The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors approved a 5.25% rate increase for the average resident. This rate increase takes effect October 1, 2024. WDEF TV in Knoxville reports that in 2023, the average bill for customers was $138. The increase will tack on $4.35 each month. $16 billion is being invested in 2027 towards infrastructure to meet the population demands. TVA stated that after the 2023 increase of 4.5%, rates for residents were still lower than 75% of the top 100 U.S. utilities.
Lawyers for an Alabama Death Row inmate said the state’s process for nitrogen hypoxia executions “is a set of suggestions and customs, changeable at any time.” They’ve asked a federal judge for a preliminary injunction barring the execution. Carey Dale Grayson will be put to death on Nov. 21 at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He’s set to be the third execution this year using nitrogen gas. AL.com reports that in court records filed late Tuesday, Grayson’s lawyers said the state has made “unwritten alterations” to the heavily redacted protocol, doesn’t use qualified people throughout the procedure to monitor medical equipment, and haven’t revealed what they conceded in a confidential settlement with another prisoner earlier this month.
A new law affecting voting rights won’t take effect until after the November election. Alabama recently expanded the list of felonies that cause a person’s voting rights to be revoked. The law takes effect October 1st, but the state attorney general’s office says it won’t be enforced until after the November election as the state Constitution prohibits new election laws from taking effect within six months of the general election. The Campaign Legal Center sued over the law last month seeking clarity on the start date, saying there had been a lack of guidance from the state.
A new initiative will soon begin supporting 10 early-stage companies that could become Huntsville’s next large defense contractors. Cummings Research Park recently announced the coming launch of a DefenseTech Accelerator, which will begin recruiting small firms with a defense-industrial focus. Erin Koshut, executive director of Cummings Research Park tells AL.com recruitment of the first of two five-company cohorts will start in September, with a launch expected in November. Koshut says prime candidates are very small, new companies looking to market a product that aligns with a government defense technology need but lacks experience dealing with the Defense Department or one of its branches.
Among U.S. cities seeing the largest increases in new apartments, Huntsville comes in at number 10. That’s according to The New York Times, which said more than 2 million new apartments are expected to be built nationally by 2028. AL.com reports that according to available figures, more than ninety-two hundred units were built in Huntsville from 2019-through 2023. Close to fourteen thousand more are projected to be finished by 2028.
Two Faculty Investigators from HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology were recently awarded a 5-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Nick Cochran and Dr. Rick Myers will use the grant to further study the gene that codes for one of the proteins that form aggregates in the brain in many neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia. A news item from Hudson Alpha says Cochran and Myers are both experts in gene regulation, the process by which cells control the timing, location, and amount of gene expression.
The Niña & Pinta replicas are now open in Huntsville. The ships will be docked at Ditto Landing Marina. They will be open through September 8th. No reservations are necessary. Tickets for self-guided tours can be purchased at the ships’ location.