Presented by the

Alabama League of Municipalities

Good morning and happy Valentine’s Day! Hope you get a smooch from your sweetie.

Here’s your Daily News for Monday, February 14.

 

1. New poll shows Brooks, Britt, Durant running close as Senate race heats up

• A new poll commissioned by FarmPAC, the political arm of the Alabama Farmers Federation, shows a tight race among the three candidates running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
• Until recently, Durant has been the only candidate with significant advertising on television, radio and digital. Britt released a new television ad late last week. Brooks has not released advertising since last year’s radio flight that boasted the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
• All three candidates have had support from super PACs and other outside groups.
• See the poll results HERE.

 

 

2. Coleman launches run for Congress, seeks rematch with Moore

• Dothan business owner Jeff Coleman is again running for Congress in the District 2 seat that includes much of the River Region and the Wiregrass.
• Inside Alabama Politics reported in December that Coleman was considering challenging first-term incumbent Barry Moore in the May GOP primary. Moore defeated Coleman in the extended 2020 runoff.
• There will almost certainly be a challenge to Coleman’s access to the ballot. While candidates for statewide and legislative seats had to qualify by Jan. 28, a federal court last month extended until Feb. 11 qualifying for congressional candidates because of legal challenges to the newly drawn district map. But the Supreme Court later blocked that ruling in a stay.
• Secretary of State John Merrill has said it is up to parties to determine whether candidates qualifying after the original deadline can run and the ALGOP hasn’t said what its rule will be.
• But Coleman, who owns a trucking company, hit the airwaves over the weekend in what his campaign said is a “significant television buy” that included an ad during last night’s Super Bowl.
• “Washington needs more truckers and less of the namby-pamby politicians who’ve been wrecking our country,” Coleman said. “I’m a trucker, an outsider conservative who will bring Alabama Tough to Washington with the strength to fight for the Trump agenda of lower taxes, building the wall and protecting our military infrastructure here at home.”
• Read more from Mary Sell HERE.

 

 

 

A message from the

Alabama League of Municipalities

The League commends Governor Ivey and the Alabama Legislature for their diligence in allocating funds from the American Rescue Plan Act towards quality of life endeavors for Alabama’s citizens.

 

 

 

 

3. Bill would require child support in DUI fatalities

• A bill in the Alabama House would require people convicted of driving under the influence to pay child support if that act led to the death of a child’s parent or guardian.
• House Bill 114, the DUI and Child Compensation and Recovery Act, is sponsored by Rep. Proncey Robertson, R- Mt. Hope.
• In 2020, there were 155 fatal DUI wrecks statewide resulting in 166 deaths, according to information from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

4. Biden weighs appeal of 3 top candidates for high court

• President Joe Biden had zeroed in on a pair of finalists for his first Supreme Court pick when there were rumors last year that Justice Stephen Breyer would retire. But since the upcoming retirement was announced late last month, it has come with the rise of a third candidate, one with ready-made bipartisan support that has complicated the decision.
• Two of the three judges now on Biden’s short list were evaluated last year by White House aides, although that early vetting did not include deep dives into their opinions or backgrounds, formal interviews or FBI background checks.
• They are Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, a recent appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she has served since June 2021, and Leondra Kruger, 45, a California Supreme Court judge since 2015 who would be the first person in more than 40 years to move from a state court to the Supreme Court if she were to be confirmed.
• But J. Michelle Childs has rapidly become a serious third candidate after House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D.-S.C., publicly announced his support for her, as did the state’s Republican senators, Lindsay Graham and Tim Scott. Graham has made clear Childs is his preferred choice.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

5. One eye on midterms, Dems ease up on approach to virus

• “People are tired,” Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock says in the opening ad for his reelection campaign.
• There’s not a face mask to be seen in the Democrat’s video montage of scenes across Georgia, as he goes on to say people that are “wondering when things will get back to normal, and at the same time not knowing what normal even means anymore.”
• The ad reflects a shifting narrative on COVID-19 restrictions across the country: Democrats are now increasingly supportive of easing mandates as they struggle to address voter frustration with the lingering pandemic.
• They’re hoping a shift in policy could serve to blunt incoming political attacks with the midterm elections — when control of Congress is at stake — now less than nine months away.
• After months of sparring with Republican governors for standing in the way of public health measures like face-coverings and social distancing, the sudden shift on the part of Democrats in recent days has caught White House officials off guard and left them seemingly out of sync with their own party.
• Republicans around the country have long criticized Democrats for what they say was prioritizing unnecessarily harsh restrictions meant to slow the pandemic’s spread over the economy, and for continuing to require masks even when they were perhaps no longer medically necessary.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – New poll shows Brooks, Britt, Durant running close as Senate campaign heats up

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Coleman launches run for Congress, seeks rematch with Moore

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Bill would require child support in DUI fatalities 

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Biden weighs appeal of 3 top candidates for high court

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – One eye on midterms, Dems ease up on approach to virus

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Brookside taps police veteran to rebuild community trust

