Presented by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians

1. Kids Count report out today

• The 2019 Kids Count Data Book is out today offering some sobering statistics on the outlook for Alabama’s children.
• And with the 2020 Census approaching, Alabama advocates and officials are hoping the state’s kids aren’t counted out for federal programs.
• Twenty-six percent of Alabama children, 282,396 of them, live in poverty and about half of those live in extreme poverty in households where a family of four earns less than $13,000 a year. That 26% number is the same as it was in 2014.
• The report has good news: the infant mortality rate is at an all-time low and births to teens ages 15-17 have decreased by more than 60 percent since 2017.
• Read the full story from ADN’s Mary Sell, see the county rankings, and link to the full Kids Count report from VOICES for Alabama’s Children HERE.

2. Reed sworn in today

• Steven Reed will be sworn in as Mayor of Montgomery this morning.
• Reed, an attorney who previously served as Montgomery County Probate Judge, becomes the first African-American mayor in the city’s history, a significant milestone for a town known both as the Cradle of the Confederacy and the Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.
• In his campaign, Reed committed to cracking down on crime, improving education, and modernizing the city’s economic development efforts.
• The festivities begin at 10:00 a.m. in downtown Montgomert. You can watch live via WSFA HERE.

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the Poarch Band of Creek Indians

3. SCOTUS takes up DACA case

• The U.S. Supreme Court today is taking up a case challenging the Trump Administration’s decision to end an Obama-era program that protects from deportation immigrants brought here illegally as children.
• Former President Barack Obama initiated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in 2012 by executive action, giving as many as 600,000 people renewable permits to live and work.
• In September 2018, the Trump Administration announced it was ending the program, while also pressing Congress to enact a path to citizenship for many so-called DREAMers.
• That plan didn’t go anywhere in Congress, but the Trump DACA decision has been blocked by multiple lower court orders, leading to this Supreme Court showdown.
• It’s likely to be a closely split decision, perhaps 5-4, which means a major ruling could yet again come down to where Chief Justice John Roberts stands.
• Read more HERE.

4. Impeachment hearings go live this week

• Americans will have their first public view of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, as the proceedings emerge from the secure closed-door facility in the Capitol basement to live hearings.
• House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., will gavel in the sessions Wednesday and Friday.
• But this impeachment inquiry is likely to be downloaded much differently by the American public than past ones, including most recently former presidents Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.
• The live televised hearings, watched by millions of Americans at the same time in the same way, were part of what sealed Nixon’s fate. With Clinton came the emergence of the internet, but nowhere near the level of engagement from social media like we have today.
• Think about it this way: can you imagine the President of the United States live-tweeting his own impeachment hearing, responding directly in realtime to witnesses and congressional inquisitors?
• Democrats are hoping for a much more scripted and predictable showing than what transpired during the Mueller hearings, while Republicans are organizing a robust defense of the president’s actions.
• Read more about what to expect, including the recently-released transcripts of the witnesses so far, HERE.
• Read more about the message jockeying between Democrats and Republicans in the media HERE.

5. Final SLS engine in place

• The final engine has been installed on NASA’s Space Launch System’s, a major milestone for the Artemis I mission that will take human beings back to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
• According to Boeing, which is the primary contractor for designing, developing and producing the SLS, the core stage with all four rocket engines attached (pictured above) is the largest rocket stage built since the Saturn V.
• Development of the SLS is managed out of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, while assembly of the rocket stages is taking place at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
• Read more HERE.

News Briefs

Search for missing Florida girl expands to Alabama

• JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities in Florida say they’re expanding the search of a missing 5-year-old girl to Alabama, and the girl’s mother is no longer cooperating with their investigation.
• Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said during a news conference Monday that officers have been deployed to Demopolis, Alabama, west of Montgomery.
• Williams says Taylor Williams, who is not related to the sheriff, was reported missing from her Jacksonville home last Wednesday. The sheriff says Taylor’s mother, Brianna Williams, has not spoken with investigators since that day.
• Sheriff Williams is asking the public to contact his office if anyone has seen the mother and daughter between Alabama and Florida in the past two weeks.
• Authorities have also been searching for the girl in Georgia.
• Sheriff Williams says they’re still hoping to find the girl alive.

Priest accused of harassing cruise ship masseuse

• MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Catholic church officials in Alabama confirm that a man accused of sexually harassing a massage technician aboard a cruise ship is a local priest.
• News outlets report the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, declined to comment on the accusations against Rev. Amal Samy. They say they are taking the allegations seriously and emphasized that Samy has denied any wrongdoing.
• Federal court documents obtained by news outlets accuse Samy of attempting to get a massage technician to touch his genitals while on a Carnival Fantasy ship in August. A witness statement said Samy repeatedly attempted to touch the woman, and later removed the covering sheet and exposed himself. Samy denied removing the sheet during his massage but did admit to investigators that he was naked underneath.
• He has a court date Wednesday.

Veteran helped by Alabama deputies could reconnect with son

• JASPER, Ala. (AP) — A social media post about a veteran wearing an oxygen mask while walking down a road may help connect the man to his estranged son.
• The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that the Gulf War veteran attempted to walk about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Walker County to Huntsville for an appointment Wednesday because his car wasn’t working.
• A Walker County deputy worked with other deputies to transport him to and from his appointment at the VA. News reports identify him as Gerald Baldwin.
• The post has more than 150,000 shares. Baldwin’s son Lance in Pennsylvania saw the story and recognized his father. He told news outlets Sunday that the two hadn’t spoken in about five years. He now plans to reach out to his father.

Headlines

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