From AP Studios in downtown Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capital journey.

We'll start as we often do i Washington, where Alabama's U.S.

senators were involved in sweeping college sports legislation that passed the chamber this week.

Republicans eager to show they're also talking about affordability concerns before the midterms, attempted to pass bills on data centers and stock trading.

But Democrats wanted to stop the GOP from notching those wins ahead of November.

Alex Engle has more from Capitol Hill.

In a rare bipartisan win, the Senate voted 77 to 22 to pass the Protect College Sports Act on Monday, despite Senator Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville previously expressing hesitation with the bill.

Both ended up supporting it.

We had to do something and it's not perfect.

No bill up here is perfect, but I thin I think this gives us a chance in the next few years to ge some stability back into college sports and protect women's sports and Olympic sports.

The legislation would se a national framework for student athlete compensation, limit transfers, and provide antitrust exemptions for the NCAA.

But some Democrats argued the measure would strip away athletes rights at its core.

It's a bill that undermines the rights of young people who poor their blood, sweat, tears, countless hours of work and more into their craft.

The college sports bill face an uncertain path in the House.

Senate Republicans tried to advance legislation on two issues that are top of mind for voter ahead of the midterm elections, data centers and stoc trading by members of Congress.

But Democrats blocke both of those efforts, arguing the bills either lacked teeth or contained poison pills.

The Senate failed to advance the Ratepayer Protection Act on Wednesday, with just four Democrat voting with Republicans for it.

We're just trying to make things easier, to do what's right, you know, for even for the power compan as well as the people that buy the power.

And so we were just trying to make it easier.

And I don't like government oversight, but this would have been something good.

Brett, who also supported the bill, said, quote, no family business or ratepayer in Alabama should subsidize data centers in quote.

The House easily passed the bill last month, 417 to 3.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says the Ratepayer Protection Act lacked enforcement mechanisms to ensure data center companies paid the full energy costs.

American are calling for real solutions, real guardrails, real solutions on AI.

Republicans toothless data center bill completely misses the mark.

The Senate and House have since left Washington until after the midterms.

Lawmakers are set to return November 9th, when the country will know what party will control the chambers of Congress next year.

Reporting on Capitol Hill, Alex Engle, Capitol Journal.

Thank you Alex.

And much of Alabama's congressional delegation was in mobile today for the official groundbreaking of the Mobile Bridge and Bay project recently approved by the state and by the federal Department of Transportation.

Governor Kay Ivey told the crowd gathered for the celebration tha the new bridge is simply a must.

Considering the frequen gridlock in the Wallace Tunnel, where Interstate ten goes under the mobile River, the first phase of the project is the construction of a six lane cable state bridge that will cost $3.2 billion.

That is being paid for partly by a $550 million grant back in 202 from the Biden administration, and a $500 million loan recently approved by the Trump administration.

But it will take tolls to fully pay for the project.

The total amount will depend on the driver.

Passenger vehicles with an Algo pass will pay $3 per trip, while trucks with an interoperable transponder will pay $7 per trip.

Those without passes or devices will likely pay much higher tolls.

The bridge will take an estimate What's taking a toll on all of us right now is the high price of fuel.

High gasoline and diesel prices are frustrating families and impacting businesses all over Alabama.

Capitol Journal's Randy Scott takes a look at how some are dealing with those increased costs.

Just like the traffic on the interstate, America's economy keeps rolling on, bu it hasn't been easy as of late.

Just check out the high price of getting gas.

When you think about it.

Every single thing that we eat, we put on our bodies, we put in our houses, comes on a truck.

And with diesel prices over $6.

Then those trucking companies and their drivers are having to increase their cost.

Rosemary ash is the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

She says rising prices for diese and gas are causing trickle down effects on everything citizens need and shop for.

You've got manufacturers, whether they're foreign or domestic, they're making their product.

Some of those manufacturing facilities use all all products.

Diesel to make it work.

So you've got to make the product.

Then you've got to ship the product.

And likely it's going to come to your door.

A truck, a procedur that repeats itself every day, she says.

And then you've go to get the product on the shelf.

So all along the line, when diesel and fuel goes as high as it is today, which, as I understand it, diesel set a record, then consumers are going to end u paying more or they don't buy.

If both shopping and retail sales affect the state's economy, then you'r looking at part of its backbone the interstate system.

It allows trucking businesses across Alabama to ship items throughout the state.

You could believ people are watching gas prices to see how they are, because those high gas prices will affect what's shipped when it is shipped, and how much it will be shipped for.

And what I'm hearing from business owners is they are really looking at what sales and what they have to hoe.

So I think you're going to see a lot of smaller, independent businesses.

Their inventory is going to be reduced because they're trying to maintain where they don't have to go up so much.

Alabama also says diesel prices range between 6 and $7 per gallon.

She adds the goal is to keep the high fuel cost fix to a minimum for small businesses and consumers.

They know because they're small, they know what the price point is for their customers.

