Author: Jason Johnson

Even with assistance from the Mobile County Commission, presiding Judge John Lockett says local courts have been struggling to get by, and he only expects things to get worse. Currently, the only thing funding more than a dozen “attendant” and “legal research assistant” positions in local circuit and district courtrooms is a 2017 county appropriation of $392,000. While the courts are local, they are funded as a function of the state of Alabama. However, all three commissioners made it clear last year the county would not continue to pick up the state’s slack, and Lockett said he has no...

After a national search, the Mobile County Public School System has selected Chresal Threadgill as its next superintendent — making him the first African-American to lead the system in its 182-year history. Threadgill is a Mobile native and LeFlore High School graduate and was the only one of three top finalists currently employed by MCPSS. A graduate of Troy University with a master’s degree from Alabama State University, Threadgill has experience in most areas of education. He began his career as a teacher at Greenville High School where he ultimately became principal before taking on an assistant superintendent position with...

A judicial police officer was terminated after sharing footage of a high-ranking county official speeding in a municipal vehicle, but his supervisors are saying the now-former employee violated departmental policies and the situation is being misrepresented. Last week, officer Mike Anderson submitted a video to NBC 15 he and his wife captured of Mobile County Deputy Administrator Glenn Hodge traveling at nearly 90 miles per hour in a county owned vehicle on Interstate 10. Lagniappe has so far been unable to reach Anderson for comment. Hodge doesn’t deny exceeding the posted speed limit but says he was only doing...

A second consecutive attempt to repeal Alabama’s religious exemption for child day care licensing fell short, but advocates still say some important progress was made at the federal and state level this year. Since 1983, Alabama has had some type of exemption for day care facilities with a religious affiliation, allowing those exempted to bypass the licensing and inspection requirements secular day care facilities have had to meet. The issue was highlighted last August after 5-year-old Kamden Johnson died in the care of an unlicensed facility in Mobile. Prosecutors say he passed away after being left in a parked van...

A local woman has successfully prompted the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences [ADFS] to change its policies on retaining organs when necessary for state autopsies. In 2016, Lagniappe spoke with Donna Crooks Atkins, who discovered the state’s forensics lab in Mobile had removed, retained and disposed of her deceased son’s heart without notifying her — a result of what she described as Alabama’s “invisible law.” Just this year, another family in Baldwin County took a civil lawsuit against employees from the ADFS lab in Mobile all the way to Alabama’s Supreme Court. In court filings, Gloria Austill accused senior medical examiner...