Presented by AlabamaWorks!

 

 

 

1. Jobs report: Record unemployment holds steady

• Alabama’s unemployment rate held steady at a record low 2.7% for December, the Department of Labor announced this morning.
• In all, 2,204,740 people were counted as employed, a new record high for the state and an increase of 83,971 from the same time last year.
• Gov. Kay Ivey said she was proud to see the state end the year and decade with record employment.
• “I’m excited about the path that Alabama is on, and the positive impacts this news has on our people,” she said.
• Read more from ADN’s Mary Sell HERE.

 

2. Mental Health seeks more crisis centers

• The Alabama Department of Mental Health is asking the Legislature for $18 million to create three crisis diversion centers around the state.
• Commissioner Lynn Beshear said these centers will ensure those facing mental health crises will get the proper care, instead of just ending up in a county jail or an emergency room.
• “These centers allow for the most intensive levels of care at a centralized location in a cost effective manner,” Beshear told lawmakers Thursday during General Fund agency budget hearings at the State House.
• According to ADMH, crisis diversion centers provide a physical access point for care for people who may otherwise end up in emergency rooms or jails. Centers include both walk-in access for individuals and the ability for emergency departments and law enforcement agencies to transfer people to the center for crisis care, including short-term admission, medication management, case management, discharge planning, and connection to ongoing behavioral health care services.
• House Ways and Means General Fund chairman Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, said he has heard of the need for diversion centers from constituents and law enforcement.
• “Police departments don’t know what to do and the local county jails can keep them overnight but they don’t have a long-term solution for them,” Clouse told ADN. “I think it’s something that’s warranted.”
• Read more from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

A message from AlabamaWorks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Prisons, Paroles ask for more funding in 2021

• Things got a little testy during Day 2 of legislative budget hearings as Pardons and Paroles Director Charlie Graddick discussed his FY2021 funding request before a joint committee of lawmakers.
• Graddick asked for an $11 million increase from the state’s General Fund, but was met with questions about how previous funding allocations have been spent, a recent decline in parole rates and his desire to close a parolee job-training facility.
• The $11 million increase from this year’s $48 million General Fund allocation would go toward hiring 28 new probation officers. Graddick also said there was about $25 million from previous years that has continued to be rolled over that the department planned on using to make the new hires as well.
• “We’ll be taking a strong look at that request,” said Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, chairman of the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee.
• Meanwhile, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn asked lawmakers for a $42 million increase that would mostly go toward staffing and inmate health care.
• Dunn hopes to recruit a total of 700 new security staff members, which would put the department on track to obtaining the federally mandated 2,200 additional correctional officers by 2022.
• “I’m optimistic of it because we’re ahead of the pace for 2020,” Dunn said. “If we continue on the trajectory that we’re on then I’m very optimistic.”
• Read the full story from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

 

 

4. Impeachment Day Two or Three

• Democrats argued that President Donald Trump sought a phony investigation of a political rival and pursued a discredited conspiracy theory about Ukraine, while restless senators played with a new toy Thursday during Trump’s impeachment trial.
• Democratic House prosecutors made an expansive case at Trump’s impeachment trial that he abused power like no other president in history, swept up by a “completely bogus” Ukraine theory pushed by attorney Rudy Giuliani.
• Today, House Democrats will press their final day of arguments before skeptical Republican senators, focusing on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress’ investigation.
• Trump’s legal team is expected to begin presenting its defense on Saturday, a fact Trump bemoaned in a Friday tweet, saying “looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.”
• Read the highlights of what happened in the impeachment trial HERE.

