Presented by

The Business Council of Alabama

 

 

Good morning!

Many Alabama students are starting back to school this week, either in person or online. Good luck to everyone, especially all you teachers and parents who are having to make the best of some unprecedented challenges.

Here’s your Daily News for Tuesday, August 11.

 

1. Coronavirus update

• Alabama will today likely reach 100,000 total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the virus hit the state earlier this year.
• On Monday, 1,655 confirmed cases were reported, bringing the total since March to 99,390, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. In all, 1,733 deaths have been reported.
• The ADPH reported some technical issues with its data dashboard on Monday, blaming the problems on a software vendor issue that has since been resolved.
• “ADPH is working on these concerns and any additional testing numbers will be updated,” the department said on Twitter Monday. “Over the weekend, some case numbers from older cases was updated which contributed to an increase in COVID-19 in Montgomery and Mobile.”
• The seven-day average for new cases is 1,351, according to the independent website BamaTracker. The seven-day average for deaths per day is now almost 22.
• 1,528 Alabamians were hospitalized with COVID-19-related illnesses Monday, according to ADPH.
• Of the total cases, at least 37,923 are presumed recovered, ADPH says.
• Full story HERE.

 

2. State leaders concerned about funding match for unemployment extension

• Some Alabama leaders on Monday said that if the state had to come up with a 25% match for President Donald Trump’s proposed unemployment benefits extension, it would have to opt-out of the additional support for those out of work.
• Trump on Saturday signed an executive order to continue paying supplemental federal unemployment benefits to millions of Americans out of work because of the coronavirus. Trump’s order cut previous additional benefits of $600 a week to $400 and, because it is based on disaster relief statutes that require a 25% state funding match, states like Alabama would need to kick in $100 a week for each beneficiary.
• Gov. Kay Ivey’s office wouldn’t say whether she approved of Trump’s plan and the state match, but said Ivey and the Department of Labor were evaluating the most recent directions.
• Some, including the Senate’s two budget chairmen, said the state doesn’t have the $350-400 million needed to provide the match. Others, such as Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh were more optimistic and said the state should try to make it work financially.
• It could come down to whether states are allowed to use part of their federal CARES Act allocations to meet the match. Or, you know, Congress could pass an updated coronavirus relief package.
• The full story from ADN’s Mary Sell and Caroline Beck is worth your time this morning. Read it HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3. Trump abruptly escorted from briefing after shooting near White House

• President Donald Trump was abruptly escorted by a U.S. Secret Service agent out of the White House briefing room as he was beginning a coronavirus briefing Monday afternoon.
• He returned minutes later, saying there had been a “shooting” outside the White House that was “under control.”
• Trump said he was escorted to the Oval Office by the agent. The White House was placed on lockdown following the incident.
• “There was an actual shooting and somebody’s been taken to the hospital,” Trump said. The president said the shots were fired by law enforcement and that he believed the individual who was shot was armed. “It was the suspect who was shot,” Trump said.
• The shooting occurred just before 6 p.m. after a 51-year-old man approached a uniformed Secret Service officer near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from the White House and told the officer he had a weapon, Tom Sullivan, chief of the Secret Service Uniformed Division, said Monday night.
• The man then turned around and “ran aggressively toward the officer, and in a drawing motion, removed an object from his clothing,” Sullivan said. The suspect then “crouched into a shooter’s stance, as if about to fire a weapon” before the officer shot the man once in the torso, he said.
• Read more and see the video HERE.

 

4. Politicians, players, coaches push for college football as cracks emerge

• President Donald Trump on Monday joined a number of other politicians, coaches and players calling to save the college football season from a pandemic-forced shutdown as supporters pushed the premise that the players are safer because of their sport.
• There was speculation two of the five most powerful conferences — the Big Ten and the Pac-12 — might call off their seasons and explore the possibility of spring football.
• The Mountain West became the second conference to do just that, joining the Mid-American Conference in giving up hope on playing any sports in the first semester.
• A Big Ten spokesman said no votes on fall sports had been taken by its presidents and chancellors as of Monday afternoon. The conference’s athletic directors were scheduled to meet later in the day, but it’s the university presidents who will have the final say on whether football is played. In the Pac-12, presidents were scheduled to meet Tuesday.
• The powerful Southeastern Conference made clear it was not ready to shutter its fall season.
• “Best advice I’ve received since COVID-19: ‘Be patient. Take time when making decisions. This is all new & you’ll gain better information each day,’” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey posted on Twitter. “Can we play? I don’t know. We haven’t stopped trying.”
• University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban told ESPN that if the goal is safety of the players, then they are much better off present on campus and in the care of athletic departments.
• “I know I’ll be criticized no matter what I say, that I don’t care about player safety. Look, players are a lot safer with us than they are running around at home. We have around a 2% positive ratio on our team since the Fourth of July. It’s a lot higher than that in society,” Saban said. “We act like these guys can’t get this unless they play football. They can get it anywhere, whether they’re in a bar or just hanging out.”
• Read more, including what medical doctors are saying, HERE.

