Alabama
The SPLC Action Fund is looking to support candidates in eight Alabama cities
In a first for the SPLC Action Fund, the political arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the organization is looking at supporting candidates for municipal office in Alabama in 2025.
While the Action Fund has endorsed Alabama candidates for judge and district attorney before, the 2025 elections will be the first set of municipal races in Alabama since the Action Fund began endorsing local candidates.
In a press release, the SPLC Action Fund stated it is considering supporting candidates in eight cities where “Black residents have been historically underrepresented” in local government.
The eight cities are Adamsville, Anniston, Atmore, Greenville, Livingston, Oak Hill, Pleasant Grove, and Thomasville. All of the cities are relatively small, with an average of around 6,400 voting age residents, and Oak Hill has only 119.
The Action Fund specifically highlighted in its press release that despite having a 69 percent non-white population, Livingston has never elected a Black mayor.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s director of political campaigns, Brandon Jones, told APR that the SPLC is “a civil rights organization and so we believe that people seeing themselves in their representation and making sure that those local officials are responsive to Black voices is crucial in how policy outcomes play out.”
Representation for Black citizens is especially important in states in the Southeast, Jones said, “because of the checkered civil rights history of these places.”
Jones stated that just how the Action Fund gets involved in each city will “really depend on the community.” However, “making sure that [voters are] aware of what the stakes are in these local races, what these jobs do, what municipal governments are responsible for, will be a big part of what we do.”
Candidates seeking endorsements will need to fill out a questionnaire to receive the Action Fund’s support, with Jones explaining that “before we endorse, we look for some ideological alignment.” If no candidates are great matches for the fund’s platform, Jones says the fund may decide to not endorse any candidates.
The SPLC Action Fund’s 2024 policy platform was released in April. The platform’s four focus areas are: “Strengthen Democracy,” “Eliminate the Reliance on Criminalization and Incarceration as a Public Safety and Immigration Solution,” “Eradicate Poverty,” and “Combat Hate and Extremism and White Supremacy.”
Specific policies listed in the platform include opposing racial gerrymandering, supporting alternatives to the criminal legal system, establishing guaranteed income programs, and enforcing hate crime laws.
Jones told APR that the Action Fund will likely begin holding community forums over the coming months, and possibly running polls, in order to better understand the eight cities it has selected.
Alabama
Gov. Kay Ivey sets execution date for Jeremy Williams
Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday set an execution date for death row inmate Jeremy Williams, who was convicted in the 2021 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City.
Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state’s three-drug lethal injection during a 30-hour window beginning at 12 a.m. August 13 and ending at 6 a.m. August 14. The execution date comes after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a request from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office on June 16, authorizing the state to carry out the sentence.
In a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace, Ivey said the Supreme Court’s June 16 order serves as the official death warrant for Williams.
“By law, I am required to specify the time frame for carrying out the sentence of death,” Ivey said. “Accordingly, I hereby order that Jeremy Lee Williams’s sentence of death be carried out within a time frame beginning on August 13, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. and ending on August 14, 2026, at 6:00 a.m.”
Ivey noted that she retains the authority to commute the sentence before the execution takes place.
Williams, 34, was convicted in April 2024 on four counts of capital murder stemming from Holland’s death. Prosecutors charged him with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a rape, capital murder during first-degree sodomy and capital murder of a child younger than 14.
Authorities said Holland disappeared from her family’s home in Phenix City on December 13, 2021. Her body was discovered two days later inside an abandoned house less than a mile away. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
In addition to the death sentence, Williams received several other prison terms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking and for knowingly producing recordings depicting the sexual abuse of a child. He also received another life sentence for a separate sexual abuse conviction, along with a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit human trafficking and a 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse.
Unlike most death row inmates, Williams sought to speed up the execution process. During a hearing, he told the court that he accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted the sentence carried out.
In 2025, Williams dismissed his attorneys and informed the court that he wished to waive any remaining appeals and proceed with his execution. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson determined that Williams was competent to make that decision and allowed him to forgo further legal challenges.
Under Alabama law, capital convictions automatically receive appellate review. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently affirmed Williams’ conviction and death sentence in March.
After that review concluded, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court in May to authorize an execution date. The court granted the request earlier this week, clearing the way for Ivey to schedule the execution.
If carried out as scheduled, Williams’ execution would occur nearly five years after Holland’s death and a little more than two years after he was sentenced to death.
Williams’ execution would be Alabama’s first by lethal injection since April 2025. The state’s three most recent executions were carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama began using in 2024.
Alabama
Kids take center stage at Alabama Shakespeare Festival summer camp
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – You don’t find too many camps where you learn how to slap someone. But this summer, you will in Montgomery. It’s one of many kids camps put on by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
“We have our Camp Shakespeare Junior which is our half day for the littles, kindergarten through 3rd grade,” said Cameron Williams, the ASF director of education. “We have Big Kid Shakespeare camp and everyone is learning all about ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.”
They learn about on stage combat, different acting techniques, and also how to be creative and think on their feet.
“I think theater skills are life skills. So, what makes this camp special is we’re doing more than just boosting literacy and doing theater things. We’re doing life skills, learning what it means to be team players, about discipline, and working with people who may have different personalities than you.”
Different kids have different talents. And even if your child isn’t up for a lead role in the next play, this place can leave a lasting impact.
“If you’re looking for a place where your kid can come out of their shell, to learn how to speak in front of a group, and develop some confidence, this is the place to be.”
It’s a place that’s a real treasure in Montgomery, and its mining some young gems, who one day, could be on the big stage themselves. There are still more ASF camps going on this summer for pre-teens and even adults.
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Alabama
Alabama Defense Contractor Agrees to $507K Settlement Over Cybersecurity Allegations
Huntsville-based defense contractor LOGZONE Inc. has agreed to pay $507,144 to resolve allegations that it failed to comply with cybersecurity requirements in contracts with the U.S. Department of the Navy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The settlement resolves claims brought under the False Claims Act alleging that LOGZONE knowingly submitted claims for payment while not meeting certain cybersecurity standards required under two Navy contracts.
Federal officials alleged that between May 2021 and March 2025, LOGZONE did not implement specific cybersecurity controls outlined in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-171. The standards are designed to protect sensitive defense information handled by government contractors.
According to the Justice Department, the deficiencies were identified during an assessment conducted by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). The evaluation resulted in LOGZONE receiving a score of -170 on a scale ranging from -203 to 110, indicating significant gaps in compliance with required security controls.
The government alleged that the missing cybersecurity measures could have increased the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information or the exploitation of company systems.
The settlement does not include a determination of liability. As part of the agreement, LOGZONE will pay $507,144 to resolve the allegations.
Federal officials said the enforcement action reflects ongoing efforts to ensure government contractors comply with cybersecurity obligations tied to federal contracts, particularly those involving sensitive defense information.
The investigation and settlement involved the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, the Department of the Navy, the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
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Additional details regarding corrective actions taken by the company were not immediately available.
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