7 Things: Over 20,000 cases of COVID-19 in Alabama, defunding the police, the war on history escalates and more …

7. No more Confederate flags for Marines

• The Marine Corps has officially banned public displays of the Confederate flag, and on their Twitter, they said that the “flag has all too often been co-opted by violent extremist and racist groups whose divisive beliefs have no place in our Corps.”
• Banned displays include on mugs, shirts and bumper stickers. An administrative message says commanders “must exercise best judgement and discretion” while conducting inspections of work areas and public spaces, but personal living spaces, vehicles, lockers, backpacks and barracks rooms won’t be inspected.

6. Auburn players test positive for coronavirus

• Voluntary workouts are set to begin Monday, but three of the Auburn players that returned to campus on Thursday tested positive for the coronavirus. All three of the players were asymptomatic.
• The players are going to remain in a self-isolated quarantine for two weeks, and when they arrived before being tested, they only had contact with their roommates and team personnel. The players who tested positive haven’t been identified.

5. Two charged in killing of Moody police officer

• Two suspects, Tapero Corlene Johnson and Marquisha Anissa Tyson have been charged with capital murder for the killing of Moody Police Lt. Stephen Williams. St. Clair County Sheriff Billy Murray has said that the ongoing investigation is “complex and intense.”
• Johnson and Tyson had been in police custody since the shooting on Tuesday night, and it’s been determined that they fired on Williams while he was responding to a call about a disturbance. Governor Kay Ivey has said that Williams “died a hero.”

4. Sessions is going to stand up for values against everyone

• While speaking at the Baldwin County GOP Coffee Club meeting, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that if he hadn’t properly represented Republicans of Alabama previously then “you don’t need me to go back.” He added, “Vote for somebody else.”
• Sessions went on to advocate for President Donald Trump’s agenda and say that he still wants to advance it. He even said that he’s “not afraid of any of them” when talking about other Republicans in the Senate that may not stand for Republican values.

3. The war on history is underway

• The Student Government Association at the University of Alabama has released a statement asking that all buildings on campus with “racist namesakes” be renamed, adding that they’re also asking for “a review of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act.”
• Since the protests have started, Confederate memorials are not the only ones that have been targeted with statues of Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, a black Civil War regiment in Massachuttes and an anti-lynching memorial in Minnesota have been attacked and vandalized.

2. Defunding the police?

• As protests over George Floyd’s death have continued, protesters have started calling for police departments to be defunded, an idea supported by Black Lives Matter as co-founder Alicia Garza explained they we should “invest in the resources that our communities need.” idea.”
• In response to this, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) has said that defunding police departments across the nation “is a ridiculous idea.” He went on to say, “We need order in our streets. And the easiest way to have that is to have a strong presence of character-driven law enforcement officers.”

1. Alabama sees 20,000+ cases of COVID-19

• It’s been just over three months since the first case of coronavirus was diagnosed in Alabama, and now we have just over 20,000 cases, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. The positive rate of tests has stayed at 8% or lower as the number of tests being done grows.
• State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris says the protests could lead to more positive cases, stating, “[L]arge numbers of people who are not practicing social distancing, who are speaking loudly or maybe yelling, and standing close together, who aren’t wearing face masks in many cases — those are the ways we know this disease gets transmitted.” He added, “I think we’re a little worried about what the numbers may look like over the next couple of weeks.”