 

 

5. News Briefs

Herbert, other Senior Bowl players hope staying put pays off

• MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A year ago, Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert decided to stick around for his senior season instead of turning pro. Wisconsin linebacker Zack Baun didn’t really have much choice.
• Both had impressive final college seasons, including a head-to-head Rose Bowl matchup, and believe they’re more NFL-ready now. They’re among the participants in Saturday’s Senior Bowl game for senior NFL prospects and some junior graduates.
• Some of them, including Baun, have only recently emerged as legitimate prospects. Others like South Carolina defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw and Michigan State defensive end Kenny Willekes stayed in college for one more season largely because of injuries. Ditto for Alabama linebacker Terrell Lewis.
• “I wanted to be a better leader, a better teammate, a better quarterback,” said Herbert, who would also have been a likely first-round draft pick last year. “All these things that I felt like I accomplished this year.”
• Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, who lost six underclassmen to the draft, said he advises all his juniors to leave if they’re likely first-round picks.
• Read more HERE.

Teen indicted in crash that killed Auburn announcer, wife

• OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — Grand jurors have indicted a teenager on manslaughter charges in the fatal crash that killed Auburn University announcer Rod Bramblett and his wife last year.
• Johnston Edward Taylor, 16, was indicted on two counts of reckless manslaughter by a grand jury on Jan. 16, news outlets reported.
• Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes confirmed the indictments Thursday.
• An arraignment hearing was scheduled for Jan. 30. Defense lawyer Tommy Spina has called Taylor a “very troubled young man” who needs help.
• Authorities allege Taylor was driving about 90 mph (145 kph) in a 55 mph (90 kph) zone when he rear-ended the Brambletts’ vehicle in Auburn in May. Bramblett and his wife, Paula, were killed, but Taylor wasn’t seriously injured.
• Taylor told officers he fell asleep while driving and didn’t remember what happened, a police report said. A test indicated he had used marijuana, a court document showed.
• While Taylor was initially freed on bond after the wreck, a judge revoked his bail in December after prosecutors said Taylor got at least three tickets in November for speeding and reckless driving. In one case, authorities found marijuana residue in his car, prosecutors said.

Repeat offender sentenced to 10 years for having child porn

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama sex offender was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography.
• Barney Knotts, 74, was sentenced Wednesday to a decade in prison, news outlets reported. Knotts, who pleaded guilty in September, was a registered sex offender in Alabama at the time of his arrest. He was convicted in 1985 of producing child porn, a Department of Justice release said.
• Knotts registered his residence in Hope Hull in 2017. Soon after, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contacted authorities about concerning online conversations tracked to his home.
• The conversations included details about “potential child exploitation,” the release said. When authorities went to his house, Knotts allowed them to search his computers, where they found more than 1,000 images of child pornography and multiple discussions about child exploitation.
• Following his prison sentence, Knotts will be subjected to supervised release for the rest of his life.
• Hope Hull is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, nine miles southwest of Montgomery.

Woman charged with helping Alabama prison escapee

• FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — A woman is charged with assisting an Alabama inmate who was recaptured in the Tennessee Valley, authorities said.
• Escapee Xavier Lamont Armstead, 26, was arrested in Florence on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Department of Corrections. Officers also arrested 23-year-old Kayla Jean Fryer, who officials said was with the prisoner when he was arrested.
• Fryer is being charged with hindering the apprehension of an escaped inmate, the statement said. Court records were not immediately available to show whether she had an attorney.
• Armstead, who is being charged with escape and other offenses, was serving 19 years for burglary convictions in Colbert County. The work release prisoner escaped by fleeing a job site in Tuscumbia, prison officials said.

2 men indicted in death of Alabama teen found dead in 2017

• HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Two men have been indicted on murder charges in the death of an Alabama teenager whose body was found in the Tennessee River more than two years ago.
• WHNT-TV reported that Eugene Defredrick Collyear, 56, and Chandler Demetrius Herring, 19, were charged in the death of 17-year-old Rose Ellen Jones.
• Jones’ body was found in the river in August 2017 more than a week after she was reported missing.
• Authorities arrested Collyear and Herring in early 2018. Collyear remains in the Madison County Jail on a $52,500 bond, while court records show Herring was released on bond.
• An arraignment hearing where the men could enter a plea is set for March 18.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A message from BillStatus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headlines

Front Pages (images link to newspaper websites, which you should visit and patronize)