7 Things: Hospitalizations continue to rise, more vaccine mandates, Biden laying out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants and more …

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August 5, 2021

7. Ivey raises over $500,000

In July, Governor Kay Ivey’s reelection campaign reported raising about $525,000, making their total since May 24 around $1.8 million. Ivey’s opponent pastor Dan Odle of Opelika has raised a total of $26,000 with $11,000 of that in July.
State Auditor Jim Zeigler is likely to campaign for governor and has registered as a candidate and at least reached the $1,000 required for registration. Candidate Stacy Lee George has not reported any funds.

6. Arkansas governor regrets making mask mandates illegal

Even though it’s pretty clear they do nothing, due to the increase in coronavirus cases, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) has said that he regrets a ban that he placed on mask mandates. The state has seen an increase in hospitalizations recently, and now Hutchinson is calling a special session in an attempt to get the legislature to overturn the ban.
Hutchinson turned his attention toward this as there’s a desire to mandate masks in schools throughout the state, and there’s recently been a 517% increase in coronavirus cases for those under 18-years-old. However, overturning the ban faces some opposition from the Republican-led legislature as a special session starts on the issue. Some are attempting to get a school choice bill passed, too.

5. Brooks cosponsoring Tuberville’s legislation

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) previously introduced legislation called the Empowering Law Enforcement Act that would allow police more ability and authority to handle immigration issues through enforcing U.S. immigration law. Now, U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) will cosponsor the companion bill.
After announcing that he’s cosponsoring the legislation, Brooks said, “Joe Biden and the Socialist Democrats have surrendered America’s southern border.” He went on to say that the legislation “is an important measure in the fight to secure the southern border and fully enforce America’s immigration laws,” describing the handling of “Customs and Border Patrol operations in order to appease the far left.”

4. Joe Biden must want more people to crash the border

By placing Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of handling the southern border, many believe President Joe Biden isn’t actually attempting to stop people from coming to the United States. If that is the plan, it is succeeding wildly.
The Biden administration has decided to offer up multiple statements that would make a trek to the U.S. border more appealing for potential illegal immigrants. This week, it was announced that those crossing the border would be given the option to get the coronavirus vaccine, children and family will continue to be allowed to stay, and Biden still believes in a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.

3. Mandatory vaccines for active-duty military

It’s expected that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will announce that it’s mandatory for all active-duty military to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. When President Joe Biden made it mandatory for all federal employees to be vaccinated, he also directed the Department of Justice to determine if it could be mandatory for the military.
According to the Department of Justice, the vaccine can be mandatory for those in the military if there’s a presidential waiver issued. Currently, 64% of active-duty military are already fully vaccinated.

2. Vaccine mandates and requirements might affect blacks more

Some leaders across the nation have started discussing more restrictions, masks, vaccination passports and requirements for everyday functions, but others are calling that discriminatory. Boston’s mayor is not interested in following New York City’s lead on this issue.
The CDC reported that only 28.4% of the black community are vaccinated, the lowest of any ethnic group. Boston Mayor Kim Janey said that the idea is similar to slavery-era freedom papers. Janey also confused many when she compared the matter to “recent issues immigrant population has to go through here” and “Trump with the birth certificate nonsense.”

1. Hospitalizations keep going up in Alabama

In Birmingham, there are eight hospitals that are seeing an increase in coronavirus patients that is somewhat outpacing previous points in the pandemic with 83-92% of those hospitalized with the coronavirus are unvaccinated.
Chief medical officer at Ascension St. Vincent’s Dr. Timothy Bode has said that they “have seen in our hospitals a 700% increase in COVID cases in just the last three weeks.” Across the state, there are just over 1,700 people hospitalized.