National Roundup

Alabama
Judge dismisses Birmingham-Southern lawsuit against state treasurer over loan denial
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama judge dismissed Birmingham-Southern College’s lawsuit against the state treasurer over a loan denial on Wednesday, a decision that could put the future of the 167-year-old private college in jeopardy.

Birmingham-Southern College filed a lawsuit last week against state Treasurer Young Boozer, saying Boozer wrongly denied a $30 million loan from a program created by lawmakers to provide a financial lifeline to the college. Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson granted the state’s request to dismiss the lawsuit Wednesday on the grounds that the state treasurer could not be sued for exercising his duties. Anderson said the legislation gave discretion to the treasure to decide who qualified for a loan.

“I’m sympathetic to the college and the position they are in, but I’m looking at the legislative language,” Anderson said.

Birmingham-Southern is exploring an appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court, college President Daniel Coleman said in a statement. The college had argued it met the loan requirements set out in the law and that Boozer was acting in bad faith or under a misinterpretation of the requirements.

“Our good faith was betrayed over the several months of working with Treasurer Boozer to deliver this bridge loan to the college,” Coleman said. “The timeline of our interactions clearly demonstrates that his behavior was arbitrary and capricious. We also believe he is misinterpreting the language of the act pertaining collateral.”

The Alabama Legislature created the Alabama Distressed Institutions of Higher Education Revolving Loan Program this year after Birmingham-Southern officials, alumni and supporters lobbied for money to help the college stay open. Supporters of the loan legislation said it was a way to provide bridge funding while the college worked to shore up its finances.

Birmingham-Southern applied for a loan and was told by Boozer on Oct. 18 that the loan was being denied.

The college will likely close without emergency relief from the court, lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. The private college, located a few miles from downtown Birmingham, has 731 full-time students and 284 employees.

The legislation set off criteria for qualifications for the loan, including that an institution had sufficient assets to pledge as collateral. The lawsuit accused Boozer of trying to settle a “grudge” against a bank that had loaned the college money and that during legislative discussions “focused on the collateral the College would pledge as security for the loan, including subordinating the first position of ServisFirst Bank in the college’s physical assets.”

During a hearing Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Jim Davis, representing the state treasurer, said the college was seeking to have the judge supplant his judgement for that of the state treasurer.

“The application has been looked at,” Davis said. “Whether the assets were sufficient, that requires judgement.”

Republican State Sen. Jabo Waggoner, of Vestavia Hills, sponsored the legislation creating the loan program and said the intent was for the money to go to help Birmingham-Southern. He said the loan denial likely puts the future of the college in doubt.
“I’m hearing from a lot of people. Some are crying. Some are angry,” Waggoner said. “Of course, I’m very disappointed, too, and I don’t understand it.”


Idaho
Mom convicted of killing kids to be sent to Arizona to face charges of conspiracy
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison in the murders of her two youngest children and another woman could soon be taken to Arizona to face similar charges.

Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted in Idaho earlier this year of killing her two kids and conspiring to kill a woman she saw as a romantic rival. On Wednesday, an extradition warrant signed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little was delivered to other state officials, allowing Arizona officials to temporarily take custody of Vallow Daybell so she can face charges of conspiring to kill her estranged husband as well as her niece’s ex-husband.

The complicated case began in 2019, when Vallow Daybell still lived in a Phoenix suburb with her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and then-16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, that summer. Cox told police he acted in self-defense, and he was never charged. Cox died later that year of what investigators said were natural causes.

Shortly after Charles Vallow died, Vallow Daybell and her kids moved to Idaho. Prosecutors said she made the move to be closer to her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell, and that together the two plotted to remove any obstacle to their happiness.

Chad Daybell has also been charged in the murders of the two kids and his late wife. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Over the next several weeks Vallow Daybell’s two children disappeared and Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell, died of what was initially believed to be natural causes. But authorities became suspicious when Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell married just two weeks later, later determining Tammy Daybell had been asphyxiated.

Extended family members had also grown worried about the missing kids, and police launched a multi-state investigation looking for the children. Their bodies were later found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.

Meanwhile, another person connected to the family reported an attempted shooting. Brandon Boudreaux, who had recently divorced Vallow Daybell’s niece, said someone driving a Jeep had shot at him outside his home. The Jeep matched the description of one that had been purchased by Charles Vallow before his death.

The Arizona indictment charges Vallow Daybell with conspiring to kill Charles Vallow and Boudreaux.

Jim Archibald, who represented Vallow Daybell in the Idaho trial, said he was not representing her in the Arizona case and that she had not yet been appointed an attorney there.

“I’ve talked to the public defenders in Phoenix, so they’re waiting for her to get there, and when she gets there they’ll assign an attorney,” Archibald said. He declined to comment on the Arizona charges.