Good morning! Sorry for the tardiness. Been working on a scoop. Here’s your Daily News for Thursday, July 19, 2018.

1. Scoop: Roy Moore mailer paid for by Las Vegas slot company. 

• Remember how Roy Moore endorsed Troy King in the Attorney General race down the stretch?
• He lent his name, face, and words to a mailer that went to 50,000 households in support of King’s campaign.
• It was a head-scratcher for many because Moore and King seemed to have differing legal views on gambling.
• Welp, it turns out that mailer was funded by a Las Vegas slot machine company.
• I’m not kidding, the company’s Wall Street trading name is “SLOT.”
• Even better, the political committee used to pay for it is named the “Christian Conservative Values PAC” and their stated mission is “TO SUPPORT CANDIDATES AND ISSUES THAT PROMOTE CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE VALUES AND MORALS.”
• Those all caps are not mine. They are straight from the Secretary of State’s FCPA website, and they are kind of perfect.
• Anyway, go read my story.

2. Blue Wave vs. Red Tsunami.

• I said we should take a breather after that primary runoff, and really we should.
• But there’s no rest for the weary! It’s on to November.
• AL.com’s John Sharp takes a look at the Republican vs. Democrat election battle(s) shaping up for this fall in his piece for AL.com.
• And that’s the question. Is it one big battle (R v D) or many battles between candidates?
• Democrats say they have strong candidates ready to take on Republicans for statewide offices; however, no Democrat currently holds a statewide office and the GOP holds a supermajority in the state legislature.
• A surge of black voters helped propel Democrat Doug Jones to a Senate victory over Republican Roy Moore. Political observers tell John that will need to be repeated for Democrats to have a shot this November.
• They’ll also need money, and lots of it.
• Go read John’s full piece HERE.

A message from Troy University

• Each week TROY students meet in the kitchen to do their part to eliminate hunger in Pike County.
• Learn more about their amazing work and how it helps make the TROY family so special HERE.

3. We’re going to miss Alvin Holmes.

• Or at least I will.
• Holmes lost his bid for re-election after serving 44 years in the Alabama House of Representatives. He was the longest-serving current member of the body.
• Holmes had a knack for humorous, and sometimes controversial, moments.
• Who can forget “what’s wrong with the beer we got?“
• But Mr. Holmes had serious accomplishments, including establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday and pushing for hiring more African Americans into professional positions at the State House.
• I will always remember Mr. Holmes for his visits in the State House back when I worked there.
• He’d come by late on Friday afternoons long after the legislative session was over to make sure we were working and “not stealing anything.”
• When we were lucky, Mr. Holmes would reach back into his memory and talk about the old days, including some fascinating stories from the Civil Rights era.
• Go read write ups from Brian Lyman and Mike Cason about Alvin Holmes’ career.

4. We’ve got opinions, man. 

Stokes

• Matthew Stokes is doing what we all should and taking a breather from politics in his column today.
• His piece is a lovely tribute to Vincent Oliver, a man who left an unexpected but powerful mark on his life.
• Do yourself a favor and read his column for ADN HERE.

Tucker

• Skip Tucker is back and he’s rounding out his trilogy on the remarkable life of former Congressman Carl Elliot.
• If you like Skip’s prose as much as I do, you won’t want to miss today’s column, “Carl Elliot and the Shining, Shining Path.”

Policy

• Taylor Dawson from the Alabama Policy Institute has a thoughtful and easy-to-read piece today on the trouble with occupational licensing.
• Forcing some professionals to have difficult, costly licenses just to do business is a quiet but powerful form of government overreach, she argues.
• Read Taylor’s whole piece HERE.

5. Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – In the Money: Roy Moore mailer paid for by Las Vegas slot company.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Matthew Stokes: Remembering Mr. Oliver. 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS –  Skip Tucker: Carl Elliot and the shining, shining path. 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Taylor Dawson: Three reasons why you should care about occupational licensing.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Democrats fault Kavanaugh comment on independent counsel law.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS –  Auto industry cries foul as Trump moves toward car tariffs.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alvin Holmes loses primary after 44 years in House.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – US eases Obama-era coal ash pollution rules for utilities.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – White House, State at odds over Putin’s interview proposal

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS –  AP Rundown: Alabama primary runoffs.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Todd Stacy: Demanding more of ourselves and our candidates. 

MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Alvin Holmes has ‘joy in my heart’ following election defeat.

DOTHAN EAGLE – Give voters a break from bitter, nasty campaigning.

DECATUR DAILY – Higher number of contested races may boost November turnout.

ANNISTON STAR – Editor Phillip Tutor: The Trump Scores of Alabama’s GOP.

ALABAMA POLITICAL REPORTER – Columnist Josh Moon:  Alabama: The confused state. 

LAGNIAPPE – Columnist Jeff Poor:  Big labor comeback on Alabama’s horizon?​

AL.COM – Are Alabama Democrats sailing into a ‘red tsunami’ this November?

AL.COM – Contributor Guy Martin:  Doug Jones needs to evolve beyond HillarySpeak.

WASHINGTON POST – As Russians describe ‘verbal agreements’ at summit, U.S. officials scramble for clarity.

NEW YORK TIMES – Contributor Jared Bernstein:  Why Real Wages Still Aren’t Rising

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