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Daily News Digest – June 4, 2021

Good morning and Happy Friday!

Here’s your Daily News for June 4.

1. Tuberville talks military, vaccines in Montgomery visit

  • U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville made stops in the Capital City Thursday as part of his swing through the state over the Senate recess.
  • After visits to Maxwell Air Force Base and the 187th Fighter Wing at Dannelley Field, Tuberville lauded the missions of Alabama’s military installations and spoke of the importance of maintaining them.
  • “There’s a lot of tradition here,” he said, speaking of Montgomery’s history with the Air Force and the “Red Tails” legacy of the 187th. “It’s important that we keep it going. Obviously coming here in the future we’ve got one of the best weapons the world has ever known in the F-35. We’re excited about that. I’m here today to walk around and take a look to see what we can do to move that up, get the needed buildings built quicker and faster…”
  • In 2017, the Air Force selected the Alabama Air National Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing to house the next-generation F-35 fighter jet. Aircraft are scheduled to begin arriving in 2023 and they will require special hangars and other facility upgrades.
  • Just six months into his first term, Tuberville has leveraged his seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee to prioritize Alabama’s military installations and other defense issues. During this week’s travels, the senator visited Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville as well as some aerospace companies there. He had previously toured Fort Rucker in the Wiregrass.
  • Tuberville talked about BRAC, legislation to reform sexual assault cases in the military, vaccines, the race to replace Sen. Richard Shelby and the importance of bipartisanship in the Senate.
  • We covered a lot of ground!
  • Read my full story and see the video HERE.

 

2. Marshall seeks second term as Alabama attorney general

  • Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Thursday that he is running for a second term as the state’s top law enforcement officer.
  • Marshall, a Republican, made the announcement at a news conference in which he touted his participation in lawsuits against President Joe Biden’s administration and derided “lawlessness across our country with cities set ablaze.”
  • “I promise you this. The wave of the past will not be the wave of the future. There will be law and order in the state of Alabama. So long as I am this state’s chief law enforcement officer, I will fight for it and I will see that mission through,” Marshall said.
  • Marshall was appointed to the office in 2017 by then-Gov. Robert Bentley. He won the office in the 2018 election after defeating former Attorney General Troy King in the GOP runoff and Joe Siegelman, the son of former Gov. Don Siegelman in the general election.
  • Read more from Kim Chandler HERE.

 

 

3. Jobs report: 559K jobs added in May

  • American employers added 559,000 jobs in May, an improvement from April’s sluggish gain but still evidence that many companies are struggling to find enough workers as the economy rapidly recovers from the pandemic recession.
  • The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% from 6.1%.
  • That job gain total was less than the 650,000 predicted by economists. The economy still has 8.2 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic struck.
  • The fading of the pandemic has released substantial pent-up demand among consumers to eat out, travel, shop, attend public events and visit with friends and relatives. But it has also produced a disconnect between companies and the unemployed. Businesses are rushing to add workers immediately. Yet many of the unemployed are either seeking better jobs than they had before the pandemic, still lack affordable child care, worry about contracting COVID-19 or have decided to retire early.
  • That disconnect resulted in a sharp slowdown in hiring in April, when employers added far fewer jobs than economists had forecast and many fewer than had been hired in March.
  • Many businesses blame a $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit for discouraging some of the jobless from taking work. Republican governors in 25 states, including Alabama, have responded by cutting off that benefit, starting this month, before the benefits are scheduled to end nationally on Sept. 6.
  • Jed Kolko, chief economist at Indeed, found that the announcements of federal benefits being cut off sparked an increase in job-search activity in those states, such as clicking on job ads, though that increase faded after several days.
  • Read more HERE.

 

4. US to swiftly boost global vaccine sharing

  • The U.S. will swiftly donate an initial allotment of 25 million doses of surplus vaccine overseas through the United Nations-backed COVAX program, promising infusions for South and Central America, Asia, Africa and others at a time of glaring shortages abroad and more than ample supplies at home.
  • The doses mark a substantial — and immediate — boost to the lagging COVAX effort, which to date has shared just 76 million doses with needy countries.
  • The announcement came just hours after World Health Organization officials in Africa made a new plea for vaccine sharing because of an alarming situation on the continent, where shipments have ground to “a near halt” while virus cases have spiked over the past two weeks.
  • Overall, the White House has announced plans to share 80 million doses globally by the end of June, most through COVAX. Officials say a quarter of the nation’s excess will be kept in reserve for emergencies and for the U.S. to share directly with allies and partners.
  • Of the first 19 million donated through COVAX, approximately 6 million doses will go to South and Central America, 7 million to Asia and 5 million to Africa.
  • Read more HERE.

 

5. Pence: I’ll likely never see eye to eye with Trump on Jan. 6

  • Former Vice President Mike Pence says that he isn’t sure that he and former President Donald Trump will ever see “eye to eye” over what happened on Jan. 6 but that he would “always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years.”
  • Pence, speaking at a Republican dinner Thursday in the early-voting state of New Hampshire, gave his most extensive comments to date on the events of Jan. 6, when angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” after the vice president said he did not have the power to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.
  • “As I said that day, Jan. 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol. But thanks to the swift action of the Capitol Police and federal law enforcement, violence was quelled. The Capitol was secured,” Pence said.
  • “And that same day, we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States,” Pence continued. “You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day.”
  • It was a rare departure for Pence, who spent four years standing loyally beside his boss amid controversy, investigation and impeachment. It comes as Pence considers his own potential 2024 White House run and as Republicans, some of whom were angry at Trump in the days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, have largely coalesced back around the former president.
  • Read more HERE.

