Good morning!

Here’s your Daily News for Tuesday, May 3.

 

1. Leaked SCOTUS opinion indicates Roe reversal

• A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report.
• A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge ramifications for this year’s elections. But it’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter — opinions often change in ways big and small in the drafting process.
• Whatever the outcome, the Politico report late Monday represents an extremely rare breach of the court’s secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance.
• “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the draft opinion states. It was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.
• The document was labeled a “1st Draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
• The court is expected to rule on the case before its term ends in late June or early July.
• The draft opinion in effect states there is no constitutional right to abortion services and would allow individual states to more heavily regulate or outright ban the procedure.
• Read more HERE.

 

2. Arrest warrant issued in for missing jail official

• You can just see this case headed to become a Lifetime movie special.
• Authorities continue the hunt for an “extremely dangerous” murder suspect and on Monday issued an arrest warrant for the Alabama jail official they now believe helped him escape.
• Inmate Casey Cole White, 38, was shackled and handcuffed when he and Vicky White, the facility’s assistant director of corrections, left the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence on Friday morning. They have not been seen since, although the patrol vehicle that the pair used when leaving the detention center was found at a nearby shopping center parking lot after their absence was discovered.
• Authorities have no idea where they are, although the inmate should be recognizable by his size. He stands 6 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs about 260 pounds.
• Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Monday that they had issued an arrest warrant for Vicky White, 56, on charges of permitting or allowing an escape. She is not related to Casey White, who was serving a 75-year prison sentence and awaiting trial on a capital murder charge.
• Vicky White told co-workers she was taking him to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation. But Singleton later said no such evaluation was scheduled. She also violated a policy that required more than one official to be involved in transporting inmates, a rule that officials emphasized for White because he had previously tried to escape, Singleton said. The sheriff said video showed the pair left the jail and went straight to that parking lot.
• “We know she participated, whether she did that willingly or if she was coerced, threatened somehow to participate, not really sure. We know for sure she did participate,” Singleton said.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

3. Biden speaks in Troy today

• The planes take off almost daily from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware — hulking C-17s loaded up with Javelins, Stingers, howitzers and other material being hustled to Eastern Europe to resupply Ukraine’s military in its fight against Russia.
• The game-changing impact of those arms is exactly what President Joe Biden hopes to spotlight as he visits a Lockheed Martin plant in Troy Tuesday that builds the portable Javelin anti-tank weapons that have played a crucial role in Ukraine.
• But Biden’s visit is also drawing attention to a growing concern as the war drags on: Can the U.S. sustain the cadence of shipping vast amounts of arms to Ukraine while maintaining the healthy stockpile it may need if a new conflict erupts with North Korea, Iran or elsewhere?
• The U.S. already has provided about 7,000 Javelins, including some that were delivered during the Trump administration, about one-third of its stockpile, to Ukraine, according to an analysis by Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies international security program. The Biden administration says it has committed to sending about 5,500 to Ukraine since the Russian invasion more than two months ago.
• Biden is set to land at Maxwell Air Force Base later this morning and speak at Lockheed at approximately 1:45 p.m.
• Read more HERE.

 

4. Brooks to Jan. 6 panel: ‘send me a subpoena’

• Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks was among three more House Republicans who received requests Monday to voluntarily appear before the congressional committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot and answer questions about their involvement in the effort to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
• “The Select Committee has learned that several of our colleagues have information relevant to our investigation into the facts, circumstances, and causes of January 6th,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and vice-chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement. “We urge our colleagues to join the hundreds of individuals who have shared information with the Select Committee to get to the bottom of what happened on January 6th.”
• Brooks responded on Twitter by saying he would only testify willingly if the hearing were public.
• “I wouldn’t help Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney cross the street. I’m certainly not going to help them and their Witch Hunt Committee,” Brooks said. “If they want to talk, they can send me a subpoena.”
• The decision to ask for Brooks’ cooperation comes weeks after the Senate hopeful accused Trump of dropping an endorsement for him after he rebuffed the former president’s entreaties to help overturn the 2020 election.
• Trump “wanted the election rescinded and a do-over,” Brooks told reporters in March. “But there’s no legal way to do it.”
• Brooks spoke at the rally that day before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, telling them, “Today is the day that American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”
• Read more HERE.

 

 

5. Trump’s bid to shape GOP faces test with voters in May races

• Donald Trump’s post-presidency enters a new phase this month as voters across the U.S. begin weighing the candidates he elevated to pursue a vision of a Republican Party steeped in hardline populism, culture wars and denial of his loss in the 2020 campaign.
• The first test comes today when voters in Ohio choose between the Trump-backed JD Vance for an open U.S. Senate seat and several other contenders who spent months clamoring for the former president’s support. In the following weeks, elections in Nebraska, Pennsylvania and North Carolina will also serve as a referendum on Trump’s ability to shape the future of the GOP.
• Alabama is an interesting case. Trump endorsed early frontrunner Congressman Mo Brooks more than a year ago, only to pull the endorsement after Brooks’ support cratered in the polls. He has hinted at endorsing either Katie Britt or Mike Durant, but so far hasn’t pulled the trigger.
• Few states may be a higher priority for Trump than Georgia, where early voting begins next week ahead of the May 24 primary. He’s taken a particularly active role in the governor’s race there, recruiting a former U.S. senator to take on the incumbent Republican for failing to go along with his election lie. For similar reasons, Trump is also aiming to unseat the Republican secretary of state, who he unsuccessfully pressured to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.
• While the primary season will play out deep into the summer, the first batch of races could set the tone for the year. If Republican voters in the early states rally behind the Trump-backed candidates, the former president’s kingmaker status would be validated, likely enhancing his power as he considers another bid for the presidency. High-profile setbacks, however, could dent his stature and give stronger footing to those who hope to advance an alternate vision for the GOP.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Report: Supreme Court draft suggests Roe could be overturned

