PRESENTED BY the Stop The HIT Coalition

Good morning! Here’s your Daily News for Tuesday, December 4.

1. Bush lies in state.

• I hope you were able to watch yesterday as the casket of President George H.W. Bush was brought into the Capitol Rotunda.
• Vice President Mike Pence and Congressional leaders gathered to pay tribute to the former president and mourn with the Bush family. President Trump paid his respects later upon his return from Argentina.
• If you weren’t able to watch it, you can view it in full HERE.
• Also worth watching is the 60 Minutes program on Bush, with interviews with Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
• And finally, this piece from Jonah Goldberg is one of the best tributes I’ve read about the former president.
• Here’s an excerpt, referencing Bush’s military service…

• Read the full piece HERE.

2. Gingrich speaks at ALFA, Parnell reelected.

• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich delighted the crowd at the Alabama Farmers Federation Annual Meeting Monday.
• He spoke about the many conservative federal judges President Trump has been able to appoint, as well as his tenacity to break the mold of a typical Washington politician which is what made him win from the beginning.
• Gingrich was well-received by those in attendance as he defended Trump and attacked the “liberal elite.”
• He described the Mueller investigation as just being another ploy in the “destroy Trump project” that liberals have created in Washington.
• ADN’s Caroline Beck was there and spoke to several in attendance, including State Rep. Matt Fridy and State Sen. Randy Price. The lawmakers talked about the positive impact ALFA has for Alabama’s farmers, as well as what issues they expect to come up in the legislative session.
• Earlier in the day, Federation President Jimmy Parnell was reelected to a fourth term leading the organization.
• Read all that in Caroline’s story HERE.

 

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increases the cost of health insurance in the small business market, needlessly stifles economic growth and should be repealed.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. Bradford family, lawyers accuse police of ‘coverup’.

• Erron Brown, the suspect in the Thanksgiving night Galleria shooting, has been returned to Alabama and booked in the Jefferson County jail.
• Carol Robinson reports that Brown is charged with the attempted murder of Brian Wilson. Police say the two men got in an altercation and Brown shot Wilson.
• Police responding to the scene shot and killed E.J. Bradford, who was reportedly not a part of the altercation.
• Protests over Bradford’s killing continued this week with Jesse Jackson joining the family’s lawyers in a heated press conference yesterday.
• They presented private autopsy results showing Bradford was shot in the back and accused police of a “coverup” for not releasing video footage.
• ALEA is still investigating the incident and has said releasing footage prematurely could hamper eye witness testimony.
• That story from Jay Reeves HERE.

4. Prison trouble.

• An inmate was stabbed to death and another was critically injured in two outbreaks of violence at a south Alabama prison Sunday night.
• The Alabama Department of Corrections said the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore remained on lockdown Monday during an investigation.
• 29-year-old Vaquerro Kinjuan Armstrong was fatally stabbed after an altercation with another inmate.
• Eight inmates have been fatally stabbed in state prisons since January.
• Also, a high-ranking Alabama prison official has retired in the midst of a misconduct investigation.
• The Department of Corrections said Monday that Associate Commissioner Grantt Culliver has retired after being on leave for several months.
• The department announced in September that Culliver had been placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
• Corrections spokesman Bob Horton said the findings have been sent to the Alabama Ethics Commission for review. The department did not disclose the nature of the allegations and said it would have no additional comment.
• Culliver was responsible for overseeing the daily operations of male correctional facilities. He has served as warden at Holman Correctional Facility.
• Read more HERE.

5. News Briefs.

• Alabama State Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) has hired Derek Trotter as his chief of staff.
• Trotter returns to the Pro Tem’s office after a stint in the Governor’s legislative office and in the private sector.
• “Every member of the Alabama Senate has a shared commitment to serving their constituents to the best of their ability and I look forward to working with them in an effort to make Alabama an even better place to live, work and raise a family,” he said.
• Derek is a native of Trussville and a graduate of Auburn University. He and his wife Kala reside in Pike Road with their two children.
• Congrats, Derek!

• Sad News: Giles Perkins, a lawyer and Democratic political consultant has died. He was 51.
• Perkins helped guide U.S. Sen. Doug Jones’ campaign to victory in Alabama last year.
• In a Monday statement, Jones mourned the loss of his dear friend. Jones said anyone who crossed paths with Perkins “saw his passion for making our state — and the entire South — the best version of itself.”
• Story HERE.

• In the past four years alone, almost 4,000 people have died or gone missing along the migration route from Central America through Mexico to the U.S. border.
• That’s 1,573 more than the previously known number, calculated by the United Nations. And even that might be low because families may not report missing loved ones who were migrating illegally.
• While migrants everywhere face risks, the Mexico route holds the added danger of drug trafficking and gang violence.
• More than 37,000 people have gone missing throughout Mexico because of this violence, with the highest number in the border state of Tamaulipas, through which many migrants cross.
• The sheer numbers of the disappeared, along with crushing bureaucracy and the fear of gangs, makes it difficult for families to track what happened to their loved ones.
• Full story HERE.

Headlines.

 

 

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