Then we keep their customers.

So they are trying to manage that with fuel costs like they are.

In Montgomery, Randy Scott Capital Journal.

Thank you Randy.

Turning to another major issu this election year, health care.

From recruiting physicians to keeping hospitals open.

Health care providers across Alabama face challenge that affect entire communities.

Hospital and clinic leaders met with business leaders this week in the capital city to discuss those pressures and the cooperation needed to address them.

Capital Journal's Jeff Sanders has that story.

Jackson Hospitals emerges from bankruptcy was among the topics as health care leaders gathered for the Montgomery Regional Chamber State of Health event after facing possible closure.

The hospital is looking ahead.

CEO John Quinlivan says recruiting the people needed to grow is part of that recovery.

We have sustainable rates which say from Blue Cross are a major payer, who's been a partner in this.

Again, continuing support from the county, especially in the city, which we appreciate, and the state.

And so I think we're in a position where we can begin to bring forward trying to recruit peopl into a bankrupt organizations.

Pretty difficult, right?

So that's been the challenge we've had.

And, you know, the way that we recover is to grow our way out of it in a state that has lost plenty of rural hospitals in recent years.

Keeping urban hospitals strong matters beyond city limits.

Quinlivan says even rural hospitals still operating can struggle to transfer patients needing more advanced care physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners in those rural hospital emergency rooms who have really sick patients, they know they don't have the wherewithal to care for them.

And because often we're we're full.

We're jus we don't have room in the inn.

We can't take those patients.

Pete Selman is chief operating officer of Baptist Health.

He says insurance payments are not keeping u with the cost of providing care.

When we can raise our charges but our charges mean nothing, what we're reimbursed is what insurance companies tell us they're in, and you might get a 3% increase in or just kind of a inflationary escalator and that that that mask doesn't work.

But and that is fundamentally why so many hospitals across the country, but particularly in the state of Alabama, are teetering and in crisis.

Recruiting providers is yet another challenge.

Gilbert Darrington leads Health Services Incorporated, which operates health centers in Montgomery and surrounding communities.

He says loan repayments help attract more providers.

If a new grant come to us with a lot of loans, they can come and work and learn about rural communities and, the monies repaid.

They stay in the community for 3 to 5 years.

So that's one of the biggest recruiting tools we have.

Derrington says virtual appointments are also helping his organizatio deliver behavioral health care.

Most of our, behavioral health services are, tell us, like.

And then it's crazy to know we've seen that, kept appointments is about 95% with total psych over inpatient visits wit we had about a 40% no-show rate.

Beyond those local efforts leaders are watching Washington.

Suleman also raised concerns about possible federal proposals.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy, the administrator of CMS, centers for Medicaid, Medicare Service.

Doctor.

There there are some really, scary, proposal out there that are going to have significant adverse impac on many hospitals in our state.

And so so we've got to kind of play that game.

And there is one more thing these health care leaders agree upon.

And that's the need for both the private sector and government to work together to not only make health care available to everyone in Alabama, but simply more affordable.

Reporting in Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

The state of Alabama is joining Arkansas and Louisiana in a lawsuit targeting New York, Massachusetts and California over their policies on abortion pills.

Attorney General Steve Marshall argue that laws in those three states undermine the abortion ban here in Alabama.

Federal regulator allow prescriptions for abortion pills to be made by telehealth and filled by mail, and there are efforts to change that at the USDA.

But this lawsuit claim that those states are violating the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution.

Marshall said, quote, we need and deserve the opportunit to be able to enforce our laws against those who have chosen, despite their knowledge of the illegality, to continu to foster abortion in our state.

End quote.

This legal challenge goes directly to the US Supreme Court, which may or ma not decide to take up the case.

Turning to the issue of education.

We have some new data this week on the choose.

Thanks to the reporting of our own Trish Crane.

She analyzed the data from th Alabama Department of Revenue, which administers the school choice program, and found that deman for the program remained strong.

And there are similar patterns about what families are taking advantage of the Choose act.

A total of 31,079 education savings accounts were awarded this school year.

That's up from 19,613 last year.

And Trish also looked at wher those students are coming from.

According to the data, 71% of Choose Act applicants were already attending either private school or homeschool last year.

You can read Tricia's full report at our website, Capitol journal.org.

Some news this week.

Breaking news, actually, regarding Alabama Public Television's governing body.

Governor Kay Ivey has replaced five of the seven members of the Alabama Educational Televisio Commission, which oversees APT.

This comes after a pretty rocky 18 months for members of the commission, with disagreements over our affiliation with PBS and a public opinion survey.

Here's what those changes look like for the first Congressional District seat.

Wallace Gilbert will replace less Barnett for the third district seat.

Rick Smith will replace Conroy in the fifth district seat.

Neil Lamb replaces Bobby Williams in the sixth district seat.

Sally Smith replaces Forrest Stevens.

And in the seventh district seat, doctor Samari Pruitt replaces William Green.

