Presented by the

Alabama League of Municipalities

Good morning!

Here’s your Daily News for Monday, July 25.

1. NFIB: inflation impacting small business

The National Federation of Independent Businesses’ Research Center recently released a survey showing that most small business owners are countering some of the costs of inflation by raising their prices.
“Our members here (in Alabama) say inflation and increased labor costs are driving down any profits for the business,” Rosemary Elebash, NFIB Alabama Director, said. “And when the business loses profit, it affects community involvement and contributions to local charitable causes.”
Survey results showed that 75% of small business owners throughout the country said inflation pressures are worsening.
The survey also found that 71% of businesses surveyed raised prices in the past three months. Seventy percent said they plan to raise prices in the next three months.
Read more from ADN’s Maddison Booth HERE.

2. ‘Sweet Grown’ events focus on local products

Several farmers markets around the state hosted special “Sweet Grown Alabama Day” events this past weekend, showcasing locally-sourced products and the farmers who grow them.
Sweet Grown Alabama is the state’s non-profit agricultural branding program initiated two years ago to help connect retailers and consumers to Alabama-grown food and agricultural products.
Among the statewide events this weekend was the Montgomery Curb Market’s celebration of its 95th anniversary. Those who attended enjoyed free tomato sandwiches, food trucks and bounce houses for the kids. Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, Sweet Grown Alabama board member and tomato sandwich aficionado, was also on hand to commemorate the occasion.
Read more HERE.

A message from the

Alabama League of Municipalities

This August, ALM is hosting seven in-state Congressional Luncheons designed to provide municipal officials a unique opportunity to network with their congressional delegation and staff as well as their state lawmakers.

In addition, the luncheons are an excellent way to not only develop lasting relationships with your state and federal delegation but to update them on specific issues and concerns facing your communities.

The luncheons will be free to attend; however, registration will be required so League staff can adequately prepare. All luncheons are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., regardless of date or location.

For more information, please visit www.almonline.org.

3. Semiconductor bill unites Sanders, conservatives in opposition

A bill to boost semiconductor production in the United States has managed to do nearly the unthinkable — unite the democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and the fiscally conservative right.
The bill making its way through the Senate is a top priority of the Biden administration. It would add about $79 billion to the deficit over 10 years, mostly as a result of new grants and tax breaks that would subsidize the cost that computer chip manufacturers incur when building or expanding chip plants in the United States.
Supporters say that countries all over the world are spending billions of dollars to lure chipmakers. The U.S. must do the same or risk losing a secure supply of the semiconductors that power the nation’s automobiles, computers, appliances and some of the military’s most advanced weapons systems.
Sanders, I-Vt., and a wide range of conservative lawmakers, think tanks and media outlets have a different take. To them, it’s “corporate welfare.” It’s just the latest example of how spending taxpayer dollars to help the private sector can scramble the usual partisan lines, creating allies on the left and right who agree on little else.
The opposition from the far left and the far right means that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will need help from Republicans to get a bill over the finish line. Support from at least 11 Republican senators will be needed to overcome a filibuster. A final vote on the bill is expected this week.
Read more HERE.

4. Trump v. DeSantis? Young conservatives debate GOP’s future

When former President Donald Trump took the stage before a crowd of more than 5,000 young conservative activists in Tampa this weekend, he received the rock star’s welcome he’s grown accustomed to over the seven years in which he’s reshaped the Republican Party.
One night earlier, it was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who had the crowd on its feet as he headlined the day’s program at Turning Point USA’s annual Student Action Summit.
“To be honest, it’s like choosing between your favorite child,” said Leo Milik, 19, who lives in Barrington, Illinois, when asked whom he’d like to see as the party’s next nominee.
Milik, wearing a “Trump was Right” baseball cap, said both Republicans “have their pros, they have their cons.” For now, he said, he’s leaning toward Trump.
That sentiment reflects the soul searching underway inside the GOP as an invisible primary for the 2024 presidential nomination begins to take shape, dominated at least for the moment by Trump and DeSantis.
There’s little doubt that Trump is moving closer to announcing a third presidential campaign. But there’s genuine debate over whether he’s the party’s best candidate to take on President Joe Biden, who is otherwise seen as a vulnerable incumbent heading into the next campaign, weighed down by soaring inflation, sinking popularity and questions about his capacity to manage the U.S. into his 80s.
Read more from Jill Colvin HERE.

5. Tuskegee syphilis exposé at 50: how a reporter broke the story

Jean Heller was toiling away on the floor of the Miami Beach Convention Center when an Associated Press colleague from the opposite end of the country walked into her workspace behind the event stage and handed her a thin manila envelope.
“I’m not an investigative reporter,” Edith Lederer told the 29-year-old Heller as competitors typed away beyond the thick grey hangings separating news outlets covering the 1972 Democratic National Convention. “But I think there might be something here.”
Inside were documents telling a tale that, even today, staggers the imagination: For four decades, the U.S. government had denied hundreds of poor, Black men treatment for syphilis so researchers could study its ravages on the human body.
The U.S. Public Health Service called it “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” The world would soon come to know it simply as the “Tuskegee Study” — one of the biggest medical scandals in U.S. history, an atrocity that continues to fuel mistrust of government and health care among Black Americans.
“I thought, ‘It couldn’t be,’” Heller recalls of that moment, 50 years ago. “The ghastliness of this.”
Read the full story HERE.

