MPD releases new details about shooting that sent Murphy basketball fans into panic

By Brendan Kirby

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Hundreds of residents are demanding reform of the city’s animal control operations.

Cynthia Long spoke at Tuesday’s Mobile City Council meeting to complain about the response to reports of a mistreated dog.

“What we want today, I have a petition with over 800 signatures asking for reform of animal control,” she said.

Long’s complaints come as city officials work to complete revisions of Mobile’s animal control ordinance. It is an effort that dates to 2022. The council’s Public Safety Committee is set to review those Jan. 27.

But Robert Bryant, director of animal services, said some changes would require the state Legislature to act. Responding to the incident that Long referenced, he said he agrees that the picture he saw of the dog chained in a yard on Lewis Street shows the dog has been abused. But he added that there was a two-hour delay from the time someone took the picture to when the department received it.

Bryant said an animal control officer responded within a half-hour of receiving the information, but he added that by the time the officer arrived, the dog already was inside.

Bryant said state law prevents animal control officers from acting unless they witness a violation. He also asked people not to share information about animal complaints on social media.

“It’s not just the good people who have access to social media,” he said during the council meeting.

The proposed ordinance revisions center on penalties. Bryant said penalties in the $50 to $150 range would rise to fines between $300 and $500. He said the city also is looking at licensing restrictions on breeding.

“One of our main goals with the ordinance rewrite is to strengthen the penalties associated with some of the violations, and as well as to clarify what those violations actually are, because there’s some ambiguous language in the current ordinances that just need to be defined a little better,” he told reporters outside the council chambers.

Bryant said he hopes the revised ordinance will be ready for a vote by the end of the month.

“We’re still in the late-stage review process where we are getting different opinions on ways we can better word things to make sure they hold up in court,” he said.

Council members welcomed the proposed changes.

“Seeing those pictures – that was horrible,” Councilman Cory Penn said.

Added Councilwoman Gina Gregory: “It is an educational moment for all of us, but at the same time, we need to do better.”

Mobile officials eye tougher animal control penalties as hundreds demand reform

Trump announces sanctuary cities and states will lose federal funds on Feb. 1

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Tuesday that he’s preparing to halt federal funding to sanctuary cities and states on Feb. 1 — potentially yanking billions in revenue in response to laws barring cooperation with immigration agents.

“Starting February 1, we’re not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens,” Trump said during a speech in Detroit.

“It breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come. So we’re not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary cities.”

A list published in August by the Justice Department identifies 12 states — including California, Illinois and New York — and five of the nation’s 10 largest cities such as the Big Apple as sanctuary jurisdictions.

“You’ll see. It will be significant,” Trump added later to reporters when asked about the funding cuts.

Advocates of sanctuary laws argue that they make illegal immigrants who are crime victims feel comfortable engaging with law enforcement.

Opponents highlight the fact that the policies prevent the deportation of violent criminals when prisons and jails balk at “detainer” requests from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It’s unclear how comprehensive the financial pullback would be and if certain programs — such as state-administered Medicaid and food stamps — would be exempted.

Trump has long threatened to withhold federal funds over policy disagreements with Democrats — including threatening in 2020 to pull money from alleged “anarchist jurisdictions” that experienced sustained disorder after the murder of George Floyd.

The president and his team have been increasingly willing to follow through during his second term — with Attorney General Pam Bondi last February throttling federal law enforcement resources for sanctuary jurisdictions.

The Department of Health and Human Services this month froze social services funding to five states citing fraud concerns, impacting resources from the Child Care Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Social Services Block Grant program.

States and cities are likely to sue over any withholding of funds.

A New York federal judge in October barred the Federal Emergency Management Agency from withholding $34 million in anti-terrorism grants to New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority after FEMA told Congress it would pull those funds due to the Big Apple’s sanctuary policies.

Read more : Trump says sanctuary cities and states will lose federal funds on Feb. 1 | New York Post