A spokeswoman for the governor said, quote.

Governor Ivey believed it was time for the Alabama Educational Television Commission to have a fresh start.

She appreciates those who have served.

The new appointments are effective immediately.

Okay.

Coming up in the interview portion of our show, I'll sit dow with the Democratic candidates for Treasurer and Public Service Commission.

The Republican candidate could not make it in this week, but we'll look forward to having them on soon.

And after that, Karl Crowder of the Alabama Appleseed will join me to talk about a documentary screening coming up in Birmingham.

Stay with us.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online anytime at Alabama Public Television's website.

App tv.org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes o Capital Journal's Facebook page.

Why didn't the Articles of Confederation the first draft of the Constitution, work?

This is what the articles got right.

It successfully established the 13 colonies as independent states separate from England.

It worked as a rule book for politics and governance during the early Revolutionary War efforts, and it protected state power, freedom of speech in Congres and provided public education.

So what went wrong?

Money, trade and law enforcement out of a fear of British like rule.

The articles were built around a weak central government, which made it difficult to tax states or regulate commerce.

It didn't have the power to enforce treaties or help manage foreign relations with native tribes.

These issues led to the 1787 Constitution Convention in Philadelphia.

The original plan was to revise the articles, but instead an entirely new framework was built.

And that's how the US Constitution and our strong national government was born.

The city of Cullman was founded by Bavarian native Johann Colman in 1873, when he convinced 15 other German families in Ohio to move with him to new land he had purchased in Alabama.

Within a few short years thousands of German immigrants came to the newly settled down.

Every year, the City of Common continues to celebrate its German roots with a week long Oktoberfest celebration.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Sheila McNeal, Democratic nominee for Alabama Public Service Commission.

Place to Sheila, thanks for coming on Capitol Journal.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Hey, we're in the campaign season.

We're talking to all the candidates.

So let me ask you the question I ask everybody.

And that is share with our audience some about your background and what made you want to run for the Public Service Commission.

Thank you for that question.

I have lived in in Alabama for about 15 years.

I have, a master's degree in public administration.

I have served about 20 years of public service experience, and I have served on the city council of one of the top ten cities in the country.

Like I said, I have a master's in public administration.

I have chaired, several boards and commission from all levels of government.

I am the former chair of th Madison County Democratic Party.

And I am a former professor for a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

So obviously, lots of background in public policy and public life.

What is it about the Public Service Commission that you want to.

Maybe the better question is, what do you want to be the other member of the PSC?

Well I think, you know, when I looked at the Public Service Commission and I saw all of the, the disgruntled ratepayers on social media, it it was apparent that th people who didn't have a voice, the vote, the ratepayers didn't have a voice.

So I thought that with my background in public service that I woul offer and I offer my experience, to be abl to be the voice for the people because it seems like that was, a huge missing link when it came to, rates and what, individual plannin for utilities here in Alabama?

Well, yeah, it was a huge issue that dusted up during the session.

It is hard.

We didn't even see it coming.

And all of a sudden it dominated much of this last legislative session, which led at the very end to the legislature passing thi reform bill, this revamped bill that really changed the makeup of the PSC, adding seats, by congressional district and all that.

Also addressing the issue of data centers.

We'll get to that in a minute.

But given the way this new law is that was passed this this past session, if elected, does this new la give you the tools you feel like you would need to be an effective regulator?

Well, I think either way, there it goes.

I will be effective because, you know, I've, I have had a career where I saw the importance of making sure that I can establish relationships, and I think that's what it's going to take in order to get anything done, on the Public Service Commission.

But I think it's easier to get consensus among three public service commission versus seven.

So now, you know the opportunity to get consensus is a little bit more difficult, because you have to get consensus of five people in orde to be able to get anything done.

But I think with my background in public service, I, you know, I have the skill level to be able to work with, you know, whether it's 3 or 5, so I look forward to working wit and building those relationships going forward.

Yeah.

And what the, you know, the ratepayer thing, because they're all the we'll call for these new hearings, not necessarily ratepayer case hearings, but they're these hearings which I think a lot of lawmakers saw as progress in terms of transparency and all that.

But what's the ultimate solution to getting folks or taking care of those worries like you heard from ratepayers who were just, you know, unhappy with their electricity costs?

I think one of the main things is to be able to hear, get their voices heard.

And what I would like to propose, once I'm on the Public Service Commission, is creating a ratepayer advisory council where they will have we will have a panel of ratepayers who will represent the voice of all ratepayers in the area and be an it will be an opportunity for, commissioners to be abl to hear directly from ratepayers and give them that open opportunity to be a part of the process, and so that they can be a part of the decision making.

And we'll have a clear channel in order to hear, the concerns that ratepayers may have.

Let's talk about the issue of data centers, because that is again stemming from the legislative session.

I did not know that that was going to really dominate.

And it was also a part of that law.