 

 

5. In virus talks, Pelosi holds firm; Mnuchin wants a deal

• Monday brought no new talks between Republican and Democrat negotiators on Capitol Hill as the president tries a go-it-alone strategy. Over the weekend, President Trump launched a series of executive actions that give the appearance of a White House taking charge but may end up providing little help for ordinary Americans.
• The president’s orders seek to reverse the devastating fallout from unemployment assistance, eviction protections and other aid that has expired. But there are limits, and legal pitfalls, in trying to make an end run around the legislative branch.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed Trump’s proposals Monday as an “illusion” in an interview on MSNBC.
• The Democratic leader has been here before, negotiating a deal with the White House to save the U.S. economy, and lessons from the Great Recession are now punctuating the coronavirus talks.
• With Republicans again balking at big government bailouts, the Democrats believe they have the leverage, forcing President Donald Trump into a politically risky standoff over help for millions of Americans.
• “It’s impossible to know whether she has overplayed her hand until we see if there is a COVID package,” says Michael Steel, a former top aide to then-Speaker John Boehner.
• Trump acknowledged he’s still quite open to a deal with Congress. “So now Schumer and Pelosi want to meet to make a deal. Amazing how it all works, isn’t it,” he tweeted Monday. “They know my phone number.”
• Read more from Lisa Mascaro HERE.

 

 

News Briefs

 

Report: Decatur agency segregated public housing

• DECATUR, Ala. (AP) — A federal review found that a public housing authority in Alabama let white people live in riverfront towers with scenic views and other amenities while segregating Black people in another apartment development without the frills, a newspaper reported.
• A Housing and Urban Development study determined that 94% of the Decatur Housing Authority’s units in two towers with views of the Tennessee River are occupied by white people, while all the units in a housing project farther from the river are occupied by Black people, The Decatur Daily reported.
• The developments provide subsidized homes for low-income elderly people. Minorities on the waiting list to get into the towers were passed over as units there were filled with white people, the report said.
• Authority workers repeatedly explained the lack of Black residents in the waterfront buildings by saying elderly Black tenants don’t like high-rise buildings and prefer living in “garden-style units so they can sit on their porch and come and go as they please,’“ according to a letter from HUD.
• Full story HERE.

Alabama parents charged in death of child left in car

• RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Two parents in Alabama have been arrested after their 3-year-old child was found dead inside a hot car, authorities said Monday.
• Brandi Burks, 22, and Dakota Fowler, 20, are charged with manslaughter, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Court records did not list a defense lawyer for either person.
• News outlets reported that deputies were called about 4 p.m. Sunday after the child was found unresponsive in the car. Medics couldn’t revive the toddler, who hasn’t been identified publicly.
• Officials said the parents told them they last saw the child around midnight Saturday when the toddler was put to bed. The parents told investigators they couldn’t find the child when they woke up Sunday afternoon and later located the child in the vehicle.

 

 

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Coronavirus update: Alabama total cases near 100,000

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – State leaders concerned about funding match for extended unemployment benefits

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump abruptly escorted from briefing after shooting near White House

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Politicians, players, coaches push for college football as cracks emerge

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – In virus talks, Pelosi holds firm; Mnuchin wants a deal

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Report: Decatur agency segregated public housing

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – As college leaders meet, football players push to play

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Most Alabama child care facilities now open

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Daily News Digest – August 10, 2020

 

AL.COM – ‘It’s something you can’t get over’: First responders talk about ravages of Birmingham gun violence

 

AL.COM – Court rules in favor of transgender high school students in bathroom case

 

AL.COM – Ainsworth, GOP leaders request presidential debate in Alabama

 

AL.COM – Cost of Trump unemployment order worries Alabama budget chairs

 

AL.COM – Alabama researchers: Obesity may make COVID vaccine less effective

 

AL.COM – Contributors Bobby Greenawalt and Brandon: Did Alabama overreact with bar, restaurant curfews?

