7 Things: Alabamians worried about school, 200,000 students being tested won’t cause a backlog, closer to deal on extended unemployment benefits and more …

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August 6, 2020

7. 2016 issues are still reverberating

With less than 100 days before the next 2020 presidential election, we are still learning the extent of the malfeasance committed by operatives in the Obama administration in regard to the Trump campaign as former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates testified before Congress that presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden and then-President Barack Obama were aware of the Russia investigation before she was but said they didn’t direct it and former FBI Director James Comey went rogue.
It definitely appears that misdeeds were committed in 2016, and the conclusions are finally expected in the near future. Recent reports by NBC News indicate that former CIA Director John Brennan has agreed to an interview with the prosecutor in charge, Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham.

6. Twitter and Facebook block Trump’s content

President Donald Trump’s recent social media posts about the coronavirus pandemic have been taken down with Twitter and Facebook saying Trump’s comment that children are “almost immune from this disease” is a false statement and even saying, “This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation.” However, his post clearly did not do that.
Obviously, the platforms are intentionally taking these messages down and pretending they are interpreting them in the most literal way possible, further showing the dishonesty that is prevalent in social media and the American media, as well as their willingness to put their thumbs on the scale for the presidential election.

5. Confederate statue vandalized

Protesting over the Confederate monument in downtown Huntsville outside of the Madison County courthouse has taken place regularly in recent months, and now someone has taken red paint of some kind and used it to vandalize the statue, but local authorities couldn’t confirm what the actual substance was.
The Madison County Commission has passed a resolution for the monument to be relocated to Maple Hill Cemetery, but currently, the state’s Memorial Preservation Act prohibits this. If the monument is moved without state approval, there’s a $25,000 fine that follows, but the Tennessee Valley Progressive Alliance claims they have raised the funds to pay the fine and want the statue removed.

4. Biden won’t go to Milwaukee

Instead of accepting the Democratic nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, former Vice President Joe Biden will accept the nomination in Delaware. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said this decision reflects “the leadership Joe Biden will bring to the White House” by making decisions after seeking expert opinions.
This announcement also comes as both party conventions have decided to scale back their events amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Biden has said that with his decision not to attend the convention in person, he wants “to set an example as to how we should respond individually to this crisis.”

3. McConnell is willing to add $600 in unemployment benefits

After a lot of back and forth between members of Congress, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said that he would be willing to support extending the $600 per week in unemployment benefits, but with the specification that he’ll only support it if President Donald Trump also does.
Republicans have voiced concerns about passing another coronavirus relief package due to the growing deficit and the record high deficit that’s already accumulated this year due to previous relief packages, but Democrats have made it clear that they won’t support a package that doesn’t include the unemployment benefits.

2. Testing college students won’t add to backlog

Before students go back to school on college campuses across the state, they will first be tested for the coronavirus, which is going to be about 200,000 tests, but university and public health officials have said that this shouldn’t cause issues with people across the state also getting tested since they’re using a different testing platform for students.
Rather than taking anything away, the program to test college students will just be adding to the state’s capability to test, and UAB will be able to process 10,000-15,000 tests per day through the $30 million in funding provided through the CARES Act. Test results for students should come back in three or less days.

1. Pandemic concerns diagnosed

The Household Pulse Survey, which was created by the U.S. Census Bureau and Economic Research Service, has been collecting data on how people are handling the coronavirus pandemic since April, and a vast majority of Alabamians are concerned about school changes.
According to the survey, 99.6% of respondents in Alabama said they’re concerned about changes in K-12 schools, which is similar to the rest of the country, 45.8% are concerned about their employment status or loss of income, 28.5% are expecting a loss of income, 33.3% are concerned about losing their homes, and 13% are worried about food supply.