7. The ban on vaccine passports is official

• Alabama has officially made it illegal for people to be required to provide proof that they were vaccinated against the coronavirus. SB 267 does not affect the rights of employers to compel employees to get vaccines as a condition of employment or forbid employers from requiring masks or other precautions.
• Included in this was also the ban on the government requiring that people get vaccinated to receive a service, but this will prevent businesses from using someone’s vaccine status to refuse them service. In a statement, Governor Kay Ivey emphasized that while she encourages people to get vaccinated, it’s a personal choice.

6. Birmingham doesn’t have a mask mandate anymore

• Birmingham previously pushed back on the idea of removing mask mandates when Governor Kay Ivey announced that the statewide mandate would expire, but now the city mandate has been allowed to expire at midnight, as previously announced by Mayor Randall Woodfin.
• Woodfin said, “This is another sign that we are emerging from this pandemic due to the increased availability of vaccines.” The mayor encouraged people to get the vaccine if they haven’t already.

5. Trump and Pompeo respond to acceptance of theory that COVID-19 came from Wuhan, China

• With reports out that support the theory that the coronavirus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought attention to Dr. Anthony Fauci and other officials who have attempted to discredit this theory since the beginning of the pandemic. The media and their Democrats called it a conspiracy theory, but they have now changed their tunes.
• Early on, Pompeo expressed that he believed the virus could’ve come from a lab. He stated, “It was outrageous to see scientists, even government, U.S. government scientists who were denying this when they surely must have seen the same information that I had seen.” Former President Donald Trump spoke out yesterday on the matter as well, saying he had “very little doubt,” adding, “I think you can take the word ‘potential’ out that it came from the lab.”

4. Marshall against promoting the 1619 Project in schools

• Twenty state attorney generals, including Attorney General Steve Marshall, have signed a letter to protest the teaching of critical race theory, including the 1619 Project, in schools that’s been promoted by the Education Department.
• The letter says, “The proposed priorities are a thinly veiled attempt at bringing into our states’ classrooms the deeply flawed and controversial teachings of Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project.”

3. Alabama Literacy Act delay could be headed to a deserved pocket veto

• Tomorrow will be 10 days since the Alabama Legislature passed the delay on the Alabama Literacy Act, which postpones the requirement that third graders have to read at grade level before moving on to the fourth grade. If the bill isn’t signed by Wednesday, it will receive a “pocket veto.”
• The new reading requirement wasn’t going to be enforced until the 2021-2022 school year, and most recently, Ivey press secretary Gina Maiola said that the legislation is under review and is expected to give an update on the status of the bill by Wednesday.

2. Lynda Blanchard goes after Mo Brooks for receiving “liberal loot”

• In the U.S. Senate race, former U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia Lynda Blanchard has said that fellow Republican candidate U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) needs to return the $2 million of “liberal loot” he’s received in campaign donations.
• Blanchard has alleged that these organizations support liberal policies, but Brooks has already said that these are “false, deceptive, and personal attacks.” Blanchard added that Brooks “can easily snap his fingers and make the lobbyists come running with campaign cash.” She went on to say that she has pledged “to refuse any federal PAC dollars that might be offered” to her campaign.

1. It has been one year since George Floyd was killed

• One year ago today, George Floyd was killed after an interaction at a convenience store in Minneapolis, setting off a year of protests leading to a move to defund the police.
• His death can be directly tied to less aggressive policing, a higher crime rate, more murders and more dead black bodies. This is now leading to a backlash.