Presented by

The Boeing Company.

 

 

1. Leaders eye more funds for school-based mental health.

• Across Alabama, school leaders say more mental health care is needed.
• The School-Based Mental Health Services, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and the Alabama Department of Mental Health, has existed since 2013. Some systems have used grants or local money to pay their share of the cost.
• For example, Hartselle City Schools was able to join the collaboration in 2018, when lawmakers put $500,000 in statewide funding toward the program. For the budget year that began this month, that amount was doubled to $1 million statewide.
• Senate education budget committee chairman Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said more money could be allocated in the 2021 budget.
• “I would anticipate doubling or tripling this funding, assuming current revenue projections are accurate, because of the reported positive impact coming in from the participating school districts,” Orr said.
• According to ADMH, students are six times more likely to complete mental health treatment in schools than in community settings.
• As of July, 60 of the state’s 137 school systems were participating in the program, nine of them using state funding, to get clinicians from 16 community mental health centers.
• Read the full feature story from ADN’s Mary Sell HERE.

 

 

2. Big day for rural jobs.

• A planned wood pellet factory will add badly needed jobs in an underdeveloped part of west Alabama.
• Gov. Kay Ivey’s office announced Friday that Maryland-based Enviva plans to invest about $175 million on a wood pellet production plant in Sumter County. It will ship product on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway from the Port of Epes.
• The proposed facility is expected to create at least 85 full-time jobs. It’s also supposed to generate about 180 more jobs in logging, transportation and other areas.
• A host of public officials and company executives gathered in the town square of the Sumter County Courthouse in Livingston Friday to celebrate the announcement. Among those in attendance were the area’s legislative delegation, including State Sen. Bobby Singleton and State Rep. A.J. McCampbell.
• “We are very excited about the prospect of Enviva joining Alabama’s business community with a very important manufacturing project in Sumter County,” Ivey said. “This project will create quality jobs for West Alabama’s citizens, improved timber markets for local landowners, and enhanced economic activity for the entire region.”
• Enviva is the world’s largest producer of wood pellets, which are burned for power production. It still needs permits for the plant but says it expects to begin construction early next year.
• Congresswoman Terri Sewell, D-Selma, has represented Sumter County in Congress since 2011 and made the challenge of economic development in rural Alabama a priority. Her duties as a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence kept her in Washington, D.C. and away from the announcement, but Sewell highlighted what a major step forward this was for the local economy.
• “Enviva’s announcement that it will build a new wood pellet plant in the Port of Epes is a major win for West Alabama,” Sewell said. “The jobs and economic development this project will create will serve to uplift not only individuals and families but the entire Sumter County community.”
• Full story HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

A message from

The Boeing Company.

• Boeing has been in Alabama for more than a half a century, with its engineers and researchers in Huntsville playing key roles in developing the innovative aerospace technologies of tomorrow.

• Boeing’s Research and Technology Center in Huntsville serves as the company’s hub for collaboration with academic institutions and industry partners in analytics and simulation along the Southeast.

• They are currently leading research in advanced materials, autonomous technologies, artificial intelligence, cyber security and others.

• As Alabama’s largest aerospace company, Boeing has helped the state build a significant presence in the defense and space fields, while also setting the stage for even more groundbreaking developments in emerging technologies.

3. Supreme Court begins new term.

• The Supreme Court of the United States will convene for its new term today. (For West Wing fans, the traditional Red Mass was held last night at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle).
• The justices are returning to the bench for the start of an election year term that includes high-profile cases about abortions, protections for young immigrants and LGBT rights.
• A year ago, the Court began its term amid the intense and divisive confirmation battle of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Now, both Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s other Supreme Court pick, are firmly in place and could play a major role in deciding the direction of the Court.
• The justices could be asked to intervene in disputes between congressional Democrats and the White House that might also involve the possible impeachment of the Republican president.
• Chief Justice John Roberts would preside over a Senate trial of Trump if the House were to impeach him.
• The court also could be front and center in the presidential election campaign itself, especially with health concerns surrounding 86-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
• Read more about the new SCOTUS term, including which high-profile cases are likely to be heard HERE.

 

4. Montgomery election tomorrow.

• Alabama’s Capital City will elect a new mayor this week. It’s a big election for a city that has been led by current Mayor Todd Strange for the last ten years.
• Probate Judge Steven Reed is vying to become Montgomery’s first African American mayor, a major milestone for a city known as both the “Cradle of the Confederacy” and the “Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.”
• He’s being challenged by businessman and philanthropist David Woods, who beat out a long list of other candidates to earn a spot on Tuesday runoff.
• The issues are well known and predictable: addressing crime and gun violence, improving education, recruiting more major employers.
• The two candidates debated each other last week on WSFA. You can check out videos from that debate online HERE.
• Also, The Montgomery Advertiser’s Sara MacNeil has an excellent voters guide to the election in today’s paper HERE, as well as in-depth profiles on Steven Reed HERE and David Woods HERE.

 

5. We’re pulling out of northern Syria.

• American troops today began pulling back from positions in northeastern Syria ahead of an expected incursion by Turkey into the area.
• The White House, in a statement that was silent on the fate of Kurds, said U.S. troops “will not support or be involved in the operation” and “will no longer be in the immediate area,” in northern Syria.
• There are about 1,000 U.S. troops in northern Syria, and a senior U.S. official said they will pull back from the area — and potentially depart the country entirely, should widespread fighting break out between Turkish and Kurdish forces.
• The Syrian Kurdish fighters warned that Washington’s abrupt decision to stand aside — announced by the White House late Sunday — will overturn years of achievements in the battle against the Islamic State militant group. In a strongly-worded statement, they accused Washington of failing to abide by its commitments to its key allies.
• The White House statement on Sunday also said Turkey will take custody of foreign fighters captured in the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS who have been held by the Kurdish forces.
• The Kurds have custody of thousands of captured Islamic State militants. They include about 2,500 highly dangerous foreign fighters from Europe and elsewhere — their native countries have been reluctant to take them back — and about 10,000 captured fighters from Syria and Iraq.
• Full story HERE.

 

Bonus: Ward running for Supreme Court

• Some breaking news: State Sen. Senator Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, just announced that he will run for a seat on the Alabama Supreme Court.
• Inside Alabama Politics first reported on Friday (it pays to subscribe!) that Ward was eyeing the Place 1 seat currently held by Associate Justice Greg Shaw. It is unclear if Shaw is running for reelection.
• Ward, who serves as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and President of the Alabama Law Institute, said his work on prison and criminal justice reform make him well-qualified for a leadership role in the judiciary.
• Full story HERE.

 

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