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1. Round and round: It’s open
   1. This story comes in at No. 4 on The News Courier’s 2022 Top 10 list.

   District 2 primary review The Alabama House District 2 seat was hotly contested this year with two candidates from Limestone county, Jason Black and Ben Harrison, all eyes were on this seat. The primary election resulted in a runoff but by the end of the night it was still undecided who would face Harrison. Black and another candidate from Lauderdale County, Kimberly Butler, were found in a virtual tie. The next week Jason Black was announced to go to the runoff after official results were tallied. This seemed to just be the beginning of the battle as Lauderdale residents filed a contest that would not be heard by the Alabama GOP until after the runoff. This was not be the first time that Limestone County has seen this, multiple Republican races had been contested or challenged in the last five years. While Harrison himself has not been contested before, some of his opponents in other elections in Limestone have been challenged. The New Courier spoke with all three candidates throughout the election and their comments on the process can be found in previous articles. Harrison won the runoff and the original contest was dropped but a second was filed, this time by Kimberly Butler. This time Butler’s challenge to the runoff results were denied to be heard by the ALGOP and she decided to run a write-in campaign for the general election. Harrison would go on to win the House District 2 seat.

James Lucas joins council in Frank Travis’ seat The Athens City Council appointed James Lucas to the vacant district three council seat in July. Lucas previously served on the Athens City School Board as the longest standing school board member in Alabama, having served from 1995 to 2022. The city council position had been vacant since April when former councilman Frank Travis succumbed to his battle with cancer. Council

1. President Chris Seibert said, “In Frank (Travis)’s last week with us, his request was that we appoint Mr. Lucas.”

Push for access During Governor Kay Ivey’s State of the State address Tuesday night, she urged lawmakers to invest American Rescue Plan Act funds into broadband access. For many in rural areas of Limestone County without access to internet, the governor’s message was encouraging news. District 4 Commissioner LaDon Townsend was happy to hear Ivey specifically address the topic. In September,

1. Gov. Ivey awarded more than $82 million for broadband access through the Alabama Middle-Mile Network project.

Link_fwaxxaniIn July, the town of Elkmont celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony for their new town hall. Elkmont Mayor Tracy Compton said, “We have been here since the 1850s, and this is the first time we have built a town hall. It’s been a long time coming.” The town of Elkmont will receive a loan of $1 million through the USDA Rural Development’s Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program for construction. The facility will provide a safe and modern location to host the town’s offices, for use by the public.