The Frequency

On Oct. 19, the Chambers County Commission unanimously approved a tax abatement for Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, LLC, pending final attorney approval of the project agreement. Chambers County Development Authority Executive Director Chris Busby brought the request.

The abatement covers $204,690 in sales and use taxes, and the county would collect $93,091. On ad valorem taxes, $87,824 would be abated and $92,490 collected.

The commission also approved fourth-quarter FY26 revenues and expenditures and bought a $341,600 pothole patcher.

On Oct. 15, the Southern Poverty Law Center held a town hall at Cal’s Place in Lanett. SPLC Alabama policy director Jerome Dees said a law that streamlines how people with some felony convictions learn whether they can vote took effect Oct. 1.

Starting in March 2027, people can check their status online with their Alabama Identification Serial Number.

Dees also said the state had to find $40 million last year to administer SNAP, and this year must cover about $210 million of benefit costs. He urged residents to contact lawmakers before the session starts in February.

These figures are Dees’s own and have not been independently verified.

On Oct. 13, the Lowndes County Commission voted 3–2 to approve a 20-year tax abatement for Project Red Clay, an 800-acre hyperscale data center near Burkville, about six miles southwest of Montgomery. The developer, Cloverleaf Infrastructure, is a Houston company incorporated in 2024.

Commissioner Robert Harris moved to vote on the abatement immediately, though the agenda listed only a resolution calling a later special meeting on it. The meeting lasted about 10 minutes. Critics said it came without public notice or time for comment.

According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, the abatement could reach nearly $2.8 billion in combined state and county tax breaks. SELC also says the project would use up to 100,000 gallons of water a day from the Pintlala Water System and draw 1.5 gigawatts of power, roughly what 900,000 Alabama homes use. The project is projected to bring in $124 million a year in local and state taxes.

On Oct. 20, the commission approved the minutes of its Oct. 13 meeting at a special session. Commissioner Dickson Farrior voted no, saying the development and tax agreement had not been on the previous week’s agenda.

Two residents who live near the site have sued, alleging Open Meetings Act violations and improper procedure, and asking a court to halt further action. A circuit judge has recused. Cloverleaf CEO David Berry told WSFA that people “should expect to hear from us on an ongoing basis.” The next commission meeting is Monday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m.

On Oct. 20, Gov. Kay Ivey commuted Toforest Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison without parole. Johnson was convicted in the 1995 capital murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy, who was working off-duty security at a Birmingham hotel. He was sentenced to death in 1998.

Ivey said she had “concerns there was not enough direct evidence to carry out the most serious punishment, death.” Her decision, she added, “is not a determination of innocence.” She said she notified the attorney general as required by law and thanked the Capital Litigation Division for defending the conviction.

Johnson’s attorney Ty Alper said, “We are grateful to Governor Ivey for diligently reviewing Toforest’s case.” Johnson’s lawyers say the courts must now overturn the conviction and grant a new trial.

In 2025, former Attorney General Bill Baxley and former prosecutors asked a Jefferson County judge for one. In 2024, District Attorney Danny Carr pushed for a new trial. Neither ABC 3340 nor WSFA reported a statement from the attorney general’s office.

Alabama has 154 people on death row.

After bipartisan backlash, President Trump said the Pentagon will not livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter. Bloomberg Government reported that Trump rejected Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s push to stream the firing-squad execution.

The decision concerns the livestream, not the execution itself.