7. VA Governor Ralph Northam likely knows who is actually in the infamous blackface picture
- Virginia Governor Ralph Northam attracted negative attention when it was found that he wore blackface in a picture that was placed in his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. While Northam has denied that he wore blackface in this particular instance, there has been little evidence that the picture was someone else.
- Now, Northam is claiming that he’s “99% sure” he knows who is actually in the picture. The picture features a person in blackface standing next to someone dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan on a page for Northam. He claims that the actual person in blackface just has a name “very close to mine” in alphabetical order.
6. Oh no, so sad, ISIS bride can’t come back to Alabama
- The Alabama woman, Hoda Muthana, who left the state to join the Islamic State terrorist organization and became an ISIS bride has been attempting to return to the United States. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear her appeal.
- Muthana has claimed that she was radicalized online before leaving to join ISIS in 2014. Muthana has been denied her citizenship while overseas, and this decision was upheld in 2019. The U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear her appeal is just the latest development as she’s attempted to return to the country with her young son.
5. Lawyer leaving case after he wanted interviews in exchange for movie press
- Criminal defense attorney Richard Jensen was previously a member of the council representing Huntsville police officer David Michael McCoy, who is accused of shooting and killing his seven-month pregnant girlfriend, has stepped down from the case. This comes after Jensen allegedly was only willing to do interviews if news stations would also promote his movie, “No Man’s Law.”
- Jensen said that he was withdrawing due to his “personal animus toward the local ‘fake news’ media has spilled over into the case,” and he didn’t want the attention he’s gotten impacting the case. He also claimed that if he stayed as an attorney on the case, it would “further inflame the already outrageously unfair media coverage.”
4. Tim James makes gubernatorial announcement
- Businessman Tim James has officially announced that he’s running for governor against Governor Kay Ivey. As previously announced, James announced right outside the Alabama State Capitol.
- James said he’s “running for governor because I believe the leadership in Montgomery have capitulated to the political structures that control this state.” He also reiterated his position opposing legalizing marijuana and raising taxes for projects like “Rebuild Alabama Act.” James also stated his desire to improve the education system.
3. Brooks: Britt and Shelby are responsible for Republicans losing seats in 2018 and 2020
- U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) is running for U.S. Senate against U.S. Senator Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) former chief of staff Katie Britt. Brooks’ campaign claimed that Shelby and Britt are responsible for Republican losses in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House in 2018 and 2020.
- Brooks’ campaign said that “the Shelby/Britt efforts to elect Doug Jones in 2017” influenced more Democrats “to run in ruby red states in 2018 and 2020, contributing to the GOP losing the House in 2018 and the Senate in 2020.” In 2017, Shelby never supported U.S. Senate Republican candidate Roy Moore, but instead wrote in a “distinguished Republican.” Campaign spokesman Will Hampson said that the write-in votes outnumbering the number of votes Jones won by shows “how bad their betrayal has proven to be.”
2. Biden is being ‘deliberately divisive’
- President Joe Biden was widely criticized for his speech where he focused on the Confederacy and aligned Republicans with segregationists like former Governor George Wallace, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has now joined in. He called the speech “deliberately divisive” and also deemed it “unpresidential.” He’s not the only one. MSNBC’s Al Sharpton and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) trashed the speech as well.
- McConnell also said that Biden’s statements were “designed to pull our country further apart.” He added that Biden “called millions of Americans his domestic enemies” while he “shouted that if you disagree with him, you’re George Wallace.” McConnell went on to say, “If you don’t pass the laws he wants, you’re Bull Connor, and if you oppose giving Democrats untrammeled, one-party control of the country, well you’re Jefferson Davis.” McConnell emphasized that while he’s “personally respected Joe Biden for many years,” he “did not recognize the man at the podium yesterday.”
1. Cases and hospitalizations are on the rise
- There has been an increase in people hospitalized with the coronavirus in Alabama. As hospitalizations are increasing, so are cases across the states. The Alabama Department of Public Health said that there are about 10,000 new coronavirus cases every day, and the state has passed the 1,000,000 cases threshold. The case count seems to mean less now. The Associated Press has told its staff to “avoid emphasizing” the reporting of case counts.
- While hospitalizations have increased to almost 2,000 across the state, the ratio is actually one of the lowest seen throughout the pandemic. There are about 19 people hospitalized for every 100 cases reported, but it’s likely that the ratio could be even lower since the actual case count isn’t known. With at-home tests, they are not all being reported to ADPH, and it’s assumed that there could be many more cases than what’s reported.
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