1. Coastal recovery continues

 

 

2. Second gas tax increase coming Oct. 1

• Alabamians will pay 2 cents per gallon more for gasoline starting Oct. 1 when the second installment of the state’s 10-cent tax increase goes into effect.
• The state’s share of taxes on gasoline will rise to 26 cents per gallon, which will include 8 cents under the 2019-passed Rebuild Alabama Act and the 18 cents that existed before the new law was passed.
• The 6-cent increase that began Sept. 1, 2019 under the Rebuild Alabama Act has raised millions for road projects, but new revenue is less than expected at least in part because of COVID-19.
• The Rebuild Alabama Act tax collections from October 2019 through August were about $174.5 million, an average of $15.86 million monthly. That’s 2.01% below the cumulative projections, said Kirk Fulford, deputy director of the Legislative Services Agency’s Fiscal Division.
• Tony Harris of the Alabama Department of Transportation said $122 million in Rebuild-funded projects were underway in fiscal year 2020. Funding includes $30.13 million for 28 ATRIP-II projects to improve the state’s highway system; $82 million that is combined with other money, including federal funds, for other ALDOT projects; and $10.2 million for 43 projects in the act-created Annual Grant Program to help county and municipal governments with local projects.
• Read more about gas tax collections and what projects are ongoing from ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.

 

 

3. Supreme Court battle could shift election priorities

• This election year’s “October surprise” came early.
• The 2020 presidential contest was shaping up to be a referendum on President Donald Trump’s leadership, including the tumultuous last six months of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Now, after the death of longtime Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the battle to fill her seat is reshuffling voters’ priorities and campaigns’ strategies.
• Four years ago, the allure of conservative Supreme Court appointments helped persuade skeptical Republicans to support Donald Trump for president. Two years ago, a contentious clash over Trump’s choice of Brett Kavanaugh for the court was credited with bolstering GOP gains in the Senate in an otherwise bad midterm election.
• And now, just 44 days before Trump’s reelection will be decided, Republicans are again looking to a Supreme Court nomination fight to unite the party as it faces the very real possibility of losing the White House and control of the Senate this fall.
• GOP leaders are optimistic they can pull it off. In the turbulent Trump era, nothing has motivated the Republican Party’s disparate factions to come home quite like the prospect of a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court.
• However, Democrats say it could motivate voters to fight harder against Trump and Republicans as the Senate breaks the norms with an unprecedented confirmation at a time when Americans are deciding crucial elections.
• “Everything Americans value is at stake,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told fellow Democratic senators on a conference call Saturday.
• In all likelihood, Trump will have already nominated Ginsburg’s replacement by the time he and Democratic nominee Joe Biden debate eight days from now.
• Read more about the Supreme Court battle HERE.

 

 

4. Trump backs possible TikTok deal

• President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s given his “blessing” to a proposed deal that would see the popular video-sharing app TikTok partner with Oracle and Walmart and form a U.S. company.
• Trump has targeted Chinese-owned TikTok for national security and data privacy concerns in the latest flashpoint in the rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. The president’s support for a deal comes just a day after the Commerce Department announced restrictions that if put in place could eventually make it nearly impossible for TikTok’s legions of younger fans to use the app.
• Don’t know what TikTok is? You’re not alone. But chances are your kids or nieces or nephews do. The app has more than 100 million users in the United States, most of whom are young people.
• The administration contends that the user data collected by the app could be shared with the Chinese government. On Saturday, Trump said the U.S.-based TikTok “will have nothing to do with China.”
• Trump has been demanding that the U.S. operations of TikTok be sold to a U.S. company or else be shut down. He’s also been targeting WeChat, another Chinese-owned app.
• Read more HERE.

 

5. SEC football is here

• It’s almost hard to believe, but the start of Southeastern Conference football is six days away.
• The conference has eight teams ranked in the latest AP top 25, including five in the top 10.
• The 10th-ranked Auburn Tigers will be among the first to play Saturday, hosting a No. 23 Kentucky team that would love to score the upset.
• The second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide kicks off Saturday at Missouri, a team that will be missing several players due to COVID-19 protocols.
• Nick Saban and his squad are determined to shore up the defense, which at times last year gave up significant amounts of points in critical games.
• The return of All-American linebacker Dylan Moses, who missed last season with an injury, will help in that regard.
• “I want to be able to put a punctuation mark on the back end of my Alabama career,” said Moses, a 2018 finalist for the Butkus Award. “At the same time, I want to be able to affect my teammates. That’s the reason I came back.”
• Read more about Alabama’s defensive focus HERE.
• See the latest AP Top 25 HERE.

 

Headlines

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Emergency declaration approved on Alabama coast; 40K still without power

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – 2-cent gas tax increase coming Oct. 1

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – GOP hopeful Supreme Court battle will help shift election

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – 2020 Watch: Is this suddenly a new election?

