Good morning!

Here’s your Daily News for Tuesday, June 16.

1. State coronavirus cases on the rise

Alabama is experiencing a real surge in coronavirus cases and the worst might not be over.
More than a fourth of the state’s 26,000 cases have come in the last two weeks, according to numbers from the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Meanwhile, Montgomery is considering implementing an ordinance to mandate the use of face masks in public places as the the county has set the pace for most COVID-19 cases in the state, ahead of more populous Jefferson and Mobile counties.
Gov. Kay Ivey emphasized the role of personal responsibility to curb the spread of the virus instead of new closure orders.
“Until our next update, the governor continues to stress the need for personal responsibility. If we do not take it upon ourselves to keep ourselves and others safe by taking smart health precautions, we cannot expect to make progress,” Press Secretary Gina Maiola said.
Health officials expressed concern about the rapid rise in cases and urged people to take precautions.
“It’s been an unfortunate series of days of record setting,” Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of UAB’s division of infectious diseases, said at a news conference Monday.
“In my opinion. I think we now have just widespread sustained community spread,” she said.
Read more HERE.

2. Scholarships bring ‘best and brightest’ to certain communities

Alabama lawmakers recently approved funding for a pilot scholarship program to get recent college graduates with degrees in STEM subjects to live in the city of Decatur and the Demopolis area.
A supplemental appropriations bill for the 2020 budget year included $240,000 from the state education budget for the Best and Brightest Initiative that repays student loan debt up to $15,000 over five years.
U.S. Bureau of Census information shows a decline in population in Decatur of about 1,341 people between 2010 and 2019. Marengo County lost about 2,185 residents in the same period.
“I have been concerned about the no growth areas of the state,” Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, told Alabama Daily News. “Generally speaking, other than a few pockets like Auburn-Opelika, Tuscaloosa, Madison and Limestone counties, Baldwin County and some suburb counties around Birmingham and Montgomery, our state growth has flatlined or declined.”
The Best and Brightest scholarship was launched in Decatur in 2016 and funded by private industry.
Twenty-one people have received the competitive scholarships since then, John Joseph, executive director of the Decatur-Morgan County Entrepreneurial Center, told Alabama Daily News.
“If successful in the Black Belt and/or a no-growth city like Decatur, there’s no reason it can’t be expanded to similarly struggling mid-sized cities like Gadsden, Anniston, Florence along with other Black Belt or rural counties,” Joseph said.
Relatedly, the 2021 education budget includes two new scholarship programs, including $750,000 for the Birmingham Promise scholarship program.
Birmingham Promise scholarships will assist with tuition and mandatory fees at Alabama’s public two-year and four-year colleges and universities. The amount will be determined after other financial aid has been applied. Students must meet an institution’s academic admission requirements, according to the program’s website.
The Legislature also allocated $100,000 for the Alabama Korea Education and Economic Partnership, A-KEEP, to support a pilot project to attract Korean math and science teachers for teaching positions in Alabama schools, according to ACHE.
Full story from ADN’s Mary Sell HERE.

3. Alabama prison reports inmate virus death, 13 positive cases

A second inmate in Alabama died over the weekend after testing positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the state inmate death toll from COVID-19 to at least four.
Robert Stewart, 80, died at a hospital Sunday, the Alabama Department of Corrections said in a public statement. Stewart began exhibiting symptoms of the virus June 8 and got treatment at the Staton Correctional Facility infirmary before being transferred to a local hospital where he died.
An autopsy was expected to determine Stewart’s official cause of death. The statement said he tested positive June 10.
Officials decided last Thursday to test all inmates in the infirmary for the coronavirus, and 13 tested positive, the ADOC stated. They have been isolated, the statement said.
Clarence Shepherd, 80, died Friday after showing symptoms of the virus, corrections officials said. He had been housed at the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville.
State inmates William Hershell Moon, 74; and Dave Thomas, 66, have also tested positive for the virus and died since the start of the pandemic.
Full story HERE.

