Report: Most federal election security money remains unspent
Congress provided hundreds of millions of dollars to shore up the nation’s election system against cyberattacks and other threats, but roughly two-thirds of the money remained unspent just weeks before last year’s presidential election.
A recently released federal report says the states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories had spent a little more than $255 million of $805 million in election security grants through Sept. 30 of last year, the latest figures available.
States were given leeway on how and when to spend their shares because election concerns and potential vulnerabilities of voting systems vary widely across the country. Several election officials cited two main reasons for the slow pace of spending: More than half the money wasn’t allocated until the 2020 election was less than a year away, giving election officials and state lawmakers little time to make major spending decisions. And the coronavirus pandemic upended last year’s election planning, forcing officials to focus on safety at the polls and pivot to provide more early voting and mail-in balloting.
Old Alabama fossil plant’s smokestacks toppled by dynamite
Six smokestacks at a decommissioned power plant in Alabama crashed to the ground Wednesday in a controlled implosion that began with the boom of dynamite and ended with a huge cloud of dust.
Once charges were set, workers toppled the structures in mere seconds at the Colbert Fossil Plant, which operated in northwest Alabama for more than six decades beginning in 1955.
TVA said the project was part of its move from coal toward cleaner fuel options.
Video of the implosion captured a man counting down and then yelling: “Fire in the hole. Light it up, Roger,” referring to Roger Homrich, owner of the demolition contracting firm.
Flashes appeared at the base of the stacks and four of the towers collapsed almost immediately, followed by two larger ones.
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