Alabama Reflector

Via Jonathan Shorman: The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to every state ahead of Election Day, expanding a longstanding practice that’s spurred concern this year amid President Donald Trump’s push to influence elections. https://ow.ly/HmSP5101qp9

Via Alander Rocha: Edwin Brant Frost IV, the founder of a conservative lending firm in Georgia, was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in prison for his role in running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of millions of dollars. Frost made contributions to at least three Alabama campaigns.

Via Sofia Resnick: The Pregnancy Justice report found that 902 women faced a total of 955 charges related to their pregnancies in 23 states, but the vast majority of cases were in South Carolina (381), Oklahoma (222) and Alabama (204). https://ow.ly/wSWz5101kCM

Via Ralph Chapoco: Democratic candidates for state office Monday highlighted their party’s decades-long efforts to repeal the state sales tax at a press conference where they pushed their affordability message a week before the general election. https://ow.ly/5xix51017Ob

Via Lee Hedgepeth and Inside Climate News: For months, Fenn Church fought Alabama Power's efforts to secure access to his property via eminent domain for a transmission line. He won in lower court. Then the Alabama Supreme Court intervened. https://ow.ly/ItgJ51018Wt

Commentary by Catherine Dorrough: "Within a matter of weeks, the smoke and mirrors of the campaign trail will dissipate. And in the cold light of day, our new crop of elected officials will be expected to trade fairy tales for real-life results. https://ow.ly/ObNF51017v5

Via Anna Claire Vollers and Stateline: This year’s statewide ballot measures are written, on average, at a graduate-school reading level, according to a new report. https://ow.ly/o7Lf510117t

Via Amanda Watford and Stateline: Researchers found that outdoor nighttime violent crime fell by about 46% in targeted areas of Newark, New Jersey, during the first six months after aging streetlights were replaced with LED fixtures. But the effect faded over time.

Via Stateline: Rising costs of healthcare, gas and groceries during President Donald Trump’s second term have put Republicans on defense, not only in Washington, but in statehouse and gubernatorial races across the country. https://ow.ly/vIr251010i6

Via Jonathan Shorman: President Donald Trump’s eleventh-hour campaign to intervene in California’s vote counting encountered the first signs of resistance in federal court over the weekend, with appellate judges expressing deep skepticism over the legality of the effort.

Relentless attacks on transgender Americans in Alabama and elsewhere appear to be fizzling with the electorate. But Editor Brian Lyman says they keep coming because they reflect a political mindset obsessed with control, not democracy. https://ow.ly/OCYY5100JkZ

Via Ralph Chapoco: To pay off a federal loan to build a new Mobile River Bridge and Bayway, officials plan to impose tolls that will gradually be subject to automatic increases. That's become an election-year issue in coastal Alabama. https://ow.ly/OQPl5100JiH

The race for Alabama’s 6th Congressional District features a longtime incumbent against a former president of the Pelham City Council. https://ow.ly/QEPG5100Jcq

Via Shalina Chatlani and Stateline: The percentage of working-age adults without health insurance has increased in the past two years, largely because many people can no longer afford Obamacare coverage after Congress allowed federal subsidies to expire at the end of 2025. https://ow.ly/rlQO5100AvN

Via Jennifer Shutt: Fewer than 5% of U.S. House races are seen by a top political analysis as truly competitive heading into November’s midterm elections, giving relatively few voters the ability to determine which party controls the chamber for the next two years. https://ow.ly/QOHZ5100A3j

Via Nada Hassanein and Stateline: Federal regulators are cracking down on the nonprofits responsible for coordinating organ donations, aiming to begin shutting down substandard groups by early next year. https://ow.ly/fe225100AIq

Via Ashley Murray: Both Democratic and Republican candidates during the heated midterm election cycle have had to navigate deep voter resentment of the massive advanced computer server farm developments that will power artificial intelligence.

Via Jacob Fischler: As Democrats eye a likely House majority, and possible U.S. Senate control, they will soon face decision points about the rest of their legislative agenda — and which wing of the party it favors.

Via Anna Barrett: Alabama appears to have reduced the error rate for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), officials said Thursday morning, which could reduce a penalty facing the state in 2027. https://ow.ly/BvNn5100jKe

Via Andrea Tinker: U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, was joined by U.S. Rep Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., to rally supporters in Montgomery Thursday in what could be Alabama’s most competitive congressional race. https://ow.ly/OAGv5100m56

Via Jonathan Shorman: Top Democrats in Congress are preparing for the possibility that President Donald Trump will allege foreign interference to discredit unfavorable election results. They want leading U.S. intelligence officials to be immediately reachable if he does. https://ow.ly/grkF5100kwF

Via Ralph Chapoco: The Alabama Justice Information Commission Thursday voted to impose sanctions on four law enforcement agencies who did not appear at a meeting to explain the reasons for not reporting their crime numbers to the AJIC. https://ow.ly/zJv55100iLA

Via Stateline: A record number of women are seeking seats in state legislatures this year, though women overall make up just over 35% of all legislative candidates this year. https://ow.ly/l20k51007oa

