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7 Things: COVID-19 death projections double in U.S. and Alabama, Trump could be headed to Alabama to rally for Tuberville, Trump addresses Rayshard Brooks shooting and more …

7. Football coach apologizes for wearing a T-shirt with a cable news logo

  • Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy embarrassingly appeared in a video tweeted by one of his players where he sheepishly addressed a controversy about “today’s tweet with the T-shirt I was wearing” and promising changes to his program. The shirt in question had a logo for One America News Network, a conservative cable channel.
  • Former OSU players complained about the shirt, and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder said, “This afternoon has been very disturbing. The tweets from the current and former players are of grave concern,” so it is unclear if being conservative is allowed in sports anymore.

6. Church of the Highlands pastor is very changed after being berated by media

  • Pastor Chris Hodges of the Church of the Highlands was recently criticized for liking posts by president of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk, and now he’s said that he’s “not the same Chris Hodges I was two weeks ago.”
  • Hodges added that he’s “been tested, stripped, disciplined, broken” and that he’s still got “a long way to go.” During the whole social media firestorm, the Birmingham Housing Authority and Birmingham Board of Education cut ties with the church, which means the church can no longer volunteer with the housing authority or rent facilities at Parker and Woodlawn High Schools.

5. New York doesn’t want to know if new cases came from protests

  • In the fight against the coronavirus, New York City has hired 1,000 people to do contact tracing on those who test positive for the virus, but they’re ignoring one big area that’s been speculated to spread the virus – protests.
  • Mayor Bill de Blasio spokesperson Avery Cohen said, “No person will be asked proactively if they attended a protest.” But they will be asked about living situations and contacts. Information about protests will only be found if offered by the patient.

4. LGBTQ+ is now a protected class

  • In a U.S. Supreme Court decision, those who are LGBTQ will be protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from discrimination in the workplace, so that they cannot be let go of or not considered for a job due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, which is already the law in many states.
  • The final vote was 6-3, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito voting against the decision. Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., Justices Neil Gorsuch, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagen voted in favor.

3. Trump: Rayshard Brooks shooting was “very disturbing”

  • After the shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta during a confrontation with police, there has been public outcry and comparisons of Brooks and George Floyd in Minneapolis, and now President Donald Trump has spoken up on the issue, saying that the death of Brooks was “very disturbing.”
  • During a roundtable event at the White House, Trump said that he “thought it was a terrible situation.” An autopsy has found that Brooks was shot in the back twice, and both officers involved have been fired.

2. Trump could be coming to Alabama to show his support for Tuberville

  • As the U.S. Senate runoff in Alabama is scheduled for July 14, it’s been reported by CNN that President Donald Trump will visit Mobile to campaign for former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. 
  • Tuberville’s opponent, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was the first senator to endorse Trump in 2016, responded to the news of another Trump visit by tweeting, “The people of Alabama will not be told who to vote for,” but added, “It’s always a good day when the President of the United States visits Alabama.”

1. Second-most cases per capita in Alabama

  • Over the last week, June 8-14, the second-highest rate of coronavirus cases found per capita was in Alabama, as the state also saw a record number of cases for several days with 12.2 coronavirus cases per 10,000 people were added throughout the week.
  • Additionally, the Institute for Metrics and Health’s death projections for Alabama have more than doubled, with a projection of total deaths moving from 1,356 to 3,612 and the projection has now soared to over 200,000 nationwide.

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