7 Things: Derek Chauvin trial in the hands of the jury, Alabama’s gambling future will be decided soon, Alabama prison reform hits funding snag and more …

7. Biden’s words are not the policy of the Biden White House

• President Joe Biden recently said there was an immigration-related “crisis,” which would lead many to believe he was referring to the situation at the southern border as there are a record number of migrants flooding the area. 
• White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained that Biden was apparently referring to “the crisis in Central America, the dire circumstances that many are fleeing from, that that is a situation we need to spend our time, our effort on, and we need to address it if we’re going to prevent more of an influx of migrants from coming in years to come.”

6. Alabama ranked top 10 for economic momentum

• Washington, D.C.-based State Policy Reports released a list to show where states rank based on economic momentum, and Governor Kay Ivey announced that Alabama ranked in the top 10. 
• Overall, Alabama was ranked No. 8 nationally. Broken down, the state ranked No. 13 for personal income growth, No. 7 for employment growth and No. 25 for population growth. 

5. Alabama’s Pre-K program is still the best in the nation

• For the 15th year, the First Class Pre-K program in Alabama has been ranked as the best in the country by National Institute for Early Education Research. 
• The state of Alabama is currently on track to offer early education to everyone statewide by the 2025-2026 school year. Governor Kay Ivey stated, “Alabama continues to set the nationwide bar for our success with the Alabama First Class Pre-K program.”
  

4. Three months of misinformation about a U.S. Capitol police officer’s death

• For more than three months, the American media and their sources have intentionally misled the American people about the events that led to the death of U.S. Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick. The weaponized misinformation was utilized by the media to shape the narrative of an armed, violent insurrection that seems disconnected from reality at this point. 
• As the events of January 6 became clear in the following days, reports of Sicknick being beaten to death with a fire extinguisher led the news; that shifted eventually to the officer’s death being caused by bear mace, and now we are learning the officer died of natural causes after having a stroke. There will be no accountability for the creation of this narrative or introspection by the American media as to how this happened, again.

3. Investment for prisons falls through

• The investment bank Barclays has decided to pull out from underwriting the finances for two of the private prisons Governor Kay Ivey contracted businesses to build. 
• State Senator Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) shared how this “shows that the Legislature’s concerns about the program continue to be justified,” such as that of funding. Ivey has said that this won’t stop the plan to build more prisons, since they’ve already “put in place new options to advance this vital transaction in a timely and efficient manner.”

2. Future of gambling bill could be clearer this week

• State Representative Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) is going to sponsor the gaming legislation that made it through the State Senate last week, but there are only a few days left for this legislative session.  
• Blackshear said that sometime this week they should know if there are any changes needed to the bill to have “a good path moving forward to when we have these bills in committee, when and if we have an opportunity to get these bills and legislation to the floor for a vote before the end of the session on May 17.”

1. Chauvin trial has ended

• Former officer Derek Chauvin has been on trial for murder in the death of George Floyd, and now the jury is deliberating on whether to convict Chauvin. The prosecutors claimed that Floyd was killed by Chauvin’s actions intentionally and because “Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.” The defense countered that the crowd on hand distracted the police officers and that Floyd’s resistance, heart problems and use of fentanyl and methamphetamine led to his death.
• Chauvin’s defense attorney Eric Nelson did bring up U.S. Representative Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) comment telling protesters to “get more confrontational,” and Judge Peter Cahill said he wishes elected representatives wouldn’t reference the case so freely, “especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law.”