Nation IN BRIEF : ALABAMA : Panel Seeks Charges Against Governor

The Alabama Ethics Commission recommended that state Atty. Gen. Jimmy Evans prosecute Gov. Guy Hunt for using state airplanes to fly to church appearances where he accepted cash offerings. The commission voted 4 to 0, with one member absent. Hunt, a Primitive Baptist preacher, said he was innocent of any violations and would appeal to a circuit judge, an option mentioned in state ethics law. “We will show we are right and they are wrong,” the Republican governor said at a Statehouse news conference. Hunt has said the flights were necessary because of scheduling and security needs. But the governor has written the state checks for $9,724 as payment for offerings he said he accepted on 18 preaching trips to Virginia, California and other locations during the last four years.