Takeaways From Super Tuesday: Joe Biden’s Big Bounce (Associated Press) ‘I’ve Never Seen Anybody Mount a Comeback Like This — Ever’ (Politico) At a Glance: Super Tuesday States and Delegate Counts (Reuters) Democratic Contest Narrows to Biden and Sanders (New York Times) Alabama Votes Against Amendment 1, Keeps Elected Board of Education (Montgomery Advertiser) Exit Polls From the 2020 Democratic Super Tuesday Contests (Washington Post)
Joe Biden swept the state in the Democratic primary for president. Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville are headed for a runoff for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate. Voters rejected an amendment to change the state Board of Education from an elected board to an appointed commission. See results for state, Jefferson and Shelby County races on the ballot. Read more.
Jeff Sessions, bidding to take back the U.S. Senate seat he held for two decades, will face political newcomer and longtime college football coach Tommy Tuberville in a March 31 runoff for the Republican nomination for the position. With the campaign revolving around which candidate is the stronger supporter of President Donald Trump, the president seemingly inserted himself into the race early Wednesday with a tweet criticizing Sessions. “This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt,” Trump tweeted. “Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!” Sessions was an early supporter of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, and the president appointed Sessions as his first attorney general. When Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, Trump responded with scathing criticism and forced him to resign. Tuberville and Sessions led a field of seven candidates in Tuesday’s GOP primary election. Both immediately declared their loyalty to the president and his programs. Read more.
Joe Biden swept the state in the Democratic primary for president. Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville are headed for a runoff for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate. Voters rejected an amendment to change the state Board of Education from an elected board to an appointed commission. See results in these and other races. Read more.
The city of Birmingham will continue the practice of spraying for mosquitoes, despite vehement objection from two city councilors. Questions have been raised about the effectiveness of spraying, as well as possible dangers to people and the environment from the chemicals. Read more.
Jefferson County Commission members will vote Thursday on a policy governing non-emergency commission use of the Everbridge mass notification system. With Commissioner Steve Ammons absent on county business, commissioners voted 3-1 on Tuesday to move the proposal to their meeting agenda. Commissioner Lashunda Scales voted no. The matter came up when Commissioner Sheila Tyson suggested using the system to inform county residents about details of the 2020 census. Commission President Jimmie Stephens said a resolution needed to be submitted for the system – often associated with weather warnings – to be utilized. Read more.
MONTGOMERY -- A bill that would set a statewide standard for deploying 5G cellular infrastructure, including how much money cities can charge providers for access to existing utility structures, has support from multiple lawmakers, but municipal leaders say the bill takes away too much local control. Senate Bill 172 would mandate a request process for cities to follow when approached by wireless providers such as AT&T and Verizon and sets a cap on the fees municipalities can charge companies for the use of city-owned rights-of-ways. It passed out of the Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development committee last week with no opposition. Read more.
Voting is steady in Jefferson County this evening as polls prepare to close at 7 p.m. County Board of Registrars Chairman Barry Stephenson said he expected the county to hit the 30% voter turnout projected by the secretary of state. Grace Newcombe, Alabama Secretary of State’s Office spokeswoman, also said polls seemed to have run smoothly and consistently across the state today. At the top of the ballot are races for president and the U.S. Senate. But other races also are on the ballot, including races for the state Supreme Court and appellate courts, Public Service Commission and a host of county races. Also at stake is the future of the Alabama Board of Education, as voters decide whether that group should remain an elected board or become a politically appointed commission via Amendment 1. Read more.
MONTGOMERY — Gov. Kay Ivey has endorsed a package of criminal justice reform bills as a way to respond to systemic problems within Alabama's prisons system. There are five bills and one joint resolution, as well as a recommendation to increase funding for prison education programs by $4.2 million and improve access to mental health care. Read more. Earlier reporting on this topic: Legislature to Get Bills Addressing Needs of Alabama’s Troubled Prisons
MONTGOMERY -- Bradley Byrne is a fighter. That’s what Alabama’s 1st District Congressman says differentiates him from the field of other candidates in the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, and there’s plenty of evidence that his previous experience backs that up. Over a political career that has taken him from the state school board and the state Senate to the Alabama Community College System chancellor’s office and the U.S. House of Representatives, Byrne’s fights have been famous. Perhaps the most successful was Byrne’s bout with the state’s two-year college system, which had been mired in a patronage scandal until he, a reform-minded governor and federal prosecutors came in to clean it up. Perhaps the least successful was a run for governor in 2010 that saw him on a quixotic quest to take on the then-all-powerful state teachers’ association, only for that group to marshal untold resources to defeat him in the end. Now Byrne finds himself in the middle of another high-profile fight as he seeks to win a U.S. Senate seat by first outmatching two better-known Republican rivals in former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. The winner of the Republican primary — or runoff, if needed — will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in November. Read more.
