Alabama’s Attorney General Luther Strange is asking the state Ethics Commission to reconsider an opinion that he says may undermine the state ethics law.
Strange sent a letter earlier this month asking commissioners to revisit advice they gave to state representative Patricia Todd. The commission told Todd she could advocate and vote on bills backed by her employer, an organization that works on gay and lesbian issues. The opinion says that’s OK, as long as the votes were on issues and not a financial benefit to her employer.
Strange says that opinion blurs the lines between legislator and lobbyist. Indicted House Speaker Mike Hubbard cited that opinion in his efforts to dismiss the 23 felony ethics charges against him. Charges against Hubbard include his vote on a budget that could have benefited a client.
The Tennessee Riverkeeper is moving ahead in its lawsuit against 3M, the City of Decatur, and other groups. They're suing over alleged pollution in and around the Wheeler Reservoir.
The riverkeeper announced its intent to sue yesterday. The lawsuit is because of perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs. Those chemicals were once widely used in 3M products, but were phased out several years ago after being identified as organic pollutants. Recent investigations have found PFCs present in the Tennessee River and Wheeler Reservoir, and high levels in the area groundwater.
David Whiteside is the executive director of the Tennessee Riverkeeper. He explains what he wants to see as a result of the lawsuit.
“Tennessee Riverkeeper is asking that 3M increase its efforts to clean up its onsite groundwater contamination. Our organization also wants the leachate from the two landfills that collect the contaminants be treated before they are discharged, and that the wastewater treatment plant treat its discharge to remove these chemicals before releasing them into the Tennessee River.”
3M says it’s already hard at work removing the contaminants from the groundwater, and they haven’t seen any health issues with their employees.
The twelfth ranked University of Alabama Football team looks to get back on the winning track this weekend against Louisiana-Monroe.
The Crimson Tide lost to Ole Miss 43-37 a week ago at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Coach Nick Saban says his team will have another challenge against a Warkhawk defense that returns nine starters from last season.
“They play physical, tough defense so I think the focus for us is to get our team better and it wouldn’t matter, you know really who we were playing this week. That would still be the focus of what we need to do.”
The Warhawks are 1-1 on the season. The last time ULM came to Tuscaloosa, they stunned Alabama 21-14 in Nick Saban’s first year as head coach. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
Despite more than seven months of silence, a primary investor has confirmed that the proposed theme park near Muscle Shoals is still in the works.
Provident Global Capital CEO Bryan Robinson says plans are still underway to build the gigantic theme park. He says a land deal should be announced by the end of the year.
The park is being planned by the DreamVision company. They’re also building another park in Fort Worth, Texas.
Back in February, DreamVision announced they were planning to build a $3.5 billion theme park near Muscle Shoals that would be more than 10 times the size of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
In February, DreamVision said they hoped to open the park in 2019.