Presented by

The Boeing Company

1. State cases top 5,000, decisions to come

2. Some PPP loans go to bigger businesses

A message from

The Boeing Company

• For 15 years, the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system has been the only defense program with the ability to defend against an incoming long-range ballistic missile.

• As the GMD prime contractor, Boeing designs, produces, integrates, tests and sustains all GMD components deployed across 15 time zones.

• Boeing is currently enhancing the program by building more silos for 20 additional missiles to sustain the system.

• Recognizing the importance of this mission, Boeing’s GMD team — managed out of Huntsville — continues to work tirelessly to meet this milestone under a presidential directive to detect, intercept and destroy a target aimed at our homeland.

• Boeing stands ready to use its expertise to keep the GMD system modernized and help protect the nation 24/7.

• Read more HERE.

3. Scammers seize on coronavirus fears

• While staying home and away from the coronavirus, Alabamians also need to avoid scammers. New forms of scams are targeting people’s insecurities about the COVID-19 pandemic, law enforcement warned recently.
• “Unfortunately, criminals have never seen a crisis that they couldn’t find a way to exploit,” U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin said in a written statement.
• Scammers are targeting vulnerable people, Franklin said, and the best thing to do is to verify information before making final decisions on anything regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Alabama Department of Senior Services this week warned older Alabamians to be especially cautious.
• “This is the ideal time for a scammer to prey on fear of our seniors,” Commissioner Jean Brown said in a written statement. “Stay alert and do not respond to a text, email or phone call from a sender that is unfamiliar, even if it looks official or appears to be from a respected agency or company.”
• A Better Business Bureau report said seniors are receiving text messages from scammers posing as the U.S. Department of Health, about taking a mandatory online COVID-19 test in order to receive the recently approved stimulus payment. Others are receiving emails stating they qualify for a payment and to click on a link to claim a check.
• “Remember to protect your Medicare number and only provide it to your doctor and Medicare providers.” Brown said.
• Full story from ADN’s Devin Pavlou HERE.

4. AG Marshall: hundreds report price gouging

• More than 600 individual complaints of price gouging were reported to the Alabama Attorney General between mid-March and late last week.
• A spokesman for the attorney general said the complaints from consumers followed the declaration of  a state health emergency related to the coronavirus.
• Information about what actions have been taken to investigate or stop the alleged gouging wasn’t available, but Attorney General Steve Marshall last month said, “those who seek to profit during this time of emergency through price gouging will be subject to the law.”
• The penalty is a fine of up to $1,000 per violation, and those determined to have willfully and continuously violated this law may be prohibited from doing business in Alabama.
• Read more about that HERE.
• Meanwhile, in a news conference yesterday, Marshall and district attorneys from around the state said that crime victims’ voices will continue to be heard during the pandemic.
• This is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, and normally there is a vigil held on the grounds outside the AG’s office. This year that vigil will be held virtually, but Marshall said prosecutors are still committed to seeking justice on behalf of victims.
• “Our job is to respond with professionalism, with hope and with compassion because when we’re successful, justice is obtained, rights are protected and hope is inspired for those who desperately need it,” Marshall said.
• Read more from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

5. Talks drag on $450B virus aid for small business, hospitals

• Late-stage negotiations in Washington on a new $450 billion coronavirus aid package dragged past Monday’s hoped-for deadline, but the Trump administration and key lawmakers insisted a final pact is within reach.
• President Donald Trump said he expects a Senate vote “hopefully” on Tuesday.
• As talks continued, the contours of the deal appear largely set. Most of the funding, some $300 billion, would go to boost a small-business payroll loan program that’s out of money. Additional help would be given to hospitals, and billions more would be spent to boost testing for the virus, a key step in building the confidence required to reopen state economies.
• The emerging draft measure — originally designed by Republicans as a $250 billion stopgap to replenish the payroll subsidies for smaller businesses — has grown into the second largest of the four coronavirus response bills so far. Democratic demands have caused the measure to balloon, though they likely will be denied the money they want to help struggling state and local governments.
• The Senate met for a brief pro forma session Monday afternoon that could have provided a window to act on the upcoming measure under fast-track procedures requiring unanimous consent to advance legislation, but it wasn’t ready in time.
• Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set up another Senate session for today in the hope that an agreement will be finished by then.
• “It’s now been four days since the Paycheck Protection Program ran out of money. Republicans have been trying to secure more funding for this critical program for a week and a half now,” McConnell said. “Our Democratic colleagues are still prolonging their discussions with the administration, so the Senate regretfully will not be able to pass more funding for Americans’ paychecks today.”
• Full story from Andrew Taylor and Lisa Mascaro HERE.

News Briefs

Storm death toll climbs to 3

• HEADLAND, Ala. (AP) — Suspected tornadoes killed at least two people as severe weather blasted the Deep South, and a house fire believed started by lightning claimed a third person, officials said Monday.
• Jerry Oliver Williams, 61, died late Sunday night when winds flipped the home Williams shared with his wife and child in a rural Alabama county, authorities said. The area was under a tornado warning at the time.
• “He was in a mobile home, and the mobile home was destroyed by a tornado. He was in the wreckage of the mobile home. His wife and child were with him, and they were OK,” said Coroner Derek Wright of Alabama’s Henry County.
• Full story HERE.

Records: Man charged in Aniah Blanchard’s death bit officer

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man accused of kidnapping and killing the stepdaughter of a UFC fighter has also been charged with biting a correctional officer while in jail, authorities said.
• Ibraheem Yazeed, 30, was charged with second-degree assault in connection with a March 23 incident at the Lee County Detention Center, news outlets reported Monday.
• Court records said three officers were taking Yazeed back to his cell when Yazeed became hostile and refused to enter.
• One of the officers attempted to use a stun gun on Yazeed but he continued to be combative, swinging and kicking at the officers, records said.
• Two more officers came to help and Yazeed bit one of them in the leg, records said.
• Yazeed was previously charged with capital murder in the death of 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard.
• Blanchard was last seen on Oct. 23 and her remains were found Nov. 25. in Macon County. She was the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris and a student at Southern Union College.
• Yazeed was out on bond for kidnapping and attempted murder charges at the time of Blanchard’s death. He had been given the maximum bond on the state’s bail schedule, news outlets reported.
• In February, the Alabama House of Representatives approved a bill, named after Blanchard, that would allow judges to deny bond to people accused of committing violent crimes.
• It’s unclear whether Yazeed had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
• Story link.

Police: Suspect in 4 Alabama killings arrested after manhunt

• BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A man suspected of killing as many as four people across Alabama and robbing several others was arrested after an hourslong search by police, authorities said.
• Derrick Hightower, 32, of Columbus, Georgia, had been shot in the arm before being taken into custody Saturday afternoon in Birmingham, news outlets reported. Police said they believe he was wounded during an exchange of gunfire with officers.
• Authorities said they suspect Hightower of one slaying in Birmingham, two in Dadeville and a fourth in Auburn.
• Hightower thus far has been charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Nancy Nash, 54, who was found slain Friday near a burned pickup truck in Auburn. Kentrice Hill, 21, also was charged with capital murder in Nash’s death on Friday morning. She’s being held in the Lee County jail without bail.
• Hours after Nash was found dead, Hightower was named as a suspect in shooting deaths of a couple found Friday evening at a home in Dadeville, about 25 miles northwest of Auburn. Willie Tidwell, 61, and his wife Barbara Tidwell, 65, were found dead in the home after a possible robbery, Dadeville Police Chief Johnathan Floyd said.
• Full story HERE.

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