7 Things: Shelby delivers for Alabama; Tuberville says humbug to bill; and more …

7. Jan. 6 committee won’t stop

• If you thought the Jan. 6 committee was done, they want you to know that they have more arguments to make. The committee claims that while the work seems to be over, they are still making the argument that former President Donald Trump was engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overthrow the 2020 election.
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claims that this is all a “clarion call to all Americans: to vigilantly guard our Democracy and to give our vote only to those dutiful in their defense of our Constitution,” but most Americans seem indifferent to this nonsense.

6. A corrections officer who died while fleeing with her felon lover is a TV movie

• It’s not Hollywood but the jailbreak featuring an Alabama corrections officer and a jailbird seems to be getting a bit of attention. “Prisoner of Love” is available on multiple formats.
• Prisoner Casey White is still in custody after escaping custody after his lover Vicky White helped him escape from jail but it all ended with her dying and him back in jail.

5. It is bad in Birmingham, really bad

• How bad is violence in Birmingham? Well, according to doctors in the city, it is so bad that new doctors must be hired in order to deal with bullet holes and similar injuries.
• The 141st homicide in the city now ties the number for the most murders in a single year. This is actually a huge deal, Dr. Jeffrey Kerby at the University of Alabama at Birmingham says gunshot victims are increasing and cited the stat showing the number of gunshot victims since 2013 has increased from about 600 to 1,200.

4. Mayor of Montgomery says race is an issue in funding

• Of course, race is the issue, according to the mayor of Montgomery Stephen Reed, when it comes to the issue of federal funding – even though there are no real issues the mayor can point to. Race seems to be less of an issue than normal petty politics as the mayor told Montgomery City Councilman Glen Pruitt that the projects he wanted would come but he needed to wait in line.
• Mayor Reed told Pruitt he needed to wait in line, “We told you this (community center) project would be completed and it would have your daughter’s name on it. So we want to get to that. We talked about it, in private. We’ve made that commitment to you. But we also told you that we’ve heard from other elected officials in other communities that feel like you jumped the line, and we jumped the line.”

3. Did they have fries with those contrabandburgers?

• Jason and Sophia Chambers have both been arrested in a confusing scheme that involved bringing contraband into the prison in Limestone County. That contraband was … hamburgers, a smartwatch and a National Geographic magazine.
• Jason Chambers was a Limestone Correctional Facility officer and his wife, Sophia, was involved in a scheme to bring illegal material into the prison. Jason Chambers faces six counts for promoting prison contraband, a lot of those counts involve hamburgers, and Sofia Chambers is charged with four counts of bribery, one count of promoting prison contraband, and one count of conspiracy.

2. Omnibus bill is ready to go

• Whether you are OK with a massive spending bill promoted by both political parties or not, the simple fact is clear, the bill is going to pass the U.S. House after passing a somewhat divided U.S. Senate. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wanted a vote on Title 42’s future, but it failed and now it will surely end soon leaving a mess at the border.
• The bill passed 68-29, with Alabama’s senators being divided – Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) voted yeas and Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) voted no after voting to move the bill forward during the debate to move it forward.

1. Shelby brings home the bacon

• U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) left Congress in the same way he spent most of his time there – arguing for big spending that benefitted the state of Alabama.
• Shelby’s big victory is clear, Alabama got $666 million in earmarks while the second state trailed behind by $168 million. Shelby, sold this brilliantly by explaining that he was really good at his job, “[t]hroughout my career, I have done everything in my power to bring success to my home state. The funding for Alabama in this package is significant in terms of the impact it will have on communities and the overall state-wide economy for generations to come.”