7 Things: Trump the news by missing debate; Reed coasts with a potential eye on Congress; and more …

7. No death penalty for former basketball player Darius Miles after the state announced it would not look to kill Miles for the Tuscaloosa murder of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris.

6. Heat dome means it is hot in August in Alabama. How hot? Temperatures across the state could end up well over 100 degrees with a heat index of up to a 110 degrees.

5.  U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) wants a beach “rat” dead and off the endangered species list. He is serious, saying, “that beach [mouse] is a great example of what’s going on in this country” adding, “[t]hey use this beach mouse, for example, and they’ll raise a ton of money, they want a five-year study here, and they want money for the federal government to do studies, and it’s all a way to raise money and shut down legitimate business and growth that should be there.”

4. Interest rates are up, and so are home prices in Alabama but the number of homes being sold is falling and is now at the lowest rate in 5 years.

3. Huntsville City Councilman Devyn Keith pleads guilty to intentionally taking items from multiple Wal-Marts, gets banned from Wal-Mart, a suspended sentence, community and then claims it was all an accident. Assistant District Attorney Tim Gann says Keith’s version is wrong.

2. Big for Montgomery is Mayor Steven Reed’s re-election, but speculation is he now waits for the redistricting decision to decide if he will run for Congress. A new map with more Blacks in the district could help Reed as he gets a vast majority of the Black vote (some suggest close to 90%.)

1. While the biggest news in politics today is the GOP debate tonight in Milwaukee where former President Donald Trump is sure to dominate without even being on stage. But more important to Trump’s future could be the flipping of a former employee who is now implicating Trump in a scheme to delete evidence after leaving a Trump-supporting PAC-funded lawyer and receiving a government lawyer in the Mar-A-Lago case.

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Dale Jackson is a thought leader for Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on WVNN and on Talk 99.5 from 10 a.m. to noon.