Voterama in Congress WASHINGTON — All of Alabama’s representatives, along with all but one member of the House, voted for a bill designed to plug holes in previous paycheck protection legislation. Read more.
About six months ago, Ron Thomas became obsessed with walking. The 67-year-old Hoover resident says he was in good shape, had no health issues and was not overweight. But something moved him to get moving. “While I was walking, I would be praying,” he said. “I would say, ‘God, I don't know what you're preparing me for but, whatever it is, I thank you.’” After battling the novel coronavirus, Thomas is thankful to be alive. Despite the disproportionate rate of death from COVID-19 among African Americans, particularly men, Thomas went from being too weak to lift his head to raising his hands in praise. “I truly believe,” he said of his daily walks, “God was preparing me for this fight against the coronavirus.” Read more. More Stories From the Pandemic Getting Out of China Facing Life With Celebration, Caution After COVID-19 Recovery Birmingham Health Care Worker Who Caught Virus ‘Had a Feeling That Things Weren’t Normal’
On Friday, 501 more people in Alabama tested positive for coronavirus and 19 people died. The update brought the total of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the state to 17,301 as of midnight Friday. A total of 610 people have died since the pandemic hit Alabama in mid-March, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. Read more.
UPDATED — Spurred by the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, nearly 100 persons gathered at Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park Friday evening to rally for an end to hatred and racism. Alabama Rally Against Injustice has coordinated another protest that began about 5 p.m. Saturday. Speeches from politicians and civil rights activists are set for the evening at Kelly Ingram Park. Cedric Hatcher of Song Ministry was at Friday's protest and said, “I want to bring awareness that this is not just a Minneapolis problem. It's a Birmingham problem. It's an Atlanta problem. It's a New York problem. It's a Detroit problem. It's a California problem. It's a Texas problem. “It's a problem all over the country,” Hatcher continued. “Am I my brother's keeper or am I gonna keep killing my brother?” The group's acronym stands for Saving Our Next Generation. Speeches and the release of black balloons were sandwiched between a pair of marches around the perimeter of the park. The racially mixed assembly chanted the name of George Floyd, the man who died during an arrest while a police officer kneeled on his neck. The officer has been fired and today was charged with third-degree murder. Read more.
Nearly 40 million Americans are out of work. So are about 3,300 Alabama prison inmates eligible to work for private and public employers. The Alabama Department of Corrections’ 22 work release and work centers, which include a center for women inmates based in north Birmingham, suspended operations March 18 because of the growing threat of the coronavirus. The suspension originally was slated to run through May 22, but it has not been lifted. “At this time, the ADOC is working on a comprehensive plan to resume more standard operations but has not yet established a definitive timeline for resuming our work release and work center programs,” corrections information specialist Samantha Rose said in an email. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council has extended the city’s face covering ordinance for two more weeks. The updated order, now effective through June 12, also relaxes the original law’s controversial penalties for violation, which had drawn criticism from state and local leaders. “What we’re doing is going to save lives,” Councilor John Hilliard said. "Just a sneeze on someone could kill them. Isn’t that incredible?" Read more.
Alabama added 498 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the state’s total since the pandemic began to 16,530. In all, 591 people have died from the disease, eight of them on Thursday. The number of new cases for Thursday is greater than the seven-day average of daily cases for the past week, which was 425.71. But it is lower than the number of new cases logged several days last week. In the past nine days, the state has had two record-breaking days for new cases, including a jump of 664 on Tuesday. Read more.
U.S. Sen. Doug Jones and Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris continued to sound the alarm today about the continuing rise in COVID-19 cases in the state. In a Facebook Live appearance on Jones’ feed, the freshman Democrat and the Republican-appointed health officer said people needed to see beyond politics and commit to social distancing and wearing masks if the state’s infection rate is going to drop. Read more.
The coronavirus pandemic has spurred a new wave of legal challenges to Alabama’s voting laws, particularly its absentee ballot requirements. The League of Women Voters of Alabama is the latest group to file a lawsuit against the state claiming its voting rules are too restrictive. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Montgomery County Circuit Court, urges state officials to expand absentee ballot access during the November general election. Read more.
Alabamians are enjoying a return to something slightly closer to the old, pre-COVID-19 lifestyle, but a steeper increase in the number of new positive cases in the past week could prove worrisome for government officials as they seek to further loosen the reins on the public and reopen the economy. The number of new cases rose by more than 22% during the seven-day period ending Wednesday, compared to the week before, which itself had shown the highest rate of increase in cases since the pandemic began. The most recent figures show that 16,032 people have tested positive for coronavirus since testing began in March, according to data updated daily by the Alabama Department of Public Health. The total stood at 13,052 last week, giving the state an increase of 2,980 cases this week. Read more.
