1. Ainsworth: bill would expedite death row appeals

2. Bradley Byrne profile

3. More new ads

4. Distracted driving bill is back

5. Realtors release endorsements

• The Alabama Association of Realtors’ political action committee this week made its endorsements in the March 3 primaries.
• The Alabama Association of Realtors is the largest statewide organization of real estate professionals with more than 16,000 members from 25 boards and 1,200 real estate companies.
• Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors Political Action Committee announced who it will be supporting for the U.S. House of Representatives races.
• Many of the endorsements were for uncontested primaries. However, some were in hotly contested races, including the courts and Congress.
• See the full list in Mary Sell’s story HERE.

News Briefs

Bloomberg makes debate stage, facing Dem rivals for 1st time

• Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has qualified for the upcoming Democratic presidential debate, marking the first time he’ll stand alongside the rivals he has so far avoided by bypassing the early voting states and using his personal fortune to define himself through television ads.
• A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll published Tuesday shows Bloomberg with 19% support nationally in the Democratic nominating contest.
• The former New York City mayor, who launched his presidential campaign in November, will appear in Wednesday’s debate in Las Vegas alongside former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Fellow billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is still hoping to qualify.
• Bloomberg’s campaign said that it was seeing “a groundswell of support across the country” and that qualifying for Wednesday’s debate “is the latest sign that Mike’s plan and ability to defeat Donald Trump is resonating with more Americans.”
• Full story from Kathleen Ronayne HERE.

Man’s body found in flooded creek in Alabama state park

• SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (AP) — The body of an 82-year-old man was recovered from a flooded creek in Alabama, 11 days after water surging through a gorge in a state park swept his vehicle into a flooded creek.
• News outlets report that an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency statement says the body of Raymond Edwards of Scottsboro, Alabama, was found Sunday afternoon by a diver, still inside his vehicle. Hikers had reported seeing someone gesture from a vehicle on Feb. 5 as it was sinking into South Sauty Creek in Buck’s Pocket State Park.
• Edwards’ death raises the toll of February’s first wave of bad weather to at least six people across the South.
• It was the second time in less than a year that an occupied vehicle has been swept off the same crossing, at the bottom of a deep gorge where flash floods can pose sudden dangers. Koy Spears of Geraldine, Alabama, disappeared on Feb. 22, 2019, it took more than two weeks to recover her body.

Alabama eligible for nearly $42M in federal water funding

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is in line for nearly $42 million in federal funding to help with projects related to water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
• The state is eligible for about $18 million to help with projects like fixing old water infrastructure, fixing stormwater problems and recycling, according to an announcement from the agency released Thursday.
• Another $23 million is available to improve drinking water systems. Those projects can include things like removing water lines that contain lead and protection from floods.
• The money goes to state revolving funds that make loans available for projects. As money is repaid into the fund, states make new loans available.
• Nationwide, some $2.7 billion is available to states, tribes and territories for water-related projects.

About 300 birds killed in Alabama’s sandhill crane season

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — About 300 sandhill cranes were killed during Alabama’s first hunting season for the birds in more than a century, the state conservation agency said.
• A news release from the state conservation agency said about 400 people bought permits to hunt the large birds, which some people like to eat.
• While not everyone with a permit got a bird, migratory game bird coordinator Seth Maddox said the final numbers will probably be in line with other states that have hunting seasons for sandhill cranes.
• The state last allowed sandhill crane hunting in 1916, when hunting nearly wiped out the species. A hunting ban allowed the bird’s populations to recover enough to allow a season.
• Warm winter temperatures caused diminished duck numbers in Alabama this season and also affected the sandhill population, Maddox said. Officials estimated a population of roughly 12,000 cranes, down about 3,000 from average.
• “Our season was probably a little better than I expected,” he said. “Our hunters had never done it before. They had to find people willing to give them access to hunting land. Hunters got to make new friends. I think it was a very successful season.”
• The two-part season for sandhill cranes, which had a three-bird limit, ended Jan. 31. Hunting was allowed in north Alabama, where water from the Tennessee River and other waterways draws birds.

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