WASHINGTON — Alabama’s senators split votes last week on a bill to extend the paycheck protection program as well as on several of Biden’s nominees to top positions. The House was in recess. Read more.
Even during a pandemic, you can find 90-year-old Fred Gray Sr. at his law office in Tuskegee. He’s been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. “He’s still working every day,” Fred Gray Jr. said. “It is not because he has to, but it’s because it’s that fire in his belly and it’s because he still wants to help people.” Gray Jr. and his dad are partners in their law firm. Gray Jr. said his dad just won’t slow down. In fact he’s currently working on behalf of the Macon County Commission to remove a confederate monument in the heart of downtown Tuskegee. Gray Jr. said his dad’s drive and tenacity are only part of the reason he should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. “His IQ and his work is right up there with men like Thurgood Marshall, Oliver Hill and Wiley Branton,” he said. Read more.
A new site distributing the COVID-19 virus vaccine has been opened on the east side of Legion Field. The site is open to anyone who is eligible under state guidelines, and no appointment is necessary. Read more.
Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens closed today’s commission meeting with gratitude for county employees and staff who fought their way through the “wartime” environment of the pandemic. “It was a wartime atmosphere,” Stephens said. “We were at war with this virus. It actually changed our day-to-day lives and how we conducted business. I wanted to commend and thank our county commission and our county staff for being able to stay on top of this wartime environment and to be able to win as many battles as we have. Read more.
WBHM After a fire destroyed their last apartment in 2019, Kenneth Tyrone King and his family recently saved up enough money to rent a new place in Birmingham. But the relief was short-lived. Bills, mostly medical, quickly began piling up at the new address. For King, 57, this was just the latest development in a cycle of debt. He has not had health insurance for years. He lost his most-recent job at a temp agency after having emergency open heart surgery in December. He barely has enough money for the two prescriptions that he needs each month. “I can afford one of them, but one of them, it’s like a $60 medication,” King said. “Those types of challenges, if I had affordable health care, or a health care plan, it would have at least covered some of it.” King falls in the coverage gap. He does not qualify for Medicaid and he cannot afford to buy a private insurance plan. If Alabama expanded Medicaid, that would mean opening up eligibility to people like him and other low-income adults who make up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which equates to less than $18,000 a year for a single adult. Read more.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department and IRS extended the filing and payment date for individual 2020 income taxes from the traditional April 15 to May 17. Alabama automatically extends its state income tax filing deadline when there is an extension on the federal level. But the fine print on the Alabama Department of Revenue’s guidance on the topic said that, while it can waive late penalties for payments made by May 17, it is “not authorized to waive interest, and any interest accruing from April 15, 2021, through the actual payment date will be due.” It would take a change to state law to waive the interest payments required of taxpayers who don’t file and pay by April 15. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, told Alabama Daily News he plans to file a bill to address this “wrinkle” in the state tax code when lawmakers return next week to Montgomery. Read more.
Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson hosted a press conference Wednesday to bring attention to breast cancer and the need — despite the pandemic — for persons to be tested for this disease. The event was a reminder that fear of COVID-19 or the vaccines created to fend it off should not be reasons to forego a mammogram. “The coronavirus and breast cancer both are potentially deadly diseases,” said registered nurse Josie Dukes-Bland. “But you do not have to choose one over the other when it comes to treatment and diagnosis.” Read more.
The Shady Grove Fire Department will benefit from a “fire sale” transaction between the state of Alabama and Jefferson County. During their committee meeting today, commissioners moved a resolution to the agenda of Thursday’s commission meeting to buy property from the state that is adjacent to the fire department and plan to offer $100. Read more.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin is supporting a bill in the Legislature that would both compel the city to fully fund its pension obligation and increase employee contributions to the pension fund by half a percent. The bill would be Woodfin’s latest step toward correcting the city’s longtime underfunding of the city’s pension plan, which he warned could cause a future financial crisis for the city. HB510 is sponsored by Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, who was the Woodfin-appointed assistant chief of the Birmingham Police Department from 2018 until his retirement in October. Read more.
Eligible Alabamians in these 24 rural counties can receive a free COVID-19 vaccine beginning Tuesday. Read more.