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Voice of God led Montgomery’s II Samuel from jail to Christian rap

 

Montgomery Advertiser – ‘There’s no right or wrong right now’: Montgomery begins new virtual school year

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Mr. Sandman Mattress Outlet owner facing 21 additional sex crimes in Blount County

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – State leaders concerned about possible funding match for extended unemployment benefits

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Parent protesters lobby Jefferson County Schools to offer in-person choice

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – ADPH: 20% of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alabama end up in ICU

 

Tuscaloosa News – Ivey evaluating Trump unemployment plan

 

Tuscaloosa News – United Way to hold mask giveaway

 

Tuscaloosa News – Texas man accused of driving to Fayette for sex with teen

 

Decatur Daily – With school set to begin Wednesday, 34 Austin High students in quarantine

 

Decatur Daily – Hartselle City Schools begins cautious reopening with half of in-person

 

Decatur Daily – Funding state share of Trump’s unemployment plan concerns Alabama leaders

 

Times Daily – Monday drug bust nets heroin, meth, synthetic marijuana

 

Times Daily – Ceremony celebrating U.S. 43 projects to be held Tuesday

 

Times Daily – Safety protocols in place as classes begin at Riverhill School

 

Anniston Star – Three COVID survivors speak out as Calhoun County death toll rises

 

Anniston Star – Jacksonville council will hear no more monument discussion after next meeting

 

Anniston Star – State leaders concerned about possible funding match for extended unemployment benefits

 

YellowHammer News – Tuberville supports #WeWantToPlay movement — ‘Let them play’

 

YellowHammer News – Sierra Club endorses Joe Biden, calls him ‘champion for climate justice’

 

YellowHammer News – ICE announces arrests of two illegal aliens in Alabama, including for attempted murder

 

Gadsden Times – US obesity epidemic threat to COVID vaccine’s effectiveness

 

Gadsden Times – Altoona man charged with receiving stolen property

 

Gadsden Times – Medical emergency caused death in Collinsville tractor incident

 

Dothan Eagle – Police continue to investigate shooting death; persons of interest sought

 

Dothan Eagle – Bond denied for Dale County man charged in mother’s murder

 

Dothan Eagle – Boy Scout sets up box to collect retired American flags

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Two suspects in custody with third loose after shots fired at Opelika police car

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Opelika business stitches together a hot commodity

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Season on a brink: Move-ins begin at Auburn as Tigers keep preparing

 

WSFA Montgomery – MPS official addresses concern over lack of technological support for students

 

WSFA Montgomery – 2 men injured in shooting Monday night in Montgomery

 

WSFA Montgomery – Governor’s office evaluating Trump unemployment plan

 

WAFF Huntsville – Alabama jury trials to resume with new safety protocols

 

WAFF Huntsville – Even with safety measures, fewer people using Guntersville buses

 

WAFF Huntsville – Students in Dekalb County return to school for first day

 

WKRG Mobile – Woman arrested in Mobile, charged with murder

 

WKRG Mobile – Global coronavirus cases double in 45 days, top 20 million

 

WKRG Mobile – Video shows man in parachute slam into building in downtown Cleveland

 

WTVY Dothan – Principal’s allegations could have landed band boosters in jail

 

WTVY Dothan – Coffee County Schools return to school

 

WTVY Dothan – Students Return to BCF Campus for first time under new COVID guidelines

 

WASHINGTON POST – White House looks at plan to keep out citizens and legal residents over virus

 

WASHINGTON POST – An economic crisis in Kentucky has workers, businesses furious with McConnell

 

WASHINGTON POST – New Trump chief of staff drew hard line during relief talks, challenging Democrats’ approach

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Trump Considers Banning Re-entry by Citizens Who May Have Coronavirus

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Trump Teases a Gettysburg Convention Speech. Experts Say It’s an Ethics Breach.

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Michigan Democrats Hesitate on Whitmer as V.P.: ‘Selfishly, We Need Her Here’

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Employers Cast Wary Eye on Trump Payroll-Tax Deferral

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Federal Government Sent Workers Nearly $250 Billion in $600-a-Week Jobless Aid

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Joe Biden Weighs VP Pick After Search Committee Wraps Up

 

 

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