By Brian Lyman | Editor
Alabama conducted its second execution of 2026 on Thursday evening. It was the 27th overseen by Gov. Kay Ivey during her time in office, the most of any governor since the death penalty resumed in 1983.
Jeffrey Lee, seen in an Alabama Department of Corrections photo, was executed Thursday evening for the murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a pawn shop robbery in 1998. (Alabama Department of Corrections)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
By Ralph Chapoco
The state of Alabama Thursday executed Jeffery Lee, 49, for the murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a pawn shop robbery in Orrville in 1998. The execution came after attempts by Lee’s lawyers to have a jury’s initial sentence of life without parole upheld; a judge later overrode the sentence in a practice known as judicial override, abolished in 2017. In June, Lee successfully challenged Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution protocol.
Mock medical cannabis lozenges in a display case at Callie's Apothecary in Montgomery, Alabama, on May 14, 2026. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
HEALTHCARE
By Anna Barrett
The board governing the Alabama Department of Public Health Thursday unanimously voted to withdraw the state’s objection to federal marijuana rescheduling. Officials said the objection was always a procedural move intended to give the state time to prepare for the change. Federal reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug allows research and gives medical cannabis businesses the ability to claim business expenses on their taxes.
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, gives remarks Thursday during a national town hall at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s legislative conference. (William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
ELECTIONS 2026
By William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
Amid fallout from a U.S. Supreme Court decision last spring that sparked redistricting across the South and ongoing attempts by the Trump administration to limit mail-in voting, members of the Congressional Black Caucus Thursday urged black citizens to vote this fall. The speakers at a two-hour town hall included U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, who said the fight against gerrymandering was crucial for his constituents to get help with daily life.
ICYMI
States fight to inspect federal immigrant detention facilities | Shalina Chatlani, Stateline
White House yanks nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement | Ariana Figueroa, DC Bureau
Bipartisan push to set rules for college athletes’ pay continues to advance in US Senate | Shauneen Miranda, DC Bureau
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