“This is a necessity. We have to do this. So we can’t neglect it even though we’ve been through a terrible tragedy.”

Lewis County, Ky., Clerk Leslie Collier, regarding the fact that the 500-square-mile county that serves 13,000 people will have only four centralized polling sites for the general election that ends Tuesday. The county allots just $50,000 annually. Lewis County isn’t the only Kentucky county that has had to reduce polling locations; in this year’s race, 64 of the state’s 120 counties have reduced their polling locations to just a few centralized voting centers. Voting rights activists are concerned that consolidating voting locations could disenfranchise voters. (NPR — Nov. 5, 2023)

Minneapolis City Council President Andrea Jenkins, regarding the city’s approval of a new location for a police station, which will replace the one that was ransacked and burned in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The city will spend $14 million to buy an existing building and parking lot and transform it into a new station. (Associated Press — Nov. 3, 2023)

Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, regarding the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that the state can execute an inmate with nitrogen gas, a method that has not previously been used to carry out a death sentence. Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi have authorized nitrogen hypoxia for executions but none have tried to use it. Opponents have likened the new procedure to human experimentation. (Associated Press — Nov. 2, 2023)

Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, regarding his plan to pay teachers $10,000 a year to encourage them to carry guns in schools as a proactive way to prevent shootings. The state has 180 school districts and more than 2,300 public schools with 1.75 million students. (Associated Press — Oct. 25, 2023)