Presented by
Stop The HIT Coalition
1. Ivey sets tone for session in State of the State
- Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday night asked lawmakers to support a $1 billion bond for K-12, community college and university construction projects and to slow down on proposals for a lottery or casino gambling in the state.
- The Alabama Legislature convened for its annual session earlier in the day.
- In her third State of the State address, Ivey touted the need for new prisons and more funding for mental and rural health and education initiatives. She’s also proposing pay raises for state and education employees.
- On Tuesday, their first day of the session, lawmakers were told by state budget analysts that they’ll have about $400 million more to appropriate in 2021 in both the General Fund and the Education Trust Fund. That would put the General Fund at about $2.6 billion and the ETF at $7.5 billion. But that good news came with a warning: Spend cautiously because the economy will likely slow next year.
- Ivey will be sending her budget proposals to lawmakers this morning.
- Read more, including reaction from lawmakers, and watch the speech in full HERE.
2. Trump makes re-election pitch in address to Congress
- Standing before a Congress and a nation sharply divided by impeachment, President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address to extol a “Great American Comeback” on his watch, just three years after he took office decrying a land of “American carnage” under his predecessor.
- The partisan discord was on vivid display Tuesday as the first president to campaign for reelection after being impeached made his case for another term: Republican legislators chanted “Four More Years.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up her copy of Trump’s speech as he ended his address.
- “America’s enemies are on the run, America’s fortunes are on the rise and America’s future is blazing bright,” Trump declared. “In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny. We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back.”
- Holding out the nation’s economic success as the chief rationale for a second term, Trump’s speech resembled a lower-volume version of his campaign rallies, providing something for every section of his political base.
- But while he tweets daily assailing his impeachment, Trump never mentioned the “i-word” in his 78-minute speech. That followed the lead of Bill Clinton, who did not reference his recent impeachment when he delivered his State of the Union in 1999.
- Read more and watch the full speech HERE.
A message from
Stop The HIT Coalition
- Working across the aisle to repeal the Health Insurance Tax
- Supporting small businesses
- Fighting to provide cost savings to 765,000 hardworking Alabamians and millions of Americans across the country
3. Impeachment vote today
- President Donald Trump is on the verge of acquittal by the Senate, an end to only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history.
- A majority of senators have now expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment. But there’s nowhere near the two-thirds support necessary in the Republican-held Senate for the Constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanors to convict and remove the president from office.
- The outcome expected Wednesday caps nearly five months of remarkable impeachment proceedings launched in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House, ending in Mitch McConnell’s Senate and reflective of the nation’s unrelenting partisan divide three years into the Trump presidency.
- The Wednesday afternoon vote is expected to be swift. With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, senators will stand at their desk for the roll call and state their votes — “guilty” or “not guilty.”
- On the first article of impeachment, Trump is charged with abuse of power. On the second, obstruction of Congress.
- Few senators are expected to stray from party camps, all but ensuring acquittal.
- The so-called swing votes to watch: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and, of course, Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama. It’s not likely that any would cross the party line and vote “not guilty.” After all, they are under tremendous pressure from their Democratic base and any disunity on the impeachment issue would be a gift to Trump in what is already a pretty good week politically for the president.
- Read more HERE.
4. Public Health monitoring Coronavirus
- If you traveled to mainland China and returned to the U.S. on or after Jan. 22, 2020, the Alabama Department of Health would like to speak to you.
- The state health department is asking those who meet these travel criteria to call the Infectious Diseases and Outbreaks Division at 1-800-338-8374 as soon as they arrive in Alabama.
- China is in the midst of an outbreak of the coronavirus. The virus has infected more than 14,000 people worldwide and killed more than 300. The vast majority of the cases and all but one of the deaths have been in China.
- Health officials believe it can take up to two weeks for someone who is infected to get sick.
- ADPH Medical Officer of Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Burnestine Taylor said “[r]isk depends on exposure, so those exposed to ill persons are at greater risk of infection. However, the situation is evolving, and risk will depend on how efficiently the virus spreads, and how sick it makes people.”
- Read more from ADN’s Will Whatley HERE.
5. Op-Ed: The 2020 Census and Alabama
- A lot has been written and said about the 2020 census and how the state’s future will be affected by the count.
- However, at least on the political side of it, most of that has been filled with a lot of speculation.
- Today, Dr. Steven Katsinas and Emily Jacobs of the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama contribute an op-ed that offers an informed, detailed perspective on the census issue that I believe Daily News readers will find instructive.
- Here’s an excerpt:
- Read the full piece HERE.
Headlines
INSIDE ALABAMA POLITICS – February 3, 2020
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Ivey calls for $1B school bond, lottery study group in address to Legislature
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump uses State of Union to campaign; Pelosi rips up speech
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump impeachment acquittal on track ahead of Senate vote
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Prisons, gambling to dominate Alabama legislative session
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alabama Dept. of Public Health monitoring Coronavirus
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Perspective: The 2020 Census and Alabama
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Mobile vote moves Gulf Coast closer to Amtrak resumption
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Mary Sell: Prisons, lottery, raises, mental health on legislative agenda
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – State panel denies extension to contested charter school
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Daily News Digest – February 3, 2020
AL.COM – Ivey proposes billion dollar school bond issue, 3% raise for teachers
AL.COM – Alabama lawmaker proposes ban on campaign contributions from gambling interests
AL.COM – Alabama announces steps to stop spread of Wuhan coronavirus
AL.COM – Couple makes $20 million gift to University of Alabama
AL.COM – Richard Shelby says earmarks could return — under right conditions
AL.COM – Mobile hops aboard Amtrak support by endorsing Gulf Coast rail commitment
AL.COM – United Methodist bishop sets meetings to talk about possible split
AL.COM – Marsh says lawmakers need to know costs on new prisons
AL.COM – Church group wants Alabama to end ‘solar tax’
AL.COM – Record Alabama education, general fund budgets expected
AL.COM – Hearing remains in Corfman lawsuit despite Moore protest
AL.COM – Columnist Roy Johnson: What kind of state do we want to be?
