7 Things: Brooks calls Britt ‘hypocritical’ for dropping out of Senate debate, Democrats didn’t vote in their primaries and more …

7. Governor Kay Ivey OKs payment to Casey White/Vicky White tipster

• The state of Alabama offered a $5,000 reward for escaped inmate Casey White and former Lauderdale County jailer Vicky White, who were on the run for a total of 11 days before they were caught and Vicky White killed herself. Governor Kay Ivey approved the payment of the reward to a tipster that helped lead to the end of their adventure.
• Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly made the request of the governor and she agreed to pay the money. Ivey said, “Thanks to the good information from this city and the diligent work from law enforcement in Alabama all the way to Indiana, we were able to put the bad guy behind bars where he belongs.”

6. Alabama has the fifth-highest number of children in poverty

• According to a national report from 24/7 Wall St. that showed which states have the highest rate of children living in poverty, which is classified as an income of $35 dollars or less per day, Alabama has the fifth-highest amount of child poverty per capita. There are 22.7% of children in the state living in poverty, and a median family income set at $64,790.
• According to the report, 17.5% of all children in the country are living under the poverty line. When the statistic was broken down by state, there were about 12.6 million children in the country living within the poverty level income.

5. Another mass shooting as nation is on edge

• Five individuals are dead after a gunman opened fire at a hospital in Tulsa, Okla., on Wednesday afternoon. The shooter opened fire with a rifle and a handgun before killing himself on the second floor of the complex.
• After a failed response to a mass shooting in Texas, law enforcement said the gunman was engaged five minutes after the first 911 call came in and credited that with limiting the bloodshed. Tulsa Police Department deputy chief Eric Dalgleish said when they responded to the scene, they found the gunman dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

4. Marshall files a brief supporting Florida

• Attorney General Steve Marshall recently filed a brief with the federal appellate court to support Florida’s ban of sanctuary cities as the state faces legal battles over the policy. Georgia joined Alabama in leading the brief, and 15 other states pledged their support as well.
• Marshall says in the brief, “An unelected federal judge apparently disagrees with Florida’s political judgment about whether immigration laws should be enforced, but that should not be relevant. My hope is that the Eleventh Circuit undoes the district court’s troubling ruling and puts an end to this practice of legislation by judicial fiat.”

3. Trump flirting with 2024 run

• Rumors that former President Donald Trump would run for president again in 2024 have remained constant. With the recent acquittal of former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann, Trump reignited these rumors by saying, “[I]t makes me want to fight even harder.”
• Trump added, “If we don’t win, our country is ruined. We have bad borders, bad elections, and a court system not functioning properly. Our country is being systematically destroyed.”

2. Democrat turnout has tanked in Alabama

• In the primary election, turnout overall was lower than expected, but there was a surprising dip in Democrat voter participation. In the gubernatorial race alone, there was a 40% decline in Democrat voter turnout for primary candidates since 2018.
• Alabama Democratic Party executive director Wade Perry announced after the primary that he would be stepping down from his position and said, “We’ve done a lot of good things. I’m proud of what has been accomplished there. I would like for it to have been more, of course. But I think we’ve made a lot of progress in a number of areas.” These primary results only further support the narrative that Republicans will heavily dominate the midterm elections.

1. U.S. Senate debate canceled

• There is very little information that has been released so far, but the debate that was supposed to happen between U.S. Senate candidate Katie Britt and U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) has been canceled. When asked for comment about who canceled, Brooks said, “Katie Britt got cold feet.” He also called her “hypocritical” for wanting to debate candidate Mike Durant in the primary and then backing out.
• The debate was to be televised on June 14, but Alabama Daily News’ Todd Stacy lamented, “Disappointed to announce that this planned runoff debate/forum with Gray Television & AL Daily News will no longer happen. Thought we had a solid date with both candidates but that has fallen through. Expect more info soon.”