7. Oakland Raiders (Alazona Raiders?) to Birmingham seems unlikely
— The city of Birmingham could be the home of the Oakland Raiders, at least part-time for one year, if a deal with the team and the city of Tucson, Arizona, comes to fruition. The Raiders’ lease with the Oakland Coliseum is expired and they don’t start in Las Vegas until 2020, and their current attempts to find a home for a year have stalled.
6. One of the Virginia lieutenant governor’s accusers has released old Facebook messages where she mentions her alleged rape
— Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax has denied assaulting anyone, but messages given to Fox News indicate that one of the accusers has been telling people of the assault for years. Meredith Watson told a friend about her knowledge of the rape during Fairfax’s campaign in 2017, saying, “This is absolutely disgusting! This dude raped me.”
5. As more Democrats enter the 2020 field, former Vice President Joe Biden leads
— In an already large field, that is poised to keep growing, the old guard is still leading the way while new upstarts are languishing in single digits. Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are polling at 29 percent and 22 percent, respectively. The only other candidate with over 10 percent is Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).
4. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is going to make Democrats vote on their silly Green New Deal
— McConnell wants to make Democrats do more than offer lip-service to a bill that embarrassed many Democrats and had to be pulled off sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s website after being mocked. McConnell slyly stated, “I’ve noted with great interest the Green New Deal. And we’re going to be voting on that in the Senate. Give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.”
3. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey will attempt to build three massive prisons at a cost of $900 million dollars
— Ivey may use a bond measure or a build-lease plan to get the prisons built. The latter will be more appealing to politicians as it does not require legislators to give money to prisoners. Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) said, “Getting it out of our hands is the only way you’re going to get this done.” The plan would build two prisons for up to 3,500 prisoners and the third will host “special needs” prisoners, including those battling mental health issues. Alabama has recently come under fire for being “deliberately indifferent” to the needs of mentally ill prisoners.
2. No collusion between Trump campaign and Russians found by Senate investigators
— In what appears to be a trend, more people associated with the investigation into Russian collusion are declaring there is no collusion. Senate Democrats now agree with Republican Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) who said the same thing last week. A Democrat aide accepted this but, seemed dejected in telling NBC News, “We were never going to find a contract signed in blood saying, ‘Hey Vlad, we’re going to collude.’”
1. President Donald Trump has not been clear about whether he will sign off on the latest border/budget deal
— The president said he is “not happy” with the deal that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and other negotiators have come up with that doesn’t fully fund his border wall, but added, “I don’t think you’re going to see a shutdown.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called on the president to hold off on signing the bill, but suggested he may declare a national emergency to get to the $5.7 billion he’s wanted for the wall.
