Politics of libraries and migrants, and the quiz: Down in Alabama

Library leadership

The Alabama Public Library Service’s board of directors elected state GOP chair John Wahl as its head, reports AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz. The governor appoints a board member from each of the seven congressional districts. Wahl has been on the library board since 2022.

There have been times in our history I’m sure when a library board election has gone fairly unnoticed and not drawn criticism, but Wahl’s promotion comes at a time when public libraries have become a front in the culture wars.

There are groups such as Clean Up Alabama that say they’re trying to prevent children from having access to sexually explicit material in the libraries. Others, such as the group Read Freely Alabama, accuse the more conservative groups of targeting libraries for books with LGBTQ or racial-justice themes.

Read Freely Alabama released a statement calling Wahl an “anti-library extremist” for aligning with Clean Up Alabama and Moms for Liberty.

Back in January, the library service board voted to split from the American Library Association over how it categorizes sexually explicit material.

Migrant anxieties

Concern over migrant workers from Haiti, who have moved into many places in the country on a temporary federal work program, continue to roil small towns in Alabama.

AL.com’s Mike Cason reports that a couple of local officials in Enterprise tried to tamp down anxieties there through statements similar to that from majors and council members in other cities: They weren’t given personal information about the newcomers, they’ve seen no increase in reported crime, and they have seen misinformation on social media.

Mayor William Cooper acknowledged the possibility for unintended consequences of an influx of people and said he’s communicating with law enforcement, the healthcare community, local school systems and other cities in a similar situation to monitor for problems.

There was a meeting billed as “open to the public” last night at a church in Enterprise to discuss the migrants, although people there told one of our reporters to leave. A flyer advertising the event said it would have a former Trump advisor as a speaker.

Environmental settlement

Warrior Met Coal has agreed to fix a coal slurry impoundment, stop wastewater from polluting a Tuscaloosa County waterway, and pay $250,000 per a settlement with Black Warrior Riverkeeper, reports AL.com’s Margaret Kates.

The wastewater has been leaking into a tributary of Texas Creek, which flows into the Black Warrior River. The environmental group filed a lawsuit in 2022 over 21 leaks it had documented since 2021.

The deal also calls for Warrior Met Coal to place the impoundment in the Alabama Dam Safety Program. That means it’ll face more monitoring and regulation by the local EMA.

The company is reimbursing Black Water Riverkeeper $28,000 in legal fees. The $250,000 is going to the Freshwater Land Trust for a project in that river system.

By the numbers

415

That’s how many citations and warnings Mobile police issued Tuesday and Wednesday as part of a “Red Light Blitz” focused on traffic-light violations.

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