7. Trump might have to give up some DNA
- President Donald Trump’s lawyers have been served with notice that Trump must submit his DNA for testing on March 2 in relation to the E Jean Carroll rape allegations.
- Carroll has claimed that Trump raped her in the 1990’s and left DNA on the dress she wore. Testing allegedly has shown there was DNA found on the sleeves of the dress from at least four different people, one of them being male.
6. Huntsville is becoming a tax and spend city
- If the amphitheater in MidCity is going to be built, the $35 million for it has to come from somewhere, and Huntsville is considering raising the liquor and lodging tax to pay for the project.
- Mayor Tommy Battle is confident that the city will be able to pay off the debt of the project over the next 20 years, and that it can be paid for “without going to any outside sources,” and while some like City Council President Devyn Keith support raising the tax, the Huntsville-Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau Warner that raising the tax could deter conventions already coming to the area.
5. Prison study group urges immediate action
- The issue of corrections reform could loom large over the coming legislative session, as Governor Kay Ivey’s Study Group on Criminal Justice Policy, which was designed to study the issues in Alabama’s prisons, has released its findings.
- The groups’ findings include legislative oversight and more spending, going slow on sentencing reform and spending more to reduce recidivism; it is expected the governor is planning to announce a massive prison building project at some point in the near future.
4. Calls to ban travel to China grow
- American Airlines pilots want their airline to cancel flights to China, and so does U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope). Byrne is calling for the “immediate suspension” of all travel to the United States from China due to the severity of the coronavirus, adding that, “We must always put the health and safety of American people first.”
- Byrne also noted in his statement that part of the danger is due to being unable to trust the Chinese government on their containment efforts and that the coronavirus’ “severity and complexity is not yet understood.”
3. Lamar Alexander seals the deal with his “NO” vote on witnesses
- Much to the chagrin of the media and their Democrats, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has announced that he will be voting “NO” on bringing more witnesses (that the U.S. House did not call) before the U.S. Senate and dragging this ridiculous impeachment circus on further.
- Senator Alexander released a statement and noted that he believed the House managers are correct and President Donald Trump made an inappropriate ask of Ukraine; he, however, does not think the president’s actions were impeachable, thus there is no reason to bring in more individuals to testify.
2. Let’s wrap this up
- Republican Senators are ready to vote on whether to remove President Donald Trump from office under the two articles of impeachment brought against him, despite Democrats continuing their attempt to call witnesses.
- U.S. Senator John Barrassso (R-WY) said that “the plan is for Friday to vote,” and U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) said that they’re pushing to finish the trial Friday if the witness vote goes Republicans’ way. This vote to subpoena witnesses and documents will be held after the trial resumes Friday afternoon.
1. Jones is going to vote to convict, he always was
- In his most recent video recap of the impeachment trial in the Senate, U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) decided President Donald Trump is the one “mostly” responsible for dividing America.
- Jones reviewed Alan Dershowitz’s comments, mainly taking offense to how Dershowitz thinks “he’s always right,” and Jones said that the suggestion to “just go ahead and vote to acquit” is suggesting people “ignore your oath.” Jones put blame on Trump for the division by saying, “we are a divided country that has been stoked in large measure mostly by [Dershowitz’s] client over the last few years.”
