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ALVIN!!!

There’s a “demon chipmunk” on the loose in Mississippi’s state capitol. It answers to the Republican speaker of the state House of Representatives, and the Democratic legislator who filed suit over it says he’s defending the state constitution. The “demon chipmunk” is a very fast computer voice, which Speaker Philip Gunn is using to read bills aloud when — as the constitution entitles them to do — members demand a reading before a final vote. Rep. Jay Hughes’s lawyer says the voice has been set to read so quickly that no member can understand it. Gunn’s lawyers say members can just read the bills themselves. Does the constitution, written in 1890, permit the use of a computer at “warp speed” to read the bills? The Mississippi Supreme Court, which has the case, may answer that question — or it may say that the question is one that only the legislature itself may answer. (AC/AP) ...Let’s hope whoever rules will answer at a speed people can understand.