Reining i some of the incentives that had been offered over the years and, and trying to tighten a lot of that up.

Did did that go far enough where you please, in terms of the data center, part of that new law, or what else would you like to see in terms of, the regulating of data centers in the state?

Well, I think the problem right now with data centers is we don' have a plan on a federal level.

On the local level, we don't have a plan.

And I think that is what is causing all the challenges.

For example, right now the process is very segmented and disjoint.

You know, the city council does one thing, zoning does another one.

Then you have the environmental, agency that has to weigh in.

So if we can central ize the approval process and put it in one place with it we can make sure all the boxes are checked, all the environmental, all the experts come to the table, all the stakeholders have an opportunity to come to the table and be able to weigh i to make sure that a data center that may be coming to any community, it could be a regional board that we, formalized.

I was going to ask, should that be the PSC?

I mean, do you think the PSA should be the data center regulator?

Well, the interesting thing about the PSC and data centers is the PSC will be responsible for approving, their energy contracts or their utility contracts.

That's right, that's right.

And weighing, and monitoring their impact on the grid.

So those are two key elements to do.

Even them even turn o the lights at the data center.

So it's going to be encumbered.

You know, it's a big job already.

We have a huge role.

The Public Servic Commission will have a huge role in whether data centers can even turn the lights on.

So, yes, the Public Service Commission may be that first place to be able to look, to be able to centralize the process.

Because if I'm on the Public Service Commission and and a data center comes before me, I'm going to ask all those questions that we should be answering, from a global perspective.

It's almost like a hot potato that nobody really wants to be the one that cause it because, yeah, then you get all the scrutiny from the public and look, you know, it's a it's a legitimate issue.

Deserves some debate.

So it's interesting that it's becom really one of the main issues, not just in your race but up and down the ballot.

So I think we have the direct role, in what happens to data centers when it comes to utilities and their impact on the grid, because that's going to be key in any community what impact they're going to have on the grid.

And if we have enough capacity to be able to, to facilitate or to accommodate any data center that comes.

The interesting thing is, if you look at my website I have already devised a plan.

It's called the Alabama Data Center Accountability Plan.

And it kind of it, it puts together those tools that we need in order to be able to centralize the process and come up with a process that all the everyone can come to the table, and we can make great decisions about whether data center works fo our community, if or if it does.

Okay.

Take a look at that.

You know, so yeah, the power company regulation data center is this is all what's kind of in the news.

And but that's not all what the PSC does.

It also the regulator for the gas company spire the rideshare Uber Lyf not to not to mention railroad.

So talk about the other components of the PSC and how you would want to be a regulator for those industries.

Well you know, it's always, you know, the purpose of the Public Service Commission is to protect the ratepayer.

So in is in each one of those entities.

We also will always make sur that our priority is making sure that the ratepayer is protected and they're getting a fair deal, and making sure that we have transparency, accountability and accountability in the process, and that we also always, have an opportunity for ratepayers to be able to weigh in on what their issues are and what they want to see us, approve, whether that's a gas bill or whether that's the Uber or Lyft.

I find that kind of fascinating because as much as that's grown, yeah, that is very, very I mean, that the Public Service Commission is expanding.

You know, it's interesting, when I first got in this race in January, very few people knew what the Public Service Commission was and what it did.

But when those utility bills started coming in and they were doubled and tripled, then it became people, you know, started paying attention.

And now and then it evolved into the new law House Bill 475, which a lot of people are upset about.

Including me, and als and then data centers and block cameras and it's just evolve and into a whole nother thing.

But also just did, was doin some research on the spam calls, the proliferation of spam calls and telecommunications or telemarketing calls that are coming to seniors and our residents is that PSC too?

That's telecommunications.

So that's something I want to look into, because right now there's we have a do not call, website, page on the website, but it actually just transfer you to the federal do not call list.

And so what I want to do is look at that call list and make sure we can, you know, localize it and give Alabamians, some resolution when it comes to the proliferation of those calls that are coming to seniors and everybody right here.

Right here.

Yeah.

Well, look, we're out of time, but can you share with our you mentioned your website earlier.

We like to give it folks a chance to see your website and want to lear more about your campaign.

Sure.

So my website is McNeal for Public Service PSC 2.com.

So as McNeil MC IL for psc ta.com okay, we'll look at that look on the campaign trail.

And thanks again for coming in.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

We'll be right back.

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

Free professional development for educators and childcare providers.

Access to free curriculum line videos, lesson plans and instructional resources with PBS Learning Medi and all the PBS kids programs.

Parents know and trust.

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

Visit us at AP tv.org/education to learn more.

Tuskege University is the second oldest historically black college in Alabama, and one of the largest in the United States.

Founded in 1881 as the normal School for Colored Teachers at Tuskegee, the school quickly became a driving force in the developin industrial education movement.

Under the leadership of noted educator Booker T Washington, its first president in its early decades.

Tuskegee Institute made significant contributions to agriculture and improving the lives of rural black farmers.