AL.COM – Wife, daughter of slain Lowndes sheriff among Ivey’s guests for state of the state
AL.COM – These two central Alabama cities prosper, grow and try to plan ahead
Montgomery Advertiser – Ivey calls for prison overhaul, cools gambling talk in State of State
Montgomery Advertiser – Trump ends State of the Union speech filled with rally language, tensions with Democrats, poignant moments
Montgomery Advertiser – Legislature 2020: Education budget expected to grow $400 million
YellowHammer News – Ivey to establish working group to study gaming expansion, lottery
YellowHammer News – Read Gov. Kay Ivey’s entire 2020 State of the State Address
YellowHammer News – Members of Alabama’s congressional delegation announce SOTU guests
Tuscaloosa News – Ivey calls for $1B school bond, lottery study group in address to Legislature
Tuscaloosa News – Alabama company fined over death of teen worker
Tuscaloosa News – Despite vote, council lobbyist choice remains in question
Tuscaloosa News – Fugitive accused of faking death extradited to Mississippi
Decatur Daily – Ivey calls for $1B school bond, lottery study group in address to Legislature
Decatur Daily – Morgan municipalities hit with 35% daily jail fee increase
Decatur Daily – Athens council expected to consider Publix-anchored development agreement
Times Daily – Ivey calls for $1B school bond, lottery study group in address to Legislature
Times Daily – Council approves pump purchase for Wilson Dam Road retention pond
Times Daily – City, county near possession of ECM land deed
Anniston Star – Ivey calls for $1B school bond, lottery study group in address to Legislature
Anniston Star – Council votes to dissolve Piedmont Commercial Development Authority
Anniston Star – Inaction leaves Leighton shelter idea in limbo
Dothan Eagle – Strong thunderstorms expected to roll through the Wiregrass area
Dothan Eagle – Dothan man arrested on multiple counts of assault
Dothan Eagle – Police ID pedestrian killed Monday evening
Gadsden Times – Ivey calls for prison overhaul, 3% teacher pay raise in State of State
Gadsden Times – County commission considers new residential trash bids
Gadsden Times – Pilot Club sponsoring spaghetti fundraiser
Troy Messenger – HOMETOWN TAKEOVER: Troy, Brundidge apply for HGTV makeover
Troy Messenger – Primary election is March 3
Troy Messenger – ‘Keeping the dream alive’ Saturday at CHHS
Andalusia Star News – 450+ attend Blue Lake winter event
Andalusia Star News – Heavy rainfall expected
Andalusia Star News – Baxley wins county bee
Opelika-Auburn News – Opelika looking into transportation study to reduce traffic congestion
Opelika-Auburn News – New digs for Food Bank of East Alabama
Opelika-Auburn News – Empty Bowls event packs Denson Rec
Daily Mountain Eagle – Revenue approved to use Integrity software
Daily Mountain Eagle – Registration opens for Nonprofit Training Academy
Daily Mountain Eagle – Integrity software now in use at Probate Office
Trussville Tribune – STATE OF THE STATE: Governor Ivey talks prison reform, teacher pay raises, jobs and public safety
Trussville Tribune – Man officially charged in shooting death of St. Clair County DA’s son
Trussville Tribune – Leeds City Council to hold public hearing on General Obligation Warrants at next meeting
Athens News Courier – Prisons, gambling to dominate Alabama legislative session
Athens News Courier – Father arrested, son sought in ‘severe’ assault
Athens News Courier – Out with the old: Athens Elementary demolition underway
Sand Mountain Reporter – Boaz City Schools winner in Volkswagen Clean Air Act settlement
Sand Mountain Reporter – PBCI proposes $1 billion plan
Sand Mountain Reporter – Boaz BOE recognizes top teachers
WSFA Montgomery – Montgomery recycling partnership works to expand commodity sales
WSFA Montgomery – Tallapoosa County community hopes road tax vote passes March 3rd
WSFA Montgomery – LIVE: Gov. Ivey’s 2020 State of the State Address
Fox 6 Birmingham – Some Shelby County residents speak out against Coosa River Express
Fox 6 Birmingham – Shelby County EMA seeing success from new alert system
Fox 6 Birmingham – Man charged with capital murder in the death of the St. Clair County DA’s son
WAFF Huntsville – Valley school districts opposing school calendar bill before it’s been filed
WAFF Huntsville – Mayor: Publix to replace former Kmart in Athens
WAFF Huntsville – Personnel file for Limestone County Schools administrator on paid leave sheds light on previous exit
WKRG Mobile – Ballistic missile test set for early Wednesday morning from Vandenberg AFB
WKRG Mobile – Newly hired gas station worker stole $17,000 on his first shift, police say
WKRG Mobile – Kimberly police officer shot on I-65, multiple suspects in custody
WTVY Dothan – EMA wants people to prepare for possible severe weather
WTVY Dothan – Officers’ “partners in crime” from all over the nation train in Dothan
WTVY Dothan – ABC Board presenting “Under Age Under Arrest” campaign
WASHINGTON POST – Trump paints strong economy as vindication as he tries to move past impeachment
WASHINGTON POST – The cheers, glares and ‘Oh no!’ at the State of the Union showed just how bitterly divided this Congress is
NEW YORK TIMES – Virus Exposes Cracks in Carmakers’ Chinese Supply Chains
NEW YORK TIMES – An emboldened Trump makes case for re-election in address
Front Pages (images link to newspaper websites, which you should visit and patronize)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