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Arrest warrant issued in Alabama for missing jail official

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Biden to tout Ukraine missile support in Troy Tuesday

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Brooks to Jan. 6 panel: ‘send me a subpoena’

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump’s bid to shape GOP faces test with voters in May races

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Watch: Capitol Journal Week in Review

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – May 24 ballot lets voters approve $80M loan for state parks

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Red Bay woman charged after dogs kill public health worker

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Researchers returning for assessment of last US slave ship

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Durant turns down proposed GOP debate dates

 

AL.COM – Ivey says SCOTUS draft leak ‘outrageous’: Alabama Republicans vow ‘immediate action’ to outlaw abortion

 

AL.COM – Randolph County marine business completes $1 million expansion

 

AL.COM – Former Brookside police chief Mike Jones arrested for impersonating an officer

 

AL.COM – ACT test scores for some Alabama high school students impacted by ‘technical issue’

 

AL.COM – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announces mental health crisis centers in Dothan, Tuscaloosa

 

AL.COM – Columnist Kyle Whitmire: Mike Durant needs to explain what happened with his sister

 

AL.COM – Columnist Dana Hall McCain: Agency for women in a post-Roe world

 

AL.COM – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey one of the most popular governors in the country, poll shows

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Police seek North Alabama jailer who disappeared with inmate after selling home, retiring

 

Montgomery Advertiser – ‘Sickening’: Workers in Prattville church-run day care charged with felony child abuse

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Escaped prison inmate David Kyle recaptured in Cherokee County

 

Decatur Daily – Decatur man charged with murder after release from hospital

 

Decatur Daily – Escaped Lauderdale inmate was serving sentence for Limestone crime rampage

 

Decatur Daily – Jan. 6 panel wants answers from GOP’s Brooks, Biggs, Jackson

 

Times Daily – Get out and participate in these fun kids events

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – North Johns Volunteer Fire Department officially certified

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Two new behavioral health crisis centers coming to Alabama

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – New pediatric urgent care to open in Brock’s Gap

 

Tuscaloosa News – String music: Find out who won in the Southeastern Fiddle Championship

 

Tuscaloosa News – Mercedes-Benz donates $200K to Habitat Tuscaloosa’s Operation Transformation project

 

Tuscaloosa News – Police seek North Alabama jailer who disappeared with inmate after selling home, retiring

 

YellowHammer News – ALGOP chair John Wahl: Republicans will not allow Democratic Party to ‘use minorities as a tool’ to gain power

 

YellowHammer News – Alabama Republican Assembly endorses ‘consistent conservative’ Mo Brooks for U.S. Senate

 

YellowHammer News – Poll: Gov. Kay Ivey remains among nation’s most popular governors, holds highest approval rating in Southeast

 

Gadsden Times – One person killed, one injured, in incident at Alabama International Dragway in Steele

 

Gadsden Times – Police seek North Alabama jailer who disappeared with inmate after selling home, retiring

 

Gadsden Times – ‘Sickening’: Workers in Prattville church-run day care charged with felony child abuse

 

Dothan Eagle – Unprecedented leak preps nation for end of Roe; key 2022 primaries today; Met Gala’s wild fashion

 

Dothan Eagle – Chicago seeks to host 2024 Democratic National Convention

 

Dothan Eagle – Pope offers to meet Putin, still waiting to hear back

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Lawmakers seek police boss’ journals in Ronald Greene probe

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Are you afraid of ghosts? This haunted UK inn even scared off these experience ghost hunters

 

Opelika-Auburn News – California’s population fell again amid pandemic’s 2nd year

 

WSFA Montgomery – Alabama gears up for Biden’s Tuesday visit

 

WSFA Montgomery – 1 killed in officer-involved shooting in Ozark

 

WSFA Montgomery – Alcohol delivery service looks to expand services to Montgomery

 

WAFF Huntsville – Long troubled Sequel TSI youth services center to shut down and reopen

 

WAFF Huntsville – Some neighbors see rise in coyotes in South Huntsville

 

WAFF Huntsville – Body found in Miss. River identified as teen who jumped in after two sisters

 

WKRG Mobile – Aid workers prep stretchers, toys for Mariupol evacuees

 

WKRG Mobile – Pet of the Week: Come and adopt Copper

 

WTVY Dothan – Man killed by Dale County officers had been suspect in weekend harassment case

 

WTVY Dothan – One dead in Dale County officer-involved shooting

 

WTVY Dothan – Spots still available for poll workers in Houston County

 

WASHINGTON POST – Supreme Court is ready to strike down Roe v. Wade, leaked draft shows

 

WASHINGTON POST – After leak of draft abortion decision, advocates react with emotion

 

WASHINGTON POST – Leaked Supreme Court draft ignites fierce debate over future of abortion

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Supreme Court Live Updates: Draft Decision Overruling Roe v. Wade Would Remake Abortion Landscape

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Ukraine Live Updates: Mariupol Evacuations Continue Amid Shelling

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Russia Could Sell More Energy to Asia, but Has to Slash Prices

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Leaked Draft of Supreme Court Opinion Indicates Roe v. Wade May Be Overturned

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Roe v. Wade Abortion Case Takes Center Stage on Capitol Hill, Campaign Trail

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Ukrainian Civilians Describe Desperate Efforts to Flee Bombed-Out Mariupol

 

 

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