7. Pill mill “drug dealer” gets 10 years
- On Wednesday, a Montgomery nurse practitioner was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a federal judge for her involvement in the pill mill issue. She is one of more than a dozen charged in the case.
- She was found guilty of unlawfully distributing fentanyl, oxycodone and methadone and health care fraud for billing insurance for unnecessary medical visits. The judge in the case said Lillian Akwuba “destroyed lives,” and added, “There are addicts out there whose lives have possibly been permanently affected because you wanted to make money.”
6. Being a victim is in for Democrats, even if you have to make it up
- Just being gay doesn’t carry the status it used to for Democrats, so it appears the South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign may have been misrepresenting his husband’s family’s past for political gain, which Buttigieg’s brother-in-law says has led to death threats against him.
- Rhyan Glezman is Chasten Buttigieg’s older brother. The campaign has claimed that Chasten left his family home and was rejected by his brothers for coming out as gay. Rhyan is saying that while he doesn’t agree with his brother’s lifestyle, the campaign has misrepresented how Chasten is viewed and treated by the family.
5. A big win for AG Steve Marshall
- On Thursday, the Alabama Senate passed a bill that would dramatically reform the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, and now the bill will go to the governor’s desk to be signed.
- The bill was spearheaded by Attorney General Steve Marshall and will require that anyone convicted of a violent Class A felony serve at least 85% of their sentence before being eligible for parole. The changes came on the heels of some high-profile crimes by recently-paroled violent offenders.
4. Tuberville is using the right playbook for the GOP primary
- While the national media is portraying attempts to change abortion law as giant electoral losers. former Auburn football coach and 2020 U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville has commented on the abortion ban in Alabama, saying, “I’m all for that, I’m pro-life.”
- Tuberville went on to note the purpose of the bill being to challenge Roe v. Wade, and then added, “Again, you’ve got to take your hat off to not just Alabama but other states in terms of trying to get this repealed back, in terms of making a different decision of what we have now.”
3. The Alabama legislature isn’t done yet
- It looks like one more day of work for legislators in Montgomery with talk of a lottery returning seeming out of place. State Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) seems ready to close out the session with his remaking of the State School Board.
- At the end of each session, legislators nominate bills for the “Shroud Award” which is given to the deadest bill. This year’s winner was a “regulating the use of biosolid fertilizer composed of treated human sewage” and the runner-up was the lottery proposed by which, “Some people claimed it was a paper lottery because it folded so easily.”
2. Trump would place a tariff on illegal immigrants if he could
- Much to the chagrin of the media, stock market and his fellow Republicans, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to declare that he is putting in place a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico, saying “[U]ntil such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.”
- The tariff will start at 5% and increase “gradually until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.” If he follows through on this plan, it will be the most aggressive measure yet taken on this issue by a president who won an election by trumpeting stopping the influx of illegal immigrants across the southern border despite being stymied by Congress and the courts along the way.
1. Barr says Mueller chose not to do more
- According to Attorney General William Barr, special counsel Robert Mueller could’ve reached a decision about whether or not President Donald Trump obstructed justice during the Russia investigation. Calls from Democrats who want impeachment over this continue to grow.
- Barr further explained by saying, “The opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office. But he could’ve reached a decision whether it was criminal activity, but he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained.”
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