Sep 06, 2024

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A pastor from Alabama has been released by the Nicaraguan government after being locked up since December by the Daniel Ortega Administration, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

Alabama's Congressional delegation has been lobbying for Jon Britton Hancock's release, as well as that of 13 others affiliated with his Mountain Gateway ministry. The Biden Administration brokered the deal.

Back in December, Ortega ordered the closure of the ministry's 10 churches and the arrest of 11 pastors. He accused them of money laundering after a million people attended an eight-day crusade.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Catholic laypeople, students and others were also released Thursday. According to Sullivan, they were political prisoners who were locked up because Ortega and his first lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo considered them threats to their authority.

Lowndes County Sheriff Christopher West has been arrested for allegedly threatening county commissioners, reports AL.com's Howard Koplowitz.

Back on June 24, the Commission was voting on whether to relocate sheriff's office investigators to the former town hall in Hayneville. Harris has been accused of disrupting those proceedings as well as threatening the commissioners. WFSA reported that Lowndes County Commissioner Robert Harris signed a warrant charging Sheriff West with misdemeanor harassment and obstructing government operations.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has called for the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs commissioner to step down, reports AL.com's John Sharp. She also fired a member of the board that oversees the department.

The governor told Kent Davis that if he resigned by 5 p.m. yesterday he could work through the end of the month. He did not. Ivey said she's prepared to "take further action." 

In a release Ivey said there was "ample cause" for Davis to be removed. She pointed toward the handling of a grant program as a reason. 

A woman in the country illegally has agreed to plea guilty to charges that involved her voting in several elections, reports AL.com's Carol Robinson.

The woman assumed a U.S. citizen's identity and obtained a passport that she used to travel between Russellville and her native Guatemala. She's been in the U.S. since 2008, took the other woman's identity in 2011, and started voting in 2016. It's believed she's voted at least four times.

She could face up to 12 years in prison for all her charges.

Let's make this today's PSA of the day: You should vote, but before you do it, make sure you're using your own identification, you're a legal citizen and you're good at it.

(OK, that last thing isn't mandatory.)

$164,809

That was the base pay for Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox in 2023. It made him the highest-paid among the mayors of Alabama cities with populations of more than 30,000.

Don't miss our favorite way to review the news each week.

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