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump backs proposed deal to keep TikTok operating in US

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – AP Top 25: No. 12 Miami rises; Marshall jumps into rankings

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alabama coordinator expects better from Crimson Tide defense

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump promises to replace Ginsburg with a woman – and soon

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Tropical Storm Beta churns slowly toward Texas, Louisiana

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – NTSB: ‘limited fire safety practices’ worsened marina fire

 

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Weekend Digest, September 20, 2020

 

AL.COM – Alabama adds 677 new coronavirus cases; latest county-by-county case numbers

 

AL.COM – Ruth Bader Ginsburg and an Alabama Air Force officer opened doors for women everywhere in 1973

 

AL.COM – Hurricane Sally aftermath: Trump declares disaster in coastal Alabama as recovery continues

 

AL.COM – Barbara Lagoa, possible Supreme Court nominee, sits on federal appeals court serving Alabama

 

AL.COM – Contributor Ramzee Robinson: Alabama football and racial justice: a 50-year-old partnership

 

AL.COM – Contributor Cameron Smith: Give up your political doomsday cults

 

AL.COM – Opioid crisis roars back in Alabama as overdoses rise during pandemic

 

AL.COM – Bienville Square: Storm damage hurts, but it’s not the end

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Robert Graetz, minister who helped organize Montgomery Bus Boycott, dies at 92

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Montgomery police conduct death investigation after body found Sunday morning

 

Montgomery Advertiser – Find year-round lake life in Titus community

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Alabama women’s pay activist reflects on death of Justice Ginsburg

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Alabama State Fair adds extra security measures after night of chaos

 

WBRC Fox 6 Birmingham – Tuscaloosa police searching for missing 66-year-old woman

 

Tuscaloosa News – Updated order allows more inside large bars, taverns in Tuscaloosa

 

Tuscaloosa News – Tuscaloosa City Superintendent Mike Daria earns state Innovator Award

 

Tuscaloosa News – Easterseals’ Christmas ornament reflects spirit of togetherness

 

Decatur Daily – Mayoral candidates had contrasting styles dealing with City Councils

 

Decatur Daily – Delayed capital murder trial won’t include statements made after defendant served whiskey

 

Decatur Daily – 2-cent gas tax increase coming Oct. 1

 

Times Daily – Hospital Officials: COVID cases lessening but we can’t let up

 

Times Daily – Trustees approve budget $3.9 million in hole

 

Times Daily – Alabama Extension Service offering seeds for fall vegetable crops

 

Anniston Star – Pink parade reminds public of challenges of childhood cancer

 

Anniston Star – Homecoming queen crowned in family-room ceremony

 

YellowHammer News – Alabama Power completes restoration following historic Hurricane Sally

 

YellowHammer News – Doug Jones fundraises off of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death

 

YellowHammer News – Rotating Detonation Engine test-fired for first time at UAH’s Johnson Research Center

 

Gadsden Times – Gadsden healthcare facilities fear patients neglecting other conditions because of COVID-19 concerns

 

Gadsden Times – DeKalb County incident leads to attempted murder charge against Florida man

 

Gadsden Times – Gadsden hospitals seeing fewer COVID-19 inpatients now; looking ahead they have concerns

 

Dothan Eagle – Second man charged in Lena Street shooting death

 

Dothan Eagle – Answer Man: Are golf carts illegal on public roadways?

 

Dothan Eagle – Edwards: Why did she come here and why did she go?

 

Opelika-Auburn News – EAMC reports ebb and flow in COVID-19 cases

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Auburn sends help to hurricane victims

 

Opelika-Auburn News – Auburn University’s McCrary Institute to host discussion on election security

 

WSFA Montgomery – Death investigation underway after Montgomery man’s body found

 

WSFA Montgomery – Oldest living Marine celebrates 107th birthday in Kannapolis

 

WSFA Montgomery – Georgia, Alabama bringing up the rear in rankings of census completion

 

WAFF Huntsville – Crowd gathers in downtown Huntsville for vigil to honor Justice Ginsburg

 

WAFF Huntsville – Volunteer group help families in South Alabama impacted by Hurricane Sally

 

WAFF Huntsville – Pedestrian killed by train in Decatur

 

WKRG Mobile – Superintendent to decide Monday whether to extend post-Sally school closures

 

WKRG Mobile – Road to Recovery: Lake Forest undergoing cleanup after Hurricane Sally

 

WKRG Mobile – Motorcyclist dies in crash in South Memphis

 

WTVY Dothan – Alaqua Animal Refuge officials release Hurricane Sally update

 

WTVY Dothan – Florida road closure update

 

WTVY Dothan – Georgia, Alabama bringing up the rear in rankings of census completion

 

WASHINGTON POST – Republicans prepare to move quickly on Supreme Court opening as Trump weighs top contenders

 

WASHINGTON POST – Biden warns that a quick replacement of Ginsburg would “plunge us deeper into the abyss”

 

WASHINGTON POST – The fall opening of colleges: Upheaval, pandemic weirdness and a fragile stability

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Covid-19 Live Updates: Deaths Near 1 Million Globally and 200,000 in the U.S.

 

NEW YORK TIMES – Trump and Democrats Brace for Showdown Over Supreme Court Seat

 

NEW YORK TIMES – With Flags, Crosses and Photos Mourning 200,000 Dead

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Biden Leads Trump Among Latino Voters, Poll Shows

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Supreme Court Vacancy Sets Off Debate as Trump Plans for Ginsburg Successor

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL – TikTok Deal Faces Questions Over Security, Ownership

 

 

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