Virginia Martin

Shelby, Jones Side With Their Parties as Senate Acquits President Trump of Impeachment Charges

Both United States Senators from Alabama cast their votes along party lines as President Donald Trump was acquitted Wednesday of both articles of impeachment filed by the House of Representatives. Sen. Richard Shelby voted with his fellow Republicans to acquit Trump, while Sen. Doug Jones went along with fellow Democrats and voted for conviction. The final total was 52-48 for acquittal on the abuse of power article and 53-47 on obstruction of Congress, far from the two-thirds majority required to remove Trump from office. Read more.

by Robert Carter

Jones Sides With Senate Democrats, Says He’ll Vote to Convict Trump in Impeachment Trial

UPDATED — Sen. Doug Jones joined his Democratic colleagues Wednesday morning, announcing he would vote to convict President Donald Trump of two charges in his impeachment trial. “After many sleepless nights, I have reluctantly concluded that the evidence is sufficient to convict the President for both abuse of power and obstruction of Congress,” Jones said in a copy of remarks provided by his office shortly before he made his speech on the Senate floor. “On the day I was sworn in as a United States Senator, I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. At the beginning of the impeachment trial, I took a second oath to do ‘impartial justice’ according to the same Constitution I swore to protect,” Jones said. “These solemn oaths have been my guides during what has been a difficult time for our country, for my state, and for me personally. I did not run for Senate hoping to participate in the impeachment trial of a duly-elected President, but I cannot and will not shrink from my duty to defend the Constitution and to do impartial justice.” Read more.

by Robert Carter

See Who Contributed to U.S. Senate Candidates

Candidates running for the U.S. Senate seat from Alabama collectively started the year with more than $11 million to fund their campaigns. See who recently has contributed to the candidates. Read more.

by Glenn Stephens

Ivey Calls for $1B School Bond, Lottery Study Group in Address to Legislature

Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday night asked lawmakers to support a $1 billion bond for K-12, community college and university construction projects and to slow down on proposals for a lottery or gambling in the state. The Alabama Legislature convened for its annual session earlier in the day. In her third State of the State address, Ivey touted the need for new prisons and more funding for mental and rural health and education initiatives. She’s also proposing pay raises for state and education employees. She said the school bond money could be used for new construction, safety improvements or technology upgrades “Equally important,” she said. “this bond will not include any legislative earmarks for pet projects Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Jefferson County Commission Debates Putting Victim Interview Offices in Eastern Birmingham

Efforts to establish a pair of new Jefferson County Sheriff’s offices in eastern Birmingham are at least on hold until law enforcement leaders in the city and county demonstrate they are in agreement on the move. Commissioner Lashunda Scales broached a discussion about the offices. They were on the Jefferson County Commission committee agenda as “substations,” but the discussion shifted to them being offices of the Sheriff’s Department’s Violent Crime Victim Unit, which now is based in the Sheriff’s office downtown. Scales told her fellow commissioners that Tony Serra, owner of Serra Automotive Management, had agreed to lease a pair of buildings to the Sheriff’s Office for $1 per year. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

McClintock: Discovery of Warm Water Under Glacier Bodes Ill for Sea Level Rise

News of warmer water under a huge western Antarctic glacier should catch the attention of folks along coastal Alabama, a UAB polar scientist said this week. Last week scientists announced that sea water under the Florida-sized Thwaites Glacier is 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than expected. That’s a finding that UAB polar scientist James B. McClintock expects will push expected sea level rise toward the upper range of the 0.9 to 3.6 feet predicted last year by the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change. “This is something we care about in Alabama, because it’s going to increase the calculations for sea level rise on the Gulf Coast. It’s going to be important to you if you’re living in especially low-lying areas like Bayou la Batre or the western side of Dauphin Island, for example,” McClintock said. McClintock, a UAB Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology, is scheduled to deliver talks Thursday to the Cahaba River Society annual meeting and Saturday during a community dialogue of the Citizens’ Climate Education-Birmingham. Read more.

by Hank Black

Prisons, Lottery, Raises, Mental Health on Legislative Agenda

Alabama's 2020 legislative session begins Tuesday in Montgomery, where the state's prison crisis and another effort to let Alabamians vote on a lottery promise to be must-watch issues. There's also the state's budgets, both with more money and more demands in 2021, and possible raises for state employees and teachers. Increased mental health services, which most agree haven't been properly addressed in years, and legalizing medical marijuana are also on the table. Gov. Kay Ivey will give her third State of the State speech Tuesday evening. Read more about some of the issues expected to be debated.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Party-Line Votes Set Up Trump Acquittal Vote This Week

WASHINGTON — Senate votes to block witnesses from being called in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump have set up a Wednesday afternoon session in which the Republican-majority body intends to acquit the president of both charges. But before that, the trial is set to resume Monday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time to allow House managers and the president’s legal team to make closing arguments. Each side has two hours to present its case. Senators can set up speeches explaining their votes before the official vote is held Wednesday at 4 p.m. Alabama senators voted along party lines, as expected, on whether to allow witnesses to be called in the trial. Read more.

by Voterama in Congress

Media Struggle With How to Remember Kobe Bryant

The question posed to two classes of college journalism, film and public relations students was this: If you’re the editor of the Los Angeles Times, and you’re directing first-day, deadline coverage of the shocking death of former LA Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant and eight others, do you mention the rape case? I got a yes – after 10 minutes of noes. The majority view was that discussion of Bryant’s 2003 felony sexual assault charge would be warranted in a few days – after a respectful period had passed to allow the family, the local community and adoring fans to grieve and pay tribute. I didn’t feel then, or now, that I should criticize as journalistically irresponsible any attempt to think ethically and compassionately about a publication decision and who might be harmed by it. We need more of that in media. And it certainly seems out of proportion to brand such a decision as irresponsible after some far more egregious examples of irresponsibility by professional media outlets reporting on the story. Still, the decision of some news organizations to initially omit this chapter of Bryant’s life, or to give it a mention so brief that it smacked of forced obligation, seems like a failure. Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

Leading U.S. Senate Candidates Began the Year With Millions to Fuel Campaigns

Former Sen. Jeff Sessions, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne and retired football coach Tommy Tuberville entered 2020 with millions of dollars in the bank as they campaign for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. The winner of the GOP primary on March 3, or of a possible runoff three weeks later, will face freshman Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in Alabama’s Nov. 3 general election. Jones is unopposed for his party’s nomination and also started the year with millions. Sessions started 2020 with $2.54 million in his campaign chest, Byrne with $2.19 million, Tuberville with $1.52 million, Arnold Mooney with $321,629.83, Roy Moore with $44,116 and Jones with $5.48 million. Read more.

by Glenn Stephens