Good morning! What is going on with Taco Bells around here? I’m on the road to Washington, D.C. and using every last bit of my iPhone hotspot connection to bring you your Alabama Daily News digest for Friday, January 26, 2018.
1. Trump ready to deal on immigration
- President Donald Trump is ready to offer a path to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants in exchange for beefing up border security.
- He will announce his proposal as soon as on Monday.
- The State of the Union address is Tuesday. Remember that in his first address to Congress, Trump received high marks for coming across as magnanimous and presidential. The White House could be teeing this up as another big moment.
- Democrats had been planning to “fill the balconies” with Dreamers as a kind of protest. What are the odds they applaud when Trump gives them what they want?
- As I’ve mentioned before, this could be the Nixon-to-China issue for Trump. You could argue the key reason he won the Republican primary and, ultimately, the presidency was because he was tougher than anyone else on immigration. Now he wants to strike a deal that by any fair measure he would have called amnesty during the campaign?
- It’s going to be a tough sell in Congress. Hardliners in the House GOP aren’t having it. Democrats can’t afford politically to give Trump a win.
- This is going to be fascinating to watch.
2. News briefs
Everybody is getting along and being productive in the Legislature. It’s weird.
- Senate President Del Marsh’s low-to-middle income tax cut bill passedthe Senate without objection and without much drama.
- As Mike Cason reports, the ride sharing bill passed the Senate and most everybody seems to be on board with that too.
- The Senate also passed Sen. Arthur Orr’s bill that reduces the amount of time people can receive unemployment benefits if the unemployment rate is really low. Democrats opposed, but there wasn’t any kind of big fight about it.
Execution cancelled
- Death row inmate Vernon Madison received a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday.
- Read about why Madison was given the death penalty and what led to the last minute stay of execution in Ivana Hrynkiw’s story.
Big Surprise
- Roy Moore is asking for donations to his legal defense fund. He is being sued for defamation by Leigh Corfman, who accused Moore of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager.
3. More Headlines
AL.COM – Birmingham-Hoover No. 1 for healthcare jobs in U.S., study says.
AL.COM – State Sen. Bill Holtzclaw ends plans to run for Congress.
AL.COM – Chris Christie, not that one, running for Alabama Attorney General.
AL.COM – What does Tommy Battle think about lottery in Alabama?
AL.COM – Mayor defends sexually tinged Facebook comment about Alabama’s governor.
AL.COM – Alabama doing away with marriage licenses? Why? And what happens then?
AL.COM – Gay ex-cop says GOP barred him from running for Limestone County sheriff.
AL.COM – Columnist Cameron Smith: Our understanding of abortion rights isn’t viable.
AL.COM – Columnist John Archibald: Alabama could rein in civil asset forfeiture.
AL.COM – Contributor Terri Michal: Peeling back the layers of ‘school choice’.
AL.COM – Contributor Mark Martin: What should a modern workforce education look like?
ALABAMA POLITICAL REPORTER – Hightower qualifies for governor’s race.
ALABAMA POLITICAL REPORTER – Senate Health Committee narrowly approves needle exchange program for addicts.
YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – $4 million tax cut passes Alabama State Senate.
YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Contributor Matthew Glans: Why Alabama should reform civil asset forfeiture laws.
YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Alabama state lawmaker proposes church defense law — not everyone in favor.
DECATUR DAILY – TVA installing solar lighting on transmission towers.
DECATUR DAILY – Food fight over? Amendment would raise sheriff’s pay, ban pocketing of food money.
DECATUR DAILY – Work requirements removed from Medicaid bill.
TUSCALOOSA NEWS – The Tuscaloosa News: A welcome proposal to reform forfeiture laws.
ANNISTON STAR – Editor Phillip Tutor: It’s on JSU to explain its decision.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Alabama House committee slows bill on public speakers.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Contributor Perry Hooper: Gov. Kay Ivey outlines sensible course for Alabama.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Contributors Bob Powers and Mike Luce: Alabama lawmakers should back Gov. Ivey’s Pre-K increase.
WASHINGTON POST – Trump moved to fire Mueller in June, bringing White House counsel to the brink of leaving.
WASHINGTON POST – Trump bristles under some of his orderly chief of staff’s restrictions.
WASHINGTON POST – Trump supports path to citizenship for up to 1.8 million ‘dreamers’ in new White House proposal.
NEW YORK TIMES – Trump Turns Again on Immigration, Allies Bash ‘Amnesty Don’
NEW YORK TIMES – Descendants’ Stories of the Clotilda Slave Ship Drew Doubts. Now Some See Validation.
Front Pages (images link to newspaper websites)
