Presented by

The Business Council of Alabama

 

 

 

1. COVID-19 update

• After two days of newly-reported cases below 1,000, the Alabama Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 1,626 new cases of COVID-19. That brings the total since March to 93,402. The ADPH reports 1,654 deaths from the virus since March.
• The seven-day average for new cases is now 1,415, according to the independent website BamaTracker. The website also notes that reported testing also increased Thursday, in correlation with the increased cases.
• The state also reports that the percent positive of tests for the week of Aug. 1 had decreased to 14.6%. That’s of 63,658 reported tests. In mid-July, the percentage of positive cases hit 16.7%.
• In all, 736,594 Alabamians have been tested. Of those who were positive, 37,923 are presumed recovered, according to ADPH.
• Story link.

 

2. Dismukes charged with felony theft

• Yesterday was really quite something.
• Around noon, Montgomery District Attorney Daryl Bailey called a press conference to announce an arrest warrant for a local public official. He didn’t say which one, so rumors ran wild (admit it, you had your ideas of who it might be).
• At 2:00, Bailey ended the intrigue by saying he had been investigating State Rep. Will Dismukes, R-Prattville, since May and was charging him with felony theft.
• The state alleges the theft in excess of $2,500 took place at Weiss Commercial Flooring Inc., where Dismukes worked before starting his own flooring company.
• Dismukes turned himself into the Montgomery County Jail Thursday evening and did not respond to questions from reporters. His attorney, Trey Norman, said the 30-year-old Prattville lawmaker maintains his innocence and questioned the timing of the arrest warrant given Dismukes’ recent political troubles.
• Dismukes has been at the center of controversy for nearly two weeks. The freshman lawmaker has endured calls for his resignation since his participation late last month in an event honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and noted leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
• Last week, Alabama Daily News reported that the Alabama Ethics Commission did not have a required annual statement of economic interests from Dismukes three months after it was due. He later filed it.
• Read the full story from Mary Sell and me HERE.

 

 

A message from

The Business Council of Alabama

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Relief talks on brink of collapse

• Washington talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money are teetering on the brink of collapse after a marathon meeting in the Capitol Thursday night generated a wave of recriminations but little progress on the top issues confronting negotiators.
• “There’s a handful of very big issues that we are still very far apart” on, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who depicted a stalemate on aid to states and local governments and renewing supplemental unemployment benefits.
• Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said they would return to the White House to brief President Donald Trump to consider next steps. Democratic negotiators pleaded for talks to continue.
• Both sides said the future of the negotiations is uncertain. Trump is considering executive orders to address evictions and unemployment insurance in the coming days.
• A breakdown in the talks would put at risk more than $100 billion to help reopen schools, a fresh round of $1,200 direct payments to most people, and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.
• Both sides have adopted a hard line in the talks, though the Trump team is more open in disclosing a handful of its proposed compromises. Republicans were late to agree to the negotiations and have become frustrated by the inflexible tactics of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, who have been exuding confidence in a political and legislative landscape that’s tilted in their favor.
• Alabama’s Sen. Richard Shelby, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, suggested Thursday that Democrats might prefer a stalemate to deny Trump a political victory with the election three months away.
• “We might not get a deal,” Shelby said. “The Democrats might not want a deal, politically. Think about it.”
• Full story HERE.

 

4. Contracts for prisons approved

• The Joint Legislative Contract Review Committee on Thursday approved two contracts for the Alabama Department of Corrections involving its settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over conditions at Julia Tutwiler Women’s Prison and mental health services.
• An increase of $174,912 and a one-year extension was approved on an ADOC contract with Massachusetts-based Kathleen Dennehy to monitor staffing and operations at Tutwiler as part of the DOJ’s settlement in 2015.
• A representative for ADOC said at the meeting on Thursday that they had reached 41 of the 44 provisions agreed upon in the settlement.
• Two of the remaining provisions involve staffing issues and audio improvements to the prison’s video surveillance system.
• A representative for ADOC said Tutwiler was at 68% staffing and would need to reach and hold at least 85% for the DOJ to be satisfied.
• The addition to that contract now brings the total to $874,563. It runs through September 2021.
• The second contract was a one-year extension with Citizens Baptist Medical Center in Talladega, which provides in-patient mental health care for ADOC’s inmate population.
• The spokeswoman said while this extension didn’t require additional funds the contract with Citizens Baptist has a $20 million limit.
• The contract enables ADOC to reserve 14 beds in the hospital’s psychiatric ward for ADOC inmates only. She said currently there are four inmates using their services and the most beds they’ve ever had occupied were nine.
• Full story from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

 

 

5. New legislative website coming

• The website and database we all use to read proposed state laws, track bills’ progress and view how lawmakers vote is getting a major overhaul.
• Yay!
• But don’t kiss good old ALISON goodbye just yet. The new site likely won’t be ready until the 2022 legislative session.
• Aw.
• The Legislative Services Agency, the office responsible for much of the behind-the-scenes work including bill and budget drafting for the Legislature, has a proposed $280,000 contract with a Tennessee company for the development of a new and updated website.
• “The price tag is more than you would spend on a regular website, but they’ll also be building a database that holds all the historical documents and those created in the future which can be pulled onto the website,” Othni Lathram, executive director of the Legislative Services Agency, said Tuesday.
• The agency earlier this year entered into a separate, $7 million contract with International Roll-Call for a new bill-drafting system and legislative production system. Like the current public website, the drafting system dates back to the 1990s, Lathram said.
• The contract was approved by the Joint Legislative Contract Review Committee on Thursday. Some lawmakers also brazenly and unjustly gave Othni a hard time for his pandemic beard. The nerve! We at ADN strongly support the scruff.
• Full story from ADN’s Mary Sell HERE.

