The Alabama Department of Corrections on Wednesday

[Jin Wah]

Officials have signed a contract to build a new state prison – part of a $1.3 billion construction plan partly using pandemic relief funds – but have not released many of the details. A spokeswoman for Gov. Kay Ivey confirmed the state signed a contract with Caddell Construction Co., effective April 15, for construction of a specialized men’s prison facility in Elmore County “that will provide enhanced medical and mental health services.” “The new facility will create a safer security environment for inmates and security personnel. Our construction timeline continues to remain on schedule,” Gina Maiola, a spokeswoman for Ivey, wrote in an email.

The Alabama Department of Corrections on Wednesday declined to release a copy of the contract. A spokeswoman said it needed to be redacted, and that would take some time because it is a lengthy contract. The department did not immediately respond to an email seeking information about the cost or the size of the prison. Ivey’s office indicated the prison system should be be able to provide a copy of the “publicly available contract documents in the coming days.” Lawmakers and the governor approved a construction plan that also includes another prison with at least 4,000 beds in Escambia County, a new women’s prison, and renovations to existing facilities.

Alaska
Juneau: Some local officials have raised concerns about militarization of the police force after learning of the police department’s plans to buy an armored security vehicle that can seat 12 officers. Some have referred to the vehicle as a tank and said they worry it could harm a transparent relationship between police and the community. Police counter that the vehicle is a way to help protect officers, especially when dealing with people firing weapons, the Juneau Empire reports. “There’s a policy question here about militarizing our police force, and I don’t agree with that,” City and Borough of Juneau Assembly member Carole Triem said. “I think we’ve heard from the community that they really desire transparency when it comes to operations.” Triem raised the issue late at Monday’s assembly meeting, where she also objected to the police department’s ability to buy the vehicle with a grant that doesn’t require assembly approval. The Lenco Armored Vehicle BearCat G3 will cost more than $300,000 when custom-built to Juneau police department specifications, Lt. Krag Campbell said. Campbell said that despite some in the community describing the vehicle as a “tank,” it’s not a military vehicle. “Generally, it’s for our emergency response teams and our fire department,” he said.

Arizona
Arizona residents never got true utility competition from legislation enacted decades ago, but a law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey this week was the death knell for the possibility.
Arizona residents never got true utility competition from legislation enacted decades ago, but a law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey this week was the death knell for the possibility.
Phoenix: Electric companies won’t have to worry about competing for customers after Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill Tuesday that repeals laws allowing for that. His action ends more than 20 years of the state flirting with the idea of customers choosing their power company but never really offering people that choice. Utilities in Arizona supported the legislation because they said allowing competitors to enter the market would threaten the reliability of the power grid as various companies tried to forecast how much power their customers needed. Ducey said competition is a “critically important policy goal” but echoed those concerns about power-grid reliability in his signing letter. “Arizona will not follow the path of California, Texas and other states that have mismanaged their grids and continually experience rolling brownouts and blackouts,” Ducey said in a statement on the bill. Officials at Green Mountain Energy, a company whose move to compete with Arizona utilities appears to have prompted the legislation, said they were disappointed in the governor’s actions. “It is unfortunate that Arizona’s law that would have created competition in the electricity industry, which has been on its books for two decades, has never been implemented,” Green Mountain Vice President Mark Parsons said in a statement.

Arkansas
Little Rock: The state is suing Family Dollar over the discovery of more than 1,000 rodents in a distribution facility that prompted the discount retail chain to recall items purchased from hundreds of stores in the South. The lawsuit, filed Thursday by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in state court, accuses the chain and parent company Dollar General of deceiving consumers, negligence and engaging in a conspiracy that allowed the infestation at the West Memphis facility to occur. “This misconduct by Family Dollar Stores and Dollar Tree allowed them to maximize profits, while causing Arkansas citizens to purchase hazardous, adulterated and 

contaminated products,” the lawsuit said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in February that it had inspected the distribution facility following a consumer complaint. Inside the building, inspectors said they found live rodents, dead rodents in “various states of decay,” rodent feces, dead birds and bird droppings. A Dollar Tree spokesman did not immediately return messages seeking comment Thursday. According to the lawsuit, state and federal inspections show Family Dollar had known of the rodent infestation at its facility since at least January 2020.

California
Sacramento: People who get hurt because of a doctor’s negligence could soon get a lot more money in malpractice lawsuits under an agreement reached Wednesday that – if approved by the Legislature – would avoid a costly fight at the ballot box this November while resolving one of the state’s longest-running political battles. California does not limit how much money patients can win in malpractice cases for economic damages, which include things that can be counted such as medical expenses and lost wages. But since 1975, state law has limited how much money patients can win for what can’t be counted – such as pain and suffering – to $250,000. Trial attorneys and patients’ rights groups have tried and failed for decades to raise that limit, noting it sometimes costs more than that to take one of these complex lawsuits to trial. Doctors have usually opposed raising the limits, saying it would result in soaring malpractice insurance premiums that could put some community health clinics out of business. With neither side budging, California voters were set to settle the issue in November. But supporters of raising the limit agreed to withdraw the measure from the November ballot Wednesday, instead supporting a new bill in the Legislature that would gradually increase the limit over the next 10 years. The bill has the support of the California Medical Association, the Consumer Attorneys of California, Californians Allied for Patient Protection, state legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Colorado
Canon City: An outbreak of an undetermined and highly contagious disease has killed dozens of wild horses at a federal holding facility in southern Colorado. Bureau of Land Management officials say 67 horses have died since the outbreak began Saturday at the agency’s holding pen in Canon City, about 150 miles southwest of Denver. “We are working with local, state and federal officials to determine what is impacting horses in the facility and how we can respond as effectively as possible,” said Stephen Leonard, the manager of the BLM Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Program. The facility, which is under voluntary quarantine, currently holds 2,550 horses. BLM officials say the horses that have been most affected by the disease were gathered from the West Douglas area last fall. No other information has been released.

Connecticut
. . . . . . . . . . Hartford: Broad agreement has been reached on a revised one-year state budget proposal, Gov. Ned Lamont and his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly announced Wednesday. The $24.2 billion plan, set to take effect July 1 in the midst of the election season, would see nearly $500 million in tax reductions including the continuation of the 25-cent-per-gallon gas tax cut until Dec. 1, lawmakers said. It also includes substantial new spending for mental health programs for children and early childhood programs, which have struggled to pay workers competitive wages while ensuring services are affordable to families. And the proposal makes $2 billion in payments to help reduce state pension debt, according to the legislators, who have yet to release any documents. Lamont and the Democrats haven’t settled how much of the state’s share of federal COVID-19 funds will be spent in this budget, including how much of that money will be set aside for pandemic pay for essential workers and to reduce the $493 million debt in the state’s unemployment trust fund. But they expressed confidence the budget will be approved before the legislative session ends May 4. Democrats said they were hopeful that at least some Republicans, the minority in the Assembly, will support the proposal.