7. Teen charged in Voice of Auburn Tigers Rod Bramblett’s death sentenced to house arrest
- Johnston Taylor, 17, has been charged with manslaughter for the death of Rod and Paula Bramblett on May 25, 2019. He has been released on bond and is to remain under house arrest, as ordered by Circuit Judge Jacob Walker III.
- Taylor is also not allowed access to any social media, must continue his mental health and drug treatment, and is to wear an ankle monitor. Only his immediate family is allowed to visit him.
6. UAB treatment gets the blessing of Dr. Fauci
- The search for vaccines and treatments to COVID-19 continues and Dr. Anthony Fauci says a treatment tested in Alabama is giving him a lot of hope, calling it “the standard of care.” He also praised this development as “quite good news.”
- The hope for a quick vaccine continues to gain steam as President Donald Trump is pushing for a “fast track” and a partnership between The National Institutes of Health and biotech firm Moderna, which is already in the human-testing phase.
5. Corporations need to return their loans
- Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is calling for large corporations to return any and all federal loans they’ve received through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and insisting that small companies that have less than 100 employees be given priority.
- The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse received funds through the PPP, and while those establishments have returned the funds, there are others who have held onto the money they received. Sessions said, “Every one of them should return these loans immediately, and the Small Business Administration should ensure those funds go to struggling small businesses first. The plain fact is that, for many, the prompt receipt of these funds will determine whether they will still be operating in the months to come.”
4. Economic development created a lot of revenue and jobs last year
- In 2019, there were 13,454 job commitments and $7.1 billion in pledged capital investment through the economic development activity in Alabama, according to Governor Kay Ivey.
- Ivey said while the economy has been damaged by the coronavirus during this time, the state economy’s “foundations remain strong and resilient” and this growth last year “will help spur growth as we move forward on the road to full recovery.”
3. Alabama has another tough week of unemployment
- Last week alone, there were 74,966 additional unemployment claims filed in Alabama according to the Alabama Department of Labor, which brings the total unemployment claims since February 8 to 419,347.
- The counties with the most claims were Madison, Jefferson, Montgomery, Shelby, Calhoun and Tuscaloosa, all with more than 2,000 claims last week.
2 Birmingham has some interesting ideas lately
- The Birmingham City Council approved a city-wide curfew from 10:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. that went into effect Thursday night, which replaced their shelter-in-place order that expired yesterday.
- Those in Birmingham are also required to wear a face-covering when they go out. Mayor Randall Woodfin wants to remind people that they’re still under a State of Emergency, but Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked the mayor to rethink that decision.
1. Parts of Alabama reopen, Democrats will boycott legislature
- Parts of Alabama that have been closed are now back open for business, leading to a return of al(dot)com’s beach watch, but some communities are still frustrated that restaurants and other businesses remain closed.
- Next week, the Alabama legislature will return to Montgomery to work on the General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets, but House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) says “99%” Democrats will not be there citing safety concerns and repeating his issues with how the budgets will be determining in a time where he believes the status of Alabama revenue to be unclear.
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