Tuskegee has played an integral role in Alabama history and education.

It pioneered the movable school, served as the training ground for the Tuskegee Airmen, and students and faculty were heavily involved in the civil rights movement.

In addition to its many notable alumni and academic developments, it was the first HBCU to have a marching band.

Tuskegee University was recently ranked as the top black college in Alabama, and the sixth nationally.

You're watching Alabama Public Television.

And you.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Rosalyn Houston, the Democratic nominee for Alabama State Treasurer.

Rosalyn thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me, Todd.

Absolutely.

Well we want to get into this race, but first, I was hoping you could offer our audience, some background information about your backgroun and what led you to this race.

Well, I come with a background of 30 years in banking and financial services.

Believe it or not, I started as a teller and worked my way up into the boardrooms of two global financial services organizations leading at the highest level.

And, when I look at the state treasurer's position and the role that it has in our state, it is the chief banking officer rol as the chief financial steward of the state's assets.

And when I compare that, to my role itself, it is deeply aligned.

And so, with the background coming out of financial services actually having done every role within the bankin service, industry, I feel like, this is a prime opportunity for Alabama and for me.

Teller all the way up.

Telle all the way up to the boardroom.

That's interesting.

Well, you kind of already answered part of my question, but, I ask all candidates the very basic question of you know, why are you running?

Maybe a better way to ask it is, why do you want to be the state treasurer?

And I like that better in terms of why I want to be the state treasurer.

And when I think about the rol itself, it is a critical role, as I just mentioned, as the chief banking officer or the chief steward over the assets that our state holds.

And so for me, looking at my background and my proven experience as a steward over billions of dollars over my career, I feel like there's an opportunity for Alabam to do more and also to do better as it relates to the citizens of Alabama.

Understanding what that does the Treasurer's office to do.

As I've been up and down the campaign trail from Madison to Mobile, and I'm talking to rooms of people, and one of the questions is like, what does the treasurer do?

Fair question.

It's not on the news every night.

Exactly.

Like we know it's about finance is right.

So there is a duty of care as it relates to protecting our taxpayer dollars, investing, you know, our moneys in a wise and safe and sound manner also giving back unclaimed property, helping our college students, prepare and go to college where it's funded, and other opportunities for families in the state.

But to me it needs to be more prominent.

So we need to expand and promote these opportunities to help families have a better future.

And so for me, for my background, being, one on one with customers, a growing up in the bank environment, working with small businesses and large and midsize corporations from New York to California.

Being a people perso and being a people first leader, I believe that there's an opportunity for the state treasurer to amplif its critical role in the state to be one on one with our citizens in our 67 counties across Alabama, to learn and to hear about the needs so that the opinion that are given from my office, the feedback or the decisions that are given, they're informed decisions not only by the constitutional law, but also based o what our citizens are telling us in terms of their experience with our state and the needs that they have that we can expand and actually, help them with.

You mentioned, you know, one of the critical roles of the state treasurer is to essentially invest the state's money.

Yes.

And we've had some success with that lately, mainly because of all this Covid money.

Right.

So all this Covid money sat in the bank and we got invested in that.

Those investments, turned out into revenue for the state budgets.

But we all know that money's going away.

Right.

And then interest rates are a little wonky.

All right.

We don't really know.

So with that in mind understanding that money's going away and the interest rates are a little unpredictable.

How should the state treasure navigate these uncertain waters in the next 2 or 3 years?

Certainly, coming from the banking environment, I've had my fair share of unchartered territory, living and managing at the highest level through the financial crisis.

And also through the pandemic.

And you mentioned earlier about the the rise up that happened in our cash management fund.

And that was the interest rate, right?

Right.

So, lots of institutions and even banks got to take advantage of the sprea for the higher interest rates.

We've seen that dip, right?

That interest rates went down.

And so you'll hav a little bit of an adjustment.

But we also know that the fed just raised interest rates.

And there's a prediction that they're going to be another rate adjustment up before the end of the year, which is good for the state finances.

Correct.

Consumers don't love it, bu it's good for the bank to act.

Exactly.

So consumers will feel the hardship by that.

Right.

Because it's going to cost more money to, borrow money.

But those consumers that are stacking cash, the way some organizations and institutions have, they're also going to be happy because they're going to see those savings interest rates, CDs alike.

They're going to raise, with the interest rate, increase as well.

So I think it's going to be, a careful calibration, a common sense approach.

Right now, I understand the investment fund is in an asset allocation portfolio, which is wise, because when interest rates adjust and move up, their, diversified investment portfolios begi to react and adjust accordingly.

So the state has done good in terms of keeping the the dollar safe and sound.

And so I would continue with that process to ensure that there are safeguards around our investments.

And that we are making prudent and rise decisions with the mindset of safety and soundness with the states and our taxpayers dollars.

You mentioned the campaign trail.

I'm sure it's been very interesting to hear from all kinds of candidates.

