By Brian Lyman | Editor
It’s hard to find certainties in Alabama politics, but it seems clear that there will be an effort to repeal the state part of the grocery tax next year, whoever may run things in Montgomery. And not doing so could be politically costly.
Former House Ways and Means General Fund Committee John Knight, D-Montgomery, speaks to reporters on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, at the Alabama Capital to urge lawmakers to repeal the state’s grocery tax. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
ELECTIONS 2026
By Ralph Chapoco
Alabama Democratic candidates and officials Monday held a press conference highlighting their decades-long attempt to repeal the state grocery tax. The conference, which also touched on party support for a state minimum wage and Medicaid expansion, came as affordability issues dominate the campaign and both Democrats and Republicans are pledging to dump the unpopular levy on food.
Fenn Church, center, is flanked by supporters at the gate of his property in Shelby County, Alabama. (Lee Hedgepeth/ Inside Climate News)
ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
By Lee Hedgepeth, Inside Climate News
Fenn Church, a landowner in Shelby County, fought Alabama Power in court for months over a plan to use eminent domain on his property to build a transmission line. He won a temporary injunction against the plan in September. But on Wednesday, the Alabama Supreme Court stayed the injunction without providing an opinion. On Thursday, Church brought supporters out to attempt to stop the effort.
Campaign signs for the Democratic nominees for Alabama’s constitutional offices on display inside the Doug Jones for Governor headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, as seen on Sept. 30, 2026. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
COMMENTARY
By Catherine Dorrough
It’s a season of loud yard decor; groups knocking on doors and bloodcurdling stories of imaginary terrors. Yes, Election Day is only one week away. Catherine Dorrough writes that this election season in Alabama feels harder to ignore than previous ones, as ginned up fears try to compete with stark economic realities. But she writes that whatever the outcome, the fairy tales will quickly end for the winners.
ICYMI
Rising prices squeeze more Americans ahead of pivotal midterm elections | Kevin Hardy, Stateline
2026 ballot measures are written at a graduate-school reading level, report finds | Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline
Brighter streetlights cut nighttime violence, but only for a while, study finds | Amanda Watford, Stateline
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