“The Alabama State Fire Marshall, Opelika Fire Department (OFD), and the Opelika Police Department (OPD) are currently investigating two separate fires that occurred on January 13 and January 19, 2026, at childcare facilities in Opelika. On January 13, 2026, at approximately 3:23 am, OFD responded to a structure fire at By His Grace Daycare and Learning Center, located at 311 South 6th Street. On January 19, 2026, just after 11:30 pm, Opelika Fire responded to the Children Palace Learning Center, located at 116 Columbus Parkway, regarding a structure fire.”

“Firefighters were able to extinguish both fires, and no injuries were reported in either incident. The initial investigation led to the discovery of glass mason jars filled with accelerant at both locations. Investigators are working to determine if the two fires are linked” says the City of Opelika, Alabama in a press release via WRBL, who report that 140 kids are without childcare due to the arsons.

Now in normal times this being merely felony-level elimination of the competition in a market by the owner of another daycare center would be the first motive that most people would look at. Thing is that Opelika is not a three-daycare center town of 2,000 or so, but a small city of 26,000 and around a dozen daycare centers, plus at least several more in neighboring Auburn, home to the famous sportsball college of the same name. The two establishments that were torched – several blocks apart – do have another one in between them, so maybe the arson cops are calling the nearby non-profit Child Care Resource Center, Inc‘s leadership in for intense rounds of questioning.

Barring that however, we’re left with the disconcerting possibility that an individual or individual(s) who vote for a certain party, are viewers of a certain propaganda network, and believe a certain specific line of bullshit about daycare centers – specifically ones dependent on public subsidies disbursed by the federal government to the states – might have decided “to take the law into their own hands” by torching the two centers that families in a seemingly middle-class-ish neighborhood depend upon. So given that context, yeah it’s worth raising. Never mind that the “empty daycare centers” of course are going to be empty at fucking 3:23 AM and 11:30 PM. The asshole was worried about getting caught throwing his mason jar molotovs, not accidentally burning anyone to death.