7. State Sen. Allen: Keep the Monument Preservation Act
- As there’s more talk to repeal the Monument Preservation Act of 2017, State Senator Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) wants the focus to stay on preserving history.
- While on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” Allen said, “If you start removing things and start saying that things shouldn’t exist — I think we need to be of open mind and about how important it is to protect history.” Some have started arguing that cities and counties should have more say in monument locations.
6. State Sen. Sanders-Fortier wants Selma to decide on Edmund Pettus Bridge name
- State Senator Malika Sanders-Fortier (D-Selma) plans to introduce a bill that will allow those representing Dallas County to decide if Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed.
- Back in 2015, legislation to name the bridge “Journey to Freedom Bridge” didn’t get out of committee in the Alabama House of Representatives. Renaming the bridge would also be in violation of the 2017 Memorial Preservation Act.
5. 100 pardons by Wednesday
- A report from CNN says that President Donald Trump plans to issue about 100 presidential pardons to people before he’s out of office this week.
- About 90 people have already received pardons from Trump. According to the report, Trump isn’t planning to pardon himself.
4. Biden has some ideas — a lot of them are bad
- President-elect Joe Biden is ready to hit the ground running with a series of executive orders, presidential memoranda and directives to cabinet agencies ready to go that will signal an obvious difference from the previous administration. The American court system will probably be far less hostile to a President Biden than it was to his predecessor.
- Part of this initial flurry of action will include rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, killing the Keystone Pipeline, the end of the travel ban, a mask mandate for federal property and interstate travel, reopening schools, immigration, racial justice, and student loan repayment.
3. Migrant caravan heading to the U.S.
- There’s currently a caravan of migrants traveling to the United States from Honduras, and one in the caravan said they’re coming to the country because President-elect Joe Biden is “giving us 100 days to get to the U.S.”
- Biden has said he’d pause deportations for at least the first 100 days he’s in office. He has also promised a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally.
2. Ill-advised statements aren’t incitement
- U.S. Representative Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) recently spoke about voting “no” on impeaching President Donald Trump and the threatened censure of U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) for his comments at the pro-Trump rally on January 6.
- Aderholt said that he didn’t think what Trump said “would rise to impeachment.” He added that with all of the weapons and equipment that rioters had “was something that had to be premeditated.” Aderholt went on to say that Brooks probably could’ve said what he wanted differently, adding, “I don’t think it rose to the level of inciting the violence that did occur.”
1. We aren’t last in the country
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alabama is ranking last in coronavirus vaccine distribution, but State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris is disputing this.
- Harris said that the reason the CDC has ranked the state last is due to them not having all the latest data. Harris did acknowledge that “we would like to be giving doses out faster than we are. We could certainly be doing a better job, and we have a lot of things we’re putting into place to do that.”
