By Brian Lyman | Editor
“Rather than pursuing an industry-specific approach, counties believe a broader conversation is needed about how county governments can effectively support strategic and productive growth in Alabama’s unincorporated areas.” - Sonny Brasfield, executive director, Association of County Commissions of Alabama
Residents of Lowndes County holding up signs that read "No Data Center" at a county commission meeting on Aug. 24, 2026, in Hayneville, Alabama, in the Lowndes County Courthouse. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
By Anna Barrett
At least 150 Lowndes County residents asked the local county commission Monday to honor an open records request on Project Red Clay, a proposed 800-acre, $1.5 billion hyperscale data project that could use enough power for a million homes, or roughly half of all the households in the state of Alabama. Members of the commission said they had no information to share on the project, one of several that have turned the facilities into a major political issue in the state.
Maigen Sullivan speaks at the Department of Archives and History on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Jemma Stephenson/Alabama Reflector)
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
By Andrea Tinker
Invisible Histories was founded in Birmingham to archive and research southern LGBTQ+ history. It flew under the radar until 2023, when a presentation delivered at the Alabama Department of Archives and History sparked attacks by the state’s conservative media and Republicans in the Legislature. Invisible Histories moved to North Carolina earlier this year, citing funding and space issues and Alabama’s hostile environment.
Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, speaks with media following the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority meeting on Thursday, August 27, 2026. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
By Ralph Chapoco
A state authority Thursday authorized nearly $200 million in bonds to pay for a new 4,000 bed men’s prison in Escambia County in south Alabama. The borrowing would bring the budget for the prison up to $900 million, on top of $1.25 billion spent on a prison in Elmore County. The project has far exceeded the Legislature’s original appropriation and seen several delays.
ICYMI
Commentary: She’s Alabama’s longest continually serving governor. And her party is ignoring her. | Brian Lyman, Alabama Reflector
Staff of two suppressed University of Alabama student magazines go to federal court | Ralph Chapoco, Alabama Reflector
Former SPLC executive pleads not guilty in DOJ prosecution of nonprofit | Ralph Chapoco, Alabama Reflector
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