Good morning!

Here’s your Daily News for Thursday, September 10.

1. State to move $300M to unemployment fund

 

2. If voting absentee, ‘follow the directions’

• The State of Alabama notifies voters if their absentee ballot applications are disqualified because of missteps in the process, allowing voters to attempt to fix the issues. However, the state does not provide the same opportunity on absentee ballots during the voting process.
• Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told Alabama Daily News the state does not track how many absentee ballots are ultimately disqualified because of mistakes made while returning them. It’s impossible to know how many have been rejected in recent past elections, he said.
• Because of the surge in mail-in balloting and postal delays reported across the nation, the number of rejected ballots in November is projected to be significantly higher than previous elections.
• The increased rejection rate could be pivotal in some battleground states like Pennsylvania this year.
• Merrill encourages voters to turn in their absentee applications and their final ballots as soon as possible and to contact their county’s absentee election manager immediately if they encounter an error.
• “We would hope that voters would follow the directions that are printed on the application and that was printed on the ballot, and if they do so and they meet all the standards that are required then it’s really just following the directions,” Merrill said.
• Absentee ballots became available Wednesday.
• The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is Oct. 29 at the close of business. An absentee ballot returned by mail must be postmarked no later than Nov. 2 and received by the Absentee Election Manager no later than noon on Nov. 3.
• Read more about the absentee ballot process from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

 

3. ‘Deadly stuff’: Trump’s own words bring focus back to virus

• Try as he might to change the subject, President Donald Trump can’t escape the coronavirus.
• In April, the president tried to shift the public’s focus to the economy. In July, to defending the country’s heritage. In September, to enforcing law and order. But all along the way, the death toll from the coronavirus continued to mount.
• And now, Trump’s own words are redirecting attention to his handling of the pandemic when he can least afford it — less than two months before Election Day.
• “I wanted to always play it down,” Trump said of the threat from the virus. That was in a private conversation with journalist Bob Woodward last March that became public on Wednesday with the publication of excerpts from Woodward’s upcoming book “Rage.”
• In taped conversations released along with the excerpts, Trump insisted he didn’t want to create “panic.” But his comments also raised fresh questions about how he has managed the defining crisis of his presidency, one that has killed about 190,000 Americans so far, with no end in sight.
• Read more and listen to the released Woodward excerpts as well as the White House response HERE.

 

4. Alabama Technology Network produces $1.25B in economic impact

• The Alabama Technology Network, through its partnerships with Alabama community colleges across the state, created a total economic impact of $1.25 billion for Alabama in the 2019 fiscal year, according to Alabama Community College System Chancellor Jimmy Baker.
• Baker gave an update to ACCS board members at their monthly meeting on Wednesday saying a recent audit showed the tremendous impact of the network for the state.
• “I knew we were doing a lot of good things,” Baker said. “This is kind of something that travels almost invisible but we are out there in the field helping existing businesses and industries, small and large.”
• The Alabama Technology Network is an ACCS entity that supports businesses and industries in the state by providing customized workplace training, innovative technical assistance and engineering services.
• Baker said there are a total of 795 different projects around the state utilizing ATN and those projects range in scope from lasting a couple of days to a whole year.
• Full story from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

 

 

5. ‘Thank a Lineman’ specialty tag helps families of workers hurt or killed on the job

• A specialty license plate honoring power line workers and raising funds to help the families of those injured on the job is now available in every probate office in Alabama.
• The “Thank a Lineman” specialty plate was introduced in 2019 and has passed the 1,000-plates-sold threshold to be available to drivers statewide. The Energy Institute of Alabama, who advocated for the plate, established a foundation to raise money to support the families of those who are injured or killed doing the dangerous job of maintaining power lines.
• The group recently made a contribution to the family of Boyd Hodge, a lineman for the Central Alabama Electric Cooperative who was killed during a work accident in August. A national foundation matched the Energy Institute’s contribution.
• Seth Hammett, who serves as chairman of the Energy Institute of Alabama, said it is important to support those who are impacted by on-the-job accidents.
• “We talk a lot about taking care of the people who keep the lights on,” he said. “Of course, there are many who do that from the generation plants to the lines, but the face of our industry is the lineman.”
• Read more HERE.

 

 

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