7. State Christmas tree being delivered today
- In Montgomery, the state Christmas tree will be delivered today, and the tree lighting ceremony is currently scheduled for Friday at 5:30 p.m.
- Governor Kay Ivey announced the tree lighting ceremony yesterday, and added that the Alabama National Guard band “will perform this year’s musical selections.”
6. Voting organizations in Georgia allegedly try to get people out of state to register
- In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has announced that there are four voter registration groups currently under investigation for allegedly attempting to get people who don’t live in the state to register to vote in the U.S. Senate runoff election on January 5.
- One group, founded by Stacey Abrams, reportedly attempted to get people living in New York City to register to vote in the state, and one called Vote Forward may have tried to register a deceased woman in Alabama to vote in the state. Raffensperger has said that these groups “will be held responsible” if found guilty.
5. More Alabama schools going remote
- Now that the election is over, Dr. Anthony Fauci and his fans in the media have come to the same conclusion President Donald Trump came to months ago: schools should remain open. However, Birmingham City Schools and others in Alabama are still shutting down.
- Birmingham City Schools’ return to remote learning comes after 21 positive COVID-19 tests and Superintendent Mark Sullivan saying, “The current COVID-19 global pandemic is drastically impacting our community and our schools.”
4. Huntsville City Schools closed due to cybersecurity threat
- On Monday, the Huntsville City School system closed at midday over an apparent cybersecurity threat and told all students and parents that no school-issued devices should be used and need to be powered down immediately.
- School administrators have been “working with authorities to work to resolve the issue,” and spokesman Craig Williams said that they’re dealing with a ransomware attack. Everyone has been asked not to use school computers, phones or platforms until the issue is resolved.
3. Almost 10,000 students missing this year
- Enrollment in Alabama schools is down by about 9,800 students that are being considered unaccounted for in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. There were about 5,000 students who enrolled in a state virtual school, but that left the other 9,800 unaccounted for.
- This is almost double what was reported last month; State Superintendent Eric Mackey confirmed these numbers and said they’re enhancing efforts to locate the missing students. The largest drop in enrollment was for children in kindergarten.
2. New high for hospitalizations
- As the coronavirus pandemic continues and Alabama is currently in the middle of another spike in cases, the Alabama Department of Public Health has also reported that the state is seeing the highest number of hospitalizations yet at 1,717.
- The president of the Alabama Hospital Association Donald Williamson said that he’s “worried” especially as cases are anticipated to continue to rise after the Thanksgiving holiday and quickly approaching Christmas holiday.
1. Vaccine will be available to everyone that wants it by June
- Operation Warp Speed director of supply, production and distribution Lt. Gen Paul Ostrowski said on MSNBC that by June, “100% of Americans that want the vaccine will have had the vaccine by that point in time.”
- Ostrowski added that they’ll “have over 300 million doses available to the American public well before then.” This provides a more definitive timeline for how soon the vaccine for the coronavirus will be in full supply, as most people have just been giving estimates.
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