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U.S. NEWS Monday 25 noveMber 2019
Governor: Alabama sheriff shot, killed in line of duty

HAYNEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — gomery. Details remained The tall sheriff was known as
An Alabama sheriff was fa- sketchy as law enforce- "Big John." Ivey paid tribute
tally shot Saturday evening ment agents converged on to him online, writing that
in a community near the the community. Video from in his years of service in the
state's capital, authorities WSFA-TV showed a heavy U.S. Marine Corps and "his
announced, later saying law enforcement presence many years working in law
they were seeking a man late Saturday outside a QV enforcement, he dedicat-
considered to be a "serious gas station. ed his life to keeping other
risk" who may be traveling Alabama Law Enforce- people safe."
on foot. ment Agency spokesman The sheriff was first elected
Gov. Kay Ivey tweeted Cpl. Jess Thornton told re- in 2010, running as a Dem-
that Lowndes County Sher- porters the State Bureau of ocrat. He was a Lowndes
iff John Williams had been Investigation was en route County native who started
"tragically killed" in the line to the scene. volunteering as a reserve
of duty and that she of- Meanwhile, the state issued deputy in 1978. He also
fered her prayers and sym- what it called an "emer- worked for Hayneville po-
pathy to his family and the gency BLUE alert" that it lice before joining the sher-
Lowndes County Sheriff's was seeking an 18-year-old iff's department full-time in
Department. white man last seen at a 1987 and being appointed
Montgomery County Sheriff QV gas station in the area chief deputy in 1990. Lowndes County Sheriff John Williams was shot and killed in the
line of duty at a convenience store in Hayneville, Ala., on Satur-
Derrick Cunningham told at 8:15 p.m., the time of "Sheriff Williams always day, Nov. 23, 2019.
news outlets that Williams the reported shooting. The wanted to make a differ- Associated Press
was shot at a gas station in statement made no men- ence in his community and
the community of Haynev- tion of the shooting or a felt there was no better way in law enforcement," the black. It had a population
ille, about 20 miles (32 kilo- possible connection to the to help his community than biography read. Lowndes of around 11,000 in the
meters) southwest of Mont- man. to protect and serve them County is predominantly 2010 census. q

Alaska AG: Same-sex spouse eligible

for oil-wealth check

By BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —
Alaska's attorney general
on Friday said a woman
who alleged she was
wrongly denied a check
from the state's oil-wealth
fund because of her same-
sex marriage is eligible.
Kevin Clarkson, in a since-
deleted tweet, called De-
nali Nicole Smith's lawsuit
"pointless." He said her 2019
application is listed as "Eli-
gible - Not Paid" and hasn't In this Sept. 26, 2019 file photo, Alaska Attorney General Kevin
been paid because she Clarkson, left, speaks to reporters as Gov. Mike Dunleavy, right,
has not provided a cor- looks on in Anchorage, Alaska.
rect address. "Big non-issue Associated Press
here," the tweet said.
A related tweet also was ring recognition of same- The lawsuit says Smith is an
deleted. sex marriage and says the Alaska resident who last
Department of Law spokes- denial was based on the year married and moved
woman Cori Mills said by fact Smith was "absent with military wife Miranda
email that the depart- from Alaska 206 days dur- Murphy to Florida, where
ment "decided we need ing 2018 accompanying Murphy is stationed. The
to double check our facts her same sex spouse." lawsuit identifies Murphy as
before posting and make In late 2014, a federal judge an Alaska resident.
sure we are clearly talking deemed Alaska's ban on It claims that representa-
about the correct years." same-sex marriage un- tives of the Permanent
She hoped to have further constitutional. In 2015, the Fund Dividend Division told
details later Friday. U.S. Supreme Court gave Smith that if she were mar-
Attached to Smith's fed- same-sex couples nation- ried to a man, she would
eral lawsuit is an Aug. 23 ally the right to marry. The not be denied a check. This
denial letter from the state state has been barred from year's check was $1,606.
agency that determines el- enforcing provisions of law State law provides allow-
igibility for Permanent Fund cited in the letter, said able absences under which
Dividends. The letter cites Heather Gardner, an attor- an individual could still be
provisions of state law bar- ney for Smith. eligible for a check.q