. ADEM has no authority over private well water, but the EPA does.
• Locals have recently found powerful advocates in U.S. Congressman Mike Rogers and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, who have pushed the EPA to take action.
• “It is welcomed news the EPA plans to test water samples in Fruithurst,” Rogers told ADN. “The situation facing Fruithurst citizens’ access to clean water must be an utmost priority for both federal and state officials. It cannot be ignored or dismissed.”
• Read the full story from ADN’s Mary Sell HERE.

 

3. Dorian weakens, spins in place.

• Dorian has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane but continues to batter the Bahamas as it remains almost at a standstill.
• The National Hurricane center said Dorian is expected to move “dangerously close” to the Florida east coast late Tuesday through Wednesday evening and then move north to coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday night and Thursday.
• Weaker is better for potential wind damage, but the storm could become a huge flooding risk for Florida’s east coast.
• More than 1,300 flights have been cancelled because of the storm and Walt Disney World is closed.
• None of Dorian’s tropical bands are expected to drop rain on Alabama. That’s according to James Spann, who says our state should have a bone dry couple of weeks ahead.
• His forecast and the latest on Dorian HERE.

 

4. Catching up.

• In yesterday’s Daily News, there were stories about the hurricane, wireless companies and Alabama cities arguing over 5G “small cell” fees, and Matthew Stokes’ final column for ADN. Read that HERE.
• In Caroline Beck’s Weekend Digest, there was an interesting story about lawmakers in other parts of the state lining up for possible funds leftover from the “dead” Mobile Bayway project, plus shootings in Mobile and Texas, and her weekly “good news” segment. Read that HERE.
• And if you REALLY checked out early this holiday weekend and weren’t around for Friday, you may have missed the latest edition of Inside Alabama Politics. (Actually, even if you were reading, I screwed up the link that day, so my bad.) There is analysis of the Montgomery mayor’s race, the Mobile Bayway situation, an AL-2 candidate update, a scoop about an Alabama Tax Tribunal throwing out a $75 million assessment on Greentrack, and more. Read the latest IAP HERE (paid subscription).

 

5. AP News Briefs

• The United States and China on Sunday put in place their latest tariff increases on each other’s goods, potentially raising prices Americans pay for some clothes, shoes, sporting goods and other consumer items before the holiday shopping season.
• President Donald Trump said U.S.-China trade talks were still on for September. “We’ll see what happens,” he told reporters as he returned to the White House from the Camp David presidential retreat. “But we can’t allow China to rip us off anymore as a country.”
• But with prices of many retail goods now likely to rise, the Trump administration’s move threatens the U.S. economy’s main driver: consumer spending. As businesses pull back on investment spending and exports slow in the face of weak global growth, American shoppers have been a key bright spot for the economy.
• After Sunday’s move, 87% of textiles and clothing the United States buys from China and 52% of shoes will be subject to import taxes.
• On Dec. 15, the Trump administration is scheduled to impose a second round of 15% tariffs — this time on roughly $160 billion of imports. If those duties take effect, virtually all goods imported from China will be covered.
• Washington and Beijing are locked in a war over U.S. complaints that China steals U.S. trade secrets and unfairly subsidizes its own companies in its drive to develop global competitors in such high-tech industries as artificial intelligence and electric cars.
• Read more HERE.

• Authorities in Alabama say a man awaiting trial for the death of his 6-month-old son has been found dead in his jail cell.
• Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza tells reporters that Carlton James Mathis was found dead Friday. He says the state law enforcement agency is investigating.
• Authorities say Curtis James Oakes died in Mathis’ care last summer and was found days later stuffed into a Dothan motel room freezer. Court testimony showed he died after ingesting methamphetamine.
• Mathis’ death comes days after the baby’s mother, 36-year-old Amanda Gail Oakes, pleaded guilty to charges including manslaughter and corpse abuse. Her plea was part of a deal in which she agreed to testify against Mathis at his November trial on similar charges. She was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

• Some Alabama players kept an eye on former teammate Jalen Hurts’ debut as Oklahoma’s quarterback.
• They came away pleased, but not really surprised.
• Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, meanwhile, said he didn’t get to watch the fourth-ranked Sooners’ 49-31 romp over Houston Sunday night.
• “I didn’t see the game last night. We work on Sunday nights,” Saban said Monday. “But I hear he played extremely well and did an outstanding job, and that doesn’t surprise me in the least bit. And we’re really happy for him, not only in the way he handled himself throughout this entire process, but now that he’s having success as well.”
• Hurts was a two-year starter for the Tide, who lost his job to 2018 Heisman Trophy runner-up Tua Tagovailoa.
• Full story HERE.

 

Headlines.