Presented by The Prosper Group.

 

1. Amber Alert Update: Search expands for kidnapped toddler.

 

• Authorities say they’ve expanded the search for a missing 3-year-old girl to include surrounding states.
• Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and police Chief Patrick Smith spoke to reporters at a Monday news conference about Kamille McKinney, who authorities say was kidnapped from a birthday party on Saturday by a stranger in a blue SUV.
• Smith says there was a multi-hour delay before an Amber Alert was issued in the kidnapping of the girl nicknamed “Cupcake.” He says the belated alert was due to a delay in when the kidnapping was reported to law enforcement.
• Smith says the FBI is assisting and two people of interest are undergoing questioning. Both were taken into custody Sunday after authorities found a vehicle recorded by a surveillance camera.
• Meanwhile, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Monday that her office was preparing to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the location of Kamille McKinney and the arrest of her kidnappers. A reward for information can be a useful tactic for unsolved crimes, especially high profile ones.
• Anyone with information should call the FBI’s tipline at 1-800-225-5324, or the Birmingham Police Department tipline at 205-297-8413, or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

 

 

2. Congress returns.

• The ongoing impeachment inquiry has dominated the headlines out of Washington lately. Even as Congress has been on recess over the last two weeks, relevant House committees have remained at work interviewing witnesses and plotting out a course.
• Today, the rest of the body returns, with members having spent two weeks hearing from constituents at town hall meetings and Rotary Club lunches.
• It turns out there’s a lot more on Congress’ plate than the shiny object of impeachment.
• There’s a trade deal that still requires approval. The United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement would replace the decades-old NAFTA, but concerns from labor unions and reticence from Democrats to give President Trump a “win” have delayed its passage in the House.
• Legislation to reduce costs on prescription drugs – something Democrats ran on to win the majority in 2018 – still hasn’t received a vote in either body, though the Senate version is through committee.
• And then there’s funding the government, Congress’ fundamental responsibility under Article 1. Sen. Richard Shelby, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, has been laboring to line up spending packages for votes in the Senate, but disagreements from the Democratic House await.
• Read more about Congress’ to-do list outside impeachment from Andrew Taylor HERE.
• Or, read more about the latest on impeachment HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

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3. Trump orders sanctions on Turkey.

• Targeting Turkey’s economy, President Donald Trump announced sanctions Monday aimed at restraining the Turks’ assault against Kurdish fighters and civilians in Syria.
• The United States also called on Turkey to stop the invasion and declare a ceasefire, and Trump is sending Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser Robert O’Brien to Ankara as soon as possible in an attempt to begin negotiations. Pence said Trump spoke directly to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who promised not attack the border town of Kobani, which in 2015 witnessed the Islamic State group’s first defeat in a battle by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters.
• “President Trump communicated to him very clearly that the United States of American wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence,” Pence said.
• Of course, the assault from Turkey only began after Trump announced he was moving U.S. troops out of the way.
• Trump said the approximately 1,000 U.S. troops who had been partnering with local Kurdish fighters to battle IS in northern Syria are leaving the country. They will remain in the Middle East, he said, to “monitor the situation” and to prevent a revival of IS — a goal that even Trump’s allies say has become much harder as a result of the U.S. pullout.
• Full story HERE.

 

 

4. Medicaid work requirements could be struck down.

• A federal appeals court had sharp questions for work requirements for Medicaid recipients, casting doubt on a key part of a government-wide effort to place conditions on low-income people seeking taxpayer-financed assistance.
• All three judges on a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lobbed hard questions at a Justice Department lawyer defending the policy at a hearing. The Trump administration is appealing after losing the first round before a lower court.
• At issue is whether a program created by Congress to provide medical care to the poor can also encourage low-income people to try to move up in society and make that a condition for them to keep getting help.
• “You are looking to objectives that are not in (the Medicaid) statute, and you are failing to address the critical statutory objective, which is coverage,” Judge Harry T. Edwards told Justice Department lawyer Alisa Klein, representing the administration.
• “Those are all laudable goals,” said Judge David B. Sentelle, referring to the administration’s stated intent of promoting self-sufficiency. “But the question we have here is whether (work requirements) further the objectives of the statute.”
• The Trump Administration has allowed states to require able-bodied adults drawing Medicaid benefits to work, volunteer or study. Nearly 20 states are in various stages of trying to implement work requirements.
• Alabama’s Medicaid agency is currently seeking federal approval for its plan to require able-bodied recipients to become gainfully employed or participate in employment-related activities, such as job training, education, or volunteering. The Alabama work requirement plan is not technically part of the court case, but will likely be affected by the outcome.
• Read more about the court case HERE.

 

5. News Briefs.

 

• MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Carnival Cruise Line and Alabama city officials have ceremonially signed an agreement to base a Carnival ship there for three more years.
• News outlets report that Carnival official Terry Thornton called the agreement historic for the Miami-based cruise line. He says Carnival doesn’t usually make such long agreements with cities the size of Mobile.
• The City Council is expected to officially approve the agreement on Tuesday.
• Mayor Sandy Stimson says Carnival brings lots of business, and he hopes the market will grow enough for Carnival to replace the Carnival Fantasy with a bigger ship.
• Thornton noted that after about 10 years in Charleston, South Carolina, a 2,000-passenger ship like the Fantasy was replaced this year with the 3,000-passenger Carnival Sunshine.
• Charleston’s population is about 148,000, Mobile’s nearly 190,000.

• AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — A German plastic manufacturing company will open its first facility in the United States in Alabama.
• Gov. Kay Ivey confirmed in a statement Monday that ID Plastics LP has announced plans to build a nearly $10 million dollar plant in Auburn. Al.com reports the German manufacturer said it thinks its operation will employ about 50 people over the next three years. Auburn Mayor Ron Anders said in a statement that the city will be ID Plastic LP’s U.S. headquarters.
• The company produces foldable, returnable transport containers among other products.
• Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said the firm joins about 80 other German companies with operations in the state.

• DEMOPOLIS, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Alabama say two victims who drowned in the Tombigbee River have been identified as high school students.
• News outlets report Demopolis High School students Rayshawn Benison and Natasia Daniels died Friday after they fell into the water and drowned. They were 15 years old.
• Demopolis Police Chief Rex Flowers says a third classmate also fell into the water but was pulled to shore safely with no serious injuries.
• Flowers says the three students went to the landing after an early dismissal from school.
• Marengo County Sheriff Richard Bates says Benison and Daniels were both in the high school band.
• Principal Kyle Kallhoff says additional counselors will be available for students on Tuesday when they return to school.

• CULLMAN, Ala. (AP) — Police say they will charge an Alabama woman in the deaths of her 3- and 9-year-old sons.
• Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry says deputies responded to a home Saturday afternoon and found the unresponsive children. Gentry says deputies used tracking dogs to locate the siblings’ mother, who was suffering from critical injuries, several hundred yards away. She was airlifted to a hospital, but detectives declined to specify the nature of her injuries. She hasn’t been publicly identified.
• The sheriff says investigators, working with the District Attorney’s Office, will charge the woman. Al.com reports those warrants haven’t been issued yet.
• Coroner Jeremy Kilpatrick says the boys’ bodies have been sent for autopsies. Their causes of death haven’t been released.

 

 

 

Headlines.

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