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A new ethics debate

The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill that would repeal and replace the existing state ethics law, reports AL.com’s Mike Cason.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Matt Simpson, a Daphne Republican. Those opposed to the measure include state Attorney General Steve Marshall and Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton.

Simpson said the bill clarifies ethics laws and how they affect public employees and their families far beyond lawmakers. Marshall argued that it would result in decriminalizing ethics cases and leaving them to civil litigation. Albritton said it narrows the definition of family members and loosens a friendship exception so loopholes might open up over gifts received by those with connections to public officials.

Still, the bill passed the House 79-9 and moves to the Senate.

Union vote coming?

Yesterday we had a segment on warnings from the governor’s office about the effects of unionization. Since then, Reuters has reported that a petition for a union election will drop soon for workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama.

The United Auto Workers union said back in February that half that plant’s workers had already signed union authorization cards, and it’s said that its goal is to get that to 70 percent before petitioning for an election.

AL.com’s William Thornton reports that, just last week, the union said workers in Vance filed anti-union charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.

Systems down

City employees in Birmingham have spent the past few weeks filling out paper timecards and doing business with good old-fashioned ink and paper (perhaps the way God intended, said the newspaperman in an emailed newsletter).

This is certainly an unwanted outage. Is it malicious?

City officials have been coy on the topic so far. Mayor Randall Woodfin called the issue a “network disruption,” and the mayor’s director of communications, Rick Journey, wouldn’t say whether it was the work of hackers, just that there will be more details later and that it won’t stop workers from getting paid.

AL.com’s Joseph D. Bryant reports that multiple sources have pointed toward a ransomware attack. If that were true, it would mean someone is demanding a payment in order to release the computer system and data back to the city.

That’s not an uncommon situation. Last year, the Cullman County Revenue Commissioner’s office was attacked, and several years ago the Montgomery County data was captured by hackers.

Just a joke?

When the media brand Bham Now posted a story on Monday that the Brookwood Village mall would be turned into an aquarium, folks figured out that the story was being shared on April Fool’s Day.

But here it is April 3, and some are still foolin’ around with the idea.

AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz reports that a wishful but very serious petition to support an aquarium quickly picked up hundreds of signatures.

The original April Fool’s post by Bham Now included a photoshopped sign that said “Brookwood Aquarium” and claimed that future features at the site would include an aquatheater and glass bottom boat rides.

Retiring weatherman

Veteran meteorologist Fred Hunter is retiring at the end of the month, reports AL.com’s Cody D. Short.

Hunter is from Fort Payne. His early-career stops included Tuscaloosa before he landed at WBRC Fox 6 in 1997, and he’s been there ever since. Folks in Central Alabama know him from doing the weather and from doing traveling feature stories on “Absolutely Alabama.”

Quoting

“How do we get back to that in this country, where you don’t actually have to agree with someone to show them respect?”

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, while explaining that she considers some of her Democratic colleagues as (gasp) friends.

By the Numbers

That’s how many fentanyl pills the Colbert County Sheriff’s Office claims a man had hidden in two Easter eggs in his car.

More Alabama news

Born on this date

In 1974, major league infielder and manager Alex Grammas of Birmingham.

On the podcast today: Alleged mistreatment of dogs

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