4. Supreme Court says gay, transgender workers protected by law

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.
The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”
Gorsuch was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s four liberal members. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s other Supreme Court pick, dissented, along with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
“The Court tries to convince readers that it is merely enforcing the terms of the statute, but that is preposterous,” Alito wrote in the dissent. “Even as understood today, the concept of discrimination because of ‘sex’ is different from discrimination because of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity.’”
Kavanaugh wrote in a separate dissent that the court was rewriting the law to include gender identity and sexual orientation, a job that belongs to Congress. Still, Kavanaugh said the decision represents an “important victory achieved today by gay and lesbian Americans.”
Trump had a restrained reaction, telling reporters that he’d read the decision and that “some people were surprised.”
He added: “But they’ve ruled and we live with their decision. That’s what it’s all about. We live with the decision of the Supreme Court. Very powerful. A very powerful decision actually. But they have so ruled.”
Read more HERE.

5. Senate GOP to restrict police chokeholds in emerging bill

Senate Republicans are on the brink of introducing an extensive package of policing changes with new restrictions on police chokeholds and other practices as Congress rushes to respond to mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans.
It’s a sudden shift of GOP priorities, with President Donald Trump signaling support. The White House will announce its own executive actions on law enforcement procedures on Tuesday, a crush of activity that shows how quickly protests over police violence and racial prejudice are transforming national politics.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opened the chamber Monday declaring that Senate Republicans are developing “a serious proposal to reform law enforcement.”
While the emerging GOP package isn’t as extensive as the sweeping Democratic proposal, which is headed for a House vote next week, it includes perhaps the most far-reaching proposed changes to policing procedures from the party long aligned with a “law and order” approach. Confronted with a groundswell of public unrest over police violence, in cities large and small nationwide, even the most conservative senators are joining the effort.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has been crafting the package set to roll out Wednesday, and said he spoke with Trump about it over the weekend. Scott warned that pushing voting into later this summer would be a “bad decision.” He has said the chokehold, in particular, “is a policy whose time has come and gone.”
Read more HERE.

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alabama virus cases up, Ivey stresses personal responsibility

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – State funds put into bringing ‘Best and Brightest’ to Decatur, Marengo County

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alabama prison reports inmate virus death, 13 positive cases

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Mobile’s Confederate statue relocated to a museum

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Supreme Court says gay, transgender workers protected by law

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Senate GOP to restrict police chokeholds in emerging bill

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – SPLC to invest $30M into voter outreach programs

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Court waives absentee ballot requirements in certain counties

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – As economy improved, Medicaid enrollment increased

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – State tells judge it can staff prisons by deadline

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Daily News Digest – June 15, 2020

AL.COM – Federal judge blocks some Alabama voting laws because of pandemic

AL.COM – Memorial Day blamed for coronavirus surge in north Alabama, hospital official says

AL.COM – Alabama AG: Mobile illegally removed Semmes monument, pays fine

AL.COM – Alabama sees nation’s second most new cases per capita in last 7 days

AL.COM – Rep. Sewell now supports renaming bridge to honor John Lewis: ‘Will of the people should prevail’

AL.COM – Judge rules Birmingham Airport Authority employees not under ethics law

AL.COM – Madison County ‘looking at every option’ to relocate Confederate monument

AL.COM – Davidson Technologies awarded $20.7 million increase for missile defense contract

AL.COM – Columnist Kyle Whitmire: Kay Ivey is not your Mee-Maw: What the governor needs to tell Alabama about COVID-19

Montgomery Advertiser – As Alabama coronavirus cases mount, Gov. Ivey, ADPH stick with same approach, guidelines

Montgomery Advertiser – Montgomery 20-year-old charged in fatal shooting of teen

YellowHammer News – Marshall says Semmes statue removal violated law; City of Mobile agrees to pay $25K fine

YellowHammer News – Birmingham Airport Authority wins appeal of major ethics ruling

YellowHammer News – Longtime Democrat the favorite for Ivey appointment

Dothan Eagle – Dothan school officials roll out first food bus with hopes to feed hundreds of children

Dothan Eagle – Former owner of Lee County truck driving school sentenced to probation

Dothan Eagle – Ashford PPE provider plays important role in global COVID battle

Tuscaloosa News – Tuscaloosa Bail Out aims to help low-income inmates

Tuscaloosa News – Safety measures in place for UA students’ return

Tuscaloosa News – Tuscaloosa City Council agenda for June 16, 2020

Decatur Daily – Authorities: Drugs one of several theories behind 7 shooting deaths

Decatur Daily – Could this latest police shooting have been prevented?

