The Perry County Herald

07/08/2026

BREAKING: Donald J. Bennett Sr. has asked a Montgomery judge to stop Thursday's recount in the Perry County Commission District 1 Democratic primary, less than 24 hours before it is scheduled to begin.
Bennett, the certified winner of the May 19 primary by one vote, filed a petition in Montgomery County Circuit Court at 12:09 p.m. Wednesday asking the court to vacate the Alabama Democratic Party's order for a recount and to halt the count set for 11 a.m. Thursday. The petition argues the state party had no legal authority to order a recount after ruling that Albert Turner Jr.'s election contest was filed too late. No ruling had been entered as of Wednesday evening.
This news broke as this week's edition of the Times-Standard-Herald was on the press, so we are publishing coverage online first. Full story at the link below. Complete coverage of the court filing and the outcome of Thursday's recount, whatever it may be, will follow in next week's edition.

06/12/2026

A widely circulated spending study claims Perry County leads all 67 Alabama counties in per-capita spending on OnlyFans. The numbers come from an unverifiable marketing model, and when we checked the report's math against the county's actual population, it didn't add up. Link: https://perrycountyherald.net/2026/06/12/perry-county-tops-alabama-in-onlyfans-spending-says-study/

06/03/2026

Staff from the office of U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell will be at the Greensboro Senior Activity Center on Wednesday, June 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to help with Social Security, Veterans' benefits, Medicare, passport services and other federal matters. No appointment needed. Bring any relevant documents. The center is located at 515 Greene St.

https://perrycountyherald.net/2026/06/03/sewell-staff-to-hold-mobile-office-hours-in-greensboro-on-june-10/

06/01/2026

BREAKING UPDATE: She was waiting in the parking lot.

Court records filed today in Perry County reveal how four inmates escaped the PREP Center early Saturday: they faked a medical emergency, overpowered a correctional officer, and ran to a getaway vehicle driven by a Selma woman who then took them to her apartment to change clothes and hide.
The driver, Keivona Lewis, 29, was arrested within two hours. She faces five felony counts.
Two of the four inmates are now back in custody. Two — including a convicted murderer whose probation was being revoked and a 19-year-old charged with armed robbery — are still out there.
And the question Perry County residents have been asking since Saturday: why did it take 19 hours for anyone to officially tell us?

Full story, with court documents: https://perrycountyherald.net/2026/06/01/they-faked-a-medical-emergency-and-she-was-waiting-outside-selma-woman-charged-in-prep-center-escape-two-remain-at-large/

05/31/2026

Four inmates escaped the Perry County PREP Center in Uniontown early Saturday morning. It was late that evening before official confirmation.
The Times-Standard-Herald reviewed court records for all four men. What we found: three of the four are not PREP Center participants at all. They are Dallas County jail inmates, including a convicted murderer facing probation revocation, a defendant awaiting trial on three counts of attempted murder, and a 19-year-old charged with armed robbery and possessing a machine gun conversion device, being housed at the state reentry facility because the Dallas County Jail has been closed since a tornado hit Selma in January 2023.

This is the second escape-related incident at the facility involving Dallas County inmates in six months.

Full story, with documents: https://perrycountyherald.net/2026/05/31/four-escape-perry-county-prep-center-court-records-reveal-murder-attempted-murder-charges-among-inmates-housed-under-dallas-county-arrangement/

05/26/2026

One vote.

Donald Bennett defeats Albert Turner Jr. by a single vote after the Perry County canvassing board counted 24 provisional ballots Tuesday. Final certified totals: Bennett 398, Turner 397.

Turner has indicated he will challenge the result. Full story at perrycountyherald.net.

https://perrycountyherald.net/2026/05/26/bennett-defeats-turner-by-one-vote-after-perry-county-canvass/

Perry County Commissioner-Elect Donald Bennett Longtime Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner Donald J. Bennett has defeated longtime Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner Jr. by a single vote, the county canvassing board certified Tuesday.The board, composed of Probate Judge Carlton Hogue, Sher...

04/24/2026

The complete Perry County registered voter list is now live at perrycountyherald.net and appears in this week's print edition of the Times-Standard-Herald, dated April 23, 2026.
Check your registration, find your precinct, and make sure you're ready for the upcoming elections. The deadline to register for the May 19 primary election is May 4, 2026 — don't wait until it's too late.

Voter List 1 Voter List 2Download Voter List 3Download Voter List 4Download Voter List 5Download Voter List 6Download Voter List 7Download Voter List 8Download Voter List 9Download Voter List 10Download Voter List 11Download Voter List 12Download

04/18/2026

We've updated our story on the federal RICO lawsuit involving the former Judson College campus to include the complaint itself and all five of its original exhibits. Readers can now see the primary documents our reporting is based on.

Every factual claim in our coverage is sourced from the federal complaint, exhibits filed with that complaint, filings with the Alabama Secretary of State, filings with the Alabama Ethics Commission, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, resolutions passed by the Marion City Council and the Perry County Commission, and public records from the Perry County Probate Office.

The federal court documents and exhibits, including economic development agreements with the State of Alabama, are linked in the story. Readers can read them and draw their own conclusions.

We have held back information we could not confirm. We have given every party named in our reporting the opportunity to respond to specific questions. We will update the story if any of them does.Our job is to report what the public record shows, accurately, with attribution. That is what we have done and what we will continue to do.

UPDATE: Friday, April 17, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.: City of Marion ties Atlas Complex to Callan JMB in Friday announcements; no deed recorded for Judson campus sale When the Marion City Council and the Perry County Commission approved tax abatements in January for a company promising to bring 51 jobs and a...

04/17/2026

https://perrycountyherald.net/2026/04/17/city-of-marion-ties-atlas-complex-to-callan-jmb-in-friday-announcements-no-deed-recorded-for-judson-campus-sale/

In the twenty-four hours following publication of the account of a federal lawsuit relating to the proposed sale of the former campus of Judson College in the Times-Standard-Herald's April 17 print edition, a series of announcements has been issued by the Judson College Foundation, the City of Mario...

04/01/2026

Where did $1.7 million in Marion water and sewer payments go? The Alabama Attorney General wants to find out. The state has issued a subpoena demanding years of financial records from the City of Marion as part of a Deceptive Trade Practices Act investigation. The city's response: a request for 90 more days. Read the full story here.

Attorney General's office demands four years of financial records; city asks for three more months to respond The Alabama Attorney General wants to know what happened to $1.7 million that residents of Marion paid for water and sewer service, money the state says the city cannot account for. In a sub...