Presented by

the Alabama Accountability Act Coalition

 

 

1. Wounded officer making ‘miraculous’ recovery

• An Ozark police officer who was shot and critically wounded early this month has finally had a bullet removed from his head.
• Ozark police Officer Samuel Yoh is fully coherent, according to a police statement issued Monday. He can now fully move his body on his own, in addition to breathing without assistance for short periods and being able to hear and acknowledge the conversations of those around him, police said. He has shown signs of “miraculous” improvement, the statement says.
• About $23,000 has been crowdfunded for the 18-year department veteran and his family, which is expecting a baby in February.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

 

2. Economy shows resilience

• The U.S. economy is finishing the year in strong shape, thanks to consumer spending, a healthy job market and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
• This is after many economists warned of signs of a worrisome slowdown, meaning the American economy is proving resilient.
• The Commerce Department recently said that the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — expanded at a moderate annual rate of 2.1% in the July-September quarter. A separate report showed that consumer spending grew by a solid 0.4% rate in November, the strongest gain since July, and that incomes rebounded after a weak reading in October.
• The brisk pace of spending in November is a reassuring sign that consumers, who account for about 70% of economic activity, are helping the economy offset drags ranging from trade wars to a global economic slump. Many economists are forecasting that the economy is expanding at a decent 2% annual rate in the final quarter of the year.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A message from

the Alabama Accountability Act Coalition

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Decatur schools to sue 3M

• A north Alabama school system has taken the first step to sue 3M Co. over claims that chemicals are leaking from a closed landfill that is on school system property.
• News outlets reported that Decatur’s school system has filed notice saying it plans to sue over industrial toxins leaking from the one-time landfill beneath the former Brookhaven Middle School. Chemicals are leaking into a creek, groundwater and the Tennessee River, the system contends.
• An investigation conducted by a contractor for 3M and filed with the state environmental agency showed a 40-acre site was operated as a landfill from the 1940s until 1963. Aside from the former school, a playground, sports fields and a recreational center are located there.
• The Minnesota-based company, which agreed to pay millions in a lawsuit over contamination in the Decatur area earlier this year, said materials were disposed of properly based on laws at the time the landfill operated decades ago.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

4. Roberts will tap his inner ‘umpire’ for impeachment trial

• America’s last prolonged look at Chief Justice John Roberts came 14 years ago, when he told senators during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing that judges should be like baseball umpires, impartially calling balls and strikes.
• “Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire,” Roberts said.
• His hair grayer, the 64-year-old Roberts will return to the public eye as he makes the short trip from the Supreme Court to the Senate to preside over President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. He will be in the national spotlight, but will strive to be like that umpire — doing his best to avoid the partisan mire.
• “He’s going to look the part, he’s going to play the part and he’s the last person who wants the part,” said Carter Phillips, who has argued 88 Supreme Court cases, 43 of them in front of Roberts.
• He has a ready model he can follow: Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who never became the center of attention when he presided over President Bill Clinton’s Senate trial.
• Read the full story from Mark Sherman HERE.

 

 

5. Steve Flowers: Pete Turnham Epitomized the Greatest Generation

• Political columnist Steve Flowers is remembering former State Rep. Pete Turnham this week. Turnham, a 40-year lawmaker from Lee County, died this year just shy of his 100th birthday.
• He was a beloved Alabama statesman and epitomized those from the “Greatest Generation,” Steve writes.
• Here’s an excerpt:

• Read Steve Flowers’ full column HERE.

 

 

News Briefs

Trump calls troops, attends service for Christmas

• PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump called members of all five branches of the military stationed across the world to share greetings ahead of the Christmas holiday.
• Speaking Tuesday by video conference from his private club in Florida, Trump said, “I want to wish you an amazing Christmas.” The group included Marines in Afghanistan, an Army unit in Kuwait, a Navy ship in the Gulf of Aden, an Air Force base in Missouri and a Coast Guard station in Alaska.
• Trump praised the armed forces for their efforts this year to eliminate the last of the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate and for killing IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He also touted economic successes at home and a pay raise for troops kicking in in the new year.
• “You make it possible for us to do what we have to do,” Trump said, thanking them for their service.
• Trump briefly fielded questions from troops, including an invitation to attend the homecoming of the USS Forrest Sherman when the destroyer returns to its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, next year.
• Trump was asked what he’d bought his wife, first lady Melania Trump, for Christmas. He said he’d bought her a “beautiful card,” but was “still working on a Christmas present.”
• “You made me think. I’m going to have to start working on that real fast,” he said.
• The president and first lady attended a music-filled Christmas Eve service at Family Church in West Palm Beach, Florida.
• Read more HERE.

Tornado survivor gets new home

• OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama woman who survived a deadly tornado that blew down most of her home is getting a new place to live thanks to an aid group.
• North Carolina-based Samaritan’s Purse handed Earnestine Reese keys to a rebuilt three-bedroom, two-bath home on Friday.
• The tornado that swept through Lee County in March and killed 23 people took down every wall of Reese’s brick home except a small section near a closet where she had prayed for decades, AL.com reported.
• Reese and three family members took shelter in a bathroom and survived, though Reese, who is over 70, suffered a broken hip.
• A video of Reese afterward thanking God spread online as did the story that her prayer area had survived.
• “When Ms. Reese lost everything, she thanked God,” Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement. “As soon as I heard her story, I knew we had to help. Samaritan’s Purse is excited to welcome Ms. Reese home just in time for Christmas.”
• The group has replaced more than a dozen other homes in the area and installed eleven storm shelters.
• Reese’s new home has a safe room with concrete, steel-reinforced walls, according to Samaritan’s Purse. It also has a place for Reese to pray.

‘County’ misspelled on 10,000 trash bins in Prichard

• PRICHARD, Ala. (AP) — Some spelling mistakes are tough to see, but that doesn’t include the one that was made on 10,000 trash bins in an Alabama city.
• The city of Prichard’s new residential garbage cans say the town is located in “Mobile Country,” but they were supposed to say it’s located in “Mobile County” without the extra “r.” The mistake isn’t just in fine print: It’s printed in large letters on two sides of the big, gray cans.
• Prichard Mayor Jimmie Gardner told WPMI-TV the city’s public works department had the duty of making sure the writing on the cans was spelled correctly.
• “Things like that do happen in the proofing,” he said.
• The city doesn’t plan to replace the bins, and that’s fine with some people.
• “It doesn’t really matter as long as they pick it up,” said longtime resident Murlean Henderson.

 

 

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