Decatur Daily – Confederate monument stirs debate in Limestone County

Times Daily – Paroles hearings this week include 4 from Shoals

Times Daily – Florence receives word ransom money accepted

Times Daily – Sheffield City Hall sets tentative June 29 reopening date

Gadsden Times – Drive-thru testing Wednesday in Alabama City location

Gadsden Times – COVID-19 case numbers climbing in Alabama

Gadsden Times – Police respond to shots fired in Kyle Avenue area

Anniston Star – Judge: McClellan ‘Starships’ must be sold to Xtreme Concepts

Anniston Star – Sheriff says two jail staffers attacked in separate incidents

Anniston Star – Anniston council to discuss removal of monument to Confederate officer, renaming a street for black officer

Troy Messenger – Public hearing reviews plans for repurposing high school

Troy Messenger – Alabama No. 2 in new cases reported: Ivey stresses personal responsibility as virus spreads

Troy Messenger – New group benefits area vets

Andalusia Star News – Opp native models for Vogue Italia

Andalusia Star News – GALLERY: Vigil on the square

Opelika-Auburn News – Downtown Auburn bar employee tests positive for COVID-19

Opelika-Auburn News – Former owner of Lee County truck driving school sentenced to probation

Opelika-Auburn News – More work needed to combat human trafficking along I-85, Lee County

Daily Mountain Eagle – US revokes emergency use of malaria drugs vs. coronavirus

Daily Mountain Eagle – Senate GOP to restrict police chokeholds in emerging bill

Daily Mountain Eagle – Supreme Court says gay, transgender workers protected by law

Trussville Tribune – Springville city council approves acquisition of several roads in need of repair

Trussville Tribune – Springville Fire & Rescue to honor fallen firefighter Jared Echols on 1-year anniversary of death

Trussville Tribune – CRIME STOPPERS: Center Point man wanted on attempted murder charge

Athens News Courier – Parker named new band director at AHS

Athens News Courier – Marks praises peaceful protests on The Square

Athens News Courier – Motorist strikes pedestrian on Elk River Mills

WSFA Montgomery – NAACP makes demands in wake of recent officer-involved killings

WSFA Montgomery – City of Mobile agrees to pay $25,000 fine for removing Confederate statue

WSFA Montgomery – Montgomery man arrested in Thursday evening homicide

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – DCH Regional Medical Center still below capacity due to COVID-19 patients

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – University of Alabama unveils plans to allow in-person classes

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – JeffCo Sheriff’s Office begins testing inmates for COVID-19; 1 person tests positive

WAFF Huntsville – Red Cross testing blood donors for COVID-19 antibodies

WAFF Huntsville – Police protests impacting law enforcement recruiting in the Tennessee Valley

WAFF Huntsville – Black Belt has some of the highest COVID-19 case rates in state

WKRG Mobile – Warren’s outreach to black voters could help VP standing

WKRG Mobile – Two activists leading protests named to PPD Citizens Advisory Committee

WKRG Mobile – USA administration and students respond the reopening plan

WTVY Dothan – President Trump to hold July rally for Tuberville in Mobile

WTVY Dothan – Seven injured, including six children, in Jackson County vehicle crash

WTVY Dothan – State working on virtual K-12 school option for 2020 academic year

WASHINGTON POST – Trump to unveil police reform proposals that fall short of what activists have demanded

WASHINGTON POST – ‘Nothing has changed’: Ferguson grapples with legacy in wake of Floyd protests.

WASHINGTON POST – Coronavirus recommendations ignored as case numbers rise

WASHINGTON POST – Trump says Bolton will have ‘criminal problems’ if his book is released

NEW YORK TIMES – Coronavirus Cases Rise Sharply in Prisons Even as They Plateau Nationwide

NEW YORK TIMES – Most Coronavirus Tests Cost About $100. Why Did One Cost $2,315?

NEW YORK TIMES – Gorsuch, Conservative Favorite Appointed by Trump, Leads Way on Landmark Decision

NEW YORK TIMES – Jon Stewart Is Back to Weigh In

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

Daily News Digest – June 16, 2020