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If this is how Alabama universities defend employees, it’s not working • Alabama Reflector

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If this is how Alabama universities defend employees, it’s not working • Alabama Reflector


Alabama’s colleges and universities are scared.

And I understand why. If an administration that prioritizes ideological conformity over intellectual curiosity cut off one of my key funding sources, I’d hesitate to speak out, too.

But they don’t have a choice. Not they take their educational missions seriously.

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When Alander Rocha asked some of Alabama’s key research universities about the loss of nearly $400 million in National Institutes of Health funding — money that supports research into cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and a whole host of diseases — after President Donald Trump froze the funding last month, he got silence.

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The University of Alabama Birmingham, which will suffer the most from the suspension, issued a generic statement. So did the Southern Research Institute. So did the University of South Alabama.

Yes, they’re trying to figure out what’s going on. Lobbyists may be working behind the scenes to get the money back.

But for God’s sake, guys. Meekness is not a strategy. You should know that.

Last year, the Alabama Legislature — upset over intellectual debate and welcoming attitudes on college campuses — made it illegal to run a diversity, equity and inclusion program on campus, and left the door open to fire teachers who teach “divisive concepts.”

What is a divisive concept? Why, it’s anything that upsets the white Republicans in the Legislature.

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This was a real test for the University of Alabama and Auburn University. Other public colleges and universities in Alabama must comply with whatever short-sighted idea lawmakers have at the moment. UA and AU enjoy constitutional protections and self-perpetuating boards of trustees that give them some independence.

That independence was an opportunity. They could have made it difficult for lawmakers to push through this assault on their students. And given cover for other Alabama schools to fight for theirs.

Instead, they caved.

UA abolished its DEI program and closed dedicated spaces for the school’s Black Student Union and LGBTQ+ resource center. Auburn dumped its program, too.

Alabama did replace its DEI program with some vaguely worded “Division of Opportunities, Success and Connections.” But Auburn didn’t even try to replace what was lost. It closed its office and reassigned employees.

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And other campuses followed. South Alabama, which has one of the highest percentages of Black students of any non-HBCU school in the state, mumbled something about “volunteerism” as it closed down its program.

Standing up to lawmakers had risks. The state’s conservative media, always chasing pointless rage, would have had a fit. A far-right legislator would have puffed out his chest and demanded retribution. State funding could have been threatened.

But there was no guarantee such threats would have succeeded. Colleges and universities are major employers in many lawmakers’ districts. Any number of senators representing Alabama, Auburn, Troy University, North Alabama, South Alabama, West Alabama and more could have blocked punitive cuts against the schools or made it harder for the Legislature to carry them out.

I can’t imagine legislators would have wanted a drag-out battle with the schools over this, especially one likely to put members of the Republican caucus at odds with their communities.

But that didn’t happen.

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And will capitulation spare the schools from further attacks on their independence?

I wouldn’t bet on it.

“Alabama House Republicans will continue pushing back against ‘woke’ policies and radical efforts that attack our morals and work to change the fundamental beliefs that make our state such a special place to live, work, worship, and raise families,” the House GOP’s 2025 legislative agenda says.

And now these schools face an attack on their research funding from a man with the same anti-DEI attitudes as Alabama lawmakers. The National Science Foundation, another key source of grants for universities around the country, froze its grants last week.

Universities are proud of their research. They should be. Dedicated men and women working in academia have made discoveries and developed techniques that improve our lives and help us better understand the world and each other.

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That work is under attack. If college administrators see intellectual inquiry as something other than a marketing slogan, they need to fight for their researchers.

The state’s colleges and universities need to pull together and create a united front against these tantrums. They should pressure federal and state lawmakers to do their jobs; to represent their constituents and above all else, to uphold the independence of institutions that elevate our state.

In other words, they have to be far more forceful than they’ve proven to be.

There are risks to such an approach, just as there were in opposing the state’s anti-DEI law.

But there are far greater perils in staying quiet. Relying on the good faith of people distorting the goals of higher education and the motives of those dedicated to it will lead to disaster. Protest may not work, but humility will never be rewarded.

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Alabama

Missing Alabama realtor Ronald Dumas was abducted, Huntsville police say: 5 suspects sought

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Missing Alabama realtor Ronald Dumas was abducted, Huntsville police say: 5 suspects sought


The case of missing 37-year-old Huntsville realtor Ronald Leslie Dumas Jr. has escalated from a missing person case to an active abduction investigation, according to the Huntsville Police Department (HPD).

“HPD obtained critical new evidence indicating that [Dumas] was abducted on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024,” the release reads.

“This development marks a significant shift in the investigation, which has now escalated from a missing person case to an active abduction investigation.”

Dumas was last seen on surveillance footage entering a liquor store with two women on Dec. 15, according to the release.

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It continues that he left the store with them, appearing unharmed.

Through the investigation, HPD says they received information that led to the identification of the women and traced them to their apartment. Further investigation confirmed their connection to Dumas and revealed additional evidence of his abduction.