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – COVID hospitalizations continue decline

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Court upholds Montgomery red light camera law

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – University of Alabama to remove Bibb Graves’ name from hall

 

AL.COM – Want to help build cars in Huntsville? 2,000 jobs are available

 

AL.COM – Shifting deadline causes confusion for Alabama’s GOP congressional candidates

 

AL.COM – Alabama Community Colleges will offer rapid job training for high-demand industries

 

AL.COM – US suspends Mexican avocado imports ‘until further notice’

 

AL.COM – Walmart, Sam’s Club end mask mandate for vaccinated workers

 

Montgomery Advertiser – 2 shot in unrelated incidents in Montgomery

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Ex-boyfriend indicted on capital murder charges in Montgomery detective’s slaying

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Wetumpka police officer on leave after Montgomery arrest on drug, domestic violence charges

 

Decatur Daily – West Decatur students learn about Decatur-born astronaut in STEM project

 

Decatur Daily – Family has new Habitat home in Hartselle

 

Decatur Daily – Workforce information bill awaits House vote

 

Times Daily – Poll: Medicaid expansion gets bipartisan support

 

Times Daily – Bill: ELL students’ scores would be removed from report card

 

Times Daily – Commissioners, Orr worry heavier logging trucks would damage roads

 

Anniston Star – Job Fair connects hundreds to work opportunities

 

Anniston Star – Girl Scout parents pick up their cookie allotment

 

Anniston Star – ‘Wild About You’ party offers early Valentine’s Day fun at museum

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Jefferson Co. closing mass drive through Covid-19 testing sites

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – FDA working to increase blood donor eligibility amid nationwide blood crisis

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Search is underway after small plane crashes off North Carolina coast

 

Tuscaloosa News – Civil rights artifacts from Tuscaloosa barbershop being studied for future museum

 

Tuscaloosa News – Public meeting on Tuscaloosa’s redistricting, second of two, set for Monday

 

YellowHammer News – Masks fall off in blue state schools but not Alabama, education issues dominate the legislature and more on Alabama Politics This Week …

 

YellowHammer News – State Rep. Pringle: Nothing in Voting Rights Act establishes a right to have protected class congressional representation proportionate to the population

 

YellowHammer News – AG Marshall rejects legal claims for two minority-majority congressional districts — ‘Proportionality is not a factor for the court to consider’

 

Gadsden Times – Death investigation underway after missing Etowah County man found

 

Gadsden Times – Etowah County woman killed in two-vehicle crash

 

Gadsden Times – PET OF THE WEEK: Gentle Ragnar would be wonderful companion

 

Dothan Eagle – Jill Biden turns Valentine’s Day into lesson for 2nd graders

 

Dothan Eagle – Sweden recommends fourth COVID vaccine dose to older people

 

Dothan Eagle – On Parkland anniversary, Biden urges Congress on gun control

 

Opelika-Auburn News – In Russia’s Ukraine plans, how much does the mud matter?

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Tunisian women’s posts glamorize risky migrant crossings

 

Opelika-Auburn News – German leader in Ukraine as fears of Russian invasion grow

 

WSFA Montgomery – Suspect in injury of Opelika police officer captured

 

WSFA Montgomery – Alabamians urged to add emergency contact to driver’s license

 

WSFA Montgomery – 2 injured in 2 separate Montgomery shootings

 

WAFF Huntsville – Sheriff’s office warn residents of new ‘Amazon scam’

 

WAFF Huntsville – Ex-boyfriend indicted in 2020 slaying Montgomery police officer

 

WAFF Huntsville – Romance scams: How to avoid a broken heart and breaking the bank

 

WKRG Mobile – Ukraine-Russia crisis: What to know as diplomacy steps up

 

WKRG Mobile – In Russia’s Ukraine plans, how much does the mud matter?

 

WKRG Mobile – What to know about Super Bowl 56, from Cooper Kupp to Eminem

 

WTVY Dothan – Is Jeff Coleman’s congressional candidacy doomed from the start?

 

WTVY Dothan – Alabamians urged to add emergency contact to driver’s license

 

WTVY Dothan – Alabama Community College System to offer rapid job training for high-demand industries

 

WASHINGTON POST – U.S.-Canada border crossing reopens after six-day blockade by ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters

 

WASHINGTON POST – ‘Freedom Convoy’-style protests against vaccine mandates reach Europe and beyond

 

WASHINGTON POST – European, U.S. leaders race to defuse Ukraine crisis amid warnings of imminent Russia attack

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Canada Live Updates: Police Reopen Blockaded Bridge

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Ukraine Live Updates: Russian Buildup Reaching ‘Crescendo,’ U.S. Warns, as Diplomacy Sputters

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Ukraine’s President Tries to Avert Panic as Pressure Mounts

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Stock Futures, Bond Yields Drop on Fear of War in Ukraine

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Russian Buildup Near Ukraine Features Potent Weapons Systems, Well-Trained Troops

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – U.S.-Canada Bridge Reopens After Police Clear Protest

 

 

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