1. Senate finance reports are in.

2. Central American minors placed in Alabama.

3. DNC sets new deadline; State party stumbles on cue.

• The Democratic National Committee has set a new deadline for the Alabama Democratic Party to elect new leadership.
• The DNC says the ADP must hold leadership elections by August 17 or face new penalties, including being ostracized by the national party.
• This all goes back to last year’s leadership elections in which some claimed that the Alabama Democratic Conference leader Joe Reed essentially gamed the party’s convoluted minority delegate rules to ensure Nancy Worley retained her chairmanship.
• The DNC ordered new elections in February, but the state party has dragged its feet to comply.
• Read the full story from the Advertiser’s Brian Lyman HERE.
• As Brian was breaking this story yesterday, the Alabama Democratic Party – as if on cue – again demonstrated its incompetence. The party’s website disappeared and began displaying an unflattering landing page (see above). This is what happens when you don’t pay your GoDaddy bill, which is a basic function of pretty much any organization.
• Said Robyn Hammontree, who seemed to discover the problem on Twitter, “The state party let our website expire because they do not care about us at all. They can’t even do the bare minimum. This is unacceptable.”

4. Moonshot festivities begin.

• Two of Apollo 11’s living astronauts are returning to the exact spot from where they flew to the moon 50 years ago.
• NASA has invited Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Tuesday. They are marking the precise moment — 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969 — that their Saturn V rocket departed on humanity’s first moon landing. Mission commander Neil Armstrong — who took the first lunar footsteps — died in 2012.
• It kicks off eight days of golden anniversary celebrations for each day of Apollo 11’s voyage.
• Also Tuesday morning, 5,000 model rockets are set to launch simultaneously at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. At the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, Armstrong’s newly restored spacesuit goes on display.
• Huntsville’s activities won’t stop this morning. Later tonight there’s a dinner headlined by Gov. Kay Ivey. Buzz Aldrin is scheduled to be an honored guest at a special dinner on Thursday. And there’s a big “dancing in the streets” planned for
• Friday to commemorate how NASA scientists celebrated in the streets upon a successful launch in 1969.
• Read more about the events planned from Lee Roop HERE.
• If you’re looking for great Moon #Content, look no further than PBS and Alabama Public Television.
• “Chasing the Moon” is a three-part documentary that beautifully encapsulates the audacious Apollo missions. It has been airing all week, so you might catch it live, but you can also watch all three parts online HERE.
• H/T to Matt Murphy and Andrea Lindenberg, who promoted the documentary yesterday on the radio.

5. ALFA awards truck to Auburn Equestrian.

• Alabama Farmers Federation gifted a 2019 Duramax Diesel Chevrolet Silverado 2500 to the Auburn University Equestrian team after the group won its sixth national championship this year.
• Equestrian Coach Greg William was happy to accept the new truck and said it will be very useful for all of their needs in taking care of the horses.
• “This truck is an amazing asset for us,” Williams said. “This is going to be a very nice vehicle to use when accepting donated horses or for safely transporting horses to the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine.”
• Federation President Jimmy Parnell said he was proud of Auburn’s Equestrian team and hopes they can continue with their success in agricultural-related athletics.
• “It’s inspiring to see how committed these young women are to this sport, and it’s a pleasure to support the team with this truck donation,” said Parnell.
• Full story from Caroline Beck HERE.

AP News Briefs.

• Defiant in the face of widespread censure, President Donald Trump escalated his demand for four Democratic congresswomen of color to leave the U.S. “right now,” stoking the discord that helped send him to the White House and claiming “many people agree with me.”
• At the Capitol, the four lawmakers fired back, condemning what they called “xenophobic bigoted remarks” and renewing calls for Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings.
• Trump had called on the four to “go back” to their “broken and crime-infested” countries in tweets that have been widely denounced as racist . His remarks were directed at Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All are American citizens, and three of the four were born in the U.S.
• The episode served notice that Trump is willing to again rely on incendiary rhetoric on issues of race and immigration to preserve his political base in the leadup to the 2020 election.
• “It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “A lot of people love it, by the way.”
• Full story HERE.

• Today a federal judge will sentence an Alabama attorney and his son who were convicted of defrauding investors and a bank out of millions of dollars.
• Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 17½ years for Donald Watkins Sr. and 6½ years for his son, Donald Watkins Jr.
• A jury convicted the men of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in March. Prosecutors said the elder Watkins sold investments that were supposed to help grow a biofuel company called Masada Resource Group, but instead the pair used the money for personal bills and debts such as taxes, alimony and clothing.
• A string of high-profile witnesses, including basketball star Charles Barkley and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, testified at the trial that they either lost money with Watkins or that he wrongly claimed they were involved in his business.
• Full story HERE.

• The Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a location in southeast Alabama to build the state’s fifth veterans home.
• The department sent out requests for site selection proposals Monday. The plan is to build a 182,000-square-foot (16,900-square-meter) home to provide skilled nursing care for 150 to 175 veterans. The minimum site requirement is 27 acres (11 hectares).
• The department is considering Barbour, Butler, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston, and Pike counties. These counties can submit proposals by August 15.
• The department currently has four veteran’s home including the Bill Nicholas State Veterans Home in Alexander City which recently received national recognition for demonstrating their dedication to improving quality care for residents and patients in long term and post-acute care.

• An Alabama musician has been accused of possessing and intending to distribute more than 21,000 child porn videos and images.
• News outlets report 30-year-old Logan Brent Maughon filed a “not guilty” motion Monday. He was charged last week with possession and dissemination of child pornography.
• Mobile Police Representative Charlette Solis says police received an online tip of the allegations. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Crimes Against Children Task Force is assisting in the investigation.
• Full story.

• The U.S. Geological Survey says North Alabama experienced an earthquake over the weekend, but it’s likely nobody even knew.
• Al.com quotes U.S. Geological officials as saying they detected a small earthquake Sunday just outside of Huntsville, Alabama. The quake was a magnitude 2.3 — three times smaller than the 7.1 earthquake that rocked Southern California last week.
• The minor Alabama quake was about 3.3 miles (5.3 meters) below the earth’s surface. USGS says that because the quake was so small and deep, residents likely didn’t feel it. No damage was reported.
• Al.com reports Sunday’s quake was also the second in north Alabama this summer, coming after a 2.4 quake last month. Ten others have also slightly shaken the state since the year began.

• Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey considers the mental health of athletes an important issue to be considered when it comes to legalized betting on college sports.
• Sankey opened the league’s media days Monday with plenty to say about sports gambling and continuing efforts to improve football officiating before yielding the podium to coaches talking about their hopes and concerns for the season.
• “We’re seeing trends in the mental health area that should cause us all to pause before these ideas around specific event betting within college sports are allowed to take place,” he said. “And I’m talking about, for example, whether a field goal is made or missed, whether a 3-point try is successful. Is a pitched ball a strike or a ball?
• “That pause should happen before any of these types of activities take place.”
• Read more from AP’s John Zenor HERE.

Headlines.

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