As the case progressed, the police determined multiple individuals were involved in the incident

“Since uncovering these findings, HPD investigators have worked diligently to establish probable cause and hold those responsible accountable,” the release says.

As a result, arrest warrants have been issued for the following individuals:

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  • Quintarius Shikelion White, 32, of Memphis is wanted for first degree kidnapping.
  • Toure Laron McLaurin, 33, of Memphis is wanted for first degree kidnapping.
  • Sabrina Rochelle Chambers, 27, of Huntsville is wanted for first degree kidnapping.
  • Kierra Symone Clark, 27, of Memphis is wanted for conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
  • Carissa Cash, 33, of Memphis is wanted for first degree receiving stolen property.

“HPD is working alongside the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force to apprehend these individuals and urges anyone who recognizes or encounters them to report their whereabouts immediately to local law enforcement,” the release says.

“With assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a credible lead identifying a 450-acre area south of Memphis, TN, and extending into northern Mississippi, as a potential location for Dumas.”

“A coordinated search effort was conducted on Thursday, Feb. 6, by 20 investigators, including crime scene personnel and drone operators, from HPD, the Memphis Police Department, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office and Southeastern Search Dogs to gather evidence and potentially locate Dumas,” the release continues.

This remains an active investigation and additional charges may follow as more information emerges, according to the police.

“HPD remains committed to pursuing all leads and ensuring justice for Dumas and his family,” the release reads.

Anyone with information on Dumas’ whereabouts has been asked to contact Investigator Stephen Gibbs at 256-427-5448.

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To provide an anonymous tip, call 256-532-7463 or submit information to Huntsville Area Crimestoppers at 53-CRIME.



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Alabama puts man to death in the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas

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Alabama puts man to death in the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas


Michigan resident Beverly Leaf stands in solidarity with Carol Frazier, mother of Demetrius Frazier, as she pleads publicly on Jan. 28 in Lansing, Mich., to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to bring home her son Demetrius, a Detroit man convicted of rape and a separate murder of a 14-year-old in the early 1990s, who was serving a life sentence when he was charged with another murder in Alabama and is scheduled to be executed there Feb. 6.

Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal


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Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal

ATMORE, Ala. — A man convicted of murdering a woman after breaking into her apartment as she slept was put to death Thursday evening in Alabama in the nation’s fourth execution using nitrogen gas.

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Demetrius Frazier, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m. at a south Alabama prison for his murder conviction in the 1991 rape and killing of Pauline Brown, 41. It was the first execution in Alabama this year and the third in the U.S. in 2025, following a lethal injection Wednesday in Texas and another last Friday in South Carolina.

“First of all, I want to apologize to the family and friends of Pauline Brown. What happened to Pauline Brown should have never happened,” Frazier said in his final words. He finished by saying, “I love everybody on death row. Detroit Strong.”

Frazier in his final words also criticized Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for what he called her failure to step in following appeals for him to be returned to serve out a previous life sentence in her state.

Recently, Frazier’s mother and death penalty opponents had pleaded to Whitmer to take Frazier back to his home state of Michigan to complete his life sentence for the murder of a teenage girl before he was turned over years ago to Alabama authorities. Michigan does not have the death penalty. Police had said Frazier confessed to killing Brown in 1992 while in custody in Michigan.

Whitmer told The Detroit News before the execution that her predecessor, Rick Snyder, “unfortunately” agreed to send Frazier to Alabama and it was in the hands of officials there.

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“It’s a really tough situation,” she told the media outlet. “I understand the pleas and concerns. Michigan is not a death penalty state.”

Prosecutors said that on Nov. 27, 1991, Frazier, then 19, broke into Brown’s apartment in Birmingham while she was asleep. Prosecutors said he demanded money and raped Brown at gunpoint after she gave him $80 from her purse. He then shot her in the head and returned later to have a snack and look for money, they said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a post-execution statement that justice was done.

“In Alabama, we enforce the law. You don’t come to our state and mess with our citizens and get away with it,” Ivey said. “Rapists and murderers are not welcome on our streets, and tonight, justice was carried out for Pauline Brown and her loved ones.”

Frazier was sentenced to life in prison in Michigan for the 1992 murder of Crystal Kendrick, 14. Then in 1996, an Alabama jury convicted him of murdering Brown and recommended by a vote of 10-2 that he receive a death sentence. Frazier remained in Michigan custody until 2011 when the then-governors of the two states agreed to move him to Alabama’s death row. Frazier suggested in his final statement that his confession to the killing of the Michigan girl was false.

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Alabama became the first state to conduct nitrogen gas executions, putting three people to death last year with the method. It involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen. Frazier, like the first three people to be executed by the method, shook or quivered on the gurney, although to a lesser degree than the others.

Frazier was strapped to a gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask covering his entire face. The execution began at about 6:10 p.m. after a corrections officer did a final check of the mask.

