Space Set Aside for Absentee Voting at Downtown Birmingham Courthouse
Jefferson County has prepared a new space at the courthouse for persons to cast absentee ballots for the March 3 presidential primaries. Read more.
Government
Scales Seeks Birmingham Council’s Attention to Eastern-Area Crime
Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales came across Linn Park today to speak to the Birmingham City Council, pleading for help for what she said are rising instances of crime in the East Precinct. Read more.
Senate Panel Discusses Confederate Monuments Bill
MONTGOMERY — A state lawmaker wants to increase penalties for cities that violate the state’s law protecting Confederate monuments, but others are concerned about creating financial burdens for smaller cities and the lack of an appeal process. Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, said he introduced the bill in order to preserve the state's history. "How can you tell the complete story by taking away, by whitewashing, by doing away with something that really you can learn something from it," Allen said. Allen’s Senate Bill 127 would increase penalties for violating the 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act from a total of $25,000 to $10,000 a day. Read more.
New Birmingham Ordinance Could Bring Shared Bikes, Scooters and Such Back to the City
UPDATED — Birmingham City Councilman Darrell O’Quinn completed a 2-year journey Tuesday with the passage of an ordinance that sets the stage for companies that provide rental scooters and bikes or other personal transportation vehicles to operate in the city. After discussion and then a delay on the vote until the end of the meeting, the ordinance passed unanimously. “As chairman of the transportation committee, one of the first committee meetings I had actually was inviting in mobility providers to tell us how they operate,” O’Quinn said. “We have been watching this industry unfold and evolve across the country, observing some of the missteps that were made, trying to make sure we don’t encounter the same pitfalls here.” Read more.
New SPLC Report Claims Voter Suppression ‘Alive and Well’ in Alabama
MONTGOMERY – A Southern Poverty Law Center report released Monday claims voter suppression is “alive and well” in Alabama and calls for several reform measures. But state officials pushed back on the criticism, saying Alabama has made great gains in registering and turning out voters. Caren Short, a senior staff attorney with SPLC, told Alabama Daily News that Alabama ranks low among Southern states in protecting voting rights. “We make voting pretty hard and we don’t have a lot of easy reforms that could make voting simple for people,” Short said. Read more.
Ivey, Trump Have High Approval in New Alabama Poll
MONTGOMERY – A new Alabama Daily News poll shows Gov. Kay Ivey and President Donald Trump enjoying high approval ratings among voters in Alabama. In a survey conducted Feb 4-6, 64% of voters approve of the job Ivey is doing as governor while 29% disapprove. For Trump, 58% of Alabama voters approve of his performance
Study: Diversion Programs Work – When They Don’t Sabotage Participants
In a state where overcrowded, violence-racked prisons have been a longstanding issue, there are alternatives to prison — diversion is the common umbrella term — that are supposed to keep some offenders out of the system and give them help they need to stay out. These diversions take the form of entities such as drug courts, veterans courts and community corrections. In many instances, these alternatives to prison are successful. But a new report states that in far too many cases, they hinder rather than help those they are supposed to serve. “The perverse reality is that diversion programs actually drive many of the behaviors and circumstances they were devised to mitigate,” states “In Trouble: How the Promise of Diversion Clashes With the Reality of Poverty, Addiction and Structural Racism in Alabama’s Justice System,” a study by the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice that was released Monday. Read more.
U.S. House Condemns Move to Switch Portion of Medicaid Funds to State-Regulated Block Grant
KEY VOTES AHEAD The House will take up bills to protect wilderness during the week of Feb. 10, while the Senate will vote on asserting congressional authority over any U.S. military strikes against Iran. WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted last week to condemn a Trump administration plan to scale back Medicaid’s traditional status as an entitlement program, in which everyone who meets income or disability criteria are guaranteed set minimum benefits. Instead, the Department of Health and Human Services has proposed to allow states to shift some of their Medicaid offerings to a block-grant program. In a block-grant program, states would set their own rules for what is covered and cap the amount that Medicaid would pay for patient care in a given year. Read more.
Ivey Budget Proposal Includes North Alabama Forensics Lab, Taylor Hardin Addition
Gov. Kay Ivey’s proposed 2021 General Fund budget includes money for a range of one-time projects focused on mental health, forensic sciences and youth services. Ivey’s budget includes funds for a new forensic science lab in North Alabama and more beds at one of the state’s three mental health hospitals in Tuscaloosa. Also, money for renovations at the Department of Youth Services’ residential facility near Montgomery is included in capital project line items totaling $95.3 million. Read more.
Jones Calls for Changes in the Impeachment Process
U.S. Senator Doug Jones today said that, in the aftermath of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, he’d like to see procedural changes that would streamline the process in the future. “We’re done, we’re through, we’re moving on. We’re already talking to colleagues about new legislation that we’ll be introducing, one of which may deal with this impeachment,” he said. “I’d like to see some new processes and new rules in place. There’s a lot of talk. There may be some things seen in the next couple or three weeks about that.” Jones made the remarks after speaking to a full house of Cumberland School of Law students and faculty at Samford University in a talk designed to give the future lawyers from his alma mater insight into how he thought through the process and reached what he said was not a political decision on his part. Read more.