Illegal immigration I

WKRG News 5 in Mobile reported that 11 people were arrested Wednesday morning in an immigration raid on a construction site at Loxley Elementary School.

This tracks with the trends of increasing crackdowns on illegal immigration and the particular focus in Southwest Alabama. Law enforcement in Baldwin and Mobile counties have joined a partnership program to work with federal agents to make arrests.

Statewide, reports AL.com’s Sarah Whites-Koditschek, the immigration-related arrest rate has roughly doubled this year relative to 2024.

Illegal immigration II

Meanwhile, down the road in Foley, one of the restaurants that was raided July 15 is pleading not guilty to charges that it systematically hired undocumented immigrants, reports AL.com’s Lawrence Specker.

Colt Grill BBQ & Spirits was among dozens of establishments targeted earlier this month. Its four Arizona locations were also raided the same day.

Public broadcasting and bias

Alabama Public Television leaders told Capital Journal host Todd Stacy that political bias at NPR and PBS are to blame for more than a billion dollars in cuts to public broadcasting.

APTV Executive Director Wayne Reid and Network Director of External Affairs Jack Williams said they’ve been raising the issue in national meetings for years, joined by leadership from other states as well.

AL.com’s Heather Gann reports that, according to Reid, Alabama Public Television will lose a little more than $2.8 million in grant funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That’s around 13% of its budget.

Local public-radio stations are also facing similar cuts.

Hot-car death

The state’s first hot-car death of the summer occurred Tuesday in Birmingham, reports AL.com’s Carol Robinson.

Three-year-old Keterrious Starks Jr. lived in Bessemer. The child’s aunt said Ketterious lived in a foster home and that a transport driver had taken him from daycare to a supervised visit with his biological father but that he had not been returned to daycare.

From a statement from the Alabama Department of Human Resources: “A child in DHR custody was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred. The provider has terminated their employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances.”

Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said Keterrious was left alone in a vehicle outside a private residence for around five hours.

Need work?

A huge, $4.1 billion Novelis aluminum plant is under construction at Bay Minette, and over the next three days management is doing a hiring blitz, reports AL.com’s John Sharp.

A spokesperson said that over the next few months the company will be hiring. Some job offers might go out during the same day of the interview. Positions include shift supervisors, operators and maintenance technicians.

The plant will employ up to 1,000 people by the time it’s up and running late next year.

The company will be interviewing from 3-8 p.m. today at Coastal Alabama Community College in Bay Minette, from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday at the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance in Fairhope, and from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Bishop State Community College in downtown Mobile.

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Quoting

“If you cheatin’, sit in the third deck. They never point the camera at the third deck.”

Comedian, TV host and Birmingham native Roy Wood Jr., on the now-infamous viral video of a reportedly married (to other people) couple at a recent Coldplay concert.

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Born on This Date

In 1900, socialite, novelist, artist, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jazz Age flapper Zelda Fitzgerald of Montgomery.

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