7 Things: Push for impeachment trial witnesses is complicated, Sessions surges as Tuberville stalls, eight dead in boat dock fire and more …

7. Rallying outside of Doug Jones’ office over impeachment

• A group of people gathered together outside of U.S. Senator Doug Jones’ (D-AL) office in Birmingham to ask Jones to acquit President Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial.
• There’s another rally planned for Mobile. Last week, there was a rally held outside of Jones’ office in Huntsville.

6. Alabama mayors want violent offenders to stay in jail

• The mayors from the 10 largest cities in Alabama met to discuss a range of issues, one of them being judges being given more ability to deny bail for those accused of violent crimes. State Representative Chip Brown (R-Mobile) is currently sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would give judges more freedom with this issue.
• At the meeting, Mayor Tommy Battle referenced the death of Huntsville police officer Billy Clardy ⅠⅠⅠ, saying, “We lost an officer to someone who never should have been out of jail from another state.”

5. Immigration restrictions allowed by Supreme Court

• The “public charge” restriction on immigration has been allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the restriction that would allow the government to deny immigrants entry if they were believed to require public assistance.
• The vote was 5-4, dividing the court’s conservatives and liberals. A senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Disability Rights Program Claudia Center said, “This policy is yet another way for the Trump administration to hurt immigrants. It enshrines the false stereotype that people with disabilities do not contribute to our society. Families will suffer. Congress has repeatedly declared that disability discrimination violates federal law. This rule must be stopped.”

4. Education lottery coming to Alabama legislature

• State Representative Steve Clouse (R-Dothan) said that he will be introducing a constitutional amendment that would bring an education lottery to the ballot for voters in November. Clouse said that the “general sentiment … is that it needs to be dedicated to education.”
• Half of the money brought in by the paper lottery would go to Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program, while the other half would go to college scholarships. According to Clouse, the fiscal office has estimated that the lottery could bring in $167 million per year. He believes this is the kind of lottery constituents want.

3. Eight deaths confirmed in Jackson County fire

• In the fire that burned at least 35 vessels at Guntersville Lake, Scottsboro Fire Chief Gene Necklaus has confirmed that the eight people who were previously said to be missing died during the fire.
• Necklaus did say that “that number could go up” as they discover more from the boats that sank. There have been at least seven people hospitalized from the incident.

2. Sessions is leading while Tuberville falls

• New internal Sessions campaign polling data released by Breitbart News and conducted by Wes Anderson of On Message, Inc. shows that former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions leads the 2020 U.S. Senate race in Alabama polling at 43%.
• U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) has moved up to second place with 22%, while former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville is in third with 21%.

1. Witnesses seem like a long shot still

• After the release of a story concerning former National Security Advisor John Bolton, some Republicans are likely to vote for witnesses while Senator Patrick Toomey (R-PA) is suggesting a one-for-one trade seems more likely to want to see witnesses
• Republicans will want to see witnesses like U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), former Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and the whistleblower, all of which Democrats have declared as non-starters.