7. Former State Representative Ed Henry (R-Hartselle) will not serve jail time
— U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins sentenced Henry to two years of probation after a plea agreement for his role in a health care fraud case. Prosecutors said that doctors were improperly waiving co-payments for Medicare patients. Henry told the judge that he was not aware that the co-payments being waived was a crime, and he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting theft of government property.
6. Measles confirmed in Alabama, everyone expects it to get way worse
— The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) confirmed that there has been one case of measles in an infant in St. Clair County. ADPH still had 32 open measles investigations as of Wednesday. This year, there have been 704 confirmed measles cases, which is the most since 1994.
5. Alabama Senate passes the biggest education budget ever and teachers could be getting a pay increase
— The Alabama Senate approved a bill that would increase the state’s education budget to $7.1 billion, which is $500 million more than this year. Additionally, the Senate also approved a 4 percent cost-of-living adjustment for education employees. Senate education budget chairman Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said that he hoped teacher pay will be increased. Teachers did receive a 2.5 percent COLA this year, but Orr said that teachers are only beginning to catch up with inflation over the last decade. The education budget and cost-of-living adjustment both move to the House.
4. Senate candidate Coach Tommy Tuberville just moved to Alabama in August and voted in Florida in November of the same year
— In a radio interview, Coach Tuberville touted his support for President Donald Trump, his Christianity and his good name ID as reasons why he will make a strong candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020. Tuberville is not wrong, he will be a legitimate contender in the Republican primary race to see who gets to take on U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL). In the interview, Tuberville acknowledges that he just moved to the state to get involved in its politics and even cast a straight ticket Republican vote in 2018 in Florida’s general election.
3. President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr were right, there was spying
— President Trump has been criticized relentlessly for saying he was spied on for years. Attorney General Barr stirred the same hornets nest earlier this month when he speculated that Trump’s campaign was, in fact, spied on. The popular media narrative was two-pronged: 1. There was no spying. 2. Implying there was spying would be an attack on the good people in our intelligence community. But, as usual, those narratives were false. Yesterday, the New York Times acknowledged that there were multiple overseas intelligence assets used against the President’s campaign. The ploy “yielded no fruitful information” and it is expected that members of the government are leaking to the media in order to soften the blow when the current Inspector General investigation into the beginning of the Russian investigation becomes public.
2. Attorney General William Barr didn’t show up to a House hearing, Democrats now believe he has broken the law, the media wants him jailed
— Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY) may attempt to hold Attorney General Barr in contempt of Congress over the subpoena for the un-redacted Mueller report. This threat was made after AG Barr didn’t show up for the House Judiciary Committee hearing, which he had previously said he would not attend. To hold Barr in contempt of Congress, they would have to prove that he obstructed the work of Congress or a congressional committee. Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave the media the bite they wanted when she tweeted, “Attorney General Barr’s decision to mislead the public in his testimony to Congress was not a technicality — it was a crime.” Now left-leaning ” journalists have begun agitating and advocating for AG Barr’s arrest.
1. State Representative John Rogers (D-Birmingham) continues to dig his hole and even Sen Doug Jones (D-AL) criticized him twice
— During the debate over the abortion ban bill, Rep. Rogers said, “So you kill them now or you kill them later. You bring them into the world unwanted, unloved, you sent them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later.” After criticism from Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), Sen. Jones originally responded to Roger’s comments saying, “I thought it was outrageous. I was absolutely appalled…I think he owes an apology to the people of the state. I think he owes an apology to members of the legislature.” Following criticism from all corners, Rogers declared that Donald Trump Jr. should have been aborted. After his comments about Trump Jr. being aborted, Jones added, “The rhetoric of Rep. John Rogers gets more appalling each time he speaks. He does not speak for the people of Alabama and is, in fact, offending all Alabamians with his crude and reprehensible comments.”
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