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Good morning!
Wishing a happy Veterans Day to all those who have served this great country in the U.S. Armed Forces. It’s a shame that so many parades and other events had to be cancelled this year, but that doesn’t stop us from sharing personally and publicly our appreciation for those who have fought to preserve our way of life.
Here’s your Daily News for Wednesday, November 11.
1. Congressional picture getting clearer
- As most expected, Democrats will hold on to their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, finally clinching the necessary 218 seats of the 435-seat chamber.
- However, as few expected, that majority will shrink to razor-thin margins, as Republicans could pick up as many as 16 seats when the dust settles from the Nov. 3 election.
- Right now, Democrats are projected to have won 222 House seats while Republicans are projected to have won 206. In the seven remaining races, Republicans are leading in each one.
- “We have the gavel, we have the gavel,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who seems all but certain to continue in that role.
- By retaining the House, Democrats will control the chamber for four consecutive years for only the second time since 1995, when Republicans ended 40 years of Democratic dominance.
- Even amid disappointment at the top of the ticket, the GOP has been heartened by the House results, which many believe position them for a strong run for the majority in the 2022 elections. They also bolstered their number of women representatives from 13 to at least 26, a record for the GOP, and were adding new ethnic minority lawmakers as well.
- “The Republican coalition is bigger, more diverse, more energetic than ever before,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the day after the election.
- A tight majority could cause headaches for Pelosi, empowering any determined group of lawmakers to pressure her on what bills should be considered or look like. But sometimes, a slender margin can help unify a party because its members know they must stick together to achieve anything.
- Read more and see the latest map HERE.
2. Hospitalizations, deaths rise
- The number of people in Alabama hospitals with COVID-19 — as well as the number of daily deaths from the disease — are rising as health officials expressed concern about the trajectory of the pandemic headed into both the flu and holiday season.
- Alabama Department of Public Health statistics showed 1,206 people were hospitalized Tuesday with the disease, an increase of nearly 400 people over the last month.
- The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Alabama has risen over the past two weeks from 11 deaths per day on Oct. 26 to 15.86 deaths per day on Nov. 9.
- State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said the Alabama numbers have been going in the wrong direction for about a month.
- “Clearly, we are moving upward compared to where we were even a month ago but certainly compared to where we were two months ago. It’s not as sharp an increase as we see right now in other parts of the country, especially the upper Midwest, Great Plains states, certainly the Midwest, but it’s concerning to us,” Harris said.
- Read more from Kim Chandler and see the latest BamaTracker charts HERE.
A message from
the Boeing Company
- As the largest aerospace company in Alabama, Boeing has played a vital role in building the nation’s space and defense programs in the state for nearly 60 years.
- The company first established a presence in Alabama in 1962 to support the nation’s new space programs. Today, Boeing in Huntsville supports commercial airplanes, services, space and defense work, providing innovative and affordable capabilities. Boeing Huntsville is a low cost, high tech, fabrication center of excellence.
- Boeing employees are active and committed members of their communities in which they live and work, contributing both dollars and time in many ways. Boeing and employee giving in Alabama in 2019 totaled $2.5 million.
3. Outbreak sees games postponed
- After coming off bye weeks, both Auburn and Alabama have postponed their upcoming games against Mississippi State and LSU, respectively, due to an increase of COVID-19 cases.
- On Monday, No. 24 Auburn’s game at Mississippi State was postponed because of COVID-19 positive tests and contact tracing within the Bulldogs’ program. That game has been tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 12.
- Then on Tuesday, Auburn paused team activities after nine players and three staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
- Auburn also has “a handful of close contact” cases having to quarantine, in addition to the positive tests, coach Gus Malzahn said. He didn’t give a specific number or say which positions had been hardest hit.
- The Crimson Tide’s game against the defending national champion Tigers is in danger of not being played at all after COVID-19 cases in LSU’s program.
- That means, barring any further issues, their next games will be on Nov. 21 with Auburn hosting Tennessee and Alabama hosting Kentucky.
- The Texas A&M – Tennessee game this weekend has also been postponed.
- Alabama-LSU was going to be a CBS night game, airing after the Masters golf tournament. So, maybe we’ll just get more golf.
- Read more HERE.
4. New presidents, policies for community colleges
- Three new community college presidents were announced on Tuesday by Alabama Community College System Chancellor Jimmy Baker for Bevill State, Snead State and Lurleen B. Wallace community colleges.
- ACCS board members on Tuesday also discussed a newly created campus free speech policy to use across the system to comply with a law passed in 2019 by the Alabama Legislature.
- The law requires schools to adopt policies that acknowledge, among other things, that “the campus of the public institution of higher education shall be open to any speaker whom the institution’s student organizations or faculty have invited, and the institution will make all reasonable efforts to make available all reasonable resources to ensure the safety.”
- Rep. Matt Fridy, R-Montevallo, sponsored the bill in response to a national trend of college political demonstrations and protests to block some speakers from campuses.
- The board approved three contracts with companies to implement a Learning Management System and discussed plans to purchase Customer Relations Management software.
- Read all about the ACCS board meeting from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.
5. SCOTUS hears Obamacare arguments
- A more conservative Supreme Court appears unwilling to do what Republicans have long desired: kill off the Affordable Care Act.
- Meeting remotely a week after the election and in the midst of a pandemic that has closed their majestic courtroom, the justices on Tuesday took on the latest Republican challenge to the Obama-era health care law, with three appointees of President Donald Trump, an avowed foe of the law, among them.
- But at least one of those Trump appointees, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, seemed likely to vote to leave the bulk of the law intact, even if he were to find the law’s now-toothless mandate that everyone obtain health insurance to be unconstitutional.
