Presented by

the Poarch Band of Creek Indians

1. Police call Blanchard blood evidence ‘life threatening’

• Police say blood evidence in the car belonging to missing college student Aniah Blanchard shows she suffered a “life threatening injury.”
• The 19-year old was last seen at a convenience store in Auburn. Ibraheem Yazeed, who police have arrested in the case, was also seen at the store.
• Blanchard remains missing after disappearing October 23. Yazeed has been extradited back to Alabama after being arrested in Florida.
• Read more HERE.
• Also read more background on the case from the Advertiser’s Melissa Brown HERE.

2. Nikki Haley says Cabinet members pressured her to turn on Trump

• President Donald Trump’s former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley alleges in her upcoming memoir that two administration officials who were ultimately pushed out by Trump once tried to get her to join them in opposing some of his policies.
• In “With All Due Respect,” Haley said then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and then-White House chief of staff John Kelly told her that they were trying to “save the country.” Haley writes that she was “shocked” by the request, made during a closed-door meeting, and thought they were only trying to put their own imprint on his policies.
• Trump fired Tillerson in March 2018. Later, Tillerson said the president was “undisciplined” and did not like to read briefing reports. Trump countered, calling Tillerson “dumb as a rock.”
• Read more HERE.

A message from

the Poarch Band of Creek Indians

3. Veterans Day OpEds

4. AP Top 25

• LSU is an overwhelming No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll after beating Alabama in a 1-2 matchup.
• Ohio State was No. 2 with five first-place votes and Clemson was third with three first-place votes. Alabama fell two spots to No. 4.
• No. 5 Georgia at No. 13 Auburn and No. 10 Oklahoma vs No. 12 Baylor are the premiere Top-15 match-ups this weekend.
• See the full poll HERE.

5. ICYMI

• Visiting Alabama Saturday, President Donald Trump got the roaring applause that had eluded him at the World Series Washington, D.C. Read more about his visit to the Bama-LSU game HERE.
• Trump was non-committal about who he might back – or attack – in the U.S. Senate race. He says he won’t campaign against Jeff Sessions, but will “see how it goes.” That story HERE.
• Some Alabama lawmakers say they’re concerned about possible cuts to a parolee education program that officials have touted as an example of success. Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, told ADN he’d been informed by Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole staff that a “significant scale back” was planned for LifeTech Transition Center in Thomasville. That story HERE.

5. News Briefs

SPLC employees seek to unionize

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Employees of the watchdog organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center, are filing for union representation.
• A supermajority of employees has requested representation by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 of The News Guild-Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, the union announced this week.
• “We ask SPLC’s senior leaders to respect the desire of its dedicated employees to form a union and have a say in what the future of the Center looks like,” the organizing committee said in a statement.
• “Current leadership has committed itself to the task of changing SPLC’s workplace culture. Collective bargaining ensures workers the opportunity to play a leading role in this transformation.”
• The move comes after upheaval that saw the departure of longtime leaders and the announcement of a review of workplace culture.
• The organizing committee says it wants to form a strong union that lays a “foundation for a legacy of equal rights, respect and dignity for all workers, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical ability, and national origin.”
• In a letter to staff, Lecia Brooks, the SPLC’s chief workplace transformation officer, said that management received the petition but suggested the group will wait on a formal vote to recognize the union.
• Brooks wrote they “welcome an open election process” by employees on the decision to form a union.
• The letter noted that the SPLC has “a long history of partnering with unions in our legal work.”

Mobile could become state’s 2nd-largest city with annexation

• MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Mobile’s mayor is proposing to annex 13,000 residents into the city.
• The proposal — if it happens — would make the south Alabama city the second-largest in Alabama, Al.com reported.
• Mobile, with a population just under 190,000, is currently the fourth-largest city in Alabama behind Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery.
• But there has been opposition to the idea among Mobile city council members.
• At a recent meeting, council member C.J. Small showed a Power Point presentation of photographs from around his district illustrating dilapidated buildings, potholes in roads, and parks in poor condition.
• “This is what I get phone calls about,” Small said. “Streets and sidewalks that have been left, for years, in distress. A (swimming) pool full of water with mosquitoes. Trash overflowing. And we are talking about expanding Mobile? We need to take care of our home first.”
• Discussion on the city council has also split along racial lines with the council’s three black members voicing the most concerns about the annexation.
• Under the proposal, the annexation of three separate corridors west of the city’s limits would change the city’s demographics from 50% black and 45.5% white to 48.8%, black and 46.7% white.
• But Council President Levon Manzie said the issue wasn’t about a shift in the city’s racial demographics. Manzie and some other council members say it comes down to finances — and whether millions of dollars in city resources should be spent on providing services to people living west of the city limits.
• In a 6-1 vote, the council decided to wait before deciding whether to authorize a special election for voters outside the city limits on whether to annex into the city. The waiting period will allow the administration to return back with more information about how the annexation would affect the city’s finances.

Huntsville Hospital, urgent care centers merge

• HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Huntsville Hospital Health System and Urgent Team Care & Walk-In Centers are forming a partnership to create a network of urgent care and family care centers in North Alabama.
• Al.com reports beginning Dec. 2, Urgent Team Walk-In Urgent Care locations in Decatur, Florence, Huntsville, Muscle Shoals, and Madison will be rebranded as Huntsville Hospital Urgent Care centers. All of the centers will be open seven days a week and provide treatment for injuries, illnesses and conditions that are urgent, but non-life threatening. Walk-ins are welcome or patients may schedule a same-day or next-day visit online.
• Huntsville Hospital Health System Chief Operating Officer Jeff Samz called it an “exciting initiative.” He says the partnership will help fill the gap in consumer and employer health demand.

Headlines.

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