And it's a it's a slog.

Right, right.

I'm curious what issues come up because we have this kind of nationalized environment.

Right.

Everybody' so focused on Washington.

Right.

You're running fo a very important state office.

But as you mentioned, sometime you have to explain what you do.

So what issues are you trying to get across to voters in terms of?

First of all, you know, what's important to why the state treasurer is important, but why they should vote for you?

What issues are coming up on the campaign trail?

Well, I'm glad you asked that question, because being on the campaign trail and oftentimes joining some of my colleague that are on the ticket as well, I'm hearing a lot of concern.

The top two is the state of the economy.

You mentioned that.

And then also the cost of living increase.

It's very difficult for individuals right now.

So as a state treasurer, I think it's important that I understand the hardship and the financial headwinds that individual families are facing, and that's critica for the decisions that I would be making or even opinions giving, to legislators or even to the director of finance in terms of how we manage money in the Treasury and what type of opportunitie that we present to our citizens, for example, when it cost, when the citizen are talking about the hardships they're having to decide between getting to work because gas prices are so high and life saving medication.

So that's a serious decision to have to make.

So how does the Treasurer's office position itself and its resources to help individuals from a financial education, a financial literacy, a budgeting perspective?

So that they can navigate the course?

There's an opportunity there, I think, to provide more resources.

The other thing that I want to do in this office is I want to be visible.

I want to bring the treasurer's office from, you know, the shadows of the halls of government.

I want it to be a visible position proximate to the 67 counties, learning and evolving from the information that we're getting from our constituents and their lived experience in the state.

I think that's going to be very important.

There's some critical duty of care in terms of, as we mentioned, managing and safeguarding our assets investing those assets wisely, but also making sure that the unclaimed property that's those are some pretty large dollars that can go into, famil households if we can help them get those unclaimed dollars and we can execute in a very efficient matter a manner for our, our citizens.

And the other thing is, of course, we've got t continue to build a workforce.

So that college savings plan and making sure, families understand how to, go into that fund and use it for their benefit.

And also our familie that are caring for loved ones with, with disabilities there's money for that as well.

So for me, it's about ensuring that we are promoting the resources that we have.

We're expanding the opportunity for the all people in Alabama know how to access those resources and they can navigate the course during these economic downtimes to secure their households financially.

We'll look at folks.

Want to find out more abou all this that you have to say.

You have a website people can go to.

I do have a website I would love for people to, visit it.

It is Ross for alabama.com.

That's rosy for alabama.com.

Okay.

We'll throw that up on the screen.

Really appreciate you coming on the show.

And good luck on the campaign trail.

Thank you for having me.

We'll be right back.

Why did British soldiers chop down a tree when American revolutionaries needed to vent and plan, they usually met up at the local tavern.

For the Loyal Nine, it was the Liberty Tree, a large elm in Boston, the birthplace of the Revolution.

The Loyal Nine was a secret society of patriots who used the landmark to plan protests against th Stamp Act, using public outcry, demonstrations, and intimidation.

This moment became one of the first waves of resistance against the King.

Ten years before the revolution, across early America, towns named their own liberty trees but most have been lost to time.

While a treasured symbol, you can't visit the Elm in Boston today due to its use by the Loyal Nin and later the Sons of Liberty, British soldier chopped down the tree in 1775.

Not even a stump remains today.

But in 2018, the city built Liberty Tree Plaza across from the original tree's location.

To commemorate this revolution, an airy landmark.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

This November, PBS will premiere a new Ken Burns documentary series Crime and Punishment in America.

It's a four part series that tells the story of criminal justice in America from the colonial era up to today.

According to the film's producers, it explores how for more than 250 years, Americans have wrestled with the problem of crime, the purpose of punishment, and the meaning of justice.

Here's a clip.

Why do people commit crimes?

People commit crimes for a whole lot of reasons.

When you live in an environment where thriving is not even a possibility.

You make mistakes.

Our country was founded.

Reservation with rules.

These rules are basic building blocks of a society.

It wasn't just to punish an individual for a perceived crime, it was to maintain a social order.

In the colonial era, most people witnessed a public execution at its most basic level.

It was entertainment.

There was something that wa alluring about being outlawed.

Jesse James represented a certain kind of powerful masculinity.

People who can't make ends meet, they admire the gangsters and bank robbers.

Their charisma, their toughness, their lack of fear.

Once people actually get a sense in the brutality that changes quite quickly, there's a sense of terror that crime is out of control.

The streets are unsafe.

Crime and punishment in the United States is often driven by crisis.

Crime in America took its biggest drive.

Must make America see losing the street by the wave of violence that has gripped Ireland.

Three strikes and you are out.

There's no sound like it when that game clangs behind you and you're theirs.

We think about our history in terms of progress, but we have become consumed with practices of punishment.

When I think about crime and punishment in America, I think that it says we are a very unforgiving country.

We have to have a system that allows people to feel protected and safe.