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – NFIB: Small businesses raising prices to combat increases in their costs

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – ‘Sweet Grown’ events focused on local products

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump v. DeSantis? Young conservatives debate GOP’s future

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Semiconductor bill unites Sanders, the right — in opposition

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Tuskegee syphilis exposé at 50: how a reporter broke the story

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Capitol Journal: July 23, 2022

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Storm aftermath: 2 babies killed as tree falls in Birmingham

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Festival honoring blues ‘father’ W.C. Handy under way

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Milley: China more aggressive, dangerous to US, allies

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Media predict Alabama will beat Georgia in SEC championship

AL.COM – ‘Untax our food’: Alabama could renew focus on grocery tax as food prices soar

AL.COM – Peter Salk, son of polio vaccine developer, says latest US case sounds a warning.

AL.COM – Mobile shipyard receives federal grant to upgrade equipment

AL.COM – Tired of high gas prices? Take the bus, Huntsville leaders stress

AL.COM – Alabama has the 2nd highest stroke death rate in the nation, report says

AL.COM – Contributor David Sher: All bets are off for Birmingham

AL.COM – Austal USA gets $156 million contract to build more steel Navy ships

AL.COM – Columnist Cameron Smith: Marriage discrimination isn’t a hill Republicans should die on

Montgomery Advertiser – Panhandling backlash: Give Smart Montgomery fund is ‘just another option’

Montgomery Advertiser – About a third of MPS third-graders not reading on grade level

Montgomery Advertiser – Aerie’s grand opening Aug. 4 at The Shoppes at EastChase

Decatur Daily – Haleyville man dies in Lawrence County wreck

Decatur Daily – All Rise: Hartselle girl elected governor of Girls State; delegate to Girls Nation

Decatur Daily – Work-release inmates helping fill holes in tight labor market

Times Daily – Today’s Handy Fest lineup

Times Daily – New machine will ease manpower concerns at recycling center

Anniston Star – Federal, local law enforcement discuss violent crime prevention

Anniston Star – Food trucks gather in Piedmont park

Anniston Star – Families enjoy back-to-school event

YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Auburn University soars as launchpad for aerospace, aviation careers

YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Boeing’s Alabama operations on growth trajectory with $1B missile seeker contract

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Trussville mayor hoping to start construction on Alabama Fallen Warriors Monument soon

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Texans John Metchie III diagnosed with Leukemia

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Small plane makes hard landing on Smith Lake

Tuscaloosa News – School supplies for Tuscaloosa parking fines to return next month

Tuscaloosa News – Tuscaloosa economic development group chooses new executive director

Gadsden Times – Glencoe churches’ association salutes Hometown Heroes

Dothan Eagle – Myanmar executes ex-lawmaker, 3 other political prisoners

Dothan Eagle – Big Papi a big hit at his Baseball Hall of Fame induction

Dothan Eagle – Tunisians vote on proposal to give president more power

Opelika-Auburn News – Police: 2 killed, 5 injured in shooting at Los Angeles park

Opelika-Auburn News – Lavrov says Russian goal to oust Ukraine’s president

Opelika-Auburn News – Taiwan holds drills amid Pelosi visit concern, China tension

WSFA Montgomery – ‘Top priority for the department’: Families of captive Ukrainian volunteers meet with State Department

WSFA Montgomery – Hiker seriously injured at Monte Sano State Park

WSFA Montgomery – Escaped Georgia inmate captured in Chambers County

WAFF Huntsville – Texans John Metchie III diagnosed with Leukemia

WAFF Huntsville – Small plane makes hard landing on Smith Lake

WAFF Huntsville – Marshall County woman charged with interference of child custody

WKRG Mobile – Big Papi a big hit at his Baseball Hall of Fame induction

WKRG Mobile – Nearly 1 in 3 Americans say it may soon be necessary to take up arms against the government

WKRG Mobile – Hogan blames ‘collusion’ between Trump and Democrats for Dan Cox winning GOP primary

WTVY Dothan – 3 injured in Covington County boating crash

WTVY Dothan – HVAC workers continue AC repairs in extreme heat

WTVY Dothan – State commissioner encourages more people to buy local

WASHINGTON POST – Claim that sex ed ‘grooms’ kids jolted Nebraska politics a year before it swept the nation

WASHINGTON POST – The Claremont Institute triumphed in the Trump years. Then came Jan. 6.

WASHINGTON POST – Your boss might be reading your work messages. Here’s how to prevent that.

NEW YORK TIMES – Sharp Contrasts With Other Jan. 6 Inquiries Increase Pressure on Garland

NEW YORK TIMES – As Ukraine Signs Up Soldiers, Questions Arise About How It Chooses

NEW YORK TIMES – Ukraine Live Updates: Undeterred by Russian Attack, Officials Prepare for Grain Shipments

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Investors Bet Fed Will Need to Cut Interest Rates Next Year to Bolster the Economy

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Senate Bill to Boost Chip Production, Advanced Technology Set to Move Ahead

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Elon Musk’s Friendship With Sergey Brin Ruptured by Alleged Affair

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

Daily News Digest – July 25, 2022