Presented by the Stop The HIT Coalition

 

Good morning and Happy Friday! Apologies for my tardiness. Here’s your Daily News for December 14.

 

1. Bicentennial kicks off today.

• The state of Alabama is getting ready to celebrate its 200th birthday.
• Gov. Kay Ivey will join other leaders today at 10:00 Central Time in the Old House Chamber of the Alabama Capitol for an event kicking off a year-long countdown to Alabama’s bicentennial.
• Bicentennial committees have been formed in each of the state’s 67 counties to plan and coordinate events, and hundreds are planned statewide over the next year.
• Alabama became the nation’s 22nd state on Dec. 14, 1819. Aside from community events, educators are being offered ideas for including the bicentennial in classroom teaching.
• The good folks at Tourism and Archives have been working very hard to make this Bicentennial celebration a reality, and I’m sure it won’t disappoint.

2. Schools get a “B”.

• Alabama State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey released the state’s report card Thursday.
• We got a “B,” which is an improvement from last year’s “C” grade.
• It’s actually just a one percent climb from 79 to 80. But High School Senior Me would like to remind you that, hey, a grade is a grade.
• More importantly, news of how Alabama’s schools are performing is being reported statewide today.
• Letter grades for local schools will be updated next year.
• That means parents and community leaders can better understand how their schools are performing and engage with educators on how to fix any problems.
• It wasn’t so long ago that many in the education establishment thought simple letter grades for schools would amount to a travesty for Alabama.
• “It shows a lot of growth in the state and that’s what we’ve been really focusing on,” Dr. Mackey said.
• “It is important that we have a report card, and it shows that the state is making progress on the academic side and we still have a long way to go,” said Gov. Kay Ivey.
• Read more from AL.com’s Trish Crain and watch the full story from WSFA’s Lydia Nussbaum.

 

A Message from the Stop The HIT Coalition

• The Stop The HIT Coalition thanks Senator Doug Jones for protecting Alabama small businesses, middle-class families and seniors from the 2020 Health Insurance Tax.
• This costly, unfair and hidden tax increases the cost of health insurance in the small business market, needlessly stifles economic growth and should be repealed.
• Senator Jones joined a bipartisan group in urging Senate leadership to prioritize urgent cost savings for hardworking Alabamians before the tax returns.
• Thank Senator Jones for working for Alabama small businesses and families by supporting efforts to stop the 2020 Health Insurance Tax.

 

3. Marshall takes over Galleria shooting cases.

• Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Thursday that his office will assume the prosecution of the November 22, 2018, shootings of E.J. Bradford, Brian Wilson and Molly Davis at Hoover’s Riverchase Galleria Mall.
• In a letter to Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, Marshall said he based his decision to assume prosecution of the cases after District Attorney Carr’s admission of potential conflicts between himself and key parties in the cases.
• Attorney General Marshall noted that the conflicts warrant recusal under the National District Attorneys Association’s National Prosecution Standards.
• Carr has been pictured several times with Carlos Chaverest, the lead protester of the Hoover shootings. Chaverest campaigned for Carr in the recent November elections.
• “I have reviewed your December 11th letter regarding your prosecutorial role in the shooting death of Emantic ‘E.J.’ Bradford, Jr.,” Attorney General Marshall wrote District Attorney Carr.
• “Based on the information you provided in that letter and our multiple conversations on the subject—particularly your acknowledgement that ‘a fair-minded, objective observer could conclude that a conflict exists’—I have determined that the National Prosecution Standards dictate your recusal from the investigation of each of the shootings that occurred in the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night, not just E.J. Bradford’s.”
• Sean Ross at YellowHammer had the story first.
• This is news all over the state, but especially in Birmingham, where efforts to engage the community in protests are ongoing.
• Chaverest was outside the AG’s office late yesterday attempting to claim that he also had a relationship with Marshall, though that doesn’t seem to hold up.
• Also, he got arrested for disorderly conduct again.
• Marshall told media gathered at his office not to expect an immediate release of the video footage from the shooting because such footage is potential evidence in perhaps multiple criminal cases.

 

4. Jones to Armed Services.

• Sen. Doug Jones has been appointed to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee when the 116th Congress convenes in January.
• This is an important apointment for Jones and the State of Alabama because there are five military installations in the state that employ 8,500 active duty service members and more than 23,000 civilians.
• More than 375,000 veterans, including 65,000 retirees, also live in Alabama, as well as the Department of Defense spending $7.7 billion in contracts in the state.
• Sen. Jones said he understands his responsibilities to Alabama and to the country and hopes that this appointment will bring economic growth for the armed services and the whole state in general.
• “Alabama and its citizens have long played a significant role in our national defense, from building or maintaining ships and other vehicles to leading cutting-edge research and development to volunteering to serve in our armed forces,” Jones said in a release.
• Read more from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

 

5. News Briefs.

• Jake Jacobs has been hired as the new Governmental Affairs Director at VOICES for Alabama’s Children.
• He fills the role left by Tara Preyer, who recently took a position with Secretary of the Senate Pat Harris.
• Jacobs formerly worked in the Governor’s office and did internship stints on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
• He’s an intelligence officer in the Alabama National Guard based in Hope Hull.
• Congrats, Jake!

• The Alabama Legislature’s Contract Review Committee has delayed a contract for the Department of Corrections.
• DOC is contracting with Hoar Program Management for consulting work on plans to build more state prisons.
• Lawmakers on the committee told Commissioner Jeff Dunn they didn’t like the idea of spending $10 million on consulting when they weren’t confident a bill funding prison construction could make it through the Legislature next year.
• Read more from Mike Cason HERE.

• A Russian national admitted Thursday that she was a secret agent for the Kremlin who tried to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups as Donald Trump rose to power.
• Maria Butina, 30, agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.
• “Guilty,” Butina said in a slight accent when asked how she wanted to plead. Dressed in a green jail uniform with her red hair pulled into a long ponytail, Butina spoke softly and mostly kept her eyes on the judge.
• The Butina case has provided a vivid glimpse into Russia’s influence operations in the United States.
• Read more HERE.

• China announced a 90-day suspension on Friday of tariff hikes on $126 billion of U.S. cars, trucks and auto parts following its cease-fire in a trade battle with Washington that threatens global economic growth.
• The suspension is China’s first step in response to President Donald Trump’s Dec. 1 agreement to suspend U.S. tariff hikes for a similar 90-day period while the two sides negotiate over American complaints about Beijing’s technology policy and trade surplus.
• Full story HERE.

• Former State Rep. Perry Hooper, Jr. contributes a column today remembering the life and legacy of President George H.W. Bush.
• His father, Perry Hooper, Sr. was Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in the 1990s and a friend of the former president.
• Perry writes that Bush kept many friendships in Alabama, a state that voted for him twice despite having mostly Democratic leadership at the time
• Read his thoughts HERE.

 

Headlines.

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