Frazier moved his outstretched palms in a swirling circular movement for the first minute or two. At 6:12 p.m., he stopped circling his hands. He appeared to grimace, quiver on the gurney and take a gasping breath. A minute later, he raised both legs several inches off the gurney and then lowered them.

His breathing slowed at 6:14 p.m. to a series of sporadic breaths. He had no visible movement by about 6:21 p.m. The curtains to the execution chamber closed at 6:29 p.m.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said afterward that the gas flowed for about 18 minutes and that instruments indicated Frazier no longer had a heartbeat 13 minutes after the gas began.

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Hamm said he believed that Frazier lost consciousness quickly. He said he believed other movements, including the raising of the legs and periodic breaths, were involuntary.

A federal judge last week refused to block the execution. Defense attorneys had argued the new method does not work as quickly as the state promised. Media witnesses, including The Associated Press, previously described how those put to death with the method shook on the gurney at the start of their executions.

The judge, however, ruled that the descriptions of the executions did not support a finding that any of the men “experienced severe psychological pain or distress over and above what is inherent in any execution.”

Abraham Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action said the method of execution is “experimental gas suffocation.” He said it needs more scrutiny in the federal courts before Alabama uses it to carry out another execution.

Some of Brown’s family members witnessed the execution but declined to make a statement to the media.

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Hours ahead of his execution, Frazier visited with his mother, sister and legal team. He had a final meal from Taco Bell that included burritos and a Mountain Dew soft drink.



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New ‘Camp Hill’ virus discovered in Alabama is relative of deadly Nipah — the 1st of its kind in the US

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New ‘Camp Hill’ virus discovered in Alabama is relative of deadly Nipah — the 1st of its kind in the US


A close relative of the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses has been detected in North America for the first time — specifically, in the U.S. state of Alabama.

The pathogen, which scientists have named Camp Hill virus, was detected in four northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda). The animals were caught in 2021 near a town of the same name in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. After being captured for a study, the animals had been dissected and their organs frozen for later analyses; it was in those analyses that the virus was discovered.

Camp Hill virus is a type of henipavirus, a broad group of viruses that typically infect bats but have been known to “spill over” into various mammals, including humans. In people, henipaviruses can cause severe respiratory illness and a type of inflammation of the brain known as encephalitis.

Prominent henipaviruses known to infect humans include Hendra virus and Nipah virus. The former virus was first detected in Australia in 1994 and has a case-fatility rate of around 60%. The latter germ has caused disease outbreaks across Southeast Asia since being initially detected in Malaysia in 1998, and it kills between 40% and 70% of people infected.

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The detection of Camp Hill virus is significant because it marks the first time a henipavirus has been detected in North America. That’s according to the scientists who discovered it, who released a paper Jan. 17 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The discovery raises concerns that henipaviruses may be more widespread than once thought. In particular, it provides evidence that B. brevicauda shrews — which can be found across central and eastern North America — can harbor these types of viruses, along with other germs already confirmed to cause human disease. It’s possible that Camp Hill virus may pose a risk to humans, perhaps spreading through direct contact with infected animals or their feces and urine, the researchers suggested.

However, despite these possible concerns, the authors of the new paper have cautioned against leaping to such conclusions.

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As yet, there is no evidence to suggest that Camp Hill virus will spread from shrews to humans. (Image credit: NajaShots via Getty Images)

“There is no evidence to suggest that the provisionally named Camp Hill virus has infected humans, and the likelihood of it doing so remains unknown but is likely low,” lead study author Rhys Parry, a molecular virologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, told Live Science in an email.

Although Camp Hill virus belongs to the same genus as Hendra and Nipah viruses — called Henipavirus — it is genetically distinct from both of them, he emphasized. By comparison, Camp Hill virus is more closely related to other shrew-borne henipaviruses seen in Southeast Asia and Europe than bat-borne henipaviruses like Hendra and Nipah, he said.

This distinction is key because bat-borne henipaviruses tend to infect a wider range of hosts and cause them more harm, and they’ve been known to cause severe disease outbreaks in people, he said.

So far, only one other shrew-borne henipavirus has been identified, and that is Langya virus, Parry said. This virus infected 35 people in China between 2018 and 2021, causing symptoms such as fever, fatigue and cough and in rarer cases, impaired liver and kidney function. But importantly, no deaths were reported.

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It’s currently unknown whether the B. brevicauda shrews in North America are able to spread Camp Hill virus to humans. They usually inhabit woodland areas where direct encounters with humans would be somewhat rare, the study authors wrote.

Notably, B. brevicauda shrews have been found to carry other viruses that can potentially spill over to people, but these have never made the leap from these critters to humans.

“Given that B. brevicauda shrews already host other zoonotic viruses, such as Powassan virus and Camp Ripley virus, and that veterinary professionals already handle them with appropriate biosafety measures, no additional precautions are required,” Parry said.

Future research should instead focus on trying to isolate the Camp Hill virus and decipher how many types of animals it can and has infected, he said. This information could then be used to better assess the potential risk of a spillover to humans.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

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