If you committed a crime, is that who you are for the rest of your life?

How do you chang if no one ever sees you before?

What you've done?

We all deserve a world that is governed by mercy.

And not one ness governed by Mendez.

And joining me next to talk about the documentary is Karla Crowder, executive director of the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.

Karla welcome back to Capital Journal.

Thank you so much for having me.

Now y'all are havin a special screening of this film or a clip of this film in Birmingham coming up.

Talk about this event.

Yeah.

So we're looking at justice in the next 250.

So looking back to what has happened in this country over the last 250 years, and now we have this remarkable tool, this film created by the best documentary filmmakers in the country.

And so it is a four part series that shows us so much of the rich history why this country is fascinated with crime and violence how media attention has driven policy, how our interest in crime as entertainment has impacte and affected the issues of mass incarceration now.

And so this film has a 45 minute trailer that we're going to present at Sidewalk Film, and then we're going to have a conversation and we're going to look at okay, here's the history, here's the problems of the past, maybe what we haven't done so well, but let's look forward and have the next 250 be better and brighter.

So we'll have a conversation with some innovators.

At Appleseed we talk a lot about criminal justice and the challenge in the prisons and the courts, and it's important to stay on top of those problems.

But we also know it's important to lift up innovators who are doing smart things that we need to scale.

So we'll be talking to Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett.

So he is overseeing the most dramatic dro in crime in the city's history.

How'd he do that?

I think we all want to know.

There have been other forces as well.

But Chief Pickett will speak, and then Bessemer, de l and East Washington, who's doing some innovative things with her conviction integrity unit.

We'll also hear from Montgomery Judge Brooke Reed.

She's doing a mental healt court that's really impactful.

And then we want to learn more about community corrections, which is a solution to a lot of issues.

And so a leader in communit corrections from Chilton County will be part of the conversation.

Yeah, that's an interesting slate.

I was going to ask you what you hope to accomplish, but you kind of laid it out, starting a conversation about solution is are those kind of solutions you see at the local level, at the state level?

I know y'all advocat in the state House quite a bit.

So at the local level is really I think, where innovatio can happen around public safety.

If you look at some innovativ responses in other big cities, you can see a public healt approach to crime and violence.

You can see violence interrupters being part of the problem.

And that's one reason that crime has declined so dramatically.

So what Alabama cities are adopting those kind of innovations.

How can we look at what's happened in Boston, what's happened in Baltimore?

Because really it's all about safety.

If we don't have more crimes, create more victims, we don't have to fill our prisons.

Right?

There's so much money and resources that are going into the prison system in Alabama.

But let's get ahead of that, because that's what's happening in the rest of the country.

They are getting ahead of it.

And I think that's what we're starting to see in Birmingham and some other big cities, is crime really is falling.

And so what does that mean for the conversation that happen at the state House about prison sentences about where we invest resources, if we have fewer people coming into the system?

Does that free up resources to d smarter things on the outside?

Yeah, and I mean, the trailer kind of spoke to it in terms of how scary crime can b and media coverage and all that.

But I mean, just around town, I mean, I live here in Montgomery, and it has been a stubborn issue and it's frustrating.

And it's it is that that's I mean, you see TV ads about it right now about crime and everything.

So, you know, looking at that as an issue and safety and everything like that, wha can we do to lower those crime so that we aren't filling up the prison systems?

Yeah.

And we don't want to minimize the suffering that happens.

We do outreach to victims all the time in our work.

But I also know I started my career here in Montgomery as a crime reporter.

So I was out, you know, covering violent crime in the 90s.

Really?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

And, you know, reporters, journalists were competitive people.

I liked it when I got a story on the front page.

Right.

I liked having, you know, much of wha I was on the streets reporting.

You're on the front page of the paper.

And as we know, like crime sells.

It's exciting.

It's sensational.

People want to read bleeds, it leads.

Or if it bleeds, it leads.

We know that And I live that for many years.

And then I shifted to try to kind of solve some of these problems because I felt like I was telling the same story over and over again.

So I think with this documentary, we hear how that is part of the American story, that our interest in crime and the media's interest in feeding that, you know, that beast has led to a lot of bad, bad policy, the first draft of history in a newspaper or, you know, now in social media sometimes it is it is painful.

It's powerful.

It's anecdotal, but it's not representative of the whole system.

And we we should not make policy based on anecdote, when now we have so much data and so much research.

So we just hope our lawmakers will watch the series.

We'll learn a little bit about, you know, what's really happening, the history and how we can do better moving forward.

Well, just just watching.

And of course, we saw Bryan Stevenson, on there.

And so I was thinking, obviously this is a national documentary.

It's going to be a wide lens for parts.

Pretty big scope.

But, you know, in terms of punishment, we're no stranger to issues i our prison system here, right?

I mean, it's it's a it's a perennial issue.

It's a every day, every week.

Political issue.

So might we see some of our own, prisons and things like that in this documentary?

