Brighton Elects Brandon Dean One Of Alabama’s Youngest Mayors
The City of Brighton has new mayor-elect. At 24, Brandon Dean is one of the youngest in Alabama and the nation. He won without a runoff in a race with five candidates.
Dean is one of four millennials elected Tuesday in the city of 3,000 people that has wrestled with paying its bill and keeping its police cars rolling. In addition to Dean, three of the city’s new council members are 31 or younger. Dean says they will work together to help make Brighton better.
“We’ve obviously faced some serious budgetary issues that will have to be worked out,” Dean says. The simple fix to that is now we have leadership that creates a profile for our city that we have never had.”
Dean plans to increase the marketing of Brighton so that it can attract more industry, retail, and jobs.
A graduate of the prestigious Howard University in Washington, D.C., Dean says he had opportunities other than returning to Brighton but chose to come back.
“No matter where I was in life or what I saw or experienced, whenever life got difficult, whenever things were hard, whenever I got knocked down and needed a way to get back up, it always somehow involved me returning to this place that I call home,” he says.
Dean says he plans to start next week working with a transition team.
However, there still may be other unresolved issues in the Brighton election.
A complaint has been filed over absentee voting in Brighton. The Alabama secretary of state’s office confirmed the complaint to AL.com but did not release any details.
Last week, a Jefferson County district attorney said he was investigating potential voter fraud in Brighton over absentee ballots. He says 80 absentee ballot applications listed the same address, which was a candidate’s home.
UAB building among Alabama’s first to feature ‘bird safe’ glass
Advocates hope the new glass will prevent window collisions, a leading causes of bird mortality.
Researchers look into community health impact of wood pellet production in rural Mississippi
Brown University and Tougaloo College students are testing for potential air and noise pollution near the Drax wood pellet plant in Gloster, Mississippi.
Alabama coal company sued for a home explosion is delinquent on dozens of penalties
Crimson Oak Grove Resources has been cited for 204 safety violations since the March 8 blast, many involving “significant and substantial” safety violations.
The United Auto Workers faces a key test in the South with upcoming vote at Alabama Mercedes plant
The United Auto Workers is aiming for a key victory at Mercedes-Benz in Alabama. More than 5,000 workers at the facility in Vance and nearby battery plant will vote this week on whether to join the UAW.
Gambling, ethics bills fall short as legislative session ends
Alabama lawmakers closed the books on this year’s regular legislative session Thursday. While Republican leaders passed many of their priority bills, perhaps the most talked about issue – gambling – died.
A look at what passed and failed in the 2024 legislative session
Alabama lawmakers have ended a 2024 legislative session that saw the Republican majority win approval for a number of their top priorities.
