7. Title IX investigation has started at Alabama school

• At a Shelby County school, a parent is claiming that their child was discriminated against due to sexual orientation. The claim was made about the 2020-2021 school year and is currently under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights. This is the first investigation the office has done based on sexual orientation of a student.
• The parent alleged that the student wasn’t allowed to participate in a school program due to “homophobic bigot[ry].” Shelby County Schools Superintendent Lewis Brooks confirmed that the teacher involved in the alleged incident has since retired and the student did graduate from the high school in 2021.

6. Voter registration executive order is ‘federal overreach’

• In a letter to President Joe Biden, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill joined with at least 14 other Republicans to reverse the executive order “Promoting Access to Voting.” Merrill said that the order “is another example of federal overreach and this administration’s attempt to federalize the election process.”
• In the letter, the group writes, “Executive Order 14019 calls for federal agencies to develop plans that duplicate voter registration efforts conducted at the state level and ignores codified procedures and programs in our state constitutions laws.”

5. Ivey says no parole for prisoner accused of murders after previous release

• When previously released from prison in November 2017, Jimmy O’Neal Spencer allegedly killed Martha Dell Reliford, Marie Kitchens Martin and Colton Ryan Lee around eight months later in July 2018. Spencer is now scheduled for a new parole hearing today.
• Spencer’s case has been yet another that indicates the necessity for change in Alabama law regarding parole granted to violent offenders. In a letter to the parole board, Governor Kay Ivey said, “By any measure, Spencer is unworthy of parole. He has proven that he is a danger to the public and cannot be trusted in any way.”

4. Moore pushes for veterans to be hired as School Resource Officers

• In an effort to get more school resource officers and provide jobs for veterans, U.S. Representative Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) announced legislation called the “Securing American Classrooms Act of 2022.”
• The legislation would use funds from pandemic relief to help schools hire veterans as school resource officers. Moore said, “Instead of tolerating the same old, same old Washington status quo and letting unspent COVID funding sit unused in our treasury, my bill puts that money to use creating jobs for veterans in law enforcement and helping secure our schools.”

3. ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ is a massive tax increase on everyone

• While the media and their Democrats took a victory lap over the last 48 hours regarding the Senate’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, they claimed multiple things that seem demonstrably false. They said that creating money out of thin air would reduce inflation, and they claimed it was not a massive tax increase. Both claims are untrue.
• The tax angle has been covered by the Americans For Tax Reform, where they describe $6.5 billion natural gas tax, $12 billion crude oil tax, $1.2 billion coal tax, corporate income tax hike, $124 billion stock tax, 95% tax on pharmaceutical manufacturers, $52 billion income tax hike on mid-sized & family businesses. All of this and a huge increase in the number of IRS agents puts ordinary Americans in the cross-hairs.

2. Boozer: The state’s financial situation is healthy

• State Treasurer Young Boozer recently commented on Alabama’s economic situation during an appearance on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal.” He advised that the “state of Alabama is financially healthy right now.”
• Boozer stated, “For the most part, it is all federal money…the underlying economy in the state of Alabama is good. And that has been good for state tax revenues. But on top of that is all of this federal money has poured in over the last two-and-a-half, three years. The amount is really remarkable.”

1. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home raided by the FBI; Katie Britt responds

• It’s been confirmed by former President Donald Trump that his home in Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI, but the agency has not commented on the issue since Trump’s statement. Trump said, “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate. It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by the Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections.” It seems clear this has a lot to do with politics.
• Alabama Republican U.S. Senate candidate Katie Britt responded to the raid with a warning about the weaponization of the DOJ and the criminalization of politics. She outlined, “The politicization of the Department of Justice has been escalating steadily since President Biden took office, but today was completely unprecedented.”