Via @timhenderson.bsky.social and Stateline: Only 20% of those forcibly deported or pressured to leave the country voluntarily had a criminal conviction. Criminal records were more likely to be immigration or traffic infractions rather than violent crimes. https://ow.ly/EjgS510078Z

Via Jennifer Shutt: The price health insurance companies charge for employer-sponsored plans increased again this year, as did the deductible many people must pay before those plans begin covering most healthcare costs, according to a survey released Thursday. https://ow.ly/jlAz51006Vh

Via Anna Barrett: Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones acknowledges an "uphill chug" as he tries to become the first Democrat to win an Alabama gubernatorial election since 1998. But for Jones, the campaign is also about leaving a stronger state party behind. https://ow.ly/shz650ZZSow

Via Andrea Tinker: In Alabama's 1st Congressional District, former Republican congressman Jerry Carl faces Democratic nominee Clyde Jones in Alabama's only open contest for a U.S. House seat. https://ow.ly/iUOK50ZZWgS

Via Ariana Figueroa: The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to implement a rule that would terminate gender-affirming care for transgender people incarcerated in federal prisons. https://ow.ly/fkf250ZZT6z

Via Kelcie Moseley-Morris and Stateline: Birth centers are an option for those with low-risk pregnancies and are correlated with more positive health outcomes, and more could be built with certain state policy solutions and different models of care, a new report suggests. https://ow.ly/YLxh50ZZLUZ

Via Jonathan Shorman: National Democrats are suing President Donald Trump, accusing his administration of intimidating election officials and asking a federal court to block him from interfering in the midterm elections. https://ow.ly/c2L650ZZRjH

Via Stateline: State and local government employees report high levels of job satisfaction across the country, but face significant rates of burnout and on-the-job harassment, according to a new national survey of nearly 5,000 public servants across all 50 states. https://ow.ly/T64a50ZZLgR

Via Anna Barrett: A lawsuit filed Sunday alleges that the Lowndes County Commission's approval of a 2,200-acre hyperscale data center — which would be Alabama's largest — violated the Alabama Open Meetings Act.  https://ow.ly/9WFz50ZZwRn

Via Ralph Chapoco: Democratic nominee Amanda Pusczek, a nurse and first-time political candidate, is challenging U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, a 30-year incumbent, in Alabama's 4th Congressional District, one of the most Republican in the country. https://ow.ly/CBE450ZZtET

Via Jonathan Shorman: Independent Senate candidates are betting that dissatisfaction among voters and economic anxiety, combined with their distance from the national Democratic brand, will be enough to create room for voters — including Trump voters — to consider them. https://ow.ly/gh5i50ZZvqz

Via Andrea Tinker: The Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve the Presidential Faculty Academic Roundtable, a replacement for its now-abolished faculty senate.

BREAKING: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday commuted the death sentence of Toforest Johnson, whose conviction for the murder of an off-duty Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy in 1995 has faced years of questions over the conduct of prosecutors and the reliability of a key witness.

Via Stateline: For decades, manufactured home builders have been working to shed the old image of boxy trailer homes reserved for the outskirts of cities and suburbia. Now, a small change in federal regulations could open the door for architecture welcomed in more neighborhoods.

Via Andrea Tinker: The Jacksonvile State University Board of Trustees is expected to vote Tuesday on creating a replacement for the university’s now-dissolved faculty senate as public universities continue to wrestle with the application of a new state law. https://ow.ly/wCgI50ZZamo

The two candidates for Alabama’s 7th Congressional District -- U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham and Republican nominee Ammie Akin -- agree affordability is the defining issue of the race, but they disagree on what caused it and how it should be fixed. https://ow.ly/2zmk50ZZ8mP

Commentary by Beth Davis Sramek: "Auburn's trustees are asserting that their authority supersedes not only faculty expertise, but professional norms, disciplinary standards, and even accrediting bodies. That has nothing to do with educational quality or student success." https://ow.ly/ibfq50ZZ7EZ

Via Jacob Fischler: Democrats have used President Donald Trump’s unpopularity to expand the midterm map, and analysts project the party has momentum heading into the final two weeks of the election cycle, even as Democrats are expected to flip fewer U.S. House seats than wave elections this century.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday establishing a Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health. https://ow.ly/FY5o50ZZ4p2

Via Ariana Figueroa: Immigrants living in the United States with humanitarian status from Ukraine and Sudan will retain their deportation protections and work authorizations for now, the Department of Homeland Security said over the weekend.

Editor Brian Lyman writes that one way to understand our profound disillusionment with politics is a half-century of politicians insisting that major problems should be solved by the private sector, not by government. https://ow.ly/wUBq50ZYIjz

Via Andrea Tinker: Incumbents in Alabama’s congressional races outraised challengers over the summer, according to federal campaign finance reports filed last week. https://ow.ly/HaNv50ZYIbQ

Via Ralph Chapoco: The race in Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District features a well-entrenched Republican incumbent and a Democratic newcomer. https://ow.ly/WoSw50ZYIc8