I can only imagine.

We might.

We might.

I haven't seen the full documentary.

I've just seen the extended trailer.

So I haven't seen anything specifically about Alabama prisons that, you know, crisis was explored pretty thoroughly last year.

And the Alabama solution right on HBO.

Yeah, yeah.

And that got a lot of, you know, needed attention to the prisons.

But I think what we will see is that in the US, we shifted from public punishment, you know, hanging people i the square to building prisons.

That was seen as like a humane answer.

We were going to punish and rehabilitate people.

I didn't know this, but we were the first country in the world that actually built penitentiaries, an it was considered very humane.

But what we learn is that situatio has dramatically deteriorated, and now we have the highest incarceration rate, incarceration rates in the world.

And so we pretty much have agreed here in Alabama, you know, both sides of the aisle, that the current system isn't working.

We want to do better.

We don't want, you know, 25, 30% of our general fund to be spent on prisons.

We don't want to have the most violent, dangerous prisons in the country.

We don't want the Departmen of Justice to have to take over our prisons.

And so I think understanding the historical context, the current crisis, and then in combination with some innovations and solutions will really help policymakers understand we don't have to do thing the way we've always done them.

We really don't.

Right.

Well, and we're all waiting on this Elmore County mega prison to open.

I mean, it should really be by the end of the year.

And it was kind of sold out, obviously at great expense.

And you all have had your quibbles with the policy and all that.

We don't have to share.

But the whole point, the way it was sold was that, okay, we've got these old dilapidated, dangerous prisons, which certainly adds to the dangerous nature.

Are y'all hopeful at all that this is a step too more, you know, a safer environment for guards and for inmates?

And I guess they're going t build one down in Escambia, too.

Is this a step in the right direction?

We are hopeful, but we also know the current leadership in the Department of Correction is not filled with innovators.

There is innovation happening around the country in correctional systems, and we've done a whole report about it.

If the leadershi of the Department of Corrections would look to Maine, South Carolina, Missouri, some of those educational and rehabilitative programs that are led by incarcerated people.

And we would put those programs well resourced in this new prison.

That would mean true rehabilitation and education.

Quality health care could happen in this billion dollar building.

But we've got to chang the mindset for that to happen, because when we built new prisons 40 years ago, we did not change the mindset of how incarcerated people deserved to be treated.

It was about punishment and revenge.

It was not about rehabilitation and education.

And that led us to the problems we have now.

So I think it is possible, but we're going to need new leadership.

We're going to need need new wardens and captains and folks in doc, that really care about rehabilitation.

And they don't just create crucibles of violenc that spill out onto our streets.

Because that could happen no matter what a building looks like.

I think it's going to be, a big issue in this, for this next administration.

Well, look, good luck with the screening.

Thank you.

I can't wait to watch the documentary.

I mean, I just I wait for every Ken Burn project and Lynn Novak as well.

And I hope you'll come back, and share some of that conversation as we get closer to session.

Thank you.

Appreciate all your coverage of criminal justice in prisons, Todd.

We'll be right back.

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

Free professional development for educators and childcare providers.

Access to free curriculum line videos, lesson plans and instructional resources with PBS Learning Medi and all the PBS kids programs.

Parents know and trust.

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

Visit us at AP tv.org/education to learn more.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online anytime at Alabama Public Television's website.

App tv.org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes on Capital Journal's Facebook page.

Few individual in the history of American sport have possessed greater athletic ability than Bessemer, Alabama native Vincent Bo Jackson.

Auburn University second Heisman Trophy winner.

A three time all SEC and two time All-American selection, Jackson is the only running back in Auburn history to rush for more than 4000 yards in a career.

In 1986, both the NFL' Tampa Bay Buccaneers and MLB's Kansas City Royals drafted Jackson, decidin not to play for the Buccaneers because they didn' want him to also play baseball.

Jackson signe his first professional contract with the Royals.

The next year, the Los Angeles Raiders drafted Jackson with the understanding that he would also be allowe to play baseball, making Jackson one of the few athletes to succeed in both professional footbal and baseball at the same time.

In March 2013, ESPN Sports Science named Jackson the greatest athlete of all time.

He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

Why is the agreement that ended the American Revolution called the Treaty of Paris?

The Treaty of Paris, 1783 is the peace agreement between the American colonies and Great Britain, signed on September 3rd.

Among other negotiations, it recognized the U.S.

as a free, independent nation, very important.

Guaranteed a peaceful withdrawal of British troops.

Gave the U.S.

a huge amount of northwestern land, which laid the groundwork for Western expansion.

The treaty is name for the cit where negotiations took place.

The three American representatives were founders John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay.

Once ratified, America became a new player among some of the oldest and most powerful countries in the world.

APT is Alabama.

Storyteller.

Stories of Alabama history.

The arts.

Alabama museum.

Learn more online at AP tv.org.

That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back next week at the same time, right here on Alabama Public Television for our capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.