1. Senate passes border bill.

• The U.S. Senate has passed funding legislation to address the emergency situation at the southern border.
• The $4.59 billion supplemental appropriations bill passed overwhelmingly by a bi-partisan vote of 84-8.
• The bill includes funding to help federal agencies like Health and Human Services and Customs and Border Protection provide adequate shelter and care for immigrant families awaiting processing.
• It also provides funding to help the Department of Justice process the wave of new immigration cases it is dealing with.
• Sen. Richard Shelby, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, called it a “solid bill” and called on the House to pass it.
• “So I say to our colleagues in the House, now that there is bipartisan acknowledgment that the crisis on our southern border is real, do not derail the one bipartisan vehicle with a real chance of becoming law. Those who want to alleviate the suffering on our southern border will soon have a bipartisan path forward in the Senate bill,” Shelby said.
• However, Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that the House would not pass the Senate bill. The House on Tuesday passed its version of the border bill along party lines, and that bill was rejected by the Senate, including by some Democrats.
• Pelosi faces resistance in her chamber may be short of votes. She quelled a mini-revolt by progressives and Hispanic lawmakers who insist on including some of the House provisions in the final bill.
• This could get interesting today because Congress is scheduled to break for two weeks and failing to address the border crisis would be a big missed opportunity.
• Read more HERE.

 

2. Colleges aim to improve graduation rates.

• As the Alabama Legislature tries to move to performance-based funding for higher education, the state’s four-year universities want to show improvement in several areas.
• One is graduation rates, and most Alabama schools are behind the national average.
• It’s a complicated metric, though, especially since different colleges have different student body makeups. And things like transfers are hard to account for.
• It won’t surprise you that Auburn and Alabama’s flagship campuses have the highest graduation rates. They also have the fewest low-income students.
• Other schools are seeking to improve their graduation rates through a variety of strategies, and the need for more state funding to help the cause is on the list.
• Read the full story from Mary Sell and me on college graduation rates and their implications in the Legislature HERE.

 

3. Big day at SCOTUS.

• Two issues that could determine the distribution of political power for the next decade await resolution on the Supreme Court’s final day of decisions before a long summer break.
• The cases – the citizenship question on the census and partisan redistricting – also have big implications for Alabama.
• The census case involves an attempt by the Trump administration to ask everyone about their citizenship status in the 2020 census. The last time the question was broadly asked was in 1950.
• The administration argues it needs the data to improve enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, but critics say including the question would make the count less accurate.
• Democratic-led states and cities, and civil rights groups challenging the citizenship case have argued that the question would discourage immigrants from participating in the census, taking power away from cities and other places with large immigrant populations and reward less populated rural areas.
• Alabama officials, including Attorney General Steve Marshall and Congressman Mo Brooks, have lobbied hard for including the citizenship question, partly because it could help Alabama keep its seven congressional districts and nine electoral votes.
• The high court is also reviewing two court decisions in which federal judges found that Republicans in North Carolina and Democrats in Maryland went too far in drawing congressional districts to benefit their party at the expense of the other party’s voters.
• The court has struck down districts predominantly based on race, but never just on partisan grounds.
• The justices are set to take the bench at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.
• Full story HERE.

 

4. Skip Tucker: Roy Moore and the Music Man.

 

• I guess you could say Skip Tucker is no fan of Roy Moore.
• In his column this week, Skip talks about what every politico in the state is talking about: Moore’s entrance into the U.S. Senate race and his chances to win.
• As always, Skip’s take is more interesting than most.
• He says Moore reminds him of someone he had some run-ins with back in Jasper during his time as Editor of the Daily Mountain Eagle.
• I can’t clip much of the column today because it would give it all away, but here’s a short excerpt:

• Read Skip’s full column HERE.

 

5. AP News Briefs.

 

• Authorities in Tuscaloosa say they may have identified the owner of the 15-foot (4.5 meter) yellow python that’s been the subject of a week-long search.
• A spokesman for the mayor’s office says police zeroed in on a person of interest and have recovered a second python at a “local residence.”
• News outlets report authorities are still looking for the first python.
• Sightings of the pet snake were first reported last week.
• Animal control officers are combing through residential backyards, storm drains and wooded area’s looking for the reptile.
• Pythons are non-venomous. They kill their prey through constriction.
• Officials are asking residents to alert authorities if they spot the snake.

• A food and distribution firm plans to build a $100 million distribution center in southeast Alabama.
• Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday announced the Coffee County facility being built by Texas-based Ben E. Keith Co.
• The project is expected to create 80 direct jobs during the next five years.
• Construction of the facility in New Brockton is expected to begin by December, with a scheduled completion date by December 2021.

• At least two workers at the Wayne Farms poultry facility in Dothan have been hospitalized following an acid leak.
• One person’s skin was exposed and another inhaled the vapors emitting from the chemical spilled Wednesday. Roughly 14 other workers who were in the area of the leak are being monitored. The plant also was evacuated, but news outlets report employees have since been let back inside.
• Deputy Fire Chief Chris Etheredge says the acid was reportedly being used in a cleaning process.
• The leak remains under investigation.

• The U.S. economy grew at a healthy 3.1% rate in the first three months of this year, but signs are mounting that growth has slowed sharply in the current quarter amid slower global growth and a confidence-shaking trade battle between the United States and China.
• The gain in the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, was unchanged from an estimate made a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday morning.
• The 3.1% growth in the first quarter marked a rebound from a 2.2% growth rate in the fourth quarter of last year. But it was slower than a sizzling increase of 4.2% in the second quarter and a solid increase of 3.4% in the third quarter last year. For the entire year, GDP grew 3.9%, the best annual gain since 2015.
• Last year’s strength was powered by the implementation of a $1.5 trillion tax cut, President Donald Trump’s signature domestic achievement, and billions of dollars in increased government spending on the military and domestic programs Congress approved in early 2018.

 

Headlines.

 

 

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