Weekend Digest – April 11, 2021

Good afternoon and Happy Sunday!
Here’s your Daily News for April 11.

1. Alabama mask order ends, but some cities, schools continue

• With Gov. Kay Ivey advocating personal responsibility and common sense as Alabama’s statewide mask order ends Friday after nearly nine months, local governments, school systems and businesses are coming up with their own rules to address the continuing COVID-19 threat.
• Two of Alabama’s largest cities, including Birmingham and Montgomery, are keeping mask requirements in place.
• “We’re doing this because the pandemic still exists and remains a threat. I have been encouraged by many small businesses to extend the mandate beyond the expiration date of the state order,” Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin said.
• Tuscaloosa city schools will continue to require face masks for all students, faculty and staff, spokeswoman Lesley Bruinton told The Tuscaloosa News. Tuscaloosa County schools, however, won’t require face coverings for workers or its 19,000 students.
• Read more HERE.

2. Affair derails secretary of state Merrill’s political hopes

• The venue had been booked. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, a rising GOP star with an eye long set on higher office, was about to announce his run for U.S. Senate. But then scandal brought his political aspirations crashing down.
• Merrill’s upward trajectory was shattered this week by a woman’s disclosure of their affair, prompting him to announce that he will not run for Senate or any other office in 2022.
• Merrill declined to go into detail but told media outlet al.com Wednesday that he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman outside his marriage. The outlet reported that he had initially denied the affair before being confronted with a recording of a phone conversation between him and Cesaire McPherson.
• Merrill, 57, told The Associated Press that he will not be a candidate “because of choices I have made and the decisions I have made that were not in the best interest of me or my family.”
• He declined to discuss the relationship.
• Read more from Kim Chandler HERE.

3. Speaker: Representatives divided over trans treatment bill

• Alabama House Speaker Mac McCutcheon says representatives are divided over a bill that would ban the use of hormones and puberty-blockers to treat transgender minors.
• The Republican legislative leader said Thursday he was uncertain when the bill would get a floor vote.
• “I’ve had some discussions with members this week, and members, in some ways are a little divided on the issues,” McCutcheon said.
• “So, if it does come to the floor, I’m sure, there will be hearty debate on the issue because there are a lot of questions out there.”
• Arkansas lawmakers this week made the state the first to ban gender confirming treatments and surgery for transgender youth, enacting the prohibition over the governor’s objections. Opponents have vowed to challenge it in court.
• Read more HERE.

4. Virus recovery funds to promote tourism on Alabama coast

• Beach season is heating up, and Alabama’s coast is getting federal money to help recover from tourism losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
• The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration said Thursday it will provide the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau with $800,000 for a marketing program. The money will be combined with $200,000 in local funding.
• The agency is helping communities nationwide implement programs to counter economic hardships caused by the pandemic, Dennis Alvord, acting assistant secretary for economic development, said in a statement.
• “This investment will fund a strategic, multi-faceted marketing campaign designed to attract visitors to the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area, resulting in continuous economic growth and job creation,” he said.
• Read more HERE.

5. After Amazon: Labor tries to regroup in wake of Alabama loss

• Despite the strongest public support and the most sympathetic president in years, the American labor movement just suffered a stinging defeat — again.
• Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, overwhelmingly voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in much-anticipated election results announced Friday.
• Amazon and business groups celebrated the decision, saying warehouse workers got a chance to weigh the pros and cons of union membership — and voted to reject it.
• But labor activists argue that the lopsided vote shows how unfairly the odds are stacked against union organizing efforts and highlights the need for Congress to reform U.S. labor law. The House last month passed such legislation — the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act — but it looks likely to die in the Senate.
• Read more HERE.

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