 

 

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – State reports 1,626 new COVID-19 cases Thursday

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Dismukes charged with felony theft

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Virus talks on brink of collapse, sides still ‘far apart’

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Contracts to improve Alabama prison’s mental health capacity, staffing issues approved

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Legislature getting new website, bill-drafting system

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – ‘We are their safe place.’ Child abuse reporting dropped when schools closed

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Census deadline moved up, Alabama officials urge response

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – ‘Save Space Camp’ drive reaches $1.5M goal; Boeing gave $500K

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – University of Alabama to remove slavery supporter’s name from hall

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – DAILY NEWS DIGEST– August 6, 2020

 

AL.COM – Sen. Doug Jones and Alabama economist, push for renewing $600 jobless benefit

 

AL.COM – Alabama revises campus reentry form after concerns it waived legal rights

 

AL.COM – Columnist Kyle Whitmire: Tuberville was paid $5 million to quit. Now he says $600 is too much for you.

 

AL.COM – Alabama state Rep. Will Dismukes faces arrest for theft

 

AL.COM – Union: TVA will not outsource tech jobs; layoffs rescinded

 

AL.COM – PPP loans saved 672,000 Alabama jobs, survey says

 

AL.COM – Coronavirus numbers improving in north Alabama, but officials wary of Labor Day holiday

 

AL.COM – Defaced Confederate monument in Huntsville will stay in place for now, no plans to clean it

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Too young to die: King’s Canvas helps to create artwork inspired by community violence

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Alabama state Rep. Will Dismukes faces felony theft charge

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Montgomery man to spend nearly 6 years in federal prison on firearms charge

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Doctors finding more COVID-19 patients with kidney damage

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Alabama Rep. Will Dismukes turns himself in on theft warrant

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Teenager dies in trail riding accident near Vestavia Hills

 

Tuscaloosa News – Confederate monument vandalized outside Alabama courthouse

 

Tuscaloosa News – Alabama state Rep. Will Dismukes faces felony theft charge

 

Tuscaloosa News – Court weighs if Alabama agency’s meetings are public

 

Decatur Daily – Power outage leaves several blocks in the dark in Manhattan

 

Decatur Daily – Morgan evictions soar after moratorium lifted

 

Decatur Daily – West Morgan High $16 million expansion to begin this month

 

Times Daily – Cherokee council meeting/officer hearing postponed for second time

 

Times Daily – TVA rescinds decision to lay off IT workers

 

Times Daily – State lawmaker charged with felony theft

 

 

Anniston Star – UPDATED: Apparent chemical exposure at traffic stop sends first responders to hospital

 

Anniston Star – Cleburne County Nursing Home records 32 COVID-19 cases

 

Anniston Star – State lawmaker charged with felony theft

 

YellowHammer News – Nick Saban named to board of National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches created by former Tide assistant

 

YellowHammer News – UAH receives grant to research how drones can aid disaster response

 

YellowHammer News – Warrant issued for State Rep. Will Dismukes

 

Gadsden Times – Two jailed in shooting at Broad Street locale

 

Gadsden Times – BLM Gadsden plans Saturday march

 

Gadsden Times – Body found in wooded area of Marshall County

 

Dothan Eagle – Local officials encourage taking census as deadline moves up

 

Dothan Eagle – Houston County Schools will likely delay reopening until after Labor Day with revised virtual program

 

Dothan Eagle – COVID testing opportunities added to Dothan, Enterprise; Ozark clinic moves location next week

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Opelika council approves community block grant budget, recognizes OPD officer

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Community approaching pivotal time in fight against COVID as hospitalizations decline

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Tractor-trailer versus car accident claims life of Hatchechubbee man

 

WSFA Montgomery – Man dead in Montgomery shooting Thursday evening

 

WSFA Montgomery – Tallassee City Schools delays start date to after Labor Day

 

WSFA Montgomery – Motions filed seeking bond for Travis, Gregory McMichael in Arbery case

 

WAFF Huntsville – Huntsville City School Board members discuss students’ return to campus

 

WAFF Huntsville – Albertville and Guntersville City Schools delay return date for school

 

WAFF Huntsville – Residents outraged after apartment geared towards disabled people has elevators out for over a week

 

WKRG Mobile – Power outage leaves several blocks in the dark in Manhattan

 

WKRG Mobile – Ala. Supreme Court to rule on public access to state agency

 

WKRG Mobile – Escambia Co. votes down mask mandate, passes resolution encouraging mask-wearing

 

WTVY Dothan – Man charged with killing two teens doesn’t want hearing

 

WTVY Dothan – Barry Moore believes GOP can attract disgruntled Democrats

 

WTVY Dothan – Commencement continues for Wallace Community College

 

WASHINGTON POST – Virus keeps spreading as schools begin to open, frightening parents and alarming public health officials

 

WASHINGTON POST – White House, Democrats fail to reach agreement on virus relief bill, and next steps are uncertain

 

WASHINGTON POST – Judge’s blistering opinion says courts have placed police beyond accountability

 

NEW YORK TIMES – With Old Allies Turning Against Her, Birx Presses On Against the Coronavirus

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Children Vulnerable to Abuse Are Imperiled as Caseworkers Stay Home

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Bill Hagerty Wins Tough Tennessee Primary With Trump’s Endorsement

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Trump Executive Orders Target TikTok, WeChat Apps

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Goldman Sachs Restates Earnings After $3.9 Billion Malaysia Settlement

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – China Becomes a Refuge for U.S. Companies After Overcoming Covid-19

 

 

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