The Frequency

The Alabama Public Service Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a new process for reviewing electricity contracts between Alabama Power and data centers.

Alabama Power must now publish a summary of each agreement giving the facility’s location, information about the company, the maximum electricity the data center will use, and how the utility will make sure the center meets public interest requirements. Redacted versions of the full contracts, with the terms, exhibits and Alabama Power’s own analysis of capacity, cost and generation, go to the commission and the Attorney General’s Office.

The commission then has 90 days from Alabama Power’s filing to vote. If it does not, the agreement is approved automatically. Under the old process, commission staff reviewed contracts and usually recommended approval, and agreements took effect unless commissioners stepped in within 10 days. Commission President Cynthia Almond said the size of the facilities, their power use and public concern made a public vote important. Her amendment set the 90-day deadline after Commissioner Chris Beeker said the draft rules named no time limit. The Attorney General’s Office had argued that the law requires a vote on every contract. Executive Director Luke Bentley IV said he did not agree. Energy Alabama’s Daniel Tait noted that under the new rule, silence still counts as approval.

Alabama Power says it will keep requiring large data center customers to cover the full cost of their service so costs do not shift to existing customers. The vote follows a spring law, SB 270, that lets the commission weigh a data center’s economic effect on communities. In the governor’s race, Democrat Doug Jones has called for a one-year moratorium on new data center construction, and Republican Tommy Tuberville wants data centers to pay for their impact. Issue #17 covered the commission’s approval of a Meta-funded solar project in Macon and Bullock counties.

Ninety days is a long time to stay tuned.

Lanett planned to adopt its 2026-27 budget Monday. A 5 p.m. work session was to come first, then the 6 p.m. council meeting. Resident Elizabeth Farrar objected on the record. She said the city had not posted public notice of the work session, which she reads the Alabama Open Meetings Act to require, and that a budget vote after it could be challenged as invalid. The council meeting had been posted. The work session had not.

Mayor Jamie Heard delayed the vote. A notice went up in the city hall lobby after Monday’s meeting, setting a 5:30 p.m. work session Wednesday and a called meeting at 6 p.m. to act on the budget. “I don’t have anything to hide,” Heard said. As of Thursday morning, the Valley Times-News had not reported the result.

The work session also covered water loss. The city’s most recent audit, by Birmingham auditor Phillip Morgan, recommended new water meters, and the council discussed replacing them for roughly $150,000. Council Member Kim Roberts called the price small next to the losses. Katie Hill of Clearwater Solutions is advising the city. Members leaned toward staying with the current provider, and Council Member Brandon Bagley said any competing quote should arrive within 30 days.

At Monday’s regular meeting, the council accepted a $710,788 ALDOT grant for sidewalk improvements on Cherry Drive from North 11th to North 14th avenues, a project District 1 Council Member Denise Zachery had pursued. It also approved a pole attachment agreement with Point Broadband (Clearwave) at $30 per pole per month. Lanett has earned more than $88,000 this year leasing pole space to Charter Spectrum and WOW! The council swore in David Gagnon to the school board, replacing Ashley Holloway, who resigned after moving out of the district.

Lanett and Valley share Chambers County Commission District 5, which is on the Nov. 3 ballot. Sandra Calloway-Crim, a Valley police officer and the school resource officer at Valley High School, is the Democratic candidate. Sara Crutchfield of The Valley Local is the Republican candidate.

The sidewalk is funded. The notice is posted.

Gov. Kay Ivey dismissed five members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission on Friday and appointed five replacements. The new members are Wallace Gilberry, Ric Smith, Neil Lamb, Sally Smith and Samory Pruitt. Tijuanna Adetunji and Logan Glass were not removed. The Alabama Political Reporter named four of the five who were removed: Les Barnett, Ferris Stephens, Pete Conroy and Bebe Williams.

Ivey’s communications director, Gina Maiola, said the governor believed the commission should have a fresh start. The Reporter wrote that the move appears aimed at ending the debate over APT’s PBS affiliation, since several of the removed members were viewed as having made it a political issue. Conroy told AL.com that Barnett and Stephens wanted to make an issue of PBS.

Barnett and Stephens, the commission’s chair, raised the possibility last year of dropping PBS programming after federal cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In November 2025, the commission voted overwhelmingly to keep PBS after dozens of Alabamians turned out to oppose cutting ties, and Ivey called for a poll that month. Cygnal, a firm that mostly works with Republican candidates, conducted it. Results came out at the commission’s Sept. 29 meeting in Huntsville, and the foundation board voted unanimously to release the full report and discuss it in February.

Of those polled, 54.2 percent said APT should continue its relationship with PBS, 17.7 percent said it should stop carrying PBS programming, and 28 percent were unsure. Sixty-seven percent called APT valuable to Alabama families and students.

On bias, 29 percent called APT politically balanced, 20 percent said it skews liberal, 12 percent said conservative, and 40 percent were unsure.

The reports we reviewed do not say how the new members plan to vote on PBS.

The poll is in. The new commissioners are next.

CARE Humane Society in Auburn runs SNYP Plus, short for Spay and Neuter Your Pets, in Lee County and wants to expand it into Chambers, Tallapoosa and Macon counties. Community programs manager Patti Tole says funding is the only barrier to serving Chambers County.

CARE issues a voucher for one of 18 partner veterinary clinics. Surgery costs $15 for cats and $25 for dogs. A rabies vaccination is required, at $15 extra if the pet is not current, and the program includes a free microchip. Applicants submit proof of income for every household member, a utility bill, a federal tax return, a photo ID and a phone number. The income threshold now ranges from $30,000 to $50,000 a year, and Tole said CARE would try to lower it in Chambers County.

Tole said fewer unwanted litters mean fewer strays, and a microchip can get a lost pet home without a night in the shelter.

Grant money is tight, Tole said, so CARE has set up a fund for Chambers County. It wants enough to cover more than a couple of surgeries before it launches. Chambers County residents can join a waiting list now and will be emailed once the program is funded. Donations go to the fund through Venmo at @Care-Humane-Society or by check to CARE Humane Society, PO Box 290, Auburn, AL 36831-0290.

The fund is open. Chambers County is on the list.

Hyundai Motor Company president Jose Munoz announced last week at the Automotive News Congress in Detroit that the company will invest about $500 million at its Montgomery plant. The Tucson hybrid, now built only in Ulsan, South Korea, and exported to the United States, will move to Alabama. Munoz said the Santa Fe will follow.

The plan adds new engines and components in Montgomery and expands capacity for electric powertrains. Hyundai has invested more than $1 billion in the plant over several expansions, including $410 million in 2019.

Neither report names suppliers or East Alabama sites.

The investment is announced. The hiring number is not.