 

Headlines

INSIDE ALABAMA POLITICS – May 28, 2021

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Tuberville talks military, vaccines in Montgomery stop

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Marshall seeks second term as Alabama attorney general

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – US adds modest 559,000 jobs, a sign of more hiring struggles

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – US to swiftly boost global vaccine sharing

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Pence: I’ll likely never see eye to eye with Trump on Jan. 6

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – As prison lease plan fizzles, Ivey, lawmakers considering options

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Ivey announces run for another term

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Free beer, other new incentives for Biden’s ‘vaccine sprint’

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump toys with conservatives on 2024 run

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Daily News Digest – June 3, 2021

 

AL.COM – Alabama 2022 election: Can anyone challenge Gov. Kay Ivey?

 

AL.COM  – Huntsville police say officer acted out of policy in stomping incident

 

AL.COM – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey says she will meet with legislators ‘next week’ on prison deal collapse

 

AL.COM – Steve Marshall seeking another term: Alabama’s problem is crime, not incarceration

 

AL.COM – If reelected, Kay Ivey could become Alabama’s second-longest serving governor

 

AL.COM – Why some Alabama cities are seeing their stimulus money cut by more than half

 

AL.COM – ‘I need that money’: Alabama siphoning inmates’ stimulus funds to pay fines, fees, restitution

 

Montgomery Advertiser – USA TODAY Network South journalists win national journalism award for ‘Confederate Reckoning’

 

Montgomery Advertiser – State championship football, baseball coach Bobby Carr pleads guilty to DUI, appeals

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Montgomery police reports 11 shootings with injuries during Memorial Day weekend

 

Tuscaloosa News – USA TODAY Network South journalists win national journalism award for ‘Confederate Reckoning’

 

Tuscaloosa News – Police seek help in locating shooting suspects

 

Tuscaloosa News – History in danger: Selma to Montgomery march campsites on list of threatened places

 

Decatur Daily – LifeTech expected to reopen in late summer

 

Decatur Daily – Former Decatur police officer’s discrimination lawsuit set for February trial

 

Decatur Daily – Melson: Support of ‘solid legislators’ key for medical marijuana; what’s next for access

 

Times Daily – Shoals housing costs reach record amid high demand

 

Times Daily – Homebound now getting COVID vaccines

 

Times Daily – LifeTech expected to reopen in late summer

 

Anniston Star – Anniston school board proposes district lines for Tenth Street closure

 

Anniston Star – Report: More data, tracking needed on prison education efforts

 

Anniston Star – As prison lease plan fizzles, Ivey, lawmakers considering options

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Minor baseball in need after equipment is stolen

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – 2 shot in Birmingham neighborhood; injuries life threatening

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Center Point Fire crews battling blaze at apartment complex

 

YellowHammer News – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall launches 2022 reelection bid

 

YellowHammer News – Alabama’s state workforce agency receives top national honor

 

YellowHammer News – Mazda Toyota Manufacturing unveils first Alabama production model

 

Gadsden Times – EXTENSION CORNER: Food safety important for backyard cookouts

 

Gadsden Times – USA TODAY Network South journalists win national journalism award for ‘Confederate Reckoning’

 

Gadsden Times – New summer art exhibits set to open at Gadsden Museum of Art

 

Dothan Eagle – Police: 3 officers stable after being shot in Delaware

 

Dothan Eagle – The ultimate garage & estate sale guide for this weekend

 

Dothan Eagle – EU, Mideast nations look to train at Cyprus security center

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Arrested Belarus dissident weeps in interview on state TV

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Military leaders wary of changes in sexual assault policy

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Buckingham Palace barred minorities from office jobs in ’60s

 

WSFA Montgomery – Montgomery Area Food Bank seeking donations

 

WSFA Montgomery – 3 sought in Prattville jewelry store theft

 

WSFA Montgomery – ALEA reports zero boating fatalities, drownings over Memorial Day weekend

 

WAFF Huntsville – ‘The March Continues’: Around 50 people march streets of downtown Huntsville for police reform

 

WAFF Huntsville – Huntsville Police Dept. investigating multiple graffiti reports near Bob Wallace, Triana Blvd.

 

WAFF Huntsville – New bill allows law enforcement officers to issue court summons, ticket instead of arresting someone

 

WKRG Mobile – Understanding your insurance policy before hurricanes strike

 

WKRG Mobile – City of Semmes swears in new police chief

 

WKRG Mobile – ECSO: Man stabs former coworker in face and steals gun, car

 

WTVY Dothan – Seth Brooks announces judgeship candidacy

 

WTVY Dothan – Geneva police investigating new arson cases

 

WTVY Dothan – Senior Citizens Center reopens

 

WASHINGTON POST – Facebook to end a longtime exception made for politicians who break its rules

 

WASHINGTON POST – FBI investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in connection with past political fundraising

 

WASHINGTON POST – House Democrats unveil $547 billion transportation bill, a spending boost that underscores partisan divide

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Covid Live Updates: Third Wave Feared in Africa as Vaccine Efforts Falter

 

NEW YORK TIMES – A Historic Moment for Israeli Arabs, but With a Question Mark

 

NEW YORK TIMES – U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alien Technology in Flying Objects, but Can’t Rule It Out, Either

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – South Korea’s Military Is Shrinking and Some Say Women Must Answer the Call of Duty

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Meme Stocks Are On a Wild Ride, Led by AMC

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Planes Grounded by Covid-19 Largely Avoid the Junkyard—for Now

 

 

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

 

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