- “It does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place,” Kavanaugh said.
- Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote two earlier opinions preserving the law, stated similar views, and the court’s three liberal justices are almost certain to vote to uphold the law in its entirety. That presumably would form a majority by joining a decision to cut away only the mandate, which now has no financial penalty attached to it. Congress zeroed out the penalty in 2017, but left the rest of the law untouched.
- “I think it’s hard for you to argue that Congress intended the entire act to fall if the mandate were struck down when the same Congress that lowered the penalty to zero did not even try to repeal the rest of the act. I think, frankly, that they wanted the court to do that, but that’s not our job,” Roberts said.
- Full story from Mark Sherman HERE.
Headlines
INSIDE ALABAMA POLITICS – November 6, 2020
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Hospitalizations, deaths from COVID-19 rise in Alabama
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine is looking 90% effective
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Dems clinch House control, but majority could be razor thin
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alabama, Auburn games postponed by COVID-19 issues
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – New presidents, policies for community colleges
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – ‘Obamacare’ likely to survive, high court arguments indicate
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Ivey, lawmakers talk special session (ADN Insider Subscription)
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – McConnell, other Republicans say Trump OK to fight election
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Biden eyes Washington veterans for key administration posts
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Daily News Digest – November 10, 2020
AL.COM – Alabama lawmaker: Indicted D.A.’s prosecutions should be reviewed
AL.COM – Oneonta City Schools moves to remote learning amid rise in COVID-19 cases
AL.COM – COVID-19 cases ‘surge’ in Huntsville area with holidays just ahead
AL.COM – Former Alabama Sen. E. B. McClain dead at 80
AL.COM – Black Lives Matter-Gadsden to protest Confederate statue today
Montgomery Advertiser – Montgomery County Courthouse renovations
Montgomery Advertiser – Banners in Prattville honor local veterans
Montgomery Advertiser – YunRo On Ice brings music, food, prizes & band scholarships to Eastdale Mall’s ice rink
WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – UPDATE: Homewood and Rob e’ Mans reach agreement on property dispute
WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Veterans struggling mentally during the pandemic, how you can help
WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Be careful where you buy cleaning products
Tuscaloosa News – As local COVID-19 cases rise, officials unsure of cause
Tuscaloosa News – ‘Virtual Iron Bowl’ will benefit Children’s of Alabama hospital
Tuscaloosa News – Poll workers sought for 2021 municipal election for council, school board members
Decatur Daily – Monitoring student progress difficult after cancellation of standardized tests
Decatur Daily – First Response wants major changes to ambulance ordinance
Decatur Daily – Mediation: Town Council to fill Hillsboro mayoral seat
Times Daily – COVID-19 hospitalizations up more than 45% in Alabama
Times Daily – Alabama Music Hall of Fame bouncing back from pandemic
Times Daily – Veterans Day will impact some garbage collections
Anniston Star – Kronospan would pay $900K fine, spend $7 million to address water pollution under proposed settlement
Anniston Star – McClellan to get new houses after land deal
Anniston Star – Hopefuls lining up for appointment to county commission seat
YellowHammer News – Alabama’s Steve Marshall named policy chairman of Republican Attorneys General Association
YellowHammer News – Shelby-led appropriations committee releases bipartisan FY21 funding proposals important for Alabama
YellowHammer News – Boeing donates $50K to support career program for Alabama veterans
Gadsden Times – Drive-thru flu shot/COVID-19 testing Friday
Gadsden Times – City council approves senior nutrition, law enforcement contracts
Gadsden Times – Group calls for removal of Emma Sansom statue
Dothan Eagle – ALEA: Beware of fake license renewal sites
Dothan Eagle – Sculpture celebrating Mary Wollstonecraft draws criticism
Opelika-Auburn News – District Attorney Brandon Hughes adds perjury charge in Montgomery
Opelika-Auburn News – District Attorney Brandon Hughes adds perjury charge in Montgomery
WSFA Montgomery – MPS superintendent makes recommendation for post-holiday return
WSFA Montgomery – SCOTUS hears case to strike down ‘Obamacare’
WSFA Montgomery – Montgomery police searching for theft suspect
WAFF Huntsville – Huntsville man who competed on Jeopardy in 2004 reflects on meeting Alex Trebek
WAFF Huntsville – Be careful where you buy cleaning products
WAFF Huntsville – Madison County Schools hires first Mental Health Services Coordinator
WKRG Mobile – Veterans Day 2020 freebies: Where to get free food (and more)
WKRG Mobile – Alabama COVID-19 hospitalizations spike over the past three days
WKRG Mobile – Pensacola mayor issues local state of emergency because of increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations
WTVY Dothan – Inaugural Dothan Peanut Strut winners announced
WTVY Dothan – Holiday travel during a pandemic
WTVY Dothan – New Brockton High School renovates high school stadium
WASHINGTON POST – As states press forward with vote counts, Trump advisers privately express pessimism about heading off Biden’s win
WASHINGTON POST – Postal worker recanted allegations of ballot tampering, officials say
WASHINGTON POST – Why GOP superlawyer Ben Ginsberg is bucking his party and blasting Trump’s baseless election claims
NEW YORK TIMES – Covid-19 Live Updates: U.S. Hospitalizations Top 61,000, a Record
NEW YORK TIMES – The Times Called Officials in Every State: No Evidence of Voter Fraud
NEW YORK TIMES – What Went Wrong With Polling? Some Early Theories
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Biden Says Standoff With Trump Administration Won’t Stop Transition
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Democrats to Hold On to House Majority
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Supreme Court Justices